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Geoff Baker covers the Mariners for The Seattle Times. He provides daily coverage of the team throughout spring training, and during the season.

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August 19, 2008 8:44 PM

Yuck

Posted by Larry Stone

Well, that was pretty awful. The tone was pretty much set for the Mariners when they started the game with runners on first and third, no outs, and couldn't score.

The most alarming part of the game, to my eyes, was not the fact the M's got shut out. It was the fact that Felix Hernandez, in five innings, didn't strike out anybody. As I mentioned, the only other time that happened was last year against the Twins in April, but he lasted just one-third of an inning in that game. He had a bad elbow, it turned out, and went on the disabled list.

There is no apparent arm trouble for Felix this time. In fact, everyone said he had good stuff. Felix himself said that the Sox were hitting good pitches -- balls on the hands, balls on the corners. He also said that his left ankle, where he got hit by a Juan Uribe line drive, is sore, but won't keep him from making his next start. It's the same ankle he hurt back at Shea Stadium covering home plate. Remember, the game he hit the salami off Johan Santana? That injury landed him on the disabled list.

"It hit me on the wrong spot,,'' he said of Uribe's drive. But then he added, "It's fine.''

Hernandez actually did his best pitching right after getting hit. Orlando Cabrera followed wtih a double to put runners on second and third with two outs, but Felix got three ground outs to get out of the inning without any more runs.

Here's a stat to leave you with -- the records of Seattle's original starting five this season. Felix is now 7-8, Silva is 4-14, Washburn is 5-13, Batista is 4-12, and Bedard is 6-4. That's a combined 26-51. Just the way Bill Bavasi drew it up, right?

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