I can see from the prior blog post that not a whole lot of you are interested in the real-world Mariners today. Who can blame you? Here's another dose of it, the team's 2009 schedule that just got released. It's a toughie from the get-go, with lots of up-front road games and matchups against playoff contenders from this year and possible threats next season. The way things are shaping up, the M's could be out of it by Week 2 and roughly 15 games behind at about the one-month mark.

So, let's take a break from reality.

The return of a cyber Erik Bedard off the DL to the MLB2K Mariners was a resounding success today, with the lefty going all nine innings of a 17-0 demolition of the Detroit Tigers. Bedard struck out eight and didn't walk anyone as the homer-happy M's took Comerica Park by storm and left with a series victory.

Seattle now sits at 82-60 with a 2 1/2 game lead on the Texas Rangers in the AL West. I told you these M's are lethal with the long ball. When that gets going, they can put a lot of hurt on opponents real quick.

Hanley Ramirez had a career-day, going 5-for-6 with three home runs. But the game wasn't put completely out of reach until the M's scored a dozen runs from the sixth inning onward. The final 10 runs came in the last three innings, once a depleted Tigers bullpen began throwing intentionally at the M's, leading to ejections and a whole lot of sub-par relief from the lower rungs of the relief crew.

It was still a 5-0 game in the fifth when the Tigers put two on with none out. But Bedard rallied with a strikeout and then got Todd Walker on a double-play grounder to end the threat.

See all that and more in the above video highlight package, which picks up with the Mariners already leading 2-0 after a homer by J.D. Drew -- his 81st of the year -- in the first inning off Brian Bannister of the Royals.

For TRhyno in the comments thread, the primary lineup against righties:

CF Coco Crisp
SS Hanley Ramirez
LF Garret Anderson
RF J.D. Drew
1B Connor Jackson
3B Edwin Encarnacion
2B Robinson Cano
DH Wes Helms
C A.J. Pierzynski

And rotation:

RHP Felix Hernandez
RHP Josh Beckett
LHP Erik Bedard
RHP Carlos Silva
RHP Paul Byrd

For Scott, it was a fantasy draft to start the season and yes, we do go to left center very often. One day, some team will figure out a way around that. Until then, as Al Davis once said: "Just win, baby!''