Pretty bleak clubhouse after this one.

Mariner manager John McLaren had so little to say, and reporters so little to ask, that his post-game press conference lasted one minute and 50 seconds.

Reporters, however, were assuming that Miguel Batista would be available to speak, as is usually the case for a starting pitcher. But he was gone before McLaren finished and before reporters got into the clubhouse and while a few other players milled about, no one really had much to say.

Batista was the biggest story tonight as he again struggled out of the gate, allowing three runs in the first inning tonight after giving up two in the first of each of his previous starts.

Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre said he thought Batista had a good warmup --- he noted Batista threw about 10 more pitches than normal, though he wasn't real sure why --- and was surprised he struggled.

About all he could come up with is that he thinks Batista has trouble trusting his stuff early in games and tries to be too fine, which leads to a lot of pitches overall --- he threw 29 in the first inning tonight.

Seattle never could catch up after the Padres took a 3-0 lead and while the offense did get four runs, it was stagnant after the third, getting just four hits, all singles.

The only real highlights were two hits by Raul Ibanez, raising his average to .305, and a two-run homer and two hits by Kenji Johjima, who is now at .236 after standing at .184 a week ago.

Ichiro snapped an 0-16 skid but also struck out with no outs and a man on in the ninth against Trevor Hoffman, seeming to take the air out of the place after the fans got into it when Jose Vidro led off with a single. Ichiro is hitting .272 for the season and if there is anything disconcerting it is that May is traditionally his month --- he has a .366 career average in May, the best of any month.

And Jose Lopez, moved back to the No. 5 spot, went 0-4 to snap a seven-game hitting streak.

It was the eighth eighth loss in the last 10 for the Mariners, and 13th in 16, and dropped them 11 games under .500.

The Mariners were 18-17 a year ago today, two games out of first place.

Tonight, they fell to 16-27, still the worst in the AL and ahead of only Colorado in all of baseball.

M'S DROP ANOTHER ONE --- A tough loss as the Mariners couldn't turn that win in Texas two days ago into a streak. Good news is Bedard and Felix the next two nights. Bad news is a loss to a team that was the worst in the NL (Colorado now holds that distinction).

ONE LAST CHANCE --- Jose Vidro pinch hits to lead off the ninth, and gets a single, with his back apparently well enough to hit.

ATTENDANCE IS 35,586 --- Some likely lured by the J.J. Putz bobblehead, others by the weather, and others simply by the fact that this is what they have come to expect to do come mid-May. But they may leave this night with little to remember but those dolls.

CLEMENT DOWN TO .170 --- Jeff Clement has now struck out three times tonight and his average was down to .170 before that K in the eighth.

THE OLD 9-5-3-6-2 --- That was the official scoring decision on the out that ended San Diego's top of the eighth, and that could turn out to be a big run denied if the Mariners can get something of their own going.

ICHIRO SNAPS 0-16 STREAK --- With a single to left to start the seventh.

YOUNG OUT --- Chris Young is now out for the Padres and Cla Meridith, who really ought to have a Y in his name, in.

BATISTA STRUGGLES --- He finished allowing six runs and nine hits in 5.1 innings. He has now allowed 16 runs in 20 innings in May, which is historically one of his better months. The Mariner press notes include a rather obscure stat that Batista has the third-largest decrease in ERA in May among active pitchers, from 5.32 in April to 4.04 in May. Probably not this year, however.

WEIRD PLAY --- San Diego gets a 2-1-4 putout on that play in the last inning where catcher Josh Bard lost and then dropped a high pop up from Sexson. It's 5-4 entering the sixth and Ryan Rowland-Smith is warming up, likely to take over soon for Batista.

BATISTA BARELY HANGING ON --- Batista has thrown 89 pitches through five innings, allowed eight hits, five for extra bases, walked two and hit one. But he's stayed in the game due to a few timely outs, such as the nice over-the-railing catch by Beltre that ended last inning. If the M's can get a couple of runs here he could get a win out of a performance that's been pretty ugly overall.

STEALING TIME --- Ichiro's steal there in the fourth didn't amount to much as the rally fizzled, leaving the score at 5-4. But it did give Ichiro 47 stolen bases against NL teams, the most in the history of Interleague play.

HANGING IN --- The bats are heating up with the temperature here as it's 5-4 at the end of three innings. It's taken 1:05 to play the first three innings --- it took just 2:23 to play the entire game here last Friday when the White Sox won 4-2.

RIGHT BACK IN IT --- Shades of the old "two outs, so what'' days there as the Mariners get three runs after two were out, including a homer by Johjima whose hot streak continues. He is now 10 for his last 22. But the inning ended in disappointing fashion as Beltre struck out with the bases loaded, leaving it 4-3 San Diego.

SO MUCH FOR THE MOMENTUM OF THE TEXAS WIN --- Okay, so there are eight innings to go. But the early returns here tonight aren't encouraging that there will be any carry-over of the win in Texas on Wednesday, which McLaren said before the game was one of the most important of the season. It's 3-0 Padres and the Mariners went three up, three down. Ichiro is now 0 for his last 16.

OUCH --- Tough start to this one as Miguel Batista gave up three runs on three hard hits, a walk and a hit-by-pitch. He entered the game with a 6.14 ERA in May (10 runs in 14.2 innings) and will need to do some work now to keep that from not going up even more tonight. The crowd grew restless early, booing after the third batter of the game.

PRE-GAME --- Bob Condotta here filling in for Geoff.

First, the lineup tonight for the Mariners

Ichiro, CF
Jose Lopez, 2B
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Raul Ibanez, LF
Richie Sexson, 1B
Jeff Clement, DH
Kenji Johjima, C
Wladimir Balentein, RF
Yuniesky Betancourt, SS

As you can see, Sexson is back after his five-game suspension, and manager John McLaren said before the game he hopes the time off will help Sexson get on a roll.

Also, Jose Vidro is again out of the lineup, still dealing with back issues. When McLaren spoke to us before batting practice he said Vidro was seeing the doctor. He said he expected that Vidro will be able to pinch-hit tonight if needed. Vidro has missed seven of the last nine games with back spasms.

That means Clement and Johjima are together in the linenup, something McLaren said he thinks could happen regularly against left-handers. The M's tonight face righty Chris Young.

I was out here last Friday and Johjima was on the bench, mired in a slump. But he's played the five games since then, going 9-21, .429, to raise his average from .184 to .227. McLaren said he thinks Johjima was trying too hard and thinks he's beginning to turn it around now.

In fact, he said he thinks the whole team may have found something with the 12-inning win at Texas that on Wednesday, saying that could be the game were the "worm turned.''

"Now this is our type of weather,'' he said. "And we had a huge game the other day. ... Now we're looking to get back to winning two out of three, two out of three, two out of three, and start gaining some momentum, and hopefully some of the other teams in our division start struggling a little big and we start gaining on them and get even and we go from there.''

What a terrible past week for the Mariners, huh? I mean, heck, it's already May 16. If you look back at the standings from a week ago, you'll see that those freefalling Mariners managed to blunder their way into...gaining a half-game on the division leaders.

What was that, you say?

You betcha. The M's were eight games out a week ago. This morning, they are 7 1/2 back, despite how poorly they've played. It was about a week ago that I told some of you to go perch yourselves on the cliff, but have yet to give the order to jump. I did write that if the M's were going to lose to the White Sox and Rangers, which they clearly did, then you're all on your own and could make a choice to bail. I'm sure there was some spalshing this past week. But for those of you still atop the cliff, weird as this game can be, the M's are actually better off today than they were a week ago.

For that, you can thank the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland A's. The Angels went 2-5 during that stretch while the A's were 1-5. Seattle went 2-4, so there you have it. Picked up a game on second-place Oakland and a half-game on the Angels. What does it all mean? Nothing for the M's if they can't get their act together. That it took them depleting their entire bench and bullpen just to score four runs and finally win a game in Texas isn't inspring much confidence on this end. But let's face it. If the M's get it together and do what they should do to the San Diego Padres, all of a sudden, the gap closes to possibly a half-dozen games. From there, they hit the road to Detroit and New York, not a pushover trip, but the fact is both teams are last in their respective divisions. Might as well catch them now. In other words, this M's team has been granted a stay of execution. Either that, or it has more lives than Morris the Cat driving backwards on the freeway at 100 mph.

This team should be about a dozen or more games behind. It isn't yet. The rest is up to the Mariners. I wrote a story yesterday about whether the team has a problem with clubhouse leadership and chemistry, based on there being so many different personalities from all corners of the world, speaking different native languages. The players and GM Bill Bavasi don't think it's an issue. They say the clubhouse is together and that this is a team that sticks by one another. Well, it's time to prove it. Frankly, they may be right, but I hadn't really seen this group play like a team until that final game in Texas.

I walked up to Jose Lopez yesterday morning and greeted him with a line I've never used before.

"I want to write a good story about you,'' I told him.

Lopez looked at me with surprise. He isn't used to very many of those any more. Two nights earlier, he'd stood grittily by his locker and answered questions about how he'd helped blow a game with an error that indirectly led to four runs by the Texas Rangers. Didn't make someone else come out and face the music for him, which teammates, by the way, almost universally detest doing for a guy.

I haven't had many nice things to say about Lopez the past 11 months or so, either. Part of me wasn't certain he'd get another chance with the team this season after what he did last year, when he was one of the worst everyday players in the major leagues. He got a pass on some of that, rightfully so, after continuing to play every day despite the June death of his brother in a motorcycle accident.

Beginning this season, I wasn't sold on Lopez as an everyday player. If you check the ballot box from our spring training supplement, you'll see I ticked off the "No'' box when it came to the Lopez question. He still makes mistakes in the field that will blow your mind from time to time. That make you think he isn't paying attention to the game.

But those, the other night aside, have decreased as May rolls along. And what has returned, at least so far, is the bat we saw from Lopez the first two thirds of the 2006 season. It's not his .315 batting average that has me impressed. He's been up near .300 for much of the year, but it was an empty .300.

Not so much right now.

Very sorry for how long it's taken me to post about the game. I've had a very tight work schedule today and am now back in Seattle, believe it or not, after covering today's game. I had a feature-length story I had to basically write this afternoon as well as the game story. Not to mention a flight out of Texas that left at 6:40 p.m. local time. When the 4-3 win by the Mariners over the Texas Rangers went 12 innings and finished just before 5 p.m., it naturally had me scurrying. We don't get in to the clubhouse until 10 minutes after the game ends, so I had to scramble for some interviews, run upstairs, and finish writing the game story.

I was at my car by 5:25 p.m., then had to drive to the airport, through some rush hour traffic, drop the rental car off, take the shuttle over to the terminal, clear security and still make it for my on-time flight. Not really sure how I did it. I think a couple of traffic violations may have helped. Sorry, no video this time. Too much hurrying and would have been too dangerous to show you a real "getaway day" under pressure. But if you saw the last video, you'll know this was no cakewalk.

So, anyway, the Mariners did salvage the win today, with Miguel Cairo -- of all people -- coming through with that single in the 12th. And then there was Jarrod Washburn notching the save, allowing a walk in the 12th, but otherwise coming through. Washburn told me he's been working out with the bullpen guys the past two days. The M's decided earlier in the week to bump back his next start. With some off-days coming up, most of the rotation would have been working on seven days' rest at some point had the M's not pushed back somebody. So, Washburn was available out of the bullpen to notch his first career save.

"The adrenaline and stuff is a lot different,'' Washburn said of working in relief. "The rush you get from just being out there.''

1:15 p.m.: Carlos Silva left today's game with mild lower back tightness. But his team leads 3-2 as we enter the bottom of the eighth, having escaped a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the seventh on that double-play ball attained by Arthur Rhodes. It's rare to see this team pick up a teammate like the M's have done for Silva so far, scoring twice in the seventh to take the lead. This type of stuff has been lacking all season.

11:22 a.m.: We're back up, finally. I've got a ton of work to do here today and a feature due out in our paper for tomorrow, so my comments in-game are going to be sparse. I can tell you the Mariners' coaching staff had another long meeting with GM Bill Bavasi behind closed doors today. They are not happy with the defense, which committed four errors last night. They are making some re-adjustments to outfielder positioning -- hoping it will cut down on all those runners going first-to-third on singles. The outfielders will be playing more shallow than usual. If a ball gets over their heads, the attitude of the team now is so be it. They simply don't want all those extra bags taken.

Jeff Clement is in at catcher today. Kenji Johjima and his hot bat are at DH. Jamie Burke is the odd man out. Burke has been losing some playing time. The M's hope that Clement not having to DH all the time will help get his bat going.

On Felix Hernandez from last night. Those of you suggesting this is about me needing a quote from Hernandez to fill a story up are a tad off-base. It took twice as long for me to write that story the way I did than to simply plug in a few dial-a-quotes from the pitcher. This is about accountability. I find it hilarious that so many of you are quick to write in demanding answers for this season's failures, but are more than willing to let players slide when they feel they don't owe any. You'll have to make up your minds, please. You either want answers, or you don't. Can't have it both ways.

This is about accountability. We hear the M's constantly talking about how they are all accountable to one another. Then show it. A pitcher who is accountable does not leave it to his catchers to continuously answer questions about their performance. A pitcher who is accountable to his teammates does not place them at risk during a brawl by trying to continue it when he knows darned well those same teammates will never let him get within 20 feet of any serious punches.

Hernandez has not been accountable all week. To the media, his team's staffers, or his teammates. Performance-wise, his bullpen-weary club needed seven or eight innings last night. Not six.

If it irks some of you (and a few emails are telling me it does) that I am writing this about your favorite player, then so be it. Hernandez is certainly not the worst problem on this team. We've already identified plenty of those on a daily basis. But Hernandez hasn't helped his team much these last three starts when it truly mattered either. And he is 22. If a 22-year-old feels he doesn't have to be accountable to his teammates, figuring he can just trot Burke or whoever out there to do their talking for them, or prolong brawls on the field, then what does it say about the rest of this team's comfort level? Tells me it's a team that's a little too comfortable.

Who exactly are the Mariners, as an organization, accountable to? The fans? The media? Themselves? Who? If you can't handle these questions being asked, then maybe you should stop asking me why this team has played so poorly. Want to know why the team extended Kenji Johjima for three years? Simple. Because they felt like it, OK? What's it to you?

So, tell me...are you happy with that answer?

I've tried this week to give you some insight into what is actually going on in this clubhouse.

I realize, by now, as most of you have, that this offense is far worse than I'd ever imagined. To those of you who predicted that, congratulations. You were right. I was wrong. Now, let's move on because your job is only half done.

7:28 a.m.: It's now Wednesday morning. For all of you writing in, we've been having technical difficulties with the blog page since late last night, so we've posted last night's entry without the turn page so you can at least read it. The comments area is still down, but we hope to have it restored soon. Our apologies. No new blog posts until the problem is rectified. You can still catch my thoughts on my Talkin' Baseball segment on the Mitch in the Morning show on KJR AM 950 at 8:25 a.m.

A shot of Eddie Guardado, above, polishing off the M's in the ninth.

This is the eighth series in a row the Mariners will have failed to win, going down 5-2 tonight thanks largely to four errors by the Mariners and a catch not made in left field by Raul Ibanez. Ibanez dropping a Brandon Boggs double he had in his glove led to a second inning run for the Rangers. After the Mariners tied the game in the sixth, an Ibanez fielding error in the bottom of the inning helped the Rangers score the go-ahead marker.

Seattle nearly retook the lead in the eighth when Kenji Johjima was robbed at the center field wall by a leaping Josh Hamilton with Jose Lopez on base. But two more Seattle errors in the bottom of the inning helped put this one away as a Yuniesky Betancourt throw allowed Gerald Laird to reach first. An ensuing walk by Sean Green -- the sixth of the night issued by M's pitchers -- put two on and Wladimir Balentien promptly overran a single to right by Ramon Vazquez. That allowed one unearned run to score and another came home soon after on a sacrifice fly by Ian Kinsler.

Guardado came on to notch the save and rub some salt in the wound. That's 12 losses in 14 games. This season is crashing through the floor.

"It puzzles me a lot,'' Mariners manager John McLaren said of all the errors piling up for his team this season. "Because I think it's one of the big strengths of our ballclub. When we're trying to build our team around pitching, we need our defense.''

Ibanez said the double by Brandon Boggs was a tough ball to corral -- and he's right about that -- because it was slicing. He thought he'd caught it, but it popped out of his glove. Not much to say about his error on the Gerald Laird single later on. He bobbled it and it cost his team the go-ahead and decisive run.

I know there will be calls for Ibanez to be moved to a DH role, especially with all of those Ken Griffey Jr. rumors floating around. All I can say is, at least he came out and answered the questions.

Ibanez stood up and talked for several minutes about his play tonight and the state of the team in general. I asked him about the mood of the clubhouse and how a team avoids being plagued by fingerpointing and other stuff as losses mount.

"I don't think that's going to happen here,'' he said. "We win together, lose together, and that's the belief in the clubhouse. Guys are sticking together well in here.''

Ibanez talking isn't enough to justify an argument for keeping him in the field if the M's think they have someone better -- like Jeremy Reed, perhaps. But he does keep on hitting. And moving him to a DH role right now may not be the best thing for his bat. That's up to the M's to decide. if they think his hitting overrides his defense, then they'll keep him there. So far, despite him not making the tough catch on Boggs, or the easy play on Laird's hit, I still don't think they see it as all that serious.

Would have liked to ask Felix Hernandez about a few things -- since he did not get the job done for a third straight outing. The team was shorthanded in the bullpen tonight, especially with a day game tomorrow, and needed more out of him than the six laborious innings it got. Five walks helped do Hernandez in.

But Hernandez, unlike Ibanez, again did his best to avoid the media for as long as he could. He's been doing it all week, since helping to ignite that brawl with the Rangers. This time, he ignored a media relations staffer's repeated, polite requests to come talk, purposely hanging out in an off-limits area for 45 minutes after the game until all but a Seattle radio reporter had left. Writers have deadlines and pitchers are made well aware of them and usually come out to speak quickly unless they are receiving treatment. Media members will rarely linger in a clubhouse more than a half-hour after a game. Players don't like it. Neither do we.

But Hernandez was being purposely difficult, making a team employee chase him around. He did the same stuff to other employees in spring training and, I've got to admit, it bugs me to see a 22-year-old allowed to do that. Bugs me that anyone would, especially putting out employees of his team doing their jobs. His team, not mine. I know how much talent Hernandez has, but he has accomplished very little in this game. And in 11 years of doing this, I've yet to see a 22-year-old pitcher act this way unless he's been badly burned by somebody. He hasn't been,.far as I know.

I got some Hernandez quotes run up to me from when he finally did emerge from hiding. But I'm not going to use them. He uttered something about keeping his team in the game, then insisted he was aggressively attacking the strike zone.

McLaren didn't think Hernandez was attacking the zone aggressively. The five walks Hernandez issued sort of back that theory up.

Whatever. They can fight it out. Hernandez is a struggling third-year starter on a last-place team. Wake me up when I'm supposed to care. All I know is, a lot of you write in here demanding accountability from this team and its players, especially considering how disappointing it's been.

I don't see a whole lot of accountability. Saw some from Ibanez tonight. Not from Hernandez. A guy in his early 20s. Apparently, he has no answering to do. Do the M's care? Who knows? Some of you won't care, and will try to dismiss this as a sour grapes media thing or a favoring vets over rookies thing. What can I tell you? It is what it is. Hernandez is what he is. I'm sure he'll be great someday. Then again, I thought the M's would be great this year. One never knows what the future holds.

Until that future materializes in a glowing way, it's always best to stay humble. Especially on a team that's 15-26. Have a good night. And Happy Felix Day!

7:44 p.m.: Tough break for Seattle in the eighth inning as Kenji Johjima came about a foot away from hitting a go-ahead two-run homer, only to be robbed at the wall by a leaping Josh Hamilton. That's the way things have gone for this team of late. One last chance for Seattle. Ichiro has a 12-game hitting streak on the line and will hit third in the ninth. Rangers still leading 3-2 as we enter the bottom of the eighth. Felix Hernandez was pulled, naturally, after the sixth. A slightly better effort from him and Raul Ibanez in the field tonight and Seattle might be leading.

A look, below, at Mariners GM Bill Bavasi watching his players taking batting practice earlier today.