There’s no soft way to put, or Putz, it. The Mariners bullpen lost the game tonight. Could this be a sign of things to come?

Felix Hernandez (King Felix) pitched very well, going 7 innings and only giving up a lone run while striking out 3.

However, once he exited, the game took a turn for the worst. O’Flaherty came in and promptly gave up two runs over three hits. The M’s stormed back in the bottom of the 8th to take the lead. All is well with closer J.J. Putz coming in right? Wrong.

Putz instantly gave up the lead by surrendering a 2-run jack. M’s lose.

MLB bettors need to be cautious when Hernandez is on the mound in 2008.

April 2007 was a magical month for A-Rod. He was a media darling. However, he started to fade late in the month and so far in May 2007 Alex Rodriguez has been off the radar. How bad is it? It’s not good.

In fact, it’s really bad when you consider that the Yankees have been playing a soft schedule of late. Their last 13 games have been against the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers—two clubs not going anywhere.

The Mariners have a team ERA of 4.91 and the Rangers have a team ERA of 5. One would suspect that A-Rod launched some shots out of the yard over the past two weeks. Ah, but you’d be mistaken.

Thanks to their 12-3 win over Seattle and LA Angels 5-2 loss against Texas on Tuesday, the Oakland A’s have won the AL West division. They are going back to the playoffs. In reality, they have been expected to clinch for about a week or so, but the Angels kept winning and hanging around. It’s official now. The Angels season is over and the A’s are in the show.

Today’s game between these two was close until the latter part of the game. Actually, the Orioles were up 3-0 going into the top of the 6th inning. The Mariners managed to score 3 runs and tie it. In the top of the 7th, the Mariners scored two more. The Orioles got one back, so it was 5-4. The key inning proved to be the 8th. The Mariners scored 4 runs in the top of the 8th and put this game out of reach. Adding insurance in the 9th, gave the Mariners a 10-5 win.

The Seattle Mariners, behind pitching sensation Felix “King” Hernandez beat the Boston Red Sox today with some late game scoring. The game was all tied after three innings of play and stayed that way until the seventh when the Mariners scored a run to go up 3-2. They added two insurance runs in the eight.

The Detroit Tigers come into Seattle having lost 2 of 3 in Oakland. They are now just 1 game in front of very hot Chicago. The Mariners have lost 4-4 and are now just 5-5 over their last 10. The Angels came in and cooled their jets by sweeping them. Seattle finds themselves basically 4 games behind Oakland and in a crucial series. Last night Oakland beat LA. Should Seattle have an off series, they could end up being 5-7 games behind Oakland by the All Star break.

It was the worst-case scenario for the Mariners—a sweep. Before the series started, the Mariners were sitting just one game back of Oakland. Oakland was going into a series with Detroit and things looked great. Sure, the season is not over, but the Mariners have not been in first place at this point or later in the season for some time. With attendance at Safeco Field dwindling—still good numbers though—it is vital that this team shows some life soon.

The LA Angels are in Seattle to face the Mariners in what could turn out to be a defining moment for the AL West. The Mariners are just one game back of division leading Oakland and the Angels have managed to get within five games. Meanwhile, Oakland is at home facing one of the best teams in baseball, Detroit. It’s possible that Oakland loses two of those games and perhaps gets swept. They just got swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Seattle Mariners, who are red hot right now, have made a move to help their DH position. In a deal hot off the presses, the Mariners have acquired Eduardo Perez from the Indians. It’s not known what the Mariners gave up for Perez, but it was most likely something very minor.

Last night game one went ten innings. The Padres scored in the bottom of the tenth to win 2-1. As a result, the Padres are one full game up on the Dodgers for first place in the NL West. The Mariners are now five games back. Last night Linebrink got the win and Mateo got the loss. The Mariners have had two low scoring games in a row now. The trend points to them scoring some runs tonight and Chan Ho Park may just be the pitcher to serve up the tasty treats. The under/over is 7.5. I had to do a double take on this figure. Are they serious? Well, let’s see how this number holds up.