--DH Jose Vidro missed most of the last week with back problems and was out of the lineup again Sunday. He had a cortisone shot Saturday, however, and he's expected to be in the lineup Monday with Seattle sorely needing some offense with 1B Richie Sexson serving a five-game suspension.
--LF Raul Ibanez's home run in the third inning pushed the Mariners into the first lead they'd had since Monday. For Ibanez, his sixth home run was his first since April 12. And it was his fifth career homer on a 3-0 count.
--CF Ichiro Suzuki has been on something of a stolen base tear. His steal in the third inning Sunday was his 16th of the season. He's had at least one steal in three consecutive games and in eight of the last 11. He also is riding an 11-game hitting streak and has hit in every game in May, which historically is his best month (.370).
--2B Jose Lopez has moved from the No. 2 spot in the batting order to No. 5. Part of that is the need for the Mariners to make up for the loss of regular No. 5 hitter Richie Sexson, but part also is that Lopez is having a better year offensively than most of his teammates. In his first six plate trips batting fifth, Lopez had a single, a double, a triple and a sacrifice fly.
--1B Richie Sexson was handed a six-game suspension for charging the mound against Texas LHP Kason Gabbard and throwing his batting helmet at him. After an appeal, the suspension was reduced to five games, meaning Sexson won't play again until Friday against San Diego.
--RHP Brandon Morrow, who threw a scoreless eighth Sunday, lowered his ERA to 1.23. He's appeared in 10 games this season and has been scored on just once. He struck out DH Jim Thome of the White Sox with a 97 mph fastball Sunday, but he credited part of that to his use earlier in the count of a changeup he's going to more and more often.
BY THE NUMBERS 27 -- The number of times CF Ichiro Suzuki has had a hitting streak of 10 or more games in his career. He comes into Monday with an 11-game streak, currently the longest in the AL.
QUOTE TO NOTE "We've got to do this ourselves. No one's going to do it for us." -- Manager John McLaren on the Mariners' need to dig themselves out of last place in the American League West.
Copyright (C) 2008 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.
Just another reminder that Dave Niehaus gets inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this weekend. A well deserved honor going to a great Mariner fan. "My, oh, my" what a great day for him and for all baseball fans in the Northwest.
Does there ever come a time as a fan where you know that you are hoplessly out of it? And you just stop really routing for your team to win? In this case the Mariners. You want them to do good. However, you know deep down inside that it might be in the teams best interest to lose. Now I'm not saying rout against them, or anything like that
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