As suspected, the Mariners' succumbed to the lethal left arm of Johann Santana, losing to Minnesota 5-1. Santana struck out nine batters in seven innings, with Adrian Beltre being three of those strikeouts. To be fair, Santana pretty much put on a pitching clinic against the Mariners, but Beltre's dubious hat trick was his first of the season, struggles or no. The Mariners could've made it a close game out of it, as the first three batters got hits in the top of the first: a triple by Ichiro, and RBI single from Willie Bloomquist, followed by a single by Raul Ibanez. Sexson, Everett, and AB proceeded to then strike out, nullifying whatever momentum the Marienrs had in the early going.

Beltre had anotehr field day with runners on, going 0-for-4 with those three mentioned strikeouts, leaving six runners on base. To be fair, Santana pretty much put on a pitching clinic against the Mariners, but Beltre's dubious hat trick was his first of the season, struggles or no. I'll have to do a check on whether there is a site that tracks league-leaders of leaving men on base, as I'm sure Adrian Beltre ranks near the top of that list.

I filled out my first MLB All-Star ballot, and of course I marked Beltre as my choice for American League 3B. If he is, as isuspect, the league leader in leaving men on, that should be heralded to some regard. Oh sure, some may aruge that Eric Chavez or Alex Rodriguez may be better qualified to man the hot corner for the AL in the All-Star but I dismissall that talk as crazy nonsense...

The Mariners go to the Windy City for a three-game series against the World Champion White Sox, which they took two of three from at Safeco last week. Beltre went 1-for-10 in that series with 2 RBIs. Tonight they face pot-smoker and ex-Mariner Freddy Garcia, who Beltre has an empty career average of .250 against. So don't expect much from Beltin' Beltre the next few days.