Nice iron glove, Beltre.

I could only stomach listening to the first three innings of tonight's game before deciding that American Idol was a much better entertainment option. (Only two weeks left! C'mon Catherine!) In that span, however, I was lucky enough to listen to Beltre let a ball trickle through his legs for an error. That error would've been the third out of the inning, and came after a dynamite strikeout of Eric Chavez by Felix Hernandez that was nothing more than a battle of wills. However, instead of ending the inning on a high note, Beltre's seventh E of the season resulted in a run-scoring single by Jay Payton followed by a grand slam home run hit by Adam Melhuse (!!!!) before the bleeding could be stopped. All told, only one of the five runs scored in that inning were earned, thanks to Beltre's glove.

Of course, we can't blame this horrible blow-out of a loss against the A's, who beat the M's 12-6, entirely on the shoulders of Adrian Beltre (who went 0-for-3 at the plate, btw). Is it just me, or does Felix Hernandez seem very hittable and, well, ordinary? Where's this much-hyped phenom, the second coming of Christ, I mean Dwight Gooden, that I kept hearing about all spring? Prior to the game, opponents were hitting .277 against "King" Felix. After giving up 11 hits in four innings, that opponent's average against now sits at a hefty .376. Deserving of those pre-season baseball magazine covers, indeed.

I mean, when you're a hefty 20-year old grooving cookies that get turned into grand slams by the likes Adam Freakin' Melhuse, aren't you not much better than your typical AAAA player? For all the talk of Mariners' top-rated pitching prospects that never got to see the light of day with the big-league club (Ryan Anderson, I'm looking in your direction) if the results would've been any similar, then I'm glad the front office decided on the various Fasseros, Bosios, and Slocumbs rather than home-groans over the years.

Oh well. The A's had been sitting on Felix's fastballs all night. When they come to expect those, that's when they tend to not be so challenging. And it sure wasn't for Melhuse.

Tomorrow the Mariners face the knee-buckling (or very hittable) curve of Barry Zito, who is still an Athletic, at least for this month. Adrian Beltre has a .250 career average against Zito, so don't expect much from AB's bat. And here's hoping that his glove doesn't fail him again.