Sheesh.

It's like God himself interferred with tonight's game.

I mean, the east coast has been hit hard by a dry, humid, overwhleming heat spell for a while now- until when? Until the bottom of the ninth inning, when the sudden downpour caused J.J. Putz to be unable to grip the baseball to have control of his pitches, and the falshes of lighting blinded the umpire's eyes, causing a missed call at first place, allowing the Yankees to make up a two-run deficit.

Thanks, God.

How often do you get a two-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth in Yankee Stadium, with your ace closer on the mound and the Yanks undoubtedly on the ropes? Obviously, it's quite clear that you can't take that position for granted, as the Mariners snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in tonight's game.

Sigh.

So that extends the M's losing streak on the road to four games. As Danthemanusual has pointed out, a loss is still a loss regardless of how tough the M's play. I mean, on one hand, at least the M's aren't getting blown out aginst these teams from the AL East, down 8-1 by the third inning orsomething and not giving a reason for their fans to follow the games to be played out. On the other hand, when you consider the M's won-loss record now stands at 8-16, it sure would be nice if there was a fity-fity chance that they could come out on top of these one-run games. But sadly, that is not the case.

Sometimes blow-outs are a lot less heart-renching.

The highlight of the M's road trip would definitely be the team's starting pitching. Besides a hiccup by Jamie Moyer on Saturday, the team has had a string of quality starts, sometimes from unlikely sources, such as from Joel Pineiro in today's ballgame, who I thought would be eaten alive by the Yankees. What is intersting about Jamie's Saturday start was that he went into the ballgame receiving the lowest run support in the league at 3.83 runs per start, nearly a half-run less than the next hard-luck pitcher. So what happens when the team scores 6 runs for him, nearly two more than their average? Why, Moyer responds by giving up six in return. If this is how he misuses his run support, perhaps we shouldn't bemoan the lack of support Jamie has gotten so far this year.

Besides Moyer's start, during theroad trip the M's starting pitching have combined to pitch 25 innings, allowing 29 hits, six walks, fifteen strikeouts, and a 3.60 ERA. And they only have a 1-1 record to show for it.

Indeed, it's not the Mariners' pitching that is at fault for its latest slide into mediocrity. Instead, it is in the emptiness of the Mariners' bats, with their inability to get a Big Hit when the game is on the line. Jose Lopez was the club's "Mr. Clutch" the first two months of the season, but has provided all of one RBI so far in July. Richie Sexson, unable to knock in any runners home in two back-to-back extra innings losses to the Blue Jays, provided the 'Big Hit' in today's ballgame, a three-run home-run in the top half of the first inning, exactly when the big hits matter the least.

Still, it looked as if that three-run home-run was going to provide the Mariners with what they needed to scratch out a victory as they headed into the bottom of the ninth, but instead God decided that the Mariner's bullpen should try to close it out admidst a monsoon. Frickin' Yankee mystique. Mystique? More like my stick up your ass....

Beltre has gone 3-for-14 the past three games, and his bat's disappearance has obviously not exactly prevented the Mariners from sliding further down the once-close standings. That brings his July average to .218 and, once again, it's been nearly a month since AB's last home-run, hit June 20th versus the Dodgers. (Remember the Dodgers series? Remember how fun that was? Sigggghhhhhh......)

Tomorrow has the looks of a pitching duel, with Gil Meche taking the mound against the tall lanky left-hander with one of the worst nicknames in baseball history, Randy Johnson aka "the Big Unit." It is time for Meche, who appears to have claimed the title of "ace of the Mariners" to show that he is, indeed, a stopper and can put an end to this losing strak and provide the first victory since the last time he pitched. Nothing less than a complete game shut-out will suffice (wink wink).

Meche has solid numbers versus the Yankees, with a 3-2 record and 4.01 ERA in eight career outings. A-Rod, of course, has hit Meche hard with a .353 batting average and 1.468 OPS in 17 career at-bats against Gil, so expect some offensive heroics from Alex tomorrow. On the other hand, Meche has all but shut down otehr big boppers in the Yankees' line-up, with Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, Derek Jeter, and Bernie Williams combining to go 14-for-60 off of Gil. So, hopefully Meche can keep the rest of the Yankees' line-up in check despite what Alex does.

The Unit, on the other hand, has all but dominated Seattle in the three career starts he has pitched against them. Along with his 3-0 record, Johnson carries a 1.13 ERA and has 24 strikeouts in 24 innings. Beltre has by far the most experience facing Johnson, tracing back to their days in the NL West, and in 58 career at-bats versus RJ, Beltre has a .224 batting average with three home-runs and 16 strike-outs. As could be expected, most of the batters on the current Mariners roster have pretty pathetic numbers versus Johnson, save Eduardo Perez, who has not only been able to hit RJ, but hit him hard. In 29 career at-bats, Perez has been able to hit .310 off Johnson, along with four home runs for a 1.153 OPS. If Everett is starting at DH tomorrow over Perez, then Hargrove doesn't know what the fawk he's doing.

Final score? 3-0 Yankees. Oh, heck. Let's say Eduardo is the starting DH. Then it'll end up 3-1....