Okay, so I wrote a really long post after Wedensday's triumph of the M's over the Blue Jays, and in it I previewed this evening's Felix Hernandez-Jeremy Sowers match-up. After I finished, however, blogger crapped out and me and I wasn't going to spend another hour re-typing the post.

It's a shame, however, because in my write-up I stated "Sowers is the type of pitcher who can easily extend his scoreless inning streak against the Mariners." Which is exactly what he did, tossing a five-hit shut-out of our beloved, beleaguered Mariners. This was Sowers' second consecutive shut-out, coming on the heels of a four-hit shut-out of the white-hot Minnesota Twins. The Twins have lost less than ten games in the past month-and-a-half, and one of their losses was a shut-out at the hands of Sowers. You think there is something special about this kid?

Not to get lost in the hoopla, however, was a decent outing by Felix. Not great, but definitely veered from medicore territory. Felix allowed only one run over six innings, though he did get into a lot of trouble as the 108 pitches thrown and six walks allowed can attest to. However, what was impressive about Felix's outing was that though he was constantly in trouble with runners on base, Felix was able to buckle down, throw the pitches he needed to, and escape with no self-inflicted damamge. Mostly.

Felix's bout of wildness proved to be his undoing. With two outs in the sixth inning, Felix fell behind 3-0 to former Tacoma teammate Shin-Soo Choo, who promptly deposited Felix's next offering over the fence. Cleveland just received Choo in a trade to the M's for Ben Broussard, and Choo thanks his former team for trading him by hitting his first career home-run against them. And that would be all the scoring in the game as Jeremy Sowers became the latest left-handed master pitcher to befuddle the M's bats.

Adrian Beltre picked up two of the Mariners' five singles, and with his night AB is now batting .333 (13-for-39) over a nine-game hitting streak. This brings AB's batting average up to a season-high- !!!!- of .264. Also, Beltre's first inning single almost gave the M's an early 1-0 lead, as Ichiro was on second when Beltre singled into left field. Ichiro attempted to score, but Beltre just hit the ball too_dang_hard, and Ichiro was thrown out at the plate. AB took second on the throw, and that would be the last time a Mariner batter saw second base in today's ballgmae.

Tomorrow the pitching match-up is Jarrod Washburn versus Jake Westbrook. At one point in this season, I thought Jarrod might be able to salvage something and make that big contract he signed in the off-season look almost redeemable. Indeed, Jarrod had a 3.61 ERA in early May, his win-loss record being done in by the lack of run support from his team. Since then, however, Jarrod has been atrocious, with a 5.17 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. Jarrod has avergae career numbers versus the Indians- 6-6 record with a 4.94 ERA- with Travis Hafner brutalizing him for a .471 average and a 1.559 OPS in 17 at-bats, with three home-runs. Ronnie Belliard (.353) and Victor Marteniz (.375) also enjoy hitting the fly-ball left-hander, though Washburn has been able to keep Casey Blake (.222) and Jhonny Peralta (.200) in check.

Jake Westbrook, on the other hand, has been roughed up pretty bad by the Mariners in his career, sporting an ugly 8.27 ERA against the M's. And knowing that Westbrook has given up 12 earned runs over 15.2 innings over his last three starts, there are some good indications that the M's bats will rise from the slumber that was induced by Sowers' hypnotizing high-80s fastball. Beltre has two hits- including a double- in seven career at-bats against Westbrook, and when looking at how other Mariners batters have fared against Jake, it appears the ones that gave him the most fits are no longer playing for Seattle (Edgar, Everett...). Jake has done quite nicely keeping Ichiro (.227 in 22 at-bats) and Raul Ibanez (.286 in 21 at-bats) in check. Even so, here's hoping that Westbrook's string of poor starts will continue in tomorrow's game.

Prediction? Slugfest, 9-7 final score. But I don't think the M's will come out on top. In fact, I don't like the chances of the M's taking a game in this series. (And of course, I am merely saying that so I can be proven wrong.)