There has to be some point where its asked why the M's even play the A's this season. Wouldn't the time be better spent working on fundamentals, perhaps some extra batting practice? All of the rest of the games between the two teams this season could be 9-0 victories in favor of Oakland, and the Mariners could get prepared to play teams they have a chance of winning. Oh, but wait- that would deny Mariner fans the opportunity to see how the Mariners figure a different way to lose against the A's.

The season series stands at 1-14. Forgive me if I never want to see a frickin' green and gold uniform for months. That is, until the Mariners' front office get some players on their roster that can, oh I don't know, beat the frickin' A's!

Perhaps the only good thing that came out of last night's 11-2 drubbing was that Joel Pineiro punched his ticket out of town. Look, it's bad enough that you give up five straight baserunenrs with two outs- consecutive walks to Mark Kotsay and Milton Bradley, followed by run-scoring hits from Frank Thomas and Eric Chavez before another walk to Jay Payton- but to do that against a division rival as your season slips further away into meaninglessness? That's nothing short of pathetic. When you get out-pitched by Kirk Saarloos, then the promise that was once present in Joel Pineiro is obviously spent.

Joel's contract ends after 2006. It's time for him to leave Seattle and find a role doing mop-up duty for some team elsewhere.

As if it matters, Beltre extended his hitting streak to eleven games with a sixth-inning single. He is hitting .289 and slugging .578 during that span. At least somebody in the Mariners' line-up is putting forth an effort to beat their division rivals.

Today the inevitable sweep will be concluded at the hands of Dan Haren, who has a 4-1 lifetime record and 3.35 ERA against the Mariners. Beltre has hit Haren pretty good in their career match-ups- .400 in 20 at-bats, with half of the hits going for extra bases. Raul Ibanez and Ichiro have also hit Haren well, combining to hit .306 off haren in 36 at-bats, with five extra base-hits. No matter. Considering the way this season has progressed, I wager you'll be able to count the number of hits the Mariners will get against haren on one hand. And Sexson (1-for-15 lifetime against haren) and Broussard (1-for-12) will lead the parade of futility.

Gil Meche is the latest M's pitcher to be thrown under the wheels of the "unstoppable" A's machine. (If you look at their aggregate numbers- with an offense worse than kansas City's- it is quite clear that the A's are the worst good team in the league.) At one time being lauded as the M's "ace" by this very blog, Meche has transformed into mediocre Meche that Mariner fans have become used to over the years. on July 14, Meche stymied the Blue Jay's awesome offense for three runs over six innings, and was sitting pretty with a 9-4 record and a 3.87 ERA. A month later, meche hasn't won since, dropped his record to 9-7 and his ERA has risen 70 points to 4.58. Any hopes Meche had of parlaying this season into a huge off-season contract is pretty much kaput.

The only hope Meche has in tonight's game is to not punch his ticket out of town a la Pineiro, and make it so the Marienrs keep a modicum of interest in re-signing him during the off-season. (Because you have to admit even if the M's don't re-sign Meche as a free agent, they'll be forced to sign an even worse pitcher than Meche in his stead. And that thought sends shudders down my spine.) Not surprising, given the A's dominance of the M's in recent years, Meche has his second highest number of career losses against one team versus the A's, coming into today's game with a 2-6 record, though he does sport a decent 4.39 ERA against them. Eric Chavez has been a particular thorn in Meche's side, hitting .333 with three home runs (and seven walks) in 27 career at-abts versus Gil. As Chavez has struggled this year with injuries, I'd look for Marco Scutaro and Frank Thomas to wield the big bats in today's game. Scutaro's hit .333 in 15 at-bats, while in ten career at-bats, Thomas has hit .300 with a home-run.

Meche has been the only Mariner pitcher to beat the A's this year, winning the first match-up before the 14 game losing streak. Still, this year he has managed only a 5.23 ERA in a little over ten innings, so don't expect any magic agaisnt Oakland today. I think with such a build-up like this, I envision the only way the Marienrs can beat the A's would involve a 19-0 no-hit shut-out victory. And I find that highly unlikely.

Guess on final score? 5-1, A's (of course).