The disparity between the bullpens for the marienrs and the Rangers couldn't be more stark then what was on display in this afternoon's game. After jumping out to a 4-1 lead over Gil Meche and the Mariners after four innings, the Mariners' bats exploded for nine runs in betwen the fifth and eighth innings. Meanwhile, the Mariners' bull-pen allowed just one run during that span, and the tandem of Fruto-Sherill-Huber combined retire the last 14 Royals batters in a row.

The Mariners once again reached double figures in base-hits, as they have done in every game of this series. Five Mariners batters had multiple hits, including Ichiro, who with two hits to reamin tied with the Rangers' Michael Young for the league-lead with 203. Chris Snelling and Kenji Johjima both hit two-run home-runs in the ballgame- the third on the year for Snelling, and the 17th for Johjima, who will more than likely be sadly over-looked in the Rookie of the Year voting- with both home-runs coming in the late rally against the Royals' sorry bullpen. Beltre had a single and a walk in four at-bats as his average stays at .262.

Considering that the M's batted .353, slugged .533, and scored 33 runs in this four-game series, it's hard to believe that they merely managed a split. But the M's pitching staff hardly took advantage during this series, as the M's arms allowed a .302 average, .504 slugging, and 30 runs allowed during the four games. In today's ball-game, far from being any sort of match-up of two starters on strong streaks, instead Gil Meche just pitched good enough to win. In six innings, Meche allowed nine hits, two walks, and five runs, but as it was said on the post-game show, "Meche has pitched good enough to win and lost at points this season, so we'll take it." With his eleventh win on the season, Meche has reached his second-most total in his career as he contineus to seek a big off-season free-agent contract, either offered by the Mariners or whoever puts a bid in for his services.

In contrast, Runelvys Hernandez may not have pitched that horribly- and he avoided picking up the loss- but by allowing four runs in 4.2 innings, it was hardly as strong a start that Hernandez has been pitching for the Royals over the past month or so.

Here's hoping the Mariners' hot bats continue into the next series versus the Rangers- and that the pitching staff can offer some performances that will take advantage of any hot hitting. In the 13 games between the two clubs so far this year, with Texas winning nine against the M's so far, the Mariners have done a respectable job scoring against the Rangers, averaging an exact five runs a game. The problem is that the M's pitching staff has allowed an exact six runs per game. Both the M's offense and pitching against the Rangers has been wildly erratic this year. Back in May, two days after being shut-out 2-0 by John Rheinecker, the M's scored 14 runs to help Felix Hernandez win a 14-5 ball-game. And who can forget back in August when Joel Pineiro kept the Rangers scoreless through five innings before allowing six runs in 1.1 innings?

Felix takes the mound for the first game of the series tomorrow night, hoping to supplied once again with a barrage of Mariner offensive heroics. That 14-5 win was Felix's only victory in four tries versus this year, to go along with two losses. However, in his most recent start against Texas- which also was his last start over-all a week ago- Felix allowed one run in 5.2 innings and didn't get the decision in a 5-2 Rangers victory. In six career starts versus the Rangers, Felix has some pretty lousy numbers, with a 6.03 ERA in 34.1 innings, and allowing 53 base-runners during that span. Michael Young and Gary matthews Jr. have particualrly given the young King fits, by combining to hit .424 (14-for-33) off Felix, with nine RBIs (Matthew has seven of those). However, luckily for Felix, although the top of the order has seemed to have figured Felix out, it can't be said the same about the middle of the line-up, as Mark Teixiera and Hank Blalock have combined to hit .129 with 10 strikeouts in 31 at-bats.

Kevin Millwood, who picked up the loss despite allowing just three runs in six innings versus the Mariners last week, takes the mound for the Rangers. Despite picking up the loss, Millwood's career record versus the Mariners now stands at 4-2, and his career ERA is lowered to 3.92. Indeed, in that last game versus the M's, Millwood was one three-run home-run from Johjima away from shutting the Mariners out through six innings. Johjima now owns a career 1.091 OPS against Millwood, the second highest of any Mariner off Kevin, right behind Ben Broussard who has hit a home-run in seven career at-bats for a 1.232 OPS. Richie Sexson enjoys batting against Millwood as well, with a .984 career OPS in 29 at-bats and though he may lack the gaudy power numbers his teammates may have against Millwood, Beltre owns a .273 career average off Millwood in 33 at-bats.

On the surface, Millwood versus Felix sounds like it has the makings of a low-scoring tight-knit ball-game. But those are very rare in Arlington. Instead, I do predict the M's bats to continue to rake and score runs, but I also expect Felix to allow some crooked numbers as well. And since they're playing a team in their own division, I'm going to have to give the edge to the Rangers. 12-8 is my stab at the final score in favor of the Rangers, with Pinero, during junk time, allowing the game to get away from any chance of a comeback...