Obviously, it takes facing a future first-ballot Hall of Famer for the M's to break out of their offensive funk.

For the second time in his career, Greg "Mad Dog" Maddux, faced the Mariners, and for the second time in his career he came away with a loss. This time it was at the hands of a vicious 7-4 pounding. The Mariners limited Maddux to 3.2 innings, his shortest outing since May 8, 2006 when he faced the Padres as a member of the Chicago Cubs' pitching staff. During his brief outing in last night's ballgame, Maddux allowed seven runs- all earned- on twelve hits. Maddux entered the game with a 31-7 SO-to-BB ratio and is known for his impeccable control throughout his storied career. Part of the danger, however, of being consistently around the plate is that if the other team's batters go on the offensive- as the hack-tastic Mariners tend to do practically every night- they'll potentially hammer Maddux's offerings, as was the case last night. Of the 22 batters Maddux faced, six swung at the first pitch and five of those reached safely. The Mariners batters who had a history of facing Maddux from the National League- Vidro, Guillen, and Beltre- combined to go 6-for-12 in last night's ballgame, scoring four runs and knocking in six with one double and two home-runs.

Obviously a far cry from what was expected from Maddux in last night's game. Beating up Maddux gives me an idea to see how the Mariners have fared against Hall of Fame pitchers in the franchise's history. That'll be another blog post...

Once again at a start in Safeco Field, Horacio Ramirez pitched very effectively, tossing six innings and allowing eight baserunners and three runs. And the M's crackerjack bullpen effectively quelled any chances the padres had of getting back into the game.

Today's rubber game fields a match-up of young starters for both sides. Justin Germano, who just a couple of weeks ago was twirling his way to a 4-0, 1.69 record San Diego's AAA franchise in Portland- takes the hill for San Diego for his third start of the season. It appears that Germano's minor-league success has been able to translate favorable into the majors, as in his two starts so far he has allowed seven baserunners and one run in thirteen innings, including seven innings of scoreless ball against the woeful St. Louis Cardinals' offense last Sunday. Germano has never faced the Mariners in his career, so don't be surprised if he tosses seven scoreless innings against them in today's game.

King Felix takes the mound for the Mariners in their attempt to take the series. In his second game back from missing a month due to elbow soreness, Felix's leash will be extended a little further for tonight's game, with his limit being kept at 85-90 pitches. Let's see if he can minimize the control problems that he had in last week's start versus the Angels, and see if he can complete five innings. Regardless, although Felix did pick up a victory in last season's start against the Padres, it came despite his best efforts to give the game away, as he allowed seven runs in six innings.

Don't back on Felix dialing in a dominating performance in today's ballgame- it's doubtful that he's 100% yet. And as Germano is a greenhorn making his first appearance against the Mariners, I always have to give a nod in that direction. Prediciton of the final score: 6-2, Padres.