Okay this is more like it. Yes, it’s against the Rangers, but any offense right now is good offense. The Mariners are going to face nothing but cellar or near cellar dwellers for the next three weeks and it is time to get things going.

I think it got to the point of ridiculous in New York. I think Mac had his say on Saturday, and then it was time to settle down. Maybe three hits and two runs in the first will be the first step in settling down. Against a righty too who the Mariners have been struggling mightily against.

Carlos Silva said something interesting after the loss Sunday in New York. He said that even though he was hit hard he was not going to change anything. Coming from another team with fresh eyes he couldn’t believe how quick many of the Mariners were to try and change things once they ran into a struggle. I’ve seen this before with individuals. They struggle, they change their hands, their stance, their approach, only to continue to struggle, get frustrated and ultimately go back to what they were doing in the first place.

I think this is what has been going on with Johjima. After his two day vacation (that’s what Boonie used to call short benchings) he said he had to get back to what he was, an aggressive, first swing hitter. I guess sometimes you don’t know what you got until it’s gone and an aggressive Joh who often pops up on the first pitch but hits .285 with 17 bombs is much better than a .177 hitting Joh who does nothing. Not every hitter can be changed.

Tonight collectively the M’s got it done. Only one walk off the starter but they got his pitch count up early and got him out early. Richie in one of his better strike outs (seriously) saw ten pitches after starting out 0-2. The kids, Wlad and Clement, seemed to settle down after extra work before the game. Ichiro realized that it was May and kept hitting while Raul and Lopez continued to do what they have all season. Not bad.

One of the best sights, Sean Green striking out the side. JJ was still a bit shaky, but now that we are acknowledging that after the injury he will not just bounce back to what he was right away, I would say there was progress. Mac admitted that he is still a bit short on velocity, but he did seem to take a step in the right direction.

My only concern coming out of the game is Washburn. Mac said confidently that he believed he would make his next start. We were told that it was tightness in his right calf. Jarrod used words that left me concerned. He said twice he felt a “pop”. He also mentioned that this happened to him when he was with the Angels and that he missed time. The only thing that makes me think that the words may not have jived with what was going on with the leg was that while the words were troublesome, Wash did not look too worried. We will know more tomorrow.