First sweep, now tough road stretch for M's

These are heady days for the Mariners -- roaring crowds at Safeco Field savoring an unexpected pennant race, which advanced smoothly this weekend with a sweep of the disintegrating (and apparently disinterested) White Sox.

But now yet another challenge awaits the M's after Sunday's 11-5 victory over Chicago before a sellout throng of 45,668, putting them a season-high 17 games over .500.

It was a win that featured five runs batted in from Jose Guillen and just enough from a hot-and-cold Felix Hernandez through 6-1/3 innings to keep the White Sox at bay.

The Mariners now face a daunting stretch in which they play 17 of their next 20 games on the road, starting tonight with the opener of a three-game series in Minnesota.

"It's not something you're crazy about, but we're going to make it into a positive," Mariners manager John McLaren said. "We'll be together as a group.

"We know it's ahead of us, we know it's a challenge. There's no use dwelling on it. It's something we've got to do. We just have to stay together, be mentally tough, and make the most of it."

It is a three-week ordeal that bookends a critical three-game island of a showdown at Safeco Field next Monday through Wednesday against the Los Angeles Angels, and it is rife with potential danger.

There are three games in Arlington, Texas, against the Rangers, who swept an earlier four-game series at Ameriquest Field, just as they did last year to all but end Seattle's playoff hopes.

There is yet another grueling detour to Cleveland for the latest installment of the makeup series from hell.

There are three games in Toronto against a Blue Jays team pitching as well as anyone in the second half. There is a vital three-game series at Yankee Stadium against Seattle's main wild-card rivals, who happen to be the hottest team in baseball since the All-Star break. All that, and three games in Detroit against the defending AL champions to close it out.

"It's going to be very interesting what happens from here on in," said Jose Vidro. "We don't have a lot of days off for rest. What we do have is a lot of good guys on the bench, so Mac can give some guys rest.

"Mac has the cards to play. Hopefully, he shuffles it around pretty good and everyone gets a piece of the action."

Vidro is alluding to the fact that the Mariners are three games into a grueling stretch of 20 games in a row, and 37 in 38 days.

In fact, they have just two more scheduled off days all season -- Sept. 6, between the Yankees and Tigers road series; and Sept. 24, before a four-game series against Cleveland that will feature a doubleheader on the second day to complete the snowed-out series in April.

"We all like to grind, and this is definitely going to be a long grind," McLaren said. "I take it into a positive. We've got a close-knit group. I look to play good baseball, and they're going to be even closer, because they're going to be together all the time.

"The stretch has started. We started it off on a positive note."

Once again, the Mariners punished the plummeting White Sox for their numerous mistakes. Starter Jon Garland -- a rumored Mariners target at the trade deadline -- wasn't sharp to begin with, giving up homers to Guillen and Adrian Beltre in the first inning, and lurching forward from there.

Garland gave up 10 hits in 2-2/3 innings and ultimately was done in by his defense. A two-out error by shortstop Juan Uribe in the third inning led to five unearned runs that gave Hernandez a 10-2 cushion. The rally featured Ichiro's two-run single, and three straight walks and a wild pitch from reliever Ryan Bukvich as the White Sox clinched their eighth straight loss.

"We're that type of team -- we can explode like that," said catcher Jamie Burke. "We can do that type of thing. We all clicked today. It was kind of fun."

Hernandez, 9-6, wasn't particularly sharp, giving up 10 hits and five runs (four earned), but he didn't have to be.

"That's what I have to do -- fight and fight and fight when you don't have your stuff under control," said Hernandez. "I felt good. I just had a little trouble with command of my breaking pitch. Not a big deal, but I was just fighting it."

Hernandez thought that the Mariners' interminable third inning, in which they sent 11 men to the plate, threw off his rhythm. He quickly gave two runs back in the fourth, and yielded a leadoff homer to Josh Fields in the fifth.

"That affected me a lot," he said of the long inning. "That's why I lost control. I tried to play catch in the cage, but it's not the same."

Said McLaren: "Felix wasn't real sharp. He would throw the ball good, and then he would have some lapses when he didn't throw it so good. It's still a work in progress with him."

As it is with the Mariners, who take their impressive body of work on the road for the latest test in a season once again on the brink.

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com