Mariners go bust in series opener

There were more laughs than long faces in the Mariners' clubhouse after the team had taken the on-field equivalent of a two-by-four to the head.

One might have expected some frustrated cursing after a 6-0 defeat against the Los Angeles Angels in front of a packed house Monday night. Some token wall-punching to appease the thousands of fans decked out in Mariners blue who had witnessed the home side thoroughly outclassed in its biggest game in years.

But then again, this isn't football. And the Mariners were, in a way, being true to their previous claim that one game or series in late August is never a do-or-die event. If it was, they'd be dead and buried this morning.

"There's no pressure at all," designated hitter Jose Vidro said. "I don't see it in the guys' faces. They're very, very excited to be here. We got back here late last night and the guys were very excited to be here.

"We've still got a lot of games to go and we're going to be OK."

Vidro had two of his team's seven scattered hits off Angels starter John Lackey. But that wasn't nearly enough to prevent Lackey from tossing his second complete-game shutout of the season against Seattle, while holding the Mariners scoreless for a third consecutive outing this year.

A crowd of 45,998 at a sold-out Safeco Field watched a second-inning solo home run by Garret Anderson off Miguel Batista stand up all night. Anderson also doubled home a pair of runs in the third inning, then saw another run score in the fourth after second baseman Jose Lopez failed to get a routine tag down on what became a leadoff double.

By the time Batista was through his six innings, he had yielded six runs on 10 hits -- five for extra bases -- in a second consecutive flop of an outing. The Mariners fell three games behind the first-place Angels in the AL West with their third defeat in a row.

It all seemed like a recipe for plenty of hand-wringing in the clubhouse. But just like Vidro, the rest of the Mariners were playing things remarkably cool and loose for a team that had just been throttled.

Perhaps it was the fact Seattle still leads the wild-card race by two games after the New York Yankees got trounced in Detroit. Maybe it's as Jose Guillen said before the game, that the real do-or-die test is an upcoming four-city road trip.

Or perhaps, as they've said all along, the Mariners aren't about to let one more loss do what all their other setbacks have failed to so far.

Mariners manager John McLaren, ejected in the first inning for arguing a strikeout call on Ichiro, wasn't thrilled by his team's performance. But he also wasn't calling it a day.

"We can handle it," McLaren said. "We're ready for [tonight's] game. I've got confidence in those guys out there. We'll be fine."

Of course, all the brave talk won't amount to much if the Mariners fail to put enough hits together. Or if their pitchers keep getting hit hard the way Batista was at times.

The right-hander had allowed just three earned runs or less in nine of his previous 10 starts.

McLaren said he thinks Batista might be throwing his cut fastball too hard and losing some control. But the pitcher himself, with some shrugs and smiles, didn't sound all that concerned.

"I think I missed my location at the wrong time a couple of times," Batista said. "But out of the 10 hits there were only three balls hit hard."

It was much the same tune that Batista was singing after he was pounded for eight runs over two innings in Minnesota last week.

Batista does need a better effort than he got from Lopez on the botched tag in the fourth.

Gary Matthews Jr., blooped a ball to center to start the inning, then tried to stretch his single into a double.

The throw from Ichiro beat Matthews by several feet, but Lopez merely lowered his glove toward the ground and waited for Matthews to slide into it.

Matthews alertly slowed up ahead of the glove, appeared to fake Lopez out with some shifty body moves, then stepped on the bag and was ruled safe.

He later scored on a suicide squeeze by Jeff Mathis for a 4-0 Angels lead.

"When I saw the throw, I automatically thought it was an out," Ichiro said with a chuckle. "So, me and [left fielder] Raul [Ibanez] just started cheering and looking at each other because we thought it was an out. The next thing we realized, the booing started and we were wondering what happened."

Ichiro didn't seem overly concerned. The coaching staff, at McLaren's insistence, will let Lopez know there's a proper way to tag runners.

Other than that, nobody seemed prepared to lose too much sleep over the play, or the game.

After all, these Mariners weren't supposed to be contending in late August, or playing meaningful games in front of a packed stadium. They are trying to play their game, while savoring a playoff atmosphere this city hasn't felt in years.

Now, they just have to not to blow it all with many more nights like this one.

"It was great," Vidro said of the atmosphere, if not the game itself. "It was definitely something we were expecting. Hopefully, that we'll keep getting throughout the series.

"Hopefully, we can give a better show tomorrow."

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com.

Read his daily blog at www.seattletimes.com/Mariners