Mariners Notebook | Team must stay course, players say

NEW YORK — Two years spent with playoff teams in Minnesota taught Carlos Silva how to avoid long losing streaks.

So the right-handed pitcher has some concerns as he watches his new Mariners club drift into one of those season-killing stretches all too common in Seattle the past two years. Sunday's 8-2 loss to the New York Yankees, with Silva routed and sent packing after three-plus innings, was Seattle's fifth straight defeat and seventh in the last nine games.

"One thing I see here is too many changes from us, the players," Silva said in a somber clubhouse after the game. "We do one thing wrong, and we start changing a lot of things.

"I'm not going to change anything," he added. "I'm going to keep using the exact same routine."

Several hitters echoed Silva's sentiments, including Adrian Beltre and Jose Vidro.

"What I've seen is a lot of bad swings on bad pitches," Vidro said, adding that when a team is trying too hard to generate more runs, hitters will forget things like plate discipline.

The bullpen has blown five saves, third-most in the American League, to contribute to some of the losses. But the majority of the team's 19 losses have been the result of hitters not producing enough runs on days when the pitching is as good as it gets.

Seattle has just a 10-6 record when starters throw "quality starts" of at least six innings while allowing three earned runs or less. The team is also just 11-9 when a starter allows three earned runs or less and a shocking 13-15 when starters allow four earned runs or less.

It's one of the reasons manager John McLaren erupted at the team on Saturday, imploring hitters to step up and get their seasons going.

"I hope my team doesn't get crazy and start changing everything," Silva said, adding the players have to stick to what they've done in the past and just be better at it. "We have to stay strong. When you have a bad game, that's when the good players come out. That's when the strong players step up."

The lineup shuffle

McLaren and his coaches spent a night out in the Little Italy section of Manhattan after Saturday's loss. Besides trying out pasta dishes, they spent the evening scribbling out lineups and devising strategies for how to pull the offense out of its chronic malaise.

One of the things they came up with was moving No. 9 hitter Yuniesky Betancourt up to the No. 6 spot for Sunday's game. Betancourt responded by going 1 for 3 with a single.

"We'll get him in an RBI slot, see if it helps us out a bit," McLaren said. "We know we're going to hit. It's just a matter of when. Today wouldn't be too soon."

McLaren also moved Jeff Clement to the No. 7 spot from No. 6, saying: "We dropped him down a bit to see if he can get his feet under him."

The same could be said for Wladimir Balentien, bumped back to the No. 9 spot once occupied by Betancourt. The offense has scored three runs or less in seven of the last nine games.

"We believe in these guys," McLaren said. "I'm not just saying that to blow smoke. I believe in these guys. We're not at the panic point. We're just losing games we should be winning and at some point, it's going to bite you."

Balentien's struggles

It was a rough trip for Balentien, who began it with a three-run homer off Cleveland's Cliff Lee just after being recalled from Class AAA Tacoma on Wednesday. In the four games since, Balentien has gone 1 for 14 with seven strikeouts.

"I've been swinging at a lot of bad pitches," he said.

Balentien said the pitching he has seen in the majors might be a little tougher than what he faced in AAA. But the strikeouts are more his fault than anything else.

"It's still the same baseball game," he said. "I have to do more swinging at hitter's pitches. Right now, I keep getting into pitcher's counts by swinging at bad pitches, and that's when you don't get the pitches you need."

First up: Vidro

Richie Sexson got Sunday off and was replaced at first base by Vidro, who got four balls hit to him by the first four Yankees hitters who stepped to the plate. Three were unassisted groundouts to Vidro in the first inning; the fourth, to start the second inning, was a grounder that Vidro lunged to snag before throwing to covering pitcher Silva for the out.

"It was good to start the game that way," said Vidro, who is primarily a designated hitter but will be used at first and second on occasion now that Clement is getting much of the DH work. "He [Silva] had a good sinker and the hitters kept us on our toes."

Notes

• Seattle has had the lead in 10 of its 19 losses; on Sunday, it squandered a 2-0 advantage.

• Ichiro went 1 for 4 and has a .353 career batting average at Yankee Stadium.

For the record

Streak: L5

Home: 7-7

Road: 6-12

vs. AL West: 8-6

vs. L.A.: 3-3

vs. Oakland: 3-2

vs. Texas: 2-1

vs. AL East: 3-10

vs. AL Central: 2-3

vs. NL: 0-0

vs. LHP: 2-6

vs. RHP: 11-13

Day: 3-7

Night: 10-12

One-run: 1-8

Extra innings: 0-1