Carlos Silva calls out teammates

The wall of silence that has so often surrounded happenings inside the Mariners' clubhouse was finally shattered on Friday night by the frustrated voice of Carlos Silva.

His anger evident, fresh off a listless, 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, the pitcher more or less accused some teammates of mailing it in and trying to pad their statistics. Silva said the selfish play of some Mariners lately has been making the entire starting rotation look bad, and he's had enough.

"I don't care if we are 40 games behind, we should have played better than this," he said. "For me, every game is important. For me, if we are where we are right now, we should take it one game at a time and play one day at a time. Thinking, 'We've got to win this game.' And when the day is over, 'We've got to win the next one.' "

Mariners starter Felix Hernandez was standing directly to Silva's right in a near-empty clubhouse, smiling as the pitcher -- nicknamed "The Chief" -- lashed out at unnamed teammates. Jarrod Washburn was off a few feet to his left listening to Silva but not saying anything.

"Maybe half of the team wants to do the best they can," Silva said. "Take the starting rotation ... every time we cross that line, we want to do our best. No matter how many games we are behind. But maybe half of the team doesn't have that mentality. They are only thinking of finishing strong. And to put up their numbers. That's great, but that affects us. As a team, that doesn't work out."

Silva insisted he wasn't referring strictly to Friday night's outing, when four runs by Tampa Bay in the third inning more or less decided the game. Silva had a 2-1 lead, courtesy of a two-run homer from Wladimir Balentien off Rays starter James Shields, when things came undone.

Silva yielded three straight singles that brought in a tying run and, after a throw home by Ichiro allowed both runners to move up a base, put men on second and third with one out. An ensuing grounder by Carl Crawford was snagged by shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, who held the runners but then promptly heaved his throw over the first baseman's head.

Two runs scored on the Betancourt error -- on his Bobblehead Night, no less -- one of them unearned.

Jeff Clement doubled in the fifth and later scored on an infield single by Bryan LaHair. But Seattle managed just three more hits the rest of the way.

Silva, who lasted six-plus innings, said his sinker worked well outside of that one frame. But he decided to speak out, he said, because he has seen too much selfishness from the team -- even when it's winning games.

"Maybe Chief has to go and grab somebody from his neck and throw him into the wall and something's going to change," he said, speaking of himself. "I'm very close to doing that, so write that down."

But Silva, who had hinted at clubhouse problems back in May, said he had been reluctant to confront teammates so directly because he would be perceived as selfish and casting blame for his losing record. He had done so in Minnesota in the past, he added, and it did not go over well.

Some players have mentioned similar gripes in private during the course of the season. But Silva is the first to express those sentiments.

"Instead of moving over a runner, they want to get a base hit because of their numbers," Silva said. "Instead of maybe looking for a ground ball, they want to strike him out because of the numbers."

He later added: "It's tough, man. It's tough, because you never want to be in this [last-place] position. Because, especially for us, as a pitcher, it's going to kill you. Especially as a starting pitcher, that's going to affect you so much."

Mariners manager Jim Riggleman, speaking before Silva's outburst, also seemed frustrated with how little opposition his team mounted after the early innings.

Riggleman said no one feels worse than Betancourt about the error and that he would "have jumped off a building at that point" if it could be undone. But when asked about the two-hit nights by youngsters Balentien and Jeff Clement, and the RBI by LaHair, the manager shrugged them off.

"We're trying to win the game," he said. "We're not going to be happy with a couple of good performances in the lineup."

Riggleman had high praise for the way Silva has battled through problems with his sinker all year and gutted his way through games.

"The way he gets after it is the way we want everyone to do it," he said.

Notes

• Ryan Rowland-Smith is expected to be called up from Class AAA to start this afternoon in place of Miguel Batista, demoted to the bullpen.

• Team sources have indicated that pitcher Jarrod Washburn cleared waivers and can now be traded without fear of a claim to block a move.

• Ichiro extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a single in the fifth.

• Longtime Mariners pre- and-postgame reporter Shannon Drayer has been relieved of her duties by KOMO 1000 for the remainder of the season. The network has chosen to scale back coverage of the team after losing broadcast rights to KIRO, which takes over coverage next season.

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

For the record

Streak: L1

Home: 24-36

Road: 21-35

vs. AL West: 13-19

vs. L.A.: 3-6

vs. Oakland: 4-5

vs. Texas: 6-8

vs. AL East: 13-26

vs. AL Cent.: 10-17

vs. NL: 9-9

vs. LHP: 12-22

vs. RHP: 33-49

Day: 13-24

Night: 32-47

One-run: 13-22

Extra inn.: 2-6

Home attendance

Friday's crowd: 30,220

Season total: 1,759,343

Biggest crowd: 46,334 (March 31)

Smallest crowd: 15,818 (May 6)

Average (60 dates): 29,322

2007 average (60 dates): 32,716