Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu had a pre-game meeting with his club, not happy with a seven-game winless streak in which Seattle committed a number of basic mistakes. Wakamatsu was quick to point out to his players that they'd also done some things right, but that: "if you want to win, you're going to have to start buckling down.''

The M's did that on the mound today, literally overpowering the D-Backs. Felix Hernandez allowed two hits over five innings, David Aardsma battled out of a two-on, none-out jam in the sixth, Shawn Kelley struck out four and retired six in a row in the seventh and eighth and Kanekoa Texeira worked through the ninth after hitting a batter to start things off.

"It's good, because we'd lost like six in a row, something like that,'' Hernandez had said. "We were trying to step up. That's more confidence for us.''

On the offensive side, the Mariners only mustered five hits, but three were home runs, by Franklin Gutierrez, Ryan Langerhans and Corey Patterson. Yes, power can help. So can hits and this team still isn't coming up with enough of them. We're going to start seeing the regular lineup more tomorrow and will start to get a better idea of whether this is just a spring thing or a sign of a severe malaise on this club.

Shawn Kelley is on fire today, having retired six in a row with four strikeouts since coming on in the seventh inning. It's now 4-0 for the Mariners after Corey Patterson homered into the right field bullpen in the bottom of the eighth.

We'll see whether Kelley gets a third inning of work.

Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu just went off on Class AAA umpire Jon Merry for ejecting Milton Bradley in the fourth inning.

"To me, it's almost like a witch hunt,'' he said. "I mean, it's almost embarassing to me when egos get involved to the point where they don't even give a guy a chance.''

Hear audio of everything Wakamatsu said about the umpire by clicking the link.

Merry ejected Bradley for arguing a fourth-inning strikeout call on a full-count pitch that seemed high. Wakamatsu admitted that Bradley did say something to Merry as he walked back to the dugout -- he couldn't tell what -- but added that the umpire's trigger was too quick.

"Again, I think it's pretty blatant that some guys have it out for him.''

Wakamatsu rarely gets this critical of an umpire -- at least in public. This is the second time in a row that Bradley has been ejected by a AAA umpire. Last time, two nights ago, he didn't even say anything, but was tossed for dropping his bat and peeling off his gloves, thinking there were three outs in the inning instead of two.

Doug Fister got evaluated by a doctor here and has what Wakamatsu termed a "soft tissue bruise". The manager added that this is "good news" but that Fister will still have x-rays in the morning.

Tonight, he clearly said something. Guys do get tossed for that. But yeah, Bradley's reputation probably isn't helping.

By the way, no Geoff Baker Live! tonight because of the erratic schedule. We'll resume broadcasts next Monday at 7 p.m. once we get back to a regular schedule of day games during the week.

Well, I was about to annoint Jason Vargas as the No. 5 starter to begin the season. That was, until he gave up four home runs the final two innings. Vargas allowed a two-run dinger to Scott Rolen in the sixth, then a solo drive to Lance Nix, making it a 6-2 game with the Reds comfortably ahead.

Vargas may still be the frontrunner for the No. 5 job. He went five innings, gave up seven hits and six runs. Also fanned four and walked only one. He was doing great until there were two out in the fifth, when he gave up his first two homers, then looked out of gas this inning in yielding the latter two.

Long day, huh?

The offense looked AWOL until Franklin Gutierrez singled to drive in a run in the top of the sixth. The Mariners wound up leaving two more runners in scoring position that frame in what was still a one-run game at that point. But two runs through six frames isn't going to cut it.

Milton Bradley got ejected in the fourth inning. Yes, he deserved it this time. He took what looked to be a high pitch with the count full, flipped his bat and began heading to first base. Not so fast said plate umpire Jon Merry, who rung him up with a strike three call.

Bradley turned, not happily, and said something.

That's all it took. At least he said something this time. Guys do get ejected for doing that.

Want some good news? Don't have any.

Was just in the clubhouse conducting an interview with Doug Fister -- in the training room. Fister is lying on a training table, his right forearm encased in ice. No, he didn't get hit on his side. It was on his pitching arm.

Fister said the team won't decide on any X-Rays until tomorrow.

"They want to see how the swelling plays out,'' he said.

How does it feel now?

"A little cold, very stiff, but that's about it.''

Anyone got Jarrod Washburn's number?

Geoff reported that Cliff Lee had headed to Seattle. Now we know why. The Mariners just put out a release saying that Lee has a right lower abdominal strain and was treated this afternoon in Seattle by team medical director Dr. Edward Khalfayan.

Lee underwent an ultrasound exam, and Dr. Khalfayan gave him a platelet rich plasma (PRP) injection. He will be re-evaluated in seven days.

"We are hoping for a speedy recovery and look forward to him returning,'' Jack Zduriencik said in the release.

Lee apparently hurt himself initially when he collided with Diamondbacks catcher Chris Snyder while Lee was backing up the plate during the first inning of a start in Tucson last Monday. Snyder was the on-deck hitter and they got tangled up. Later in the game, in the third inning, Lee threw a pitch behind Snyder, leading to a bench-clearing incident and a five-game suspension for Lee.

"He said he felt it in there during the collision,'' Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. "He thought that's when it happened. It got tighter as the game went on.''

UPDATE: 4:10 p.m.Turns out it's a lower abdominal strain. He'll be re-evaluated in a week, but will likely miss at least a couple.

Mariners pitcher Cliff Lee has left the team and flown back to Seattle. He arrived in Seattle at 2:10 Pacific time. We don't know why yet and are trying to find out, though GM Jack Zduriencik would only say that this is not a personal matter.

When I asked Zduriencik whether this had to do with his suspension and a possible appeal hearing, or perhaps a medical reason, he would only say: "I can't comment at this time.''

If it was a medical reason, Zduriencik would have to get clearance from Lee under federal HIPPA statutes in order to comment.

It's entirely possible this is just a follow-up exam on his recent foot surgery, so I don't want to alarm anybody by putting this out there. But Lee was seen by plenty of people getting on a plane today and I just wanted you to know he is no longer in camp.

OK folks, time to put on your thinking caps and come up with a nickname for Kanekoa Texeira, a guy who looks to be poised to make this Mariners bullpen as a Rule 5 relief pitcher. We wrote about him today and discussed his lack of a decent nickname compared to his "Flyin' Hawaiian" cousin, Shane Victorino of the Phillies.

One suggestion early in camp, by somebody with the team (might have been Ken Griffey Jr.) was "The Hawaiian Ozzie Guillen" and I've got to admit, the guy does kind of look like what Guillen might if the latter was born in the islands instead of Venezuela.

Texeira explained the whole "Hawaiian Superman" monicker his previous teammates stuck him with. It's from a song, by Iz, about Maui. Texeira probably thought I'd never heard of the song, but when Amy and I were driving to our hotel at the Ko Olina resort area from the airport in Oahu back in 2007 we heard the song playing on the radio. We both thought it was a little strange, especially the "Hawaiian Superman" chorus. I bugged her the rest of the trip, singing the chorus in her ear first thing in the morning. It wasn't until the final day, in the hotel gift shop, where we spotted the CD and realized it was a song by Iz (a pretty big deal in Hawaii -- literally, he was a gigantic guy who died young, no doubt as a result of his massive girth). Anyhow, we realized we should stop openly mocking the song in public because plenty of Hawaiians like Iz (got a little Joe Cocker in him) and the song has meaning to folks from Maui.

But anyway, the nickname for Texeira is not very good as he isn't much of a physical specimen, at least by Superman standards.

So, let's see you come up with a better nickname for him. I've already received a bunch of email suggestions and comments on possible nicknames at the end of the story.

Thanks for watching, everyone! Hope you didn't mind the ranting and raving too much. If you did, then get your own show. We're here to speak the truth.

Hear me respond right here to a question about Milton Bradley and his ejection the other night.

Over here, I defend sabermetric guru Bill James from criticism by some that he's out of touch with modern stats and sabermettics -- a movement he founded, BTW. Amazing to me how the criticism really picked up after he dared to suggest the M's might not win the AL West.