Seattle just blew another of those opportunities when a runner gets to third with nobody out. In this case, an error on Adrian Beltre's double-play grounder by second baseman Maicer Izturis put runners at the corners with nobody out in the fourth inning of a 1-1 game. But Mike Carp grounded into a 3-6 fielder's choice at second, with Beltre actually appearing to beat the throw and force play. Mike Sweeney, who'd singled to lead off the inning, held at third.

Kenji Johjima then popped out to third and Jack Wilson popped out to shallow right.

Yeesh! Never seen that before...

The inning began badly for the Angels, with Sweeney foul-tipping a ball that struck catcher Jeff Mathis in the area where he should have been wearing a protective cup. We'll assume he was, since he's still in the game. But he was in quite a bit of pain crumpled in the dirt.

Beltre watched from the on-deck circle as Mathis was tended to. Perhaps he was thinking of a way to pawn off his Nutcracker Suite theme music on the poor guy? Who knows?

Got a Carlos Silva update for you from Class A Everett: he struck out the side in his one inning! Yes, it's true, yes.

Uh, the only other thing was, well, the three hits he gave up. And the two runs. Hey, only one of them was earned. It's progress.

Ken Griffey Jr. had his MRI results come back and they found no structural damage, just a lot of inflammation. He should be back by the Oakland series.

7:53 p.m.: So, the Mariners and Angels are tied 1-1 as we head to the bottom of the second inning. The Mariners snapped an 18-inning scoreless drought in the first when Mike Sweeney singled to bring home Franklin Gutierrez.

But the Angels tied it in the second with a double by Kendry Morales and then an RBI double by Maicer Izturis.

The big news of the first inning, though, was Adrian Beltre stepping to the plate. Yes, they did indeed play the Nutcracker Suite as his intro music.

Don't believe me? Click right here to listen to the pre at-bat sounds from game.

Beltre wound up flying out to the track in right.

7:05 p.m.: Ichiro and Adrian Beltre make their returns tonight after being out for a couple of very different injuries.

In Ichiro's case, he had a strained calf muscle.

With Beltre, uh, put it this way. Ken Griffey Jr. said he had just the right intro music picked out for Beltre's first at-bat when he did return. We'll give you a sneak preview down below.

Angels (78-52)
----------------------------
Figgins, 3b
Abreu, rf
Hunter, cf
Guerrero, dh
Morales, 1b
Rivera, lf
Izturis, 2b
Aybar, ss
Mathis, c
----------------------------
Santana, rhp

Mariners (68-64)
----------------------------
Ichiro, rf
Gutierrez, cf
Lopez, 2b
Sweeney, dh
Beltre, 3b
Carp, 1b
Johjima, c
Jack Wilson, ss
Saunders, lf
----------------------------
Fister, rhp

Umpires:
HP - Rob Drake
1B - Jerry Meals
2B - Miek DiMuro
3B - Dale Scott *