The team is keeping tight lips on the results of Erik Bedard's MRI exam. But the fact that he is consulting with both his surgeon, Dr. Lewis Yocum, and the Mariners' medical director, Dr. Edward Khalfayan, is a tipoff that the news can't have been great.

In fact, right after the game, as Bedard was about to hurriedly exit the clubhouse, I asked him whether there was any good news from the exam.

"No, not really,'' he said.

When I asked him what the exam found, he said "You'll have to ask the doctor.''

As he was walking out the door, I asked whether it looks like he's going to pitch at all this season. He replied "Probably not.''

That's when he left.

So, there goes another potential "feel good" story in an otherwise lost season for the M's. You have to feel for Bedard, who has put in a ton of work to get back out on a mound after his surgery, but just can't shake the irritation in his shoulder.

As for his team, well, there isn't much to say about this 4-0 loss. We already discussed why Milton Bradley got doubled off. Already mentioned the two hits.

Chone Figgins was one of the few hitters to actually come out to speak to the media. He suggested his team continues to show a good approach at the plate. That much is evidenced by the four walks they had against southpaw John Danks.

But as was the case last night, when they drew five walks, they could not get the big follow-up hit to make any of those base runners count.

"Guys are hitting the ball hard,'' Figgins said. "Guys are going to the plate trying to put good at-bats together. It's just tough. It's tough when you're going against teams that are in first and second place every night. It's not an excuse. It's the reality that when you play teams that are in first or second place every not, they're not pushovers.''

That is the reality, unfortunately. Things stand to possibly get a whole lot worse for this team before they improve.

We weren't joking about the 100 losses. Or even 105 losses. There is real potential there if Russell Branyan can't stay healthy and keep his bat in the lineup consistently, because this team just can't buy an extra-base blast when it matters.

After this series, the Mariners face the Red Sox, the White Sox again, the Twins and the Rangers. That's 21 straight games against contenders since the break. They are 1-4 to start that stretch, the only win coming in extra innings.

Oh yeah, right. Some of you still want positives for next year. Well, Doug Fister went six innings and allowed only three runs. Looked more like the Fister we'd seen before, though this wasn't a case of "grounders sneaking through" when he did yield hits. Some of the balls off him were rocked.

But he did get the "quality start".

Still, unless it's of the nine-inning variety, there is little correlation between quality starts and actual wins for pitchers on this team. The offense is that bad.

Figgins said his teammates are still working hard and trying hard. He insists nobody has given up and that they keep bringing a professional attitude to the ballpark.

That's all you can ask for these days. The M's will hope things improve once Branyan and Michael Saunders return. But honestly, at this stage, any wins on days when Felix Hernandez or Jason Vargas aren't on the mound are like winning the lottery. Any wins at all these days seem like a bonus.

These are dark times we are living through from a baseball perspective. For me, this team is worse than the 2008 version. And that's saying something.