The Mariners set themselves up nicely for a weekend series with the New York Yankees by winning here today. They will now have Michael Pineda going on Friday and Felix Hernandez on Saturday against A.J. Burnett and Ivan Nova, respectively, before Jason Vargas takes on C.C. Sabathia in Sunday's finale.

So, the pitching matchups look pretty good for the M's.

But a lot of that edge will be negated if they don't score some runs themselves.

Lost in all the hoopla over taking five of six on the road and two of three here in Minneapolis is that the offense showed signs of slowing down big-time as the trip came to an end. Tomorrow's off-day will help, but it's hard to miss that the M's scored just five runs their final two games.

Are there warning signs? A few.

The top of the order has become surprisingly non-productive of late. Both Chone Figgins and Ichiro are in 0-for-10 slumps. Ichiro hit .160 on the trip while Figgins went .074.

Even Justin Smoak has slowed down of late. That gives you a pretty weak top third of the order going in to face a Yankees team that may not pitch all that well, but certainly knows how to score runs.

In other words, the 2-1 games might not do it for the M's. They might need to win 4-3 or 5-4.

And it's tough to do it when your top two guys aren't getting on base.

So, here's my proposal: move Brendan Ryan up into the No. 2 spot right now.

Move Figgins back to No. 9 where he can work through his hitting woes and you can still utilize his speed in conjunction with Ichiro if he does get on.

Ryan has hit .408 over the past 15 games. His on-base-percentage has gone from .276 in April to .386 for the month of May.

A .386 OBP is what you want from a speed guy at the top of the order. It's what Figgins was supposed to bring to the table but has yet to come close.

And beyond the numbers, Ryan is providing the type of energetic spark that I remember seeing from Ichiro when he first broke into the majors. Ryan is running like a terror on the basepaths. He's causing opposing pitchers to look a little jittery once he gets on. You need that type of energy on a team. And you need it up top. I'm not comparing him to what Ichiro did over full seasons back then, just giving you my impressions of how he looks right now.

"Brendan has a ton of energy,'' Mariners manager Eric Wedge said after today's game. "He's great for the ballclub just because he brings it every day. You feel it on the field, you feel it in the clubhouse, in the dugout. He's a good teammate, loves to play the game, loves to win. You look at the way he's hitting the ball and he's obviously starting to find it. But regardless of the way he's performing he brings that energy every day and I love that consistency.''

And this team needs that consistency up top. Otherwise, you risk wasting some of the good pitching matchups that appear to favor the M's against New York. And you risk losing games beyond that if this team doesn't get guys on to score.

You can get away with three hits against the Twins for the first six innings because, well, they're the Twins. Seattle scored three runs on those three hits, one of them by Ryan.

But it helps when your opponent can't score. The Twins had all types of chances against Erik Bedard but failed to capitalize. The Yankees may not be so challenged and the M's simply can't revert to this three runs per game thing and hope to keep winning the close ones. They need to get the top of the order working like one.

This isn't Pick on Figgins Day -- or week, for that matter -- but he's simply going through a brutal time. He played good defense again today and nobody is suggesting a bounce from the lineup altogether.

But there's no law that says he has to be left to flounder right at the top of the order.

You could maybe survive that when Ichiro was doing OK. But you can't have two guys going down the chutes in the 1-2 spots.

And moving Ichiro out of the leadoff spot isn't really up for discussion. As bad as he's been this month, hitting .225 with a .292 on-base-percentage, his .281 average still leads the team.

That's a far cry from the .202 sported by Figgins for the season.

The top of the order needs work and it's Figgins who needs to be moved. Not forever. Just until he starts to play like Figgins again.

You just can't compare what he's done to the energy level Ryan is bringing the team.

Ryan is getting caught up in this whole battle for first place thing. Every night, after the games, he's in there looking at the TV, rooting for the Rangers and Angels to lose.

"We're one behind .500, I think,'' he said of his team, which does indeed sport a 24-25 record. "I don't know how many that is from 90, or 95 wins, but, I don't care what anyone says, this is about playing in October. So, keep winning series, playing good baseball and the way our starters go, it almost seems like we don't really care who gets the ball. We've just got to put a couple of runs on the board.''

Yeah, it's a little early to be worrying about all that. But who cares? It's good to see that kind of excitement and passion -- even if we might forget about this stretch of play in a few weeks.

It wasn't much different from what David Pauley was saying in the clubouse after extending his scoreless innings streak to 11 and lowering his ERA to 0.95 with two shutout frames today.

"We're not just going out there, rolling over and trying to work on things,'' Pauley said. "We're out there competing. We're trying to make a name for ourselves in this game.''

Fair enough. And there's no better way to do it than with a good showing against the Yankees. Mariners manager Eric Wedge wisely played down that angle after the game, suggesting it was just another series and he didn't want his team getting caught up in a bunch of late-May hype.

But who's kidding who? It's been a long time since the M's have generated hype of any kind for a series. This team is struggling to draw fans to Safeco Field. There were 15,000 tickets left unsold for each of all three games this weekend as of this morning.

The M's have some momentum right now. It will build up in Seattle tomorrow during the off-day.

And the quickest way to kill it?

Go out there this weekend and lose every game 3-1 or 5-1.

Then, you'll have everybody and their fifth cousin coming out of the woodwork shouting "See! We told you! They are what they are!''

Only these M's say they're not what they were. The team I've seen lately doesn't look like the one that began the season playing worse than the 2010 squad.

But how much of it is the Padres and Twins? How much is it the M's?

The jury is still out. I'd like the Mariners to give themselves the best possible shot at winning this weekend and making us all second-guess our initial impressions.

And that starts by giving themselves some offense atop the order.

This isn't a slam-dunk move. It could be that moving Ryan up to No. 2 will cause him to put too much pressure on himself and ruin all the progress he's made. But I'd like to see for myself whether that happens. Ryan isn't a raw rookie. He's been through ups and downs this year and has managed to come out in one piece.

And he's producing much better than Ichiro or Figgins. His confidence is up higher than it's been all season.

"I definitely feel like he's standing up at home plate, he's much more confident,'' Wedge told me after the game. "I think he has a better idea of what he's trying to do, and what he wants to do.''

So, give this a shot -- at least until Figgins figures it out. Anything less and the team risks heading into its biggest series in years looking awfully short in some key offensive areas.