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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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M’s get a break and take advantage

MARINERS

The M's needed something to break their offensive woes Monday. Going into the eighth inning against the Yankees, Seattle had scored all of two runs in the last three games.

Then pinch-runner Willie Bllomquist stole second. And was thrown out. But second-base umpire Gerry Davis called him safe.

From there the Mariners tied the game on Kenji Johjima's bloop single and won it on Adrian Beltre's blast to left-center. And the M's got out of New York with a split.

In the second game of the series, New York's was called safe at first base in a key play. The replays showed he never touched the bag. But I don't remember the hue and cry out of New York for that one. Maybe it's because it went the Yankees' way … and everything is supposed to go the Yankees' way.

So now it's out of New York's frying pan and into the fire against defending American League champion Detroit, where Horacio Ramirez (2-1, 6.64) will face the Tigers and Pasco's Jeremy Bonderman (1-0, 3.69) tonight (4:05; FSN; 920-AM).

Today's hot list …

• As you might expect, the missed call on Bloomquist's steal was the lead in most stories, including the Times, the News Tribune, and the P-I. From New York, the stories have a little more annoyance about them, with this from the Times, the Daily News and the always entertaining Post.

• Julio Mateo apologized for his behavior Monday, and everyone had a story on it, some more than one. Here are the stories from the P-I, the Times (which includes this Jerry Brewer column) and the News Tribune.

• The way Beltre had been hitting, it's no wonder the team left him on the bus Sunday. It seems to have woken him up.

• The Times takes a look at the M's farm system.

• More conversation concerning Scott Proctor's out-of-control beanball.

• A lot of answers to fans' questions can be found here.

• And our question of the day …

• Over the course of a season, do you think missed calls by umpires even out, or do they end up favoring the better teams?



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