MARINERS

Five games back and slowing sinking in the West.

That's what faces the Mariners today when they begin the road trip from hell. First a stop in Cleveland. Woohoo (as opposed to Wahoo, the Indians' incredibly insensitive former mascot). But anytime you get to spend what should have been an off day playing a game (4:05 p.m.; no TV; 920-AM) in Cleveland … well the road trip from hell has to start with a side trip to purgatory, right? Or at least limbo.

Then it's stops in Tampa Bay, where wins are expected but never assured, Kansas City, where Gil Meche probably awaits, and AL West-leading Anaheim (no more Los Angeles for me folks – it's my blog and I make the rules – unless MLB sues me or something). The M's are 1-5 thus far this year against Anaheim. The road trip is part of 23 straight days of baseball, thanks to the loss of today's off-day.

As I said, road trip from hell. Which probably means Richie Sexson will get hot. Hot as in raising his average above .200. That would be fine with M's fans I think. Seattle could use him, especially after a game like Sunday's when they scored a grand total of one run and spoiled a decent, though not special, Felix Hernandez outing.

Which brings up a question (see below). In the ninth inning, the M's had runners on first and second with no out and Adrian Beltre at the plate against Trevor Hoffman. Ball one, no bunt attempt, according to Dave Niehaus (I was listening in the car). Strike one, no bunt attempt. Ball two, no bunt attempt. And then a bunt attempt fouled off, surprising Dave. One pitch later, pop up.

The question in my mind was, if you are going to have Beltre bunt, why not from the first pitch so he has two chances, not just one. Why change your mind on a 2-1 pitch? Norm Charlton said on the post-game show he thought Mike Hargrove was giving Beltre a strike to hit with, but if that was the case why wasn't he squaring on the 1-1 pitch? Why wait to 2-1? Maybe he was. Maybe Dave had it wrong. But it seemed weird.

Lou Piniella always said not to let the count dictate whether you bunt or not and I agree with him. If you think a bunt is the right thing to do in the situation, bunt no matter the count. If you don't, then swing away. Smart guy that Lou. Too bad he doesn't have a bullpen in Chicago.

Today's hot list …

• The five-game deficit that's popped up so quickly should be the focus of the game stories, but it isn't in all. Here they are, from the P-I, the Times, News Tribune and the Herald. From San Diego, here is the San Diego Union-Tribune story.

• Guess what? Art Thiel cut to the core of the M's problems once again. The Mariners are spending $22 million this year on the two worst regulars in the bigs, Sexon (hitter) and Jeff Weaver (pitcher). Thanks Bill Bavasi.

• The road trip and today's stop in Cleveland are big news, with stories in the Times, John McGrath's column and a notebook from Everett.

• Raul Ibanez's back injury is a result of sleeping wrong on the way back from the last road trip.

• With Ben Broussard having played

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