It’s hard to be Julio.

SEATTLE – Almost immediately, Justin Turner could sense the bubbling frustration from Cal Raleigh.

DETROIT – The best pitcher in baseball was on the mound pitching at home for the team with the best record in the American League and taking on an emotionally drained group of Mariners that rolled into town at close to 3 a.m. local time after getting excruciatingly swept out of Yankee Stadium.

DETROIT – Despite being chosen to make his third All-Star Game appearance, Julio Rodríguez won’t be going to Atlanta for next week’s festivities.

DETROIT – Randy Arozarena’s recent hot streak at the plate has earned the Seattle Mariners left fielder a chance to play in Atlanta next week.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – Mom-and-pop apparel and memorabilia stores have long lined the picturesque Main Street in the upstate New York town that’s home to baseball’s Hall of Fame. When visitors for this year’s induction ceremony arrive in two weeks, they might find something new: Japanese-speaking interpreters to help them shop.

NEW YORK – A day before one of the best pitching performances of his career, Bryan Woo stopped in the visiting dugout of Yankee Stadium for a chat.

SEATTLE – To our mostly naive minds, it was perhaps the most exciting baseball season of our lifetimes. Four years after a strike canceled the World Series, two sluggers took defibrillators to the chest of America’s pastime.

NEW YORK – Randy Arozarena continued his recent hot streak of homers, Cole Young hit the first homer of his career, and J.P. Crawford and Jorge Polanco both added solo shots that somehow meant the Mariners only lost by three runs on Wednesday night.

SEATTLE – It’s been almost a year since the Seattle Mariners acquired Randy Arozarena, and he’s finally made himself at home.

NEW YORK – Forget about what happened over the previous three weeks, because while winning 15 of the past 23 games helped stabilize the Mariners, it’s the next 12 games sandwiching the All-Star break that could drive the direction the rest of this season takes.