Raul Ibanez homered twice to give him 24 this season and the Seattle Mariners set a team home-run record in an 8-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.

SEATTLE – In four games against the best team in the American League, the Seattle Mariners managed to score 30 runs. Because of struggles by its pitching staff, Seattle only came away with one victory.

SEATTLE – David Ortiz doubled in his first at-bat to become baseball’s all-time leader in hits as a designated hitter and hit a two-run homer an inning later, leading the Boston Red Sox to an 11-4 win over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night. Ortiz entered the night tied with Harold Baines for the most hits as a DH and it took just one at-bat to claim the record. Ortiz doubled to left-center field to lead off the second inning and was acknowledged by a standing ovation from the mix of Red Sox and Mariners fans.

SEATTLE - One of the dominant themes of the second half for these Seattle Mariners will be any signs of progress made by younger players who can contribute to future winning seasons. And while the past trip saw Nick Franklin and Brad Miller continue to impress, improvements by a couple of more “veteran” talents in Justin Smoak and Michael Saunders could be more telling down the road. Smoak and Saunders each had a pair of doubles and five hits between them Monday night to pace a 15-hit attack in an 11-4 rout of the Boston Red Sox at Safeco Field.

CINCINNATI – The Seattle Mariners have dealt with more than their share of angst, misery, recrimination and criticism this season, just like in the ones that preceded it. It’s no wonder, then, that they are seizing upon an encouraging road trip for a healthy dose of optimism and good cheer.

The young Seattle Mariners are glad to be going home after a solid road trip. Joe Saunders pitched seven efficient innings and Nick Franklin and Justin Smoak each homered to lift the Mariners to a 3-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.

CINCINNATI – A game in which one team bangs out 13 hits, while the other strikes out 14 times and leaves 11 on base, obviously doesn’t hinge on one at-bat. But it’s safe to say the beginning of the end for Jeremy Bonderman and the Mariners in their 13-4 thumping by the Reds on Saturday was Mat Latos’s two-out, two-run double in the fourth inning.

Cesar Izturis drove in three runs, matching his season total, and Mat Latos doubled home two more on Saturday, rallying the Cincinnati Reds to a 13-4 victory over the Mariners.

CINCINNATI – Aaron Harang got on the mound where he started 112 games with the Reds and had another pleasant night in Cincinnati’s familiar muggy air – even got some applause from fans, too. Made him feel right at home.

Aaron Harang got on the mound where he started 112 games with the Reds and had another pleasant night in Cincinnati’s familiar muggy air — even got some applause from fans, too. Made him feel right at home.

ARLINGTON, Texas – It was a game that slipped away from Seattle with suddenness in a nightmarish seventh inning, after the latest in a long line of Raul Ibanez heroics put them in prime position to win. Yet the Mariners’ 5-4 loss to the Rangers on Thursday night, which had an all-too-familiar ring to it, was dictated by events long before the fateful seventh.