M’s latest scapegoat: the umps

SEATTLE – Edgar Martinez wouldn’t say if the pitch he took for strike three in the seventh inning was low or outside. He wouldn’t talk about home plate umpire Larry Young’s strike zone. But Mariners manager Bob Melvin would. And so would Mariners starting pitcher Ryan Franklin.

Their take: The pitch that Martinez took with the bases loaded was no strike. It should have forced in a run to cut the Baltimore Orioles lead to one. Instead, reliever Mike DeJean was able to scramble out of trouble and the Orioles escaped with a 5-2 victory at Safeco Field on Wednesday.

“It was a bad call,” Melvin said. “Edgar knows the outside corner as well as any right-handed hitter that I’ve ever seen. That was a huge effect on the game.”

Franklin, the night’s losing pitcher, was even more blunt.

“I was in the training room watching it,” Franklin said, “it was four to six inches off the plate. And then he called another one on Edgar… and that ball was down.”

Did you get the advantage of a big strike zone from Young?

“No, he didn’t give me anything. I had to throw the ball over the plate and I wasn’t getting anything off the plate at all.”

But, unfortunately for the Mariners and their fans, those opinions aren’t the ones that matter. Young’s was, and it ended the Mariners’ best chance at pulling out a win.

The Mariners had one last chance to do something in the ninth inning off Orioles closer Jorge Julio. A leadoff single by Randy Winn and a two-out walk brought Martinez to the plate representing the tying run. Martinez, though, didn’t fare any better against Julio. He fell behind 1-2 and then struck out swinging to end it.

“Sure it is frustrating. We haven’t played the way we expected when we came to camp,” Martinez said. “We’ve been losing and that’s frustrating. Whether you lose because it’s hitting, pitching or defense, it’s always frustrating. We have to get things rolling and forget about the past.”

The events of the evening were all to familiar as Seattle was beaten for the third consecutive time and for the ninth time in their last 10 games: A strong pitching performance by an unknown, untested opposing pitcher, not much offense, and a defeat.

The pitching hero for Baltimore was rookie left-hander Erik Bedard, who earned his first major league win in just his sixth career start and first appearance ever against the Mariners. He struck out seven — a career high — and threw six shutout innings before running into trouble in the seventh inning.

So, another good pitching performance by a youngster?

“It’s getting tough to evaluate the way we’ve been swinging the bats early in the game,” Melvin said tersely.

“We put ourselves behind the eight-ball to where we have to keep coming back, battling back too late in the game. We need to do something offensively early on.”

Franklin did his best to match Bedard, but the Orioles pushed across the first run in the sixth. Jerry Hairston led off with a solid single to center field, advanced to second on Brian Roberts’ topper back to the mound, and scored on Melvin Mora’s second double down the left-field line.

The 1-0 lead, combined with the way Bedard was pitching, looked like it might be enough.

The Orioles gave Bedard some breathing room in the seventh.

Four straight hits, highlighted by Jay Gibbons’ one-out, solo home run to right field, knocked Franklin from the game with the Mariners trailing 4-0.

Then came the Mariners’ half of the seventh.

A one-out single by Dan Wilson and a run-scoring double by Rich Aurilia made it 4-1. Jolbert Cabrera made it 4-2 when he greeted DeJean with an RBI single on his first pitch. Boone walked to bring up Martinez, who couldn’t keep the rally going, thanks to a call that didn’t go his way.

“We’ve just had bad luck with umpires lately,” Franklin said. “If you’re struggling, you’re not going to get good calls. If you’re winning, you’re going to get the longer end of the stick.”

Said Martinez: “The guys are fighting, giving good at-bats and things have been happening. It’s just that we’ve been short. Hopefully, we can get things going, start winning some games.”

Olrerud perplexed by slump

Olerud said he is surprised by his — and the team’s — slump.

He said he’s been watching videotape, even going as far back as the 1993 season when he hit an American League-leading .363 with the Toronto Blue Jays.

In batting practice sessions, Melvin said Olerud looks fine. But, like many of his teammates, it’s not carrying over into the game.

“Maybe I’m a little too much of an optimist, but I do have a good feeling when he goes out there,” Melvin said. “We’re not getting the results right now but I think we will.”