Mariners suddenly reeling

HOUSTON – They were herded into a side room in the clubhouse after this fiasco was over.

A Mariners pitching staff that took a beating in three ugly games here gathered for a postgame meeting and was reminded that it must pull itself together to prevent the season from being lost. The first sweep suffered by Seattle in nearly two months, completed with a 10-3 thrashing at the hands of the Houston Astros on Sunday afternoon, has left the team’s American League West hopes fading fast.

But at least one prominent member of an exhausted Seattle bullpen feels the team has what it takes to pull out of its slide. Mariners closer J.J. Putz admitted there’s “a dead feeling” to the team, but hopes today’s off day and an upcoming, two-week homestand can right plenty of what’s gone wrong.

“It’s not do-or-die, but at the same time I think we’ve got to get back on-track,” Putz said after Seattle’s fifth consecutive loss to end a trip that began with five straight wins. “I think the difference between this club this year and last year is we’ve lost five in a row. Last year, it was real easy for them to just fold. That’s where those 11-game (losing) streaks come in.

“This year, we’ve got the lineup that can slug their way out of a five-game losing streak if the pitchers are a little banged-up and vice-versa. This club’s definitely a lot tougher both physically and mentally.”

That slugging just wasn’t there for a team that scored only 14 runs in the five losses and stranded 13 base runners in Sunday’s defeat, played in front of 42,019 fans at Minute Maid Park. Mike Lamb hit a grand slam off Jarrod Washburn in the first inning and the Mariners never truly recovered.

Time will tell whether it’s too late to repair the damage done, with the third-place Mariners now seven games behind the first-place Los Angeles Angels.

Sure, the Mariners could have done more for their dozen hits in 5 2/3 innings off Astros starter Roy Oswalt than the three runs on Sunday. And it’s true, the hitters on Saturday made pitcher Woody Williams look like something more than a 40-year-old whose star has faded.

But the mess here was all about Seattle’s starting pitchers, who dug their teammates into early holes in all three games. Felix Hernandez got smacked around Friday, Cha Seung Baek was useless Saturday and Jarrod Washburn had his shortest stint of the season in the finale.

Lamb ended this game when it was barely under way, parking Washburn’s 2-0 pitch into the right field bullpen with the bases full in the first inning. Lamb’s ball was the only one hit out of the infield that frame, since Washburn had issued two walks around a bunt single.

“It’s just a struggle for me over the last month,” Washburn said. “I threw the ball real well (before). Right now, the command’s just not there and that’s what’s leading to all the problems.”

Washburn threw 77 pitches in his three innings. He trailed 7-1 when lifted for a pinch-hitter, having yielded a two-run, bloop single to Mark Loretta in the second and an unearned marker in the third on a Lamb double.

Only three balls were hit hard off Washburn. But with all the runners getting on, aided by three walks and a Yuniesky Betancout fielding error, it was more about the timeliness of the hits.

“It’s a game of streaks,” Washburn said. “Sometimes you’re hot, sometimes you’re not. You’ve got to figure out a way to make the cold streaks not last very long. It’s something that needs improvement.”

Washburn has lasted only 17 1/3 innings in his last four outings and looks nothing like the starter who helped carry the club in April and May.

“He’s not pitching like he can, no,” Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. “But neither are some of the others.”

Three of Washburn’s last four starts have been for less than five innings, contributing to the bullpen burnout that looks to be under way.

Seattle used four more relievers on Sunday, with rookie Brandon Morrow allowing three runs on four hits in the eighth. Morrow’s only out was on a sacrifice bunt before George Sherrill retired the side.

“I think playing so many games in so many days has finally caught up to us,” Sherrill said. “It’s bound to happen. There are just so many days in a row that you can go out there. We’ve had one day off in the last month.”

Putz agrees the bullpen looks “taxed” and hopes the off-day helps everyone. It was only a few days ago, he noted, that the squad was upbeat and refusing to complain about its 46 games in 48 days.

“I just think the traveling, the time changes, things like that, being on the road so much, just caught up to us,” Putz said. “I think you’ve got to look at the big picture, not just the last three games here. And in the big picture, we’re still a pretty good ballclub.”

That big picture, though, is getting smaller in a hurry.