A furious Carlos Silva was tossed 4 2/3 innings into tonight’s game after arguing a call at first on a play that would have ended the inning. Five pitchers later, the Mariners absorbed their eighth straight loss at home, 6-1 at the hands of the Marlins.

On a day where the biggest news was GM Bill Bavasi being shown the door, Wladimir Balentien was sent down to Tacoma, Jeff Clement was brought back up, and Ichiro moved over to his original position in right field. There is no doubt in my mind that this is just the tip of a monstrous iceberg that will rear it’s ugly head over the coming weeks and months. It’s progress though, and even if we can’t see what the benefits of these moves will be quite yet, at least we know that change is on the horizon.

Although it had zero impact on the game, I couldn’t help but enjoy Brandon Morrow coming in the top of the ninth to face the heart of the Marlins line-up and striking out the side.  One of the most interesting story lines to follow from here on out will be the future of Morrow, and how a new GM will decide to use his laser cannon of an arm.

Felix Hernandez is back on the mound tomorrow, and will ease our frayed nerves with whale-sized curve balls and heat that’ll make the sun jealous. Unless you’re looking for one of his t-shirts, I’d advise against buying one until after the trade deadline. If we see Bedard leave us, it would sting too much knowing that there was any proof of the trade beyond Adam Jones wearing an orange bird on his hat.

Ryan Rowland-Smith, ladies and gentlemen! The Aussie southpaw will be facing Jesse Litsch for his first big-league start in the history of the world.

Word is that he’ll only be throwing a few innings, and may be held to a pitch count of about sixty, but Rowland-Smith is on my short list of dudes that I’d like to see starting next year along with one Brandon Morrow.

Ryan has dominated righties thus far, allowing them a .159 batting average. If he can do that tonight, I bet we see him starting again before the month is over.

In unrelated news flashes: Jose Vidro is batting clean-up?! Has the ghost of John McLaren come to torment us? I may not be a baseball wizard, but my powers are strong enough to know better than that! 

UPDATE 7:25 PM: Bottom of the first, one out, runners on first and second. In steps our fearless clean-up hitter Jose Vidro…. and the first pitch he sees he grounds back to the pitcher for a double play. I would have preferred a Jeff Clement strikeout.

POST GAME: Willie Boom-Boom with a game winner! Who would have thought? Did anybody else see Yuni pulling on Willie’s nose after the game? Is that some funny game they play? Does Bloomquist still fall for the old “I’ve got your nose” trick?

That was a fun game to watch. Rowland-Smith started strong, Adrian Beltre outdid his homer from his knees with one he didn’t even see, and Brandon Morrow was radical… again. If the Mariners win tomorrow they’ll have won three series in a row. I’m not going to fact check here, and will go out on a limb to say they haven’t done that yet this season. Stay tuned!

R.A. Dickey will throw his junk at the Tigers line-up today in the game three of four. Armando Galarraga is on the mound for the Tigers and sporting an impressive 7-2 recorded with a 3.40 ERA. Hopefully the heat we’ve been feeling in Seattle the past few days will help Dickey’s knuckler flutter a little more than usual.

No news yet about any roster moves, but the Mariners have won eight of their past eleven games, so that’s news enough. It’s hard to tell at this point what impact the Rigglemonster has had, but it’s fair to say that it’s been a positive one.

POST GAME: Mariners come back from being down 2-0 thank to two homers by Jeff Clement! Batista gets a win, and Morrow scoops up another save. Dickey threw a solid game, and allowed the rest of the club time to wake up and get involved. At the very least we’ll split the series with the Tigers which is a huge improvement over our last couple of series with them.

Jeff Clement is showing the shadow of a beard, perhaps his way of communicating with R.A. Dickey on a higher plane. Whatever it is, it seems to be working. If the promotional department at the Mariners organization can find a night to give out J.J. Putz soul patches, can they call back the same people and have them make beards for a Dickey give-away night? If that wouldn’t fill the seats, I don’t know what would.

Clement gets the Gold Star tonight, not just for his two smashes, but for his great play at the plate to nab Dane Sardinha trying to go second to home on a single.

A south-paw duet performs live at Safeco Field today at 1:10. Nate Robertson will unwisely face-off against Ryan Rowland-Smith, who gets another crack at showing the world that he belongs in a starting role.

We’ve still got one of the worst records in baseball, but we’ve had reasons to cheer of late with Reed and Bloomquist doing a surprisingly good job at sharing center field responsibilities. We’ve seen Clement start to wake up, Dickey and Rowland-Smith start games, and Brandon Morrow torch opposing hitters.

Today is the last home game before the All-Star break, so catch it if your can! I’ll be attending the first two games when baseball returns to Seattle on July 18th, and I’m excited already. Good thing our record starts fresh for the second half! If that weren’t the case, we’d be in a lot of trouble, and would likely dismantle the team and build something new from the charred rubble of a ransacked castle.

Brandon Morrow showed up today with a black glove on his right hand and a brand new green lightsaber. He demonstrated a lot of maturity coming in to a save opportunity after uncharacteristically blowing a couple, and got down to business like we know he can. It won’t be long before he harnesses the full power of the Force and becomes the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy.

For all of the tough starfights we’ve had this season, it’s nice to see the Mariners on the plus-side of a game-deciding error. Adrian Beltre scooted home after a high throw from John Buck, who was trying to catch Beltre in a rundown. What was the deal with Mike Aviles throwing to second instead of home? Maybe the wasn’t much of a chance to get Beltre, but he didn’t even entertain the thought.

Jeff Clement blasted a two-run shot in the 7th to remind us that we should be wait a few more weeks before being too upset about his dismal batting average, and Bloomquist continued to produce with two hits, two runs, and a walk. This is an exercise in finding the positive in things. So maybe the Twins are sniffing out Adrian Beltre and Ibanez could end up in New York, but Bloomquist has showed some consistency and Jeff Clement has potential. Happy now?

I don’t have much time! I’ve got a game to get to! Batista is starting today because Jarrod Washburn is in his pajamas with a cold towel on his forehead. Jeremy Sowers is on the mound for the the Indians, and he’s yet to notch a win this year. I like these odds!

We’ll be seeing seeing Clement and LaHair in the line-up today, and if Batista throws like he has his last few starts, we’ll see Ryan Rowland-Smith a lot too! Go M’s!