Despite losing two of three games to the White Sox this weekend, the Mariners are tied for first place (albeit with just a 6-6 mark). And on top of that, the team sports the best run differential in the American League West division, outscoring their opponents by eleven runs overall. Easily, the Mariners could be sitting on a 7-5 or even 8-4 record, and a lot of newspaper column inches would be devoted to stories about Mike Hargrove being the greatest manager since the invention of the telegraph and Willie Bloomquist deserving Most Valuable Player votes for playing so many positions in the field. However, we're only twelve games into this crazy adventure called 2005, and as The Wolf (portrayed masterfully by Harvey Keitel) cautioned Vincent Vega and Jules Winfield in Pulp Fiction, we must remember not to go (uh, congratulating oursleves) just yet.

The Angels series:

Monday, 7:05 PM
Aaron Sele (0-1, 3.75) vs. Paul Byrd (0-2, 6.92)

Vladimir Guerrero might hit a 500-foot home run against Sele today. It's probably worth watching the game just for that possibility. Luckily for the Seattle nine, though, Paul Byrd is on the hill for the Angels. I'm calling a higher-scoring affair than recent games have been, with the M's prevailing 8-6.

Tuesday, 1:05 PM (you guessed it, radio only)
Jamie Moyer (2-0, 2.50) vs. Kevin Gregg (1-0, 5.40)

Gregg, like Ryan Franklin for Seattle, is a mop-up reliever being thrust into the starting rotatio. Unlike Franklin, Gregg has little previous starting experience, but in his four career starts he's 4-0 with a 2.16 ERA. For his starting ERA to match his career 4.08 ERA, Gregg would need to allow eight runs in five innings Tuesday. Sounds about right to me. Moyer should continue his strong start and the Mariners prevail 10-4.

The story of the 2005 season, at least in regards to the Seattle Mariners, has been the hot start posted by Ichiro. Through twelve games, he's on pace for (I hope you're sitting down) 283 hits. Yeah, it's only twelve games in, but looking at the Major League batting average leaders, there is one name in the top ten that doesn't seem out of place. He might not maintain his .447 average, but .400 isn't completely unattainable.

ANGELS LINKS:

6-4-2. Named after an incredibly unlikely shortstop-second base-catcher double play, this site pulls double duty, covering the Angels as well as the Dodgers.

Chronicles of the Lads. I don't think I've ever heard Vlad described as a "lad" before, nor do I expect to.

Purgatory Online. I wonder what kind of traffic comes his way via the search engines.