AL West: Mariners keeping pace in division standings

Baseball Betting Lines

06/30/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - By now, the Seattle Mariners were supposed to have folded up the tent and begun auctioning off pending free agents to the highest bidders. But apparently, the team never got the memo.

Seattle (39-36) has won nine of its last 12 games after this weekend's series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers, owners of the best record in the majors. At the moment, the Mariners are just 3 1/2 games back of the American League West-leading Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, despite the Halos' current six- game win streak.

Seattle has won four consecutive series and has climbed to three games above .500 for the first time since May 5. And the M's don't appear to be in any mood to give in to the New York Yankees when they visit the Bronx for a three- game series beginning Tuesday.

They also don't appear to be in any mood for excuses, despite having lost two- time Gold Glove-winning third baseman Adrian Beltre for the next six-to-eight weeks. Beltre is scheduled to undergo surgery to remove bone spurs from his left shoulder on Tuesday and has played through pain for the last few weeks.

Beltre was productive -- offensively and defensively -- in Sunday's 4-2 win over the Dodgers, but he wanted to get the surgery over with now rather than wait.

"It's best for the team and for me," Beltre said. "I hope that when I get back in six, seven or eight weeks, they are still in it. And I think they will. They have the desire and are playing good baseball."

Beltre's injury merely adds to the conundrum in which the front office finds itself. In addition to Beltre, starting pitchers Erik Bedard and Jarrod Washburn are all slated for free agency at season's end. Would the organization be better suited to seek out trade partners and get maximum value in return? Or do they keep the current roster intact, add a piece or two, and try to make a playoff run this year?

General Manager Jack Zduriencik hasn't exactly tipped his hand yet. On Saturday, he was spotted in the stands sitting with agent Scott Boras, who represents Beltre and Washburn. Zduriencik acknowledged in the Seattle Times that those two players were discussed, though not in depth, and that he doesn't anticipate anything happening in the short term.

"I think you leave all your options open," Zduriencik told the Times. "Obviously, there have been a lot of talks over the last month on a lot of different scenarios. Nothing is imminent. At this moment, I don't anticipate anything, That's not to say, as you move forward, the next day creates something that wasn't there today. I think everyone is aware of everyone else's situation. When they see what's happened here recently, or we look at other clubs. But at this time, we are where we are, and we'll try to do the best we can with where we're at."

Now that's not a whole lot to go on. And while Zduriencik said he has not yet had any direct talks about a possible fill-in for Beltre, it'd be silly not to at least inquire about what's out there. With Bedard, Washburn and Felix Hernandez holding fort atop the rotation, any deal aimed at improving the club this season would likely target another bat or more bullpen help.

The front office already responded to Endy Chavez's season-ending injury by acquiring outfielder Ryan Langerhans from the Washington Nationals on Sunday.

Considering Langerhans has spent the entire season in Triple-A, that obviously doesn't qualify as a blockbuster. But it showed Zduriencik wasn't going to sit around and do nothing. However, if he decides to be a buyer at the trade deadline, his next move will need to register a little louder on the Richter scale.

ANGELS FEAST ON NL OPPONENTS TO BOOST DIVISION LEAD

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim appear to have finally hit their stride, having won six straight games. In fact, the Angels (42-32) have won 13 of their last 16 contests to open up a 2 1/2-game lead over the Texas Rangers in the AL West standings.

They can credit an offense that has gotten hot of late for their success. Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales provided a sample in Monday night's opening game of a big series against Texas, launching back-to-back homers in the sixth inning of an eventual 5-2 victory.

The team can also thank the National League for that 2 1/2-game cushion, as LA went 14-4 in interleague play. During interleague play, the Halos led the majors in home runs (29) and runs scored (118) and ranked second in batting average (.297). And keep in mind that they weren't able to use Vladimir Guerrero as the designated hitter for nine of those 18 games.

"We can beat you in a lot of ways with our offense," third baseman Chone Figgins said on the team's Web site. "We can apply pressure with our speed and aggressiveness on the bases, and we can go deep, too."

In addition, starting pitcher Ervin Santana could rejoin the rotation for this weekend's series against the Baltimore Orioles. Santana reported no setbacks with his right forearm during his minor league rehab, and reports on his velocity and location were all positive.

Santana sat out the first five weeks of the season with a sprained right elbow ligament, then went just 1-3 with a 7.47 ERA in six starts before being shut down. A key part of the rotation last season, Santana and the Angels are hopeful he can return to his All-Star form of 2008, when he went 16-7 with a 3.49 ERA.

FREE-FALLING RANGERS TRYING TO STOP THE BLEEDING

Their division lead already vanished, the Texas Rangers (40-35) are fading fast in the AL West standings. They've lost 10 of their last 15 games and are suddenly in danger of being surpassed by the third-place Mariners.

The Rangers have a chance to make up some ground with this week's home series against the first-place Angels -- they'll play three more times in Anaheim next week -- but they were on the wrong end of Monday night's 5-2 final.

More importantly, the Rangers' offense has continued to come up short. Texas has a major league-worst .223 batting average in the month of June.

The signature moment in Monday's loss came in the fifth inning. With runners on first and second and nobody out, David Murphy popped out and Marlon Byrd then grounded into a double play, essentially sapping the energy from the Rangers' dugout.

"I'm getting to the point where its a struggle to think about what might have been," Murphy told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram after the game. "I'm tired of dwelling on the past and what we're not doing. We've struggled enough to where we need to take a positive attitude into tomorrow. If you want to think about this one in the clubhouse, the ride home, we can't start letting bad games roll into tomorrow."

OUTMAN'S INJURY LEAVES A'S SCRAMBLING TO FILL OUT THE ROTATION

Oakland Athletics rookie starter Josh Outman had put together as solid a rookie campaign as could be expected. The 24-year-old compiled a 4-1 record and a 3.48 ERA in 14 games after earning the fifth starter's spot in spring training. He had earned the reputation not only as a pitcher who could go deep into games, but also as a winner with a bright future.

That future took a detour this week, with Outman scheduled to undergo season- ending elbow surgery. Although the team did not specify the exact nature of the procedure in its release, the Contra Costa Times confirmed from a source that it would be Tommy John surgery, which would likely sideline Outman until at least the second half of next season. The renowned Dr. James Andrews will perform the surgery in Birmingham, Alabama.

For now, southpaw Gio Gonzalez has been slotted into Outman's place in the rotation. The 23-year-old Gonzalez had his first crack at holding down that spot last Wednesday against the San Francisco Giants, but he committed a throwing error and was tagged for 10 hits and six runs (four earned) in just 3 2/3 innings.

Gonzalez will get the start on Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers and clearly needs to show something to manager Bob Geren.

"I'd like to see him throw strikes, keep his composure and stay consistent," Geren said, also noting that nobody on the team is guaranteed anything. "To say what he does after his next start would be unfair."

Fellow rookie left-hander Brett Anderson already had his most recent start pushed back from Friday to Monday because of arm fatigue. Geren stressed that Anderson is fine, but wanted to give him some extra rest. Anderson responded by pitching 5 1/3 solid innings in Monday's win over the Tigers.