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Mariners try to end home skid against Marlins

Tue 17th, June 2008

(Sports Network) - Now saddled with the longest home losing streak in Safeco Field history, the Seattle Mariners hope to break the drought when the disappointing club continues a three-game set with the Florida Marlins tonight.

Seattle was dealt its eighth consecutive home loss, the franchise's worst skid in the nine-year existence of Safeco Field, with Monday's 6-1 setback to the surprising Marlins. The Mariners entered this series after being swept in three home games by the Washington Nationals, the team with the second-lowest winning percentage in the National League.

Monday's loss dropped Seattle to a major league-worst 14-23 as the host this year. The current home losing streak is the team's longest since an eight-game slide between July 28-August 12, 1996, when the Mariners played at the Kingdome.

Seattle also owns baseball's worst overall record at 24-46, which led to the ousting of general manager Bill Bavasi prior to Monday's contest.

On the field, the Mariners managed just seven hits against Andrew Miller and three Florida relievers in last night's defeat.

Miller (5-5) worked the first seven innings and limited Seattle to one run on six hits and a pair of walks. The young lefty got offensive help from veteran Luis Gonzalez, who knocked in two runs to help Florida record its second straight win.

Jeremy Hermida and Dan Uggla each had two hits and an RBI for the Marlins, with Hermida scoring a pair of runs on the evening.

Seattle starter Carlos Silva (3-8) threw just 4 2/3 innings before he was ejected by umpire Bill Welke for arguing a safe call at first base. The struggling hurler allowed three runs on five hits before exiting and lost his eighth consecutive decision.

The Mariners made another noticeable change on Monday, as Ichiro Suzuki started his first game in right field since August 19, 2006. The Japanese superstar had been operating as the team's regular center fielder.

Willie Bloomquist started last night's game in center and finished 2-for-3.

Seattle will send out its best pitcher tonight in hopes of halting its lengthy home winless drought. Felix Hernandez enters this matchup having won his last three starts and has not surrendered an earned run in any of those games, a span of 21 straight innings.

Hernandez led the Mariners to its most recent victory at Safeco, a 5-0 decision over Detroit on May 31 in which the young righty held the Tigers to two hits over seven shutout frames. He followed that performance with six scoreless innings in a road win at Boston on June 6, then threw eight dominant innings to defeat Toronto last Wednesday at the Rogers Centre.

Against the Blue Jays, Hernandez yielded just four hits and an unearned run while racking up eight strikeouts.

This will be the 22-year-old Venezuelan's first career start against Florida, who hands the ball to Scott Olsen this evening.

Olsen has failed to register a win in seven starts since defeating Milwaukee on May 6, having recorded five no-decisions and two losses over that stretch. The left-hander did pitch very well against Philadelphia on Thursday despite coming out on the losing end of a 2-1 decision.

In that game, Olsen surrendered just two runs -- one earned -- on six hits and struck out seven Phillies.

The 24-year-old is 1-0 with a 3.94 earned run average in five road starts this year and is holding enemy hitters to a .209 average in away games. Olsen also has never previously faced Seattle.

The only previous series between these two interleague foes took place at Florida's Dolphin Stadium from June 7-9, 2005. The Mariners won two of the three matchups during that set.

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