The Rays looked pretty mediocre yesterday, as the Mariners brought the whooping stick, beating them 7-1.  They couldn’t hit, they couldn’t pitch, I mean …

Funny Office Space quotes are funny …

Erasmo Ramirez, of all people, set the tone.  I wouldn’t say he looked particularly fired up, but he was able to get out of a massive jam in the second and only gave up 1 run across 6 innings for his second start in a row.  I don’t have the foggiest how few times a Mariners starter has gone 6 innings in recent weeks, but just try to cherish it while you can.

The offense was terrific.  Nelson Cruz went 3 for 5 with a double, a homer, 3 runs scored, and 2 RBI.  Mike Zunino went 2 for 3 with a double and 2 RBI.  Danny Valencia got the start in right field and had 2 hits and an RBI.  And Ben Gamel also chipped in with 2 hits, 1 RBI and a run scored.  But, all of our starting nine had at least one hit; it was really something special.

With the big lead, James Pazos did most of the bullpen’s heavy lifting, going 2.1 innings of shutout ball.  And Emilio Pagan cleaned up the final two outs in the ninth to preserve our really important guys.

All in all, a fantastic start to the road trip, especially coming off of the off-day the day before.

For you scoreboard watchers, with various losses in and around us, the Mariners have pulled to within 0.5 games of the second Wild Card, tied with the Royals, still behind the Angels.  Texas is right on our heels, a game behind us, and the rest are too far to mention right now.

Two more down in Tampa.  I don’t know why, but I’ve kinda sorta got a good feeling about this series.  That’s probably a huge mistake, but what are you gonna do?