Leisurely Cruise for Mariners

Angel pitcher Scott Schoeneweis walked past reporters Friday night, letting his actions speak for him.

All that could be said was the obvious, but Schoeneweis didn’t even hang around for that after a 9-5 loss to the Seattle Mariners in front of 40,822 at Edison Field. The Angel batters shook out of their doldrums with big hits, including two towering home runs. But before leadoff hitter David Eckstein could pick up a bat in the bottom of the first inning, all was lost, including the game.

Schoeneweis gave up six runs in the first inning. The backbone for the Angels, their starting pitching, turned into a Slinky.

The only thing quicker than Schoeneweis leaving the game was Schoeneweis leaving the clubhouse without talking about his performance. Others were left to comment, or rather not comment.

“I don’t have anything to say, bro� catcher Bengie Molina said. “Sorry.�

There wasn’t much for his teammates, or his manager, to say.

“It’s frustrating when you’re not getting it done,� Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Nobody is going to take it harder than Schoeny.�

The Angel offense, 13th of 14 American League teams in runs, produced on this night . . . for a while. Mariner pitchers retired the last 16 batters. Relievers Jeff Nelson and Arthur Rhodes struck out seven consecutive batters at one point.

But the game was long over by then. Carlos Guillen and Mike Cameron had two-run home runs. Dan Wilson had a two-run single. All before the second inning was over.

Schoeneweis didn’t make it out of the third inning, leaving after Edgar Martinez’s two-out double that drove in Ichiro Suzuki for a 9-2 Mariner lead. Schoeneweis gave up nine runs on 11 hits.

The performance exemplified why the Angels are so far behind the Mariners, whose AL West lead grew to 19 games.

“If you’re in the Indianapolis 500 and your car is leaking oil, you don’t worry about the car that’s leading,� Scioscia said before the game. “Obviously, with the way our offense has sputtered, we’re leaking oil. We got to address that, then we’ll worry about the leader.�

So they addressed the hitting. Then the pitching blew a gasket.

Earlier this season, Schoeneweis was the Angels’ most consistent starter. He had a 3.02 earned-run average through his first eight starts. Then he gave up 11 runs in a loss to Baltimore on May 16 and has been shaky ever since. His ERA climbed to 5.16 after Friday’s game.

Angel starting pitchers had a 3.20 ERA in 32 games prior to Friday. But this was the third consecutive poor start or Schoeneweis.

“He didn’t get a chance to get into his game,� Scioscia. “Things got on a downhill slide pretty quick. It has been a little bump in the road for him his last two starts.�

An Everest-like one.

Schoeneweis gave up seven runs in five innings against the Mariners Sunday and seven runs in 5 2/3 innings against Texas on June 19. Those were poor outings. Schoeneweis’ performance Friday was bleak.

The Mariners had shown signs of mortality lately, losing seven of their last 11 games. By the end of the first inning Friday, they seemed to again be invincible.

Suzuki led of with a single and Guillen followed by smacking an 0-and-1 pitch well beyond the center-field fence. By the time the inning was over the Mariners had six runs on 11 hits, including a two-run single by Wilson.

The Angels tried to keep pace with two runs in the bottom of the first. Eckstein led off with a bunt single and, one out later, Darin Erstad lined a single to right. After Troy Glaus struck out, Garret Anderson and Shawn Wooten had back-to-back singles, continuing their hot streaks.

Anderson has 17 RBIs in the last 14 games. Wooten has driven in eight runs in his last eight games.

But any thoughts of a comeback were squashed when Cameron slammed a two-run homer in the second for an 8-2 Seattle lead.

So all the Angels could huddle around was a little offensive spark.

Anderson and Wooten had run-scoring singles. Glaus had a two-run homer in the third. Benji Gil had a solo home run in the fourth.