Thursday, June 5, 2008

Finally, after plummeting to a place from which no team has made the postseason, the Mariners' decision-makers ripped into their club.

Team president Chuck Armstrong berated members of the coaching staff yesterday morning, hours before imploding Seattle was swept in a three-game series by the same Angels the team hoped to unseat for the AL West title.

Later, Armstrong refused to comment on the outburst during a 5-4 loss that sent Seattle to a season-worst 18 games under .500. It's the worst record in the major leagues and leaves the Mariners 15 1/2 games out of first place.

No team that has been that far below .500 has rallied to make the playoffs.

"What's said between me and the coaches stays between me and the coaches," Armstrong said through a team spokesman.

About an hour after Armstrong's rage, Manager John McLaren had a closed-door chat with GM Bill Bavasi. Two weeks after Bavasi said McLaren's job was safe, Bavasi did so again yesterday.

"This is not a field managerial issue. He's not at the plate with guys on first and second and leaving them there -- three times," the GM said.

No member of yesterday's starting lineup began the game with a batting average above .300. Ichiro Suzuki was batting .287 -- 44 points below his career average. The perennial all-star's previous low entering June had been .317.

· RED SOX: RHP Curt Schilling took a significant step in his effort to return from an injured right shoulder when he threw 25 pitches off a bullpen mound in Boston.

The session was the first time Schilling had thrown off a mound since he was placed on the 60-day disabled list during spring training.

Red Sox Manager Terry Francona said Schilling's sole complaint was that only 22 of the 25 pitches were strikes.

"He was excited, justifiably excited," Francona said. "When he starts talking about hitters and, 'I'm going to do this,' then he's feeling good about himself and that's exciting for us."

· YANKEES: C Jorge Posada (right rotator cuff tendinitis) was activated from the disabled list and will start this afternoon against Toronto. New York optioned RHP Dan Giese back to Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

-- From News Services