The Mariners might have sucked, but for the most part, their minor league teams did not... save for one disastrous 10th inning from the club making their home debut a few miles down the road.

A:  Cedar Rapids 4, Wisconsin 2

Chris Tillman:  4 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
Anthony Butler:  1.1 IP, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Joseph Souza:  2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 K
Carlos Triunfel:  1-4, 2 K
Greg Halman:  0-4, 4 K: The Golden Sombrero
Jair Fernandez:  1-3, solo HR

Though the plan was to play two, they only got in one, and the T-Rats might have been glad for that.  Timothy Schoeninger shut down the T-Rats with 6 strong innings and 7 Ks, while Chris Tillman didn't do too badly himself, K'ing 7 over 4 but ceding 2 runs to take the loss, dropping Wisconsin to 0-4.  Blame rust or their pitching, but the T-Rats lineup couldn't do much against Cedar Rapids pitching, managing only 5 hits and 2 runs.

NEXT:  More in Cedar Rapids at 5 pm.  No word on the starter.

A:  High Desert 7, Lake Elsinore 2

Jon Lockwood:  4.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K (!)
Nicholas Allen:  2.2 IP, 1 H, 5 K
Roman Martinez:  2 IP, 1 BB, 2 K
Casey Craig:  1-4, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, walk (.364)
Michael Saunders:  3-5, 2 doubles, triple, 3 RBI, K (.267)
Jeff Dominguez:  2-4, R (.412)
Josh Womack:  2-4, double, 2 R, RBI, K (.194)

Funny thing: I almost posted this recap despite not having covered High Desert's game last night, which may or may not speak volumes.

I've now reached the point where I can actually start including the HD pitcher stats now, because they're actually doing a pretty decent job despite it all.  They dominated Lake Elsinore last night, holding the Storm to 2 runs and struck out 15 batters (yes, FIFTEEN) while pounding Lake for 7 runs in the first 6 innings to remove the game from doubt.

Michael Saunders got to see some pitches for a change and responded with three extra-base hits, driving in 3 runs.  Josh Womack hopes he broke a slump with a 2 hit night while Jeff Dominguez continued a good start with a couple hits.

They'll do it again tonight at 7, and anybody's guess on who will pitch.

A note before the AA recap: Throughout his Mariners organization tenure, to my knowledge, Thomas Hubbard has always been Thomas Hubbard. So what, you say?

Thomas Hubbard is listed on the official West Tennessee DIAMOND JAXX team website as Marshall Hubbard. In recent MiLB recaps, he has been referred to as Marshall Hubbard. However, MiLB's roster and stats page still refer to him as Thomas Hubbard. Jason Churchill referred to him as Marshall Hubbard. However, people remember him by his name Thomas Hubbard, so referring to him as Marshall Hubbard in recaps would probably confuse the casual reader.

Like you, I'm confused. This could be a Joey Belle, David Arias sort of thing where the guy just changed his name, but you know what? I'm just going to refer to him as Thomas Marshall Hubbard, his full name, to eliminate confusion.

AA:  West Tenn 5, Jacksonville 3

Doug FISTER:  7 IP, 4 H, 3 ER (HR), 2 BB, 5 K
Juan Sandoval:  2 IP, 2 H
Chris Minaker:  2-5, triple
Thomas Marshall Hubbard:  2-4, RBI, R, walk, 2 K (.353)
Matt Tuiasosopo:  2-3, R, 2 walks (.433)
Brent Johnson:  3-5, double, 3 RBI, K (.391)
Rene Rivera:  0-4, walk, 3 K (.174)

The DIAMOND JAXX capitalized on a solid effort from Doug FISTER by jumping on Alvis Ojeda in the 3rd for 3 runs and another in the 4th before Ojeda hit the showers.  Dougie Fistball did cede a couple of runs in his final inning to get the Suns within 5-3 but Juan Sandoval held down the fort and they never got closer.  Thomas Marshall Hubbard and Tui remained hot with a couple of hits apiece, as did Brent Johnson with 3 hits and 3 RBI, including a 2 run double in the 3 run 3rd.

NEXT:  One more in Jacksonville before heading home to play Mississippi.  Joseph Woerman will try and forget his 3rd inning implosion from last Monday.

They DID play baseball in Tacoma last night!  With fans waiting outside in the rain at Cheney, the umps saw an opening on the weather radar, went ahead and got the field ready around 7 pm and they were playing ball within half an hour.

The Rainiers probably wish they hadn't, at least Oswaldo Navarro and Jon Huber.

AAA:  Sacremento 6, Tacoma 1, 10 innings

Justin Lehr:  6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Eric O'Flaherty:  2 IP, 2 BB, 1 K
Jon Huber:  1.1 IP, 1 H, (5 R) 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Byron Embry:  0.2 IP, 1 H
Adam Jones:  2-3, 2 walks (.389)
Rob Johnson:  0-4
Jeremy Reed:  0-4, walk (.214)
Bryan LaHair:  0-5, 3 K (.171)
WLAD:  2-3, solo HR, 2 walks (.310)
Jeff Clement (DH):  1-5, 2 K (.229)
Mike Morse:  2-4, double, K (.167)

Yes, Sactown dropped FIVE runs on the Rainiers in the 10th.  Once again, Jon Huber watched the world take a steaming crap on his face late in a ballgame, as a close 1-1 game just went straight to hell thanks to terrible fielding.  Bad conditions from the rain?  Not a factor, as the team clearly played 9 decent innings of solid defense beforehand, holding Sac town to 1 run in regulation.

After pitching a 1-2-3 9th, Huber led off the 10th by allowing a single to Antonio Perez, then uncorking a wild pitch to send Perez to 2nd.  He then walked Charles Thomas and, with runners at 1st and 2nd, Kevin Melillo laid down a sac bunt, which Rob Johnson hurled YIKES AND AWAY to score Perez and Thomas, and put Melillo on 3rd.  J.J. Furmaniak grounded to short and Oswaldo Navarro threw THAT ball away to let Melillo score, 4-1 Sactown... nobody out.  Furmaniak then stole 2nd, and Huber FINALLY recorded an out, getting Hiram Bocachica to fly out to right, though Furmaniak took 3rd.

Daric Barton, the next batter, grounded to short and Navarro muffed THAT ball, allowing Furmaniak to score, 5-1 Sactown, and at that point Huber was mercifully pulled, getting credit for none of the 4 runs scored thanks to all the errors.  Byron Embry got Lou Merloni but then surrendered a double to Brian Stavisky to put runners in scoring position, where Embry... uncorked a wild pitch to score Barton and make it 6-1.  Kurt Suzuki's grounder to short WAS fielded properly by Navarro, but obviously it was far too late.  The Rainiers, like true MARINERS IN THE MAKING, went quietly in the bottom 10th.

All that said, a hot and cold home debut for the Rainiers lineup.  Mike Morse decided to show up tonight, and hot starts continued for Adam Jones and WLAD.  Meanwhile, nobody told Rob Johnson he was DH'ing tonight, and Jeremy Reed and Bryan LaHair still can't seem to get going.  And the 10th inning implosion undid a good start for Justin Lehr, who tiptoed to 6 innings of one run ball.

NEXT:  Jim 'Batting Practice' Parque and his four digit ERA go tonight at 6 pm as the Rainiers do it again at Cheney, and hopefully they'll play some defense tonight.