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Mariners-Padres Preview

Jun 17, 2009 - 6:40 AM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

Seattle (31-33) at San Diego (28-35), 10:05 p.m. EDT

The San Diego Padres have fallen on some hard times since their season-high 10-game winning streak ended last month. Their struggles against the AL have lasted a lot longer.

The Padres will try to avoid extending their major league-record skid in interleague play to 13 Wednesday night when they continue a three-game set against the Seattle Mariners at Petco Park.

San Diego (28-35) is 5-13 since its run was snapped on May 26. It's dropped four straight overall, totaling just one run in its past three losses.

This current slide has come against AL opponents, and a 5-0 loss on Tuesday was the 12th straight time the Padres have fallen in interleague play. They've been outscored 77-28 during that losing streak.

San Diego is 4-23 in its last 27 games versus the AL dating to Jun 20, 2007.

The Padres have also lost six consecutive games against the Mariners (31-33) and nine straight against them at Petco. They haven't scored more than two runs in their last six games in the series after managing just two hits against Felix Hernandez on Tuesday in their second straight shutout loss.

San Diego hasn't been blanked in three straight games since July 5-7, 1976.

"(Hernandez) was throwing four pitches for strikes," said left fielder Chase Headley, who went hitless in three trips to the plate, dropping his average to .236. "When a guy does that it's tough anyway. But when a guy who has above average stuff does it, it makes it even tougher."

Headley has only five RBIs in his last 13 games, but San Diego has to be more concerned about Adrian Gonzalez's struggles. The first baseman is tied for second in the majors with 22 home runs, but he hasn't hit one since June 2 and doesn't have an RBI in his last 11 games.

Gonzalez and the Padres hope to have better luck against Garrett Olson (1-1, 4.26 ERA). Olson, who has bounced between the bullpen and the rotation, returned to the starting staff Thursday at Baltimore.

He hadn't won since Sept. 8, but held his former team to two runs over five innings - surviving a 27-minute rain delay - in Seattle's 6-3 victory.

"During the rain delay, we were thinking about having to blow up the bullpen and he came right back out and gave us some depth there and saved the bullpen," Mariners rookie manager Don Wakamatsu told the team's official Web site. "He was just a little amped up the first two innings, then he settled down."

Olson has never faced the Padres.

Chad Gaudin (2-5, 6.16), meanwhile, will be looking to bounce back from one of the worst starts of his career. The right-hander gave up eight runs and 10 hits over three innings in an 11-6 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Friday.

"I try to think positive out there and channel my thoughts on what I have to do, not what I did do," he told the Padres' official Web site. "You have to have short-term memory loss."

Gaudin is 2-2 with a 4.97 ERA in 12 games - five starts - against Seattle.