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Mariners-Padres Preview

Jun 11, 2010 - 4:20 AM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Seattle (23-36) at San Diego (34-24), 10:05 p.m. EDT

The San Diego Padres are trying to bounce back from their worst performance at the plate this season, but an interleague series at home may not help.

After missing a chance to move into a tie for the NL West lead, the Padres look to end their woes in interleague play at Petco Park as they open a three-game series with the last-place Seattle Mariners on Friday night.

San Diego (35-25) split a doubleheader with the Mets on Thursday, winning the opener 4-2 before wasting a triple play in a 3-0 loss that concluded a 3-4 road trip. Instead of pulling into a tie with the Dodgers atop West, the Padres remained one game behind after being limited to one hit in New York.

It was San Diego's third shutout loss of the season.

The Padres now play their second interleague series of the year. They won two of three games at Seattle from May 21-23, scoring eight runs in two of those contests.

However, San Diego has lost 12 of its last 14 home interleague matchups, averaging 2.9 runs and batting .227. The Padres are averaging 3.2 runs and hitting .212 in their last 11 home games versus the Mariners (23-37), losing 10 in a row before a 4-3, 10-inning victory last June 18.

San Diego slugger Adrian Gonzalez is hitting .194 (7 for 36) in his last 11 home games against American League opponents. Gonzalez, though, went 6 for 13 in this season's first series with the Mariners, and is batting .441 (15 for 34) with four homers and 12 RBIs in his last eight games overall.

San Diego does enter this contest with some momentum at home, winning four of five including an 18-6 rout of the Mets on May 31.

"We have a great TEAM," closer Heath Bell said. "You put us individually, we might not be the best guys out there. But you put us together, and we're solid."

The Padres, who lead the majors with a 2.98 ERA, send Kevin Correia (5-4, 5.03 ERA) to the mound Friday.

The right-hander is 1-0 over his last two starts despite posting an 11.74 ERA. He gave up five runs, four hits and walked four in 1 2-3 innings before San Diego came back to beat Philadelphia 6-5 in 10 innings Sunday.

Correia was a hard-luck loser in his only start versus the Mariners, surrendering two runs in eight innings as the Padres fell 5-0 last June 16.

Seattle will counter with Jason Vargas (4-2, 3.06), who is 1-1 with a 3.97 ERA in two starts against the Padres.

Vargas has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 10 straight starts. The left-hander surrendered four runs - three earned - and a season-high 10 hits in six innings of a 9-4 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.

Seattle got terrible pitching in its last series, posting an 8.25 ERA en route to losing the final three games of a four-game set against Texas.

"We're embarrassed," manager Don Wakamatsu said. "There are no excuses."

Poor pitching wasn't entirely to blame in the Mariners' 12-3 loss to the Rangers on Thursday night. Seattle committed two errors and surrendered eight unearned runs.