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Athletics-Mariners Preview

Aug 10, 2010 - 6:05 AM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Oakland (56-54) at Seattle (42-70), 10:10 p.m. EDT

A stagnant offense was one of the reasons the Seattle Mariners fired manager Don Wakamatsu on Monday.

Felix Hernandez doesn't need a reminder of his team's season-long struggle to score runs.

The Mariners ace has received hardly any run support while losing his last four decisions, a skid he'll try to stop Tuesday night against the Oakland Athletics.

With the AL's second-worst record, Seattle (43-70) parted ways with Wakamatsu, bench coach Ty Van Burkleo and pitching coach Rick Adair before Monday night's series opener with the A's.

Daren Brown was promoted from Triple-A Tacoma on an interim basis to replace Wakamatsu, who presided over an offense that ranks last in the majors in runs (367), batting average (.236) and homers (67).

"It's sad to see 'Wak' go. We played ourselves into that position," closer David Aardsma said. "But we got to start anew with 'Brownie.'"

The Mariners won Brown's debut, a 3-1 victory that featured the club's first triple play since 1995.

Hernandez (7-9, 2.94 ERA) wouldn't mind similarly stellar defense behind him, but he's also hoping for some help from his offense.

The right-hander is 0-4 in five starts since the All-Star break despite a 2.70 ERA. He's gotten 0.7 runs of support per nine innings in that stretch, and Seattle hasn't scored in his last 18 innings.

Hernandez didn't allow a run through his first six innings against first-place Texas on Thursday, but he gave up three in the seventh as the Mariners lost 6-0.

"I can't complain, it's just baseball," Hernandez told the Mariners' official website. "I just have to keep working hard."

If Brett Anderson's last two starts against Seattle are any indication, Hernandez may be forced to match zeros with his opponent again.

Anderson (3-2, 3.14) faced the Mariners twice in April, pitching six shutout innings each time. He allowed a total of nine hits while striking out 10 in those outings.

This will be his third start since spending nearly two months on the disabled list nursing an elbow injury. Anderson returned with a rocky outing in a loss to Chicago on July 30 but was sharp Wednesday, beating Kansas City as he allowed two runs and three hits in seven innings of a 4-3 win.

Even with limited contributions from the 22-year-old left-hander, Oakland leads the AL with a 3.66 ERA.

"Hopefully I'll just pitch on par with everybody else on our staff," Anderson said. "It's good to feel part of the team again. It's going to be a work in progress another couple starts but hopefully this is a step in the right direction."

The second-place A's (56-55) are trying to continue an unlikely pursuit of Texas in the AL West, but they're hitless in their last 35 at-bats with men in scoring position, and Monday's defeat dropped them eight games back.

They hoped to get a boost from highly touted prospect Chris Carter, but the first baseman - playing left field in his major league debut Monday - went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts.

Despite the Mariners' struggles, two more games at Safeco Field may not help an Oakland team which has lost 15 of 17 in Seattle dating to August 2008.

The Mariners, meanwhile, have a chance to win three in a row overall for the first time since a six-game winning streak from June 16-23.