During the moment, the anger of Richie Sexson and the Seattle Mariners may have been directed toward pitcher Kason Gabbard and the Texas Rangers, but really the rage had been building steadily in the Mariners for the last few weeks and it was largely stemmed from unhappiness with themselves and their recent spate of unremarkable losses.

Sexson’s helmet throwing charge and tackle on Gabbard and ensuing bench-clearing shoving and shouting match during the fourth inning may have shown that there is a pulse and some fire in this Mariners’ squad. But it did little to reverse their recent fortunes or jumpstart an anemic offense that was held to three hits and no runs in a 5-0 loss to the Rangers on Thursday night.

In an otherwise non-descript loss with yet again a lack of offense, Sexson provided perhaps the only offensive move of the night, charging the mound after Gabbard sent a fastball eye level in retaliation for Felix

Hernandez hitting Ian Kinsler the inning before after Kinsler homered off him earlier in the game. After being hit, Kinsler exchanged words with Hernandez and catcher Kenji Johjima and even made a motion toward the mound before taking first base, while several Rangers players jumped to the top step of the dugout and also offered their opinions.

The whole situation was relatively tense, and most of the Mariners knew that the possibility of a player being hit the ensuing was evident.

“Everybody knew what was going,” said Raul Ibanez, who led off the next inning.

Gabbard didn’t hit Ibanez or Adrian Beltre, retiring them both. But with two outs, it was the perfect opportunity to deliver a message pitch with minimal risk of it costing runs. Sexson knew it to.

“I was well aware of the fact that he was probably going to hit me,” Sexson said. “And I’d go to first, no big deal.”

But Gabbard didn’t hit him, instead he delivered a fastball that was up around Sexson’s head level, but not directly at it. That mattered little to Sexson, who sprinted toward the helmet in hand. When he reached the mound he fired the helmet at Gabbard, hitting him in the back and then tackling him to the ground as the benches and bullpens cleared.

“I’ve played a long time,” Sexson said. “I’ve been hit on purpose before and it’s been the right way and I go to first. You understand the game, you know how it works.”

The unwritten rule in baseball is never to throw at someone’s head no matter what the situation and Sexson is a clear believer in it.

“When you get up by the face, that’s when you start talking about careers, and start talking about family, there’s a lot of stuff you can lose going up around the head,” Sexson said.

It didn’t help that Sexson got a stark realization the day before as he spent it at Children’s Hospital when one of his kids was taken there in an emergency situation.

“A lot of things were running through my head right there,” Sexson said. “You’re so (ticked off) you don’t even know what’s happening, it’s a rage.”

The tossing of the helmet could lead to a longer suspension for Sexson and he was regretful.

“I know throwing the helmet was the wrong thing,” he said. “It was a chicken (expletive) move. I lost it right there, I was thinking about a lot of things.”

The whole melee took longer than usual to break up because Fernandez and his explosive temper would simply not calm down. He had words with Kinsler and Gerald Laird, who he’d also hit earlier. It took former Mariner Eddie Guardado and about six Seattle players to finally control Hernandez, while Laird was literally carried from the fray by teammate Milton Bradley.

“We’re a frustrated ball club,” admitted manager John McLaren.