MLB: Guerrero hands M's another loss

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Maybe he doesn�t quite look the same as a few years ago. Maybe he isn�t quite the same player he was a few years ago. The years, the games and the innings all have taken their toll on Vladimir Guerrero. The most noticeable is his once graceful and loping stride has now been replaced by a stiff-legged shuffle.

But Guerrero can still hit � especially Seattle pitching. That much has not changed.

The perennial All-Star continued his torture of Mariners pitchers Thursday, blasting a pair of home runs, including a two-run shot in the top of the ninth off closer J.J. Putz to carry the Los Angeles Angels to a 6-4 win at a sparsely populated Safeco Field.

�He�s been really good against us,� Mariners manager Jim Riggleman said. �He�s just gotten a lot of hits against us no matter how we pitch him.�

That�s an understatement.

His latest performance � 2-for-4 with two home runs, three runs scored and three RBI and a walk � was just another in a history of good games against the Mariners (58-101).

In 87 games against Seattle, Guerrero is hitting .363 with 25 home runs and 75 RBI.

�In this series, as much as we respect Torii Hunter behind him, we still tried to pitch around (Guerrero) every time he was up,� Riggleman said.

But Putz didn�t have that luxury. With scored tied at 1-1 and a runner on first, Putz couldn�t afford to walk him and put the winning run in scoring position. But he was trying to be careful.

He followed the game plan he�s always used against Guerrero, busting him in on his hands with fastballs.

�I�ve usually thrown him hard in and up and off the plate,� Putz said. �And that�s where that pitch was.� But as often is the case with Guerrero, it didn�t matter. He managed to get his hands and the bat head through the zone, pulling the ball to left field.

�At first I thought it was a pop-up,� Putz said.

Riggleman and the players on the bench thought the same.

�It didn�t sound real good coming off the bat,� Riggleman said.

But yet the ball carried through cool September night and landed deep in the visitors� bullpen.

�That just shows how strong he is,� Putz said.

And the reports of Guerrero losing bat speed?

�Not hardly,� Putz said. �That home run shows right there that his bat isn�t slowing down.�

If the ninth-inning homer didn�t provide enough of a testament of Guerrero�s strength and bat speed, his sixth-inning solo homer should have.

Facing Randy Messenger with a 2-2 count, Guerrero reached out and drove a fastball to right. Even though it hardly looked like he swung, the ball carried easily out and over the fence.

Right fielder Wladimir Balentien tried to make a leaping catch at the wall, but the ball caromed off his glove and landed over the fence.

There was some confusion as to whether the ball went over the fence at first, and Guerrero briefly stopped at second base. The umpires conferred and ruled that it was a home run.

Two pitches, two different locations, the same end result.

�You can�t really throw him a pitch that he doesn�t like,� Putz said. �That�s what makes him so good and he�s so strong. He�s just a tough guy to pitch to.�

Guerrero spoiled a decent showing from the Mariners. Seattle jumped out to an 2-0 lead in the first inning.

Ichiro Suzuki led off with single to right. The hit was his 1,800th in major league baseball. And in doing so he became the fastest player to reach 1,800 hits since 1954. He needed just 1,276 games. The next closest is Wade Boggs at 1,352 games.

Raul Iba�ez scored Ichiro on a single to right. Balentien added an RBI double.

The Mariners couldn�t hold the lead. Spot starter Cesar Jimenez paid for his three walks in the second by giving up a sacrifice fly to Mike Napoli to cut it to 2-1. Guerrero�s solo shot in the sixth tied the game, and later in the inning Gary Matthews Jr. drove in a run on a fielder�s choice. The Angels pushed the lead to 4-2 in the seventh on a Hunter single to center.

But the Mariners rallied behind an unlikely concept � patient hitting from Yuniesky Betancourt. Having already taken a walk early in the game, Betancourt worked a 2-0 count off of Jose Arrendando and then blasted a two-run homer to left-center to tie the game at four.

But it wouldn�t hold as Putz (6-5) took the loss and gave up his first runs at Safeco since June 1.