The Angels are a distracted team, with the memorial service for Nick Adenhart on Thursday and their manager and other team members flying back to it. People are grieving and that can lead to distractions on the field.
This time it was the Angels bullpen, which gave up a seven-run seventh inning highlighted by a grand slam from Ichiro Suzuki and Seattle won again at home, 11-3.
This game was not a blowout until late — Torii Hunter’s home run in the fifth inning puts the Angels up 2-1.
Jered Weaver gave up four runs in five innings of work as a starter, the only real mistakes being on back-to-back batters Endy Chavez and Ken Griffey Jr. — but both of those mistakes being hit to the bleachers for home runs. That was Griffey’s 400th home run as a Mariner, and it earned a curtain call from the crowd at Safeco.
Things got very, very ugly in the seventh for the Angels. Griffy led off the inning with a single and 11 batters later the game was out of reach.
The Angels are learning that this season there will be no free ride in the AL West, and that Seattle could be their toughest competitor all summer long. And so far, the Mariners have had the upper hand.
