Chris Shelton delivers a critical victory to Mariners, who take series from Texas Rangers

That's David Aardsma in the photo above, closing out the ninth for his 20th save in 22 opportunities. Chris Shelton could not have picked a better time to deliver for the Mariners, coming through with a pinch-hit single to left field in the seventh inning. That snapped a tie game and Seattle went on to score twice that inning for a huge 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers. The Mariners took three of four in this series to stay within four games of the division-leading Angels and 2 1/2 behind the Rangers. It's not an optimal situation heading into the All-Star Break. Yeah, the Angels beat the Yankees again. But it's still better for the Mariners than being five games out. They have to take care of their own business and they did it this weekend. Those losses to Baltimore really hurt them, but they mitigated the damage here. A key managerial move by Don Wakamatsu allowed that seventh inning scoring thrust to occur. Read more...