Zduriencik says Marriners ''are in a pennant race'' but has no immediate plans to add a bat

The photo above shows Ian Snell, who will start for the Mariners on Sunday in-place, as expected, of the traded Jarrod Washburn. Snell actually has family in Tacoma, so he should feel right at home. Interesting conference call with general manager Jack Zduriencik, who insisted his team is still competing for the AL West despite having just traded his second-best starting pitcher for a pair of prospects. "The one thing that I would like to point out is that we are in a pennant race,'' Zduriencik said. "We are on the outside looking in in a pennant race.'' But there was a long pause by Zduriencik when he was asked, by an AP reporter, whether his moves this week had made the team better. The pause was so long that the reporter who'd first asked the question, Gregg Bell, had to ask if Zduriencik was still on the line. "We have brought back three pieces to join our major league club,'' Zduriencik finally said, meaning Snell, shortstop Jack Wils...