Mariners' interleague skid hits six in a row since no-hitter

In good years and in bad -- and there were many more of the bad -- there was one thing the Seattle Mariners could count on.

When interleague play rolled around, they'd prove to be a load for whichever National League teams had to face them.

Until this year, anyway. For 12 consecutive seasons, the Mariners were .500 or better against NL competition, a stretch in which they had 100 or more losses a couple of times and 95 last year.

This year, however, after a fast start, the interleague streak is in danger of being another casualty in a miserable season for the last-place Mariners.

Friday's 4-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants was the six straight in interleague play for Seattle, which had swept the Colorado Rockies in three games on the road last month. But on this homestand, after the six-man no-hitter in a 1-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 8, the Mariners have lost six in a row.

In the six losses, the Mariners are hitting .207 (47-for-227). And the runs, when they do come, are of the catch-up variety. Seattle has scored 14 runs in the six games, and nine of those have come in the seventh inning or later when the team's been trailing.

The Mariners have had a lead for four out of the 63 innings in the first seven games of the homestand.

Manager Eric Wedge's patience is being tested.

"The guys have got to make their own breaks," he said. "The veterans have to do more, and the kids are pressing."