BOX SCORE

Well that was one of the most interesting games I’ve ever seen. I honestly don’t know what to think. I wonder what Cliff Lee and the rest of the pitching staff think.

Lee was unbelievable, pitching seven scoreless innings and allowing just three hits, while striking out eight.

“Lee was probably as good as you can ask for,” Manager Don Wakamatsu. “He was near perfect. To see the velocity, the quality of his pitches and him being able to dominate their line-up … it was pretty special.”

The bullpen was almost as good. They pitched five scoreless …

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UPDATE: Here’s the free t-shirt that the first 20,000 fans will get tomorrow. It was designed by Ichiro.

Well, it’s Merry Cliffmas for Mariners fans as Cliff Lee makes his first start in a Seattle uniform. Nice sized crowd tonight, I don’t know how much it has to do with the Lee debut, the weekend night or Felix bobblehead night. People were lined up at 1 p.m. when I drove by. That’s a little bit much for a doll.

1st inning

Well Cliff Lee doesn’t disappoint in his Mariners debut. First of all he has “Run this …

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The Mariners had to make a corresponding roster move when they activated Cliff Lee from the disabled list before tonight’s game. But I would say that most of us were surprised to hear it was Shawn Kelley that was optioned to Triple A Tacoma and not Jesus Colome being designated for assignment.

Really had I or anyone else been paying attention, we might have noticed that Kelley’s locker was empty. But to be honest, I was too busy enjoying the fact that Junior put on a “Montana Grizzlies football” t-shirt for pregame. Mark it down, he will get an …

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Top prospect Dustin Ackley hadn’t exactly been tearing the cover off the ball this season. His average was under .150 as he adjusted to Double A pitching and life with a wood bat. But perhaps last night is a jumping off point, Ackley ripped a pair of doubles and drove in two runs in West Tenn’s 8-4 win. It raised his average to .153.

Last night I had the pleasure of covering the Rainiers and got a little bonus baseball as they played 14 innings with Reno. And just about the time I thought I would never leave, Tommy Everidge crushed a walk-off two-run homer. It was easily a 400 shot in the cold night air. It was his first of the season.

Also during in between the 12th and 13th innings, they played this little piece of goodness on the big screen…

Why would they play such nonsense, it goes back to this somewhat outdated internet joke.

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People say “Happy Felix Day” on any day when Felix Hernandez starts for the Mariners. But tonight Cliff Lee makes his much anticipated debut for the Mariners on Felix Hernandez bobblehead night. So is it “Happy Cliff Lee Day”? Or perhaps “Merry Cliff-mas.” Either way, Lee is pitching tonight against the Texas Rangers. And as Wooderson said about Aerosmith in “Dazed and Confused:”

“I will be there.”

What does the Felix bobblehead think about Cliff Lee pitching tonight?

He seems to think it’s a good thing.

For those unfamiliar with Lee, what should you expect to see from him? …

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Perhaps the Mariners farm system isn’t completely devoid of power. West Tenn outfielder Carlos Peguero showed some pop last night, blasting three home runs for the Jaxx in a 10-3 win. Peguero was 4-for-5 with three home runs and 4 RBI. The monster game gave him nine on the season, tying him with Marlins super stud prospect Mike Stanton. Peguero is in the midst of an eight-game hitting streak and has hit in 16 of 19 games.

Peguero is the second M’s minor league to go deep three times in a game. Clinton outfielder Kalian Sams also hit three HRs in a game earlier this season.

Obviously, Peguero doesn’t have quite the fanfare or the prospect rating as  teammate and first-round pick Dustin Ackley, who’s hitting below .200 right now. But Jim Henry of AOL Fanhouse caught up with Ackley and talked with him about the transition.

For Class A High Desert, Bobby LaFromboise pitched seven shutout innings in a 6-0 win.

For Class A Clinton, three pitchers combined to strike out 16 batters in a win.

Elsewhere in the minor leagues, former Mariners pitching prospect Chris Tillman, who was traded to the Orioles as part of the Erik Bedard trade, tossed a no-hitter for Triple A Norfolk. Tillman struck out six and walked just one.

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Call it the final game before Cliff Lee’s return, and if Seattle wins today it  will get to Lee’s first start with an 11-11 record.

To do that, they’ll have to face a former Mariner, Gil Meche, and pitch to four Seattle alumni in the Kansas City lineup – Scott Podsednik, Jose Guillen, Willie Bloomquist and Yuniesky Betancourt.

It’s Ryan Rowland-Smith’s last chance of 2010 to win the first April game of his career, and might well be the last career appearance here of  Mike Sweeney, who spent 13 seasons as a Royal.

Lineup news? Sweeney is the DH, Milton …

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Mike Sweeney spent 13 years with the Kansas City Royals, not counting his minor league time in the organization, and was the team captain for about half those years.

He was an All-Star, a team MVP and an all-around All-American kind of guy – then and now.

So why did he get booed during a pinch-hit at-bat Monday night, and why does he expect to hear more of the same today, when he starts as the Seattle Mariners designated hitter?

“My son Mikey asked me that,” Sweeney said of his five-year-old. “He wanted to know why they were booing me. …

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