Seattle has been a force in the AL West over the past few years because of its excellent bullpen and stellar defense.

After watching last night’s game in Oakland, one the Mariners gave away following a dramatic four run seventh inning rally that catapulted them to a 6-4 lead, it became painfully obvious that Randy Winn is not to close to replacing Mike Cameron as a centerfielder and Rafael Soriano is nowhere near being in pitching shape for this season.

The A’s are a hungry team being carried offensively by Bobby Kielty, Eric Chavez, and Jermaine Dye.

Chad Bradford didn’t have his usual stuff last night, neither did Ricardo Rincon. Chris Hammond had a great changeup and Arthur Rhodes simply blew Seattle away for his third save.

A’s bullpen was better than Seattle’s and that turned the game when it mattered.

But the story for me was Winn and Soriano, two big parts of the Mariner puzzle.

Click below for more!Soriano pulled an oblique muscle during the first week of spring training. Last year the big righty threw about 95-97 mph regularly and was being counted on this year to set up Eddie Guardado.

It is clear Soriano is not in shape. Coming in to try to preserve the lead, he couldn’t throw harder than 91 mph and continuosly looked disinterested on the mound, throwing most pitches in the mid 80’s.

Jermaine Dye and Scott Hatteberg both creamed weak pitches for the hits that put the A’s back in the lead.

With Guardado possibly coming back this weekend according to him, Shigetoshi Hasegawa can then go back to the eighth inning spot until Soriano gets it together.

Ron Villone had a chance to get out of trouble during the A’s comeback, but he couldn’t put Eric Chavez away after getting ahead of him in the count. Everyone in the league knows Chavez has trouble with sliders away, but Villone tried to get the A’s thirdbaseman out with high fastballs. Chavez a notorious bad ball hitter tomahawked the last one to Winn in center. Winn misplayed the ball into a three base error setting Dye up to tie the game off of Soriano. Villone didn’t help himself by walking Mark Kotsay to lead off the seventh inning either.

Anyway, the Mariners are 0-4, getting only a well pitched game from Freddy Garcia among its first four starts.

The West will be a tough race with Anaheim leading the way, but the A’s have the best pitching in the division and it will count a great deal when these teams play each other.

Jose Contreras got bombed by the White Sox Friday. Contreras still has to show he can get out of trouble before he becomes a reliable starter.

Reliever Felix Heredia is all over the place for the Yankees and he didn’t help Contreras yesterday.

On the bright side for the Sox, Jon Garland pitched a great game in Yankee Stadium. If Garland is for real, then the Sox may be in better shape than I think.

At least with a 9-3 lead the Chicago bullpen wasn’t needed to be a factor in the win.

The Cubs still aren’t hitting, but they are getting great bullpen work. Eight innings of shut out ball Friday with Mike Wuertz, the rookie with another scoreless outing.

John Smoltz blew the save in the ninth. I wonder when he will regain his dominating form. Chris Reitsma may be closing for the Braves if Smoltz isn’t completely healthy.

Tyler Yates pitched an excellent game for the Mets following up on his outstanding spring.

Orber Moreno closed in the win for NY after Braden Looper let two inherited runs score tying the game in the eighth. Moreno may be the closer eventually pushing Looper back to a set up role where he is more comfortable.

Armando Benitez picked up his third save yesterday for the Marlins. If he is for real, which is still up in the air, Miami will be in great shape.

The Marlins knocked the Phils out of the race last September and picked up again this season with a win Friday night.

Ken Griffey Jr homered. Once he shows the baseball world he is healthy, he will be traded. Is Seattle a possible destination? He certainly would be an upgrade over Winn in center.

Kaz Ishii pitched effectively last night, but the best pitcher in the game was Wilson Alvarez who closed with three terrific innings. Dave Roberts stole four bases in the game, Colorado pitchers must have really been slow to the plate because Charles Johnson isn’t that bad.

Speaking of Johnson he is off to a hot start at the dish.

Richie Sexson is hitting .125 but that will change soon.

Casey Daigle’s debut for Arizona didn’t go very well last night. Wonder how many chances he’ll get before Arizona looks for a different starting pitcher?

Jimmy Gobble gave KC a good game Friday. Now if Jeremy Affeldt can live up to his promise, KC may get off to a good start because Darrell May and Brian Anderson can win in the Central.

Anderson goes today against CC Sabathia who was lights out in his first start.

Jason Johnson today for Detroit. He pitched very well in the opener for the Tigers in Toronto.

Jorge De Paula for the Yanks today. Guess they didn’t want to throw lefty Donovan Osborne against all the righties the White Sox have in the line up.

Red Sox let one get away Friday to Toronto, bullpen meltdown as usual. Roy Halladay, who had poor defense behind him in his opener, goes against Pedro in Fenway this evening. That’s a game I’d like to see.

Tim Hudson versus Gil Meche in Oakland. It looks like a nice day. These are two good pitchers who could lock up in a 3-2 game if they have it together.

The Rangers are always tough at home. Today they take on John Lackey and Anaheim throwing Kenny Rogers at the big righthanded bats.

With three lefty starters in their rotation, the A’s should watch what happens to Rogers very carefully. Anaheim crushed lefty Jamie Moyer in the opener earlier in the week in Seattle.

Wade Miller pitched well for Houston. Today it’s Tim Redding against Wes Obermueller in Milwaukee. I still like Houston, but would feel better if they had a lefty in the pen.

First weekend is underway and the drama is already starting to build.