FanHouse Ken Griffey Jr.

Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 24 games tonight, so I thought "hey, maybe I should do a Mariners Dugout" and went to their homepage. I was greeted by images of the Mariners pointing at me, announcing that they want ME to vote "Mariners" in the 2009 All-Star Game. Always one to please, I opened up my ballot, wrote "Mariners" in for second base, and submitted it.

To save you the unnecessary confrontation of that, tonight's late night Dugout includes everything you need to know about the Seattle Mariners going into the All-Star Game: Ichiro is good at hitting, Ken Griffey Jr. plays there, and Jay Buhner is retired. I think?

The Dugout is after the jump.

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

When Willy Aybar's home run Thursday in Cleveland was upheld by a video review, it marked the sixth time in six days umpires made use of baseball's instant-replay rule.

So the natural question to ask Jimmie Lee Solomon, Major League Baseball's executive vice president of baseball operations, is why the flurry of trips to the secret chamber to watch replays? Are the umps more willing to consult the tape than in the past?

"These things come in bunches," Solomon told FanHouse.

SEATTLE -- Randy Johnson made his first appearance at Safeco Field since Aug. 24, 2006 Friday, allowing one run and six hits in 5 1/3 innings and exiting to a raucous standing ovation. It served as perhaps the final appearance in Seattle for the Big Unit. Johnson, who fell short of win No. 299, notched 130 victories in 9 1/2 seasons with the Mariners but left under unsavory circumstances when management said they weren't interested in re-signing him because of an ailing back. Johnson was dealt with the Houston Astros and eventually landed in Arizona, where he won a World Series.

Mariners fans watched as Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez departed in the span of three years, and the organization has been striving -- in vain -- to match those glory days.

"I'm hoping it's good because he gave his heart and soul to this organization," Griffey said about Johnson's reception from the fans. "Sometimes over the years, (the sentiment) becomes a lot better and people understand that things happen in professional sports. But I hope (the reception) is the same as what they gave me (in 2007 with Cincinnati) because he's a big part of why people are (playing baseball in Seattle) instead of somewhere else, you know a different city."

MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

While it's entirely possible the Blue Jays do hit a snag, isn't it about time columnists across the internet stopped doing Can the Blue Jays Really Keep This Up? pieces by now? I've seen at least 10 in the past three weeks. There are almost as many The Rangers Are For Real posts. The discrepancy in the media's faith in those two is likely due to the divisions in which the teams reside, but seven weeks isn't a small sample. At some point, you have to start giving credit where it's due.

Saturday Spotlight is a weekly lightning-round of questions delving into the personalities and stories of Major Leaguers.

Omar Vizquel is best known for his outstanding work at shortstop, but you may also know that he's a musician, an artist and a pretty fancy dresser. On his way to the Hall of Fame, he's now finishing out his career in Texas, tutoring young phenom Elvis Andrus.

On to the questions ...

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That there have only been two complete-game shutouts pitched in the American League this year, and Zack Greinke owns both of them. Remarkably, Greinke did it again on Monday night, blanking the White Sox on six hits, striking out 10 and walking none.

In six starts this season, Greinke is 6-0 with an 0.40 earned-run average. In 45 innings, he's allowed 30 hits, with eight walks and 54 strikeouts.

Greinke has pitched well every time out, but he called this one "my favorite game of the year, if not ever."

SAN FRANCISCO -- You don't have to hang around the Rockies for very long to get the feeling that Dexter Fowler is just about to blow up. In a good way.

By all accounts, Fowler just needs to meet his offensive potential and get the right publicity, and he could one day be one of those players who attain "face of the game" status.

Before you dismiss that as hyperbole, listen to Todd Helton.

In 2008 the Seattle Mariners, projected by many to contend with the Angels for the AL West title, suffered through a miserable season, finishing the year 61-101. Because of that disappointment -- they ended the season 39 games behind first place L.A. -- people were generally down on their prospects in '09. So when they started hot out of the gate, 9-6 and 2 1/2 games clear of the rest of the division, it took many by surprise.

For a variety of reasons, though, it's really not all that shocking. First and foremost, it's only 15 games; I mean, come on, even the Pirates are 9-6. But there were also a number of reasons to think that Seattle would be significantly improved entering the season.

When the Mariners signed Ken Griffey Jr. to come back to Seattle, it pretty much seemed like nothing other than a public relations move. Junior is way past the prime of his Hall of Fame career, and it was an accepted fact that the Mariners were destined for the basement of the AL West. Well, turns out the Mariners are in first place at 8-5, even though Junior is struggling with a .205 average.

Thankfully for Griffey, batting average isn't taken into consideration when deciding who the judge should be in Mariners Kangaroo Court, as the honorable Judge Mo' Money oversaw all cases this weekend in Seattle.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a nod to what's ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler had a pretty good night, rolling all sorts of rare feats into one ballgame. The headline is that he hit for the cycle, the first Rangers player to do that since Gary Matthews Jr. on Sept. 13, 2006.

He also had six hits, the first Rangers player to do that since Alfonso Soriano on May 8, 2004, but that was a 10-inning game. So Kinsler is the first in team history to have six knocks in a nine-inning game.

Now, the big one: Kinsler is the first player in major league history to have six hits in a game in which he hit for the cycle.