Don't forget my weekly Talkin' Baseball segment on KJR AM 950's Mitch in the Morning show, coming up at 8:20 a.m. or thereabouts. Click right here to go to the KJR page for the live link.

One of the things we'll be talking about, I'm sure, is what to do with one of the starting pitchers come May 2, when Cliff Lee is eligible to make his first start. The guy whose spot he'd be starting in, if the rotation remains in order with a couple of off-days, would be Jason Vargas. The latter pitches tonight against Baltimore as the 7-7 M's continue on a stretch that now has them at 5-1 and with a chance to go over .500 for the first time since Opening Day.

See? It really was early on the won-lost front.

Now, there has been a lot of brain-twisting and scenario-building when it comes to which of the three starters -- Vargas, Doug Fister or Ian Snell -- will leave the rotation.

But before we even go down that road, there are some basics you all need to be aware of that will impact the decision.

Franklin Gutierrez's groin tightness is the cause of some concern, and the presence of the smallest crowd in Safeco history -- by more than 1,000 -- on Monday is disconcerting.

Yet Doug Fister's brilliance was front and center on Monday after the Mariners' 8-2 victory. He took a no-hitter into the seventh before Nick Markakis's leadoff single up the middle. Was he thinking no-hitter?

"No,'' he answered quickly, before fessing up. "Obviously, it's in the back of your mind, but not really. I was just trying to make pitch after pitch. Each one counts.''

Fister really seems to embrace that attitude. He said that when the Mariners scored seven in the third, "I instantly said to myself, 'It's still a 0-0 ballgame.'' And when he was asked if his velocity was up, as the scoreboard readings seemed to indicate, he said, "I don't know. Location is the key to me, and that's what Rob (Johnson) and I talked about.''

One downside to tonight's 8-2 win by the Mariners: Franklin Gutierrez, their leading hitter this season, was pulled from the game after experiencing tightness in his groin in the seventh inning. He was visibly wincing as he scored in the seventh on Casey Kotchman's double.

"He wanted to go back out,'' manager Don Wakamatsu said. "He didn't seem to pull anything. We'll re-evaluate (Tuesday).''

Eric Byrnes replaced Gutierrez in the eighth. Gutierrez was 2-for-2 in the game to raise his average to .426.

More post-game later, but I've got to rewrite my game story.

Top seventh:The no-no by Fister ends on Nick Markakis's leadoff single on a 2-1 pitch. Hard grounder up the middle, clean. The crowd saluted Fister with a standing O. That ended streak of 10 straight no-hit innings by Fister, dating back to last start against Oakland. He also lost the shutout in the inning on a two-out RBI double by Luke Scott. But an absolutely brilliant performance. 7-0 (now I'm going to need to take a hiatus to finish my newspaper story).

Top sixth: What a play by Figgins and Fister to keep Orioles hitless. Figgins ranges far to left to field hard Izturis grounder, spins and throws a one-hopper to Fister covering to nail him by a step.

Top fifth: Still no hits for the Orioles through five. Seventy pitches. Figgins bailed him out in the fifth with a backhand stab of a liner by Luke Scott. 7-0 Mariners.

Bottom fourth: As suspected, the crowd is smallest in Safeco history -- 14,528.

Bottom third: Rob Johnson made the first and last out in the inning. In between, rampant damage by the Mariners as they knocked out starter Brad Bergesen and scored seven runs. Bergesen never seemed to recover from Jack Wilson's one-out double, on which they seemed to have a shot at throwing him out at second but couldn't make the play. That opened the floodgates, with a big error by third baseman Ty Wiggington helping the M's considerably. Ken Griffey Jr. had a two-run single (raising his RBI total to three), then was thrown out trying to score from first on Milton Bradley's double. Did he think it was 1995 and Edgar was hitting in Game 5 of the playoffs? Biggest hit: Casey Kotchman's two-run homer. The line of Bergesen: 2 2/3 innings, 6 hits, 7 runs, 4 earned runs, 3 walks, 0 strikeouts. Ouch. 7-0 Mariners.

Top third: Fister has hit a groove, it appears. For a 26-year-old with minimal major-league experience, he really knows how to pitch. Another 1-2-3 inning, with two whiffs. 41 pitches through three innings. 0-0

Bottom second: And Bergeren comes up with a quick 1-2-3 inning of his own. Kotchman hit the ball hard, but right at second baseman Julio Lugo. 0-0.

Top second: Very easy 1-2-3 inning for Fister. The second out was a pop fly by Lou Montanez down the first-base line that looked like it could be trouble as Ichiro, Figgins and Kotchman all converged. But Kotchman made the grab, and no one collided.

Bottom first: M's waste a leadoff double by Ichiro. Chone Figgins flies to center, and after a Franklin Gutierrez walk, Jose Lopez hits into easy 6-4-3 double play. Speaking of Ichiro, he is now tied with Jay Buhner on the Mariners' all-time career games played list (1,440). Ichiro entered the game with a .365 career average against Baltimore, highest in history by an Orioles opponent. He now has a 19-game hitting streak against them. 0-0.

Top first: After issuing zero walks over eight innings last time out, Doug Fister hit a batter and walked a batter in the first. But he was bailed out by a nice shoestring catch by Ichiro on Matt Wieters' sinking liner to right for the third out. 0-0.

You've got to feel for the Orioles. Not only are they 2-11 heading into tonight's game, but they are playing their 14th out of 16 straight games without a day off to open the season. The Orioles will finally get a day off Thursday -- followed by 12 straight games against the Red Sox and Yankees. And once they navigate that rugged stretch, they face a four-game series at Target Field against the Minnesota Twins, who have a 9-4 record. And then the Mariners come to town.

Of course, maybe this will be a good time to face the Red Sox, who lost today to Tampa Bay as the Rays completed a four-game sweep at Fenway Park. The Red Sox are now 4-9, putting them in fourth place in the AL East -- ahead of only the Orioles.

Not many fans here tonight, it appears. The attendance estimate is 15,000, which would mean this could challenge the smallest crowd in Safeco history (15,818 vs. Texas, May 6, 2008).

Doug Fister is coming off eight shutout innings against Oakland. Brad Bergesen is coming off a three-inning, eight-run stint against Tampa Bay (but to be fair, just five were earned).

Barring a setback, the M's are looking to have Cliff Lee make his first Mariners start on May 2 at Safeco against the Rangers, manager Don Wakamatsu said today.

Lee, who took part in PFPs (pitcher's fielding practice) Monday along with the rest of his teammates, will throw another simulated game tomorrow (Tuesday). If that goes well, he'll make a rehab start in the minors -- most likely at Tacoma -- on April 25 (Sunday). And if that goes well, Wakamatsu said, Lee's initial start will be May 2.

The M's, by the way, still haven't heard word from MLB on the appeal of Lee's five-game suspension. Lee, who has been sidelined since early March with an abdominal strain, "feels great,'' Wakamatsu said.

The struggling Orioles bring their 2-11 record to town. Yes, 2-11, which doesn't bode well for the job security of manager Dave Trembley. The Orioles rank 12th out of 14 teams with a 4.51 team ERA, and 11th out of 14 with a team batting average of .234 (though they've scored just three fewer runs, 42, than the Mariners through 13 games for each).

Ex-Mariner Adam Jones is the leadoff hitter for the Orioles and is off to a mediocre start (.246, five extra base hits in 57 at-bats). Pitcher Chris Tillman, who was slated to be the No. 5 starter, is in the minors after getting beaten out in spring training by David Hernandez, who pitches against Seattle on Tuesday. Reliever Kam Mickolio, another pitcher who came from Seattle in the Erik Bedard trade, is in the Orioles' bullpen. He has made just one appearance, giving up a run in one inning of work.

Orioles

Adam Jones CF
Ty Wiggington 3B
Nick Markakis RF
Nolan Reimold DH
Matt Wieters C
Luke Scott 1B
Lou Montanez LF
Julio Lugo 2B
Cesar Izturis SS
Brad Bergesen RHP (0-1, 11.74)

Mariners

Ichiro RF
Chone Figgins 2B
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Jose Lopez 3B
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
Milton Bradley LF
Casey Kotchman 1B
Rob Johnson C
Jack Wilson SS
Doug Fister RHP (1-1, 1.50 ERA)

The Mariners today announced that a former Mariner, Ramon Vazquez, is back in the organization, having been signed to a minor-league contract.

Vazquez, 33, will remain in extended spring training before being assigned to a minor-league club.

Vazquez was designated for assignment by the Pirates after spending spring training with the club. He became a free agent on April 12. Vazquez has appeared in 310 games with the Rangers and Pirates over the past three seasons. In 2008, he batted .290 with 18 doubles, three triples, six homers and 40 RBI in 105 games with t he Rangers.

Vazquez was a 27th-round draft pick of the Mariners in 1995. He spent seven years in their system, making his major-league debut on Sept. 7, 2001. Vazquez was traded to San Diego after the '01 season, along with Tom Lampkin and Brett Tomko, in the deal that brought catcher Ben Davis (as well as pitcher Wascar Serrano and infielder Alex Arias) to the Mariners.

That's Vazquez (left) and Lampkin pictured in the Seattle Times file photo from Sept. 30, 2001.

Regardless of whatever else happens with this offense in 2010, it's been pretty much accepted that Ichiro and Chone Figgins will have to keep getting on base with regularity in order for the Mariners to score runs.

In the first week of the season, there was ample concern over the lack on on-base prowess by either player. Ichiro in particular seemed mired in one of those April slumps that have been so commonplace in his career.

Well, fast forward one more week and the world seems to have fallen back into its natural order.