No happy return for M's

No wonder the Mariners, who refrain from saying so publicly, would like to see the Expos stay out of Oregon.

This time it has nothing to do with splitting up fan base or broadcast audiences, just baseball.

If last night's first game ever between the teams was any indication, Seattle officials are undoubtedly happy to forgo an annual 20-game Northwest rivalry for one matchup every 26 years or so.

Montreal may be orphans-in-waiting — with Portland reportedly third to either Washington, D.C., or Northern Virginia for their new home — but this year they are no Little Orphan Annies.

They spotted Gil Meche leads of 1-0 in the second and 3-2 in the seventh and came back to win, 7-3, on Endy Chavez's tiebreaking single in the seventh off Shigetoshi Hasegawa and game-breaking three-run homer in the ninth off Giovanni Carrara.

In addition to losing the game, the Mariners seemingly have lost closer Kazu Sasaki for an undetermined period, at least 15 days in the likely event he is placed on the disabled list today.

Sasaki worked only four games on the recent 12-game trip, and apparently aggravated his back, possibly in his save in Philadelphia on Thursday, the last time he pitched.

"We'll see (today)," the closer said last night. "I can't really say much about it now."

As of late last night Seattle officials had not made a decision on putting the right-hander on the DL. He was on the DL April 23 through May 7 with a strained muscle in his lower right back.

Before the game, there had been some discussion about putting Sasaki on the DL to make room for new left-hander Matt White. But a decision was made to let him throw in the bullpen to see how he felt and to send out right-hander Julio Mateo.

Sasaki had to stop throwing, presumably because of problems that made a fellow reliever say, "It was painful to watch him."

He left the field before the sixth inning, headed from the bullpen to the clubhouse. If he goes on the DL, Seattle might bring Mateo back quickly, allowable under the rules if he is replacing an injured player.

There was some discussion behind closed doors in the office of manager Bob Melvin, whose postgame report was the club's only description of the situation: "He (Sasaki) had some discomfort. I hope to know more later."

Other than Sasaki's fragile back, the Mariners' overall discomfort stemmed from strong Montreal pitching, led by six good innings from starter Javier Vazquez.

"People who watch the game may not be aware that the Expos are a very good team, even without Vladimir Guerrero," Melvin said, "and Vazquez is one of the top five right-handers in the National League."

Seattle still managed a first-inning run, off Ichiro's leadoff triple, for the 33rd time in 62 games, and a major-league best 64 first-inning runs total.

Meche made that work until the third when Orlando Cabrera, who had battled him for 10 pitches before going out in the first inning, pounded a two-run homer out to left on an 0-2 fastball.

"I've been making too many mistakes my last few starts, giving up too many runs and still getting wins because our guys have been scoring more runs for me," Meche said frankly. "The fastball Cabrera hit was supposed to be up and in, setting up the next pitch down and away, but I left it up and out over the plate."

Still, the right-hander recovered strongly from that faux pas, worked neatly into the sixth and in that frame gave a perfect example of the solid performer he has shown much of this year, working out of a jam started on leadoff singles from Chavez and Cabrera.

Meantime, the Mariners had scored off a break to tie the score at 2-2 in the fourth when Randy Winn and Jeff Cirillo, who had three hits, led with singles. Dan Wilson bunted them over and Ichiro, on the 10th pitch of his at-bat, got the run in when first baseman Edwards Guzman missed the bag on his check-swing tapper to Vazquez.

Seattle took the 3-2 lead in the sixth on another battled at-bat, Cirillo driving an RBI double into the left-field corner on the ninth pitch to get Winn home from first.

"Vazquez is a good pitcher, you wonder how he gets under some pitches and seems to push it up in the zone, then gets on top of a great curveball," Cirillo said. "I enjoyed the long at-bat, when I can work the count from 0-2 to 3-2 and foul off three pitches, I feel like I've gained an advantage in that situation."

But Meche was unable to hold his lead and was upset with his performance.

Melvin opined his right-hander did well, making only two mistakes, including the Cabrera homer and the breaking ball in the seventh that Michael Barrett, a .148 hitter, drove to right-center to tie the score at 3-3. Hasegawa relieved and let Chavez single Barrett home to make it 4-3.

Yet Meche pointed out he has allowed more runs in later innings than he wants of late.

"I'm not tiring, I don't know if I'm relaxing or not bearing down enough," Meche said. "But I have to do better."