Former Mariner Mike Cameron threw out the ceremonial first pitch Friday, then his former team laid an egg, loging 4-0 to the Oakland A's. / Drew Sellers, Sportspress Northwest

GAME: Athletics (4-4, 2nd, AL West, -2.0 GB) at Mariners (4-5, 3rd AL West, -2.5 GB). GAME #: 10. SERIES: 2nd of 3 games. MEETING (2012): 6th (Mariners lead 3-2). WHEN: Saturday, 6:10 p.m., Safeco Field. PROBABLE PITCHERS: LHP Tommy Milone (Oakland, 1-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Hector Noesi (Seattle, 0-1, 21.00). STREAKS: Mariners L 2; Athletics W 2. TV: ROOT Sports, MLB TV. RADIO: KIRO 710 (Seattle), Mariners Radio Network.

Shelled by the Texas Rangers in his first 2012 start, Hector Noesi will attempt to atone for the awful start to his Mariners’ career — as well as rectify a two-game Seattle losing streak — when he faces the Oakland Athletics in the second game of a three-game series Saturday night at Safeco Field.

Noesi (0-1, 21.00 ERA) will be opposed by Tommy Milone (1-0, 0.00 ERA) a lefthander who doesn’t have much major league experience, but who is coming off an eight-inning blanking of the Kansas City Royals.

Prior to the Noesi-Milone matchup, the Mariners will salute the national champion Western Washington University men’s basketball team. The Vikings last month became just the second collegiate men’s team in the state to capture a national title, and the first in 36 years.

A closer look:

MARINERS: RHP Hector Noesi (0-1, 21.00 ERA, 3.00 WHIP)

Hector Noesi

In his second major league season, and first with the Mariners, Noesi, 25, is making his second start of the season and the first of his career against the Athletics.

A native of Esperanza, Valverde, Dominican Republic, the 6-3, 200-pound Noesi was signed as an amateur free agent by the New York Yankees in 2004.

Noesi made his major league debut May 18, 2011, against the Baltimore Orioles. The fifth Yankees reliever that day, he collected the win by working four innings, during which he allowed four hits, no runs and fanned four.

Noesi became a Mariner Jan. 23 when he was traded by the Yankees, along with Jesus Montero, to Seattle for Jose Campos (minors) and Michael Pineda, an All-Star starter.

Noesi, who appeared in 30 games for the Yankees, making two starts, has a career record of 2-3, 5.31 ERA and 1.584 WHIP.

This will be Noesi’s third start in a regular season game.

• 2012: April 9 at Texas, where he frittered away a 5-2 lead and lost to Yu Darvish, making his major league debut, 11-5.
• LAST START: Noesi lasted 3 innings, during which the Rangers hammered him for seven earned runs on six hits, including two home runs (Nelson Cruz, Mitch Moreland); he fanned three, but walked three, facing 18 batters.
• LAST VS. ATHLETICS: Allowed no runs on three hits working 1.2 innings of relief in a 22-9 Yankees win Aug. 25, 2011; faced nine batters in the rout, throwing 33 pitches, 18 for strikes.
• CAREER VS. ATHLETICS: Has appeared in three games against Oakland, all with New York; is 1-0 with a 1.23 ERA and nine hits allowed, including a home run; has one win over the A’s July 22 after allowing no runs over 3.2 innings of relief in a 17-7 New York victory.
• AT SAFECO FIELD: One game, May 28 with the Yankees; allowed two hits and no runs in 2 innings of relief in a game won by the Mariners 5-4, despite Ichiro’s 0-for-6.
• LOVES TO FACE (limited exposure): Cliff Pennington (0-for-3, .000 BA), Kurt Suzuki (0-for-2, .000 BA).
• HATES TO FACE (limited exposure): Coco Crisp (1-for-3, .333 BA).
• CURRENT ATHLETICS VS. NOESI: 2-for-17, .118 BA, 2 RBIs, 6 K’s.

Noesi In 2012

• April 9 (L, 0-1): Shelled for seven earned runs in 3 innings in an 11-5 loss to the Rangers, who trailed 11-5 but launched their comeback by banging two homers.

ATHLETICS: LHP Tommy Milone (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.75 WHIP)

Tommy Milone

The 25-year-old Milone, in his third major league season and first with the Athletics, in his second start and his first against the Mariners.

A native of Sagus, CA., the 6-0, 205-pound Milone was selected by the Washington Nationals in the 10th round of the 2008 amateur draft. He played collegiately at the University of Southern California.

Milone finished his Trojan career with 45 starts, ninth on USC’s all-time list. Milone went 16-17 with a 4.78 ERA. He allowed 60 walks in 273.0 career innings. Milone recorded his best season as a Trojan in 2008, going 6-6 with a 3.51 ERA as the team’s No. 1 pitcher.

He earned All-Pac-10 honorable mention recognition. Milone led the team in innings (97.1), complete games (2) and strikeouts (98). Opponents .251 against him as he allowed only four home runs.

Milone launched his pro career with Class A Vermont in the New York-Penn League in 2008. He has since pitched for A Hagerstown (2008, Sally League), Potomac (2009, Carolina League), AA Harrisburg (2010, Eastern League) and AAA Syracuse (2011, International League).

Milone made his major league debut with the Nationals Sept. 3, working 4.1 innings in a start in what became an 8-7 victory over the New York Mets. Milone, who allowed four runs on six hits, received a no-decision.

Milone appeared in five games for the 2011 Nationals, going 1-0 with a 3.81 ERA. On Dec. 23, the Nationals traded Milone, along with A.J. Cole (minors), Derek Norris (minors) and Brad Peacock, to the Athletics for Robert Gilliam (minors) and Gio Gonzalez.

Malone made his Oakland debut April 9, and seems to have secured a spot in the rotation after defeating the Kansas City Royals 1-0.

Milone has a career record of 2-0, 2.91 ERA.

LAST START: Worked a career-high 8 innings, allowing three hits with no strikeouts and three walks in a 1-0 victory over the Royals at Oakland; faced 27 batters, threw 93 pitches, 52 for strikes; recorded nine ground-ball outs and 15 fly-ball outs; faced the minimum in five of his innings.

VS. MARINERS: Milone has never pitched against the Mariners nor has he faced a member of the current roster.

LAST GAME

Athletics 4, Mariners 0

AT SEATTLE (April 13): Largely abandoning his fastball in favor of breaking pitches, Bartolo Colon allowed three hits over 7 innings as the Athletics ruined the Mariners’ home opener in front of an announced crowd of 46,000 at Safeco Field. Colon (2-1) defeated Seattle for the second time in 2012, making a loser out of Felix Hernandez in the process.

Colon improved to 10-1 with a 1.91 ERA in his career at Safeco Field. The win was his 16th against the Mariners, most by an active pitcher. Colon retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth.

“Tried to mix better pitches. Tried to use different pitches – changeup, slider – some like that because it’s not easy,” Colon said through a translator.

Seattle’s lone threat against Colon came in the fourth when Ichiro led off with a single and advanced to third on Jesus Montero ‘s two-out hit, only to be stranded when Michael Saunders struck out looking.

Hernandez (1-1) allowed two runs in seven innings but got no help from his offense. It was the first loss for Hernandez against Oakland since Sept. 18, 2008. He had won his previous six decisions against the A’s.

AL WEST STANDINGS

MARINERS / STATS NOTES

• Mike Cameron, who manned center field for the Mariners from 2000-03, and who threw out the ceremonial first pitch Friday, officially retired from baseball as a Mariner. Cameron signed a 2012 contract with the Washington Nationals, but called it quit six days prior to the club’s reporting date.
• Friday’s home opener marked the 36th in franchise history. After Friday’s 4-0 loss, Seattle is 21-15 all-time in the first home game of the season.
• The Mariners won three of their past six home openers and six of the past 12.
• The Mariners are now 6-7 in home openers at Safeco Field since 2000, their first full year in the ballpark.
• Friday’s game marked the fourth “opener” between the Mariners and Athletics in 2012. The teams opened Cactus League play March 2 in Phoenix, met in the regular-season opener March 28 in Tokyo, met in the re-start of the season April 6 in Oakland, and played again Friday.
• The Mariners are now 10-23 all-time on Friday the 13th, including postseason play (9-21 during the regular season).
  

  Ichiro Suzuki

• Seattle is 0-4 all-time against Oakland on Friday the 13th. The Mariners will face the A’s again on Friday, July 13, in the first game following the All-Star break.
• The Mariners and Athletics have played five of the 19 meetings they will have in 2012.
• Seattle’s bullpen has given up eight homers in eight games after leading the AL with just 32 allowed last season.
• Colon and Hernandez became the first pitchers since Kevin Brown in 2004 to start the season with three starts against the same team.
• Milone will become the second lefty starter to face the Mariners; Seattle lost to lefty Derek Holland of the Rangers Thursday at the Ballpark in Arlington.
• The Mariners went 0-for-4 with men in scoring position and left five men on bas.
• Through nine games, the Mariners are batting 19-for-64 (.297) with runners in scoring position.
• After nine games, the Mariners do not have a .300 hitter in the starting lineup (Ichiro leads at .297); three Mariners starters — C Miguel Olivo (.133), SS Brendan Ryan (.182) and 1B Justin Smoak (.184) — are batting under .200 and a fourth, Michael Saunders, is at .222.
• With Jemile Weeks of the A’s homering off Charlie Furbush Friday, the Mariners have been out-homered 14-4 in nine games.
• The Mariners Friday recalled LHP Charlie Furbush from AAA Tacoma and placed LHP George Sherrill on the 15-day DL, retroactive to April 10, with a strained flexor bundle in his left elbow. Sherrill has appeared in two games and has a 0-0 record and 27.00 ERA.
• Carlos Peguero underwent surgery on his left knee to repair a torn medial meniscus. Peguero hurt the knee while rounding the bases in a AAA game. No timetable has been set for his return, but the usual is 4-6 weeks.
• Ichiro (1-for-4 Friday) has 223 career game with three or more hits, which ranks third among active players, trailing only Derek Jeter (265) and Alex Rodriguez (231), both of whom started their careers four years before Ichiro. Ichiro’s 753 multi-hit games rank fourth among active players, and No. 1 since his debut in 2001. Ichiro’s 47 games with four or more hits leads all active players.
• Ichiro (3) and Kyle Seager (3) lead the Mariners in multi-hit games, Chone Figgins leads in multi-RBI games (2) and Seager leads in two-out RBIs (3).
• Through nine games, the Mariners have left 52 men on base, their opponents 55.
• Through nine games, the Mariners have been outscored, 39-31.
• The Mariners will evaluate OF Franklin Gutierrez (torn pectoral muscle) after the Oakland series with the chance he may go on a rehab assignment.
• When the Mariners batted around April 7-9, it marked the first time since Aug. 18-19, 2007 that they had batted around in consecutive games. Mariners have not batted around in three consecutive games since April 13-16, 2002.
• Jesus Montero has started seven games at DH. The franchise record for starts by a rookie DH is 52, set by Juan Bernhardt in the Mariners inaugural year, 1977.
• According to Stats Inc., the Mariners had an average age of 28.33 when the Opening Day rosters were set, the second-youngest American League roster and the fourth-youngest in the majors.
• The Mariners roster features 7 rookies: RHP Steve Delabar, RHP Hisashi Iwakuma, LHP Lucas Luetge, RHP Erasmo Ramirez, C/ DH Jesus Montero, INF Alex Liddi & INF Munenori Kawasaki. Last season the Mariners used 18 rookies, and had a club-record 12 players make their MLB debuts.
• According to The Associated Press, the Mariners have the 18th-highest payroll in the majors, at just under $82 million. That’s down from $94 million in 2011. Of the $82 million, Felix Hernandez, Ichiro, Chone Figgins, Franklin Gutierrez and Brandon League take up slightly more than $58 million of that total (the Yankees have baseball’s top payroll for the 14th consecutive year, $198 million).
• Series Records: Won 1, Split 0, Lost 1.
• The Mariners are 4-5 after nine games; after the first nine games of 2011, they were 2-7.

MARINERS WON-LOSS BREAKDOWN

MARINERS BATTING PROFILE

MARINERS PITCHING PROFILE

PROBABLE PITCHERS

MARINERS 2012 SCHEDULE/RESULTS

March

April