OAKLAND – The Mariners headline Tuesday night against the A's at the Coliseum was supposed to be the return of Robinson Cano after his 80-game drug suspension. But that storyline took an early beating in what became a tough 3-2 loss for Seattle.

James Paxton, the left-handed ace of the starting rotation, lasted three batters. Oakland 2B Jed Lowrie hit a laser up the middle that caught Paxton on his left arm.

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OAKLAND – Everything you needed to know about how the Mariners feel about Robinson Cano's return after his 80-game drug suspension could be judged by the composition of the Coliseum interview room at the start of  his media briefing Tuesday, ahead of his first game back with Seattle since May 13.

There were nearly as many Mariners as there were media members.

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OAKLAND – The last time Robinson Cano was seen in a Mariners’ uniform, he was walking in pain back to the dugout in Detroit on a chilly spring Sunday.

The Mariners lost that May 13 game, 5-4, and lost Cano when a pitch from Blaine Hardy broke a bone in the second baseman's  hand. Two days later, the baseball world was rocked by news that Cano tested positive for a banned diuretic, the masking drug  furosemide.

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 OAKLAND – It’s been 16 years since their Moneyball season elevated the Oakland A’s, and seven summers since the movie about that summer had Brad Pitt make Billy Beane look cooler than any sports executive ever.

The excitement about that 2002 season was somewhat muted up to Aug. 13, when the A’s beat Toronto 5-4. The Mariners, coming off back-to-back AL West titles, had a 72-46 record Aug. 12. They had a 2½-game lead in the division over the Angels and 4½ over the A’s. Seattle was in good shape to make it three in a row.

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A four-game sweep.

Over the the defending champs.

In Houston.

After two terrible games against the Rangers in Arlington.

Following the grim demotion of franchise icon and friend to all Felix Hernandez.

The collective odds against this sequence for the Seattle Mariners were greater than the likelihood that Rick Rizzs can sing the blues.

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For a team having its best season in 15 years, with a record (65-50) every fan would have been thrilled with at season's start, the Mariners are beset with a trudge through a compost pile of unusual size and odor. Worse, it has been of their own creation.

As if ending a playoff drought of 16 seasons wasn't sufficiently difficult.

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A week ahead of his scheduled return to the Mariners, 2B Robinson Cano began an assignment in AAA Tacoma Monday night, starting at first base for the first time in his career. He can be reinstated from his 80-game suspension for violating MLB's drug policy Aug. 14. Rules permit a 14-day period to prepare for the return.

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No team in the American League scored fewer runs in July than the 77 posted by the Mariners. So it is understandable that you may have reached for a hefty cocktail upon hearing the news Wednesday morning that they sent away a regular a batting .290, tied for fourth on the team (.798 OPS is third), to AAA Tacoma.

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The Mariners attempted to fix the offense at the trade deadline Tuesday by acquiring OF Cameron Maybin, 31, from Miami in exchange for minor league INF Bryson Brigman and international slot money. Brigman was ranked No. 19 among Mariners prospects by MLB Pipeline.

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The Mariners Monday made some noise ahead of the trade deadline Tuesday, but it was closer to a murmur than a yippee-yahoo. That is typical when hiring veteran middle relievers whose contracts expire after the season.

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Since no advanced metrics are available to measure independently the level of sincerity in club president Kevin Mather's apology Wednesday for being a lout to some of the Mariners' female employees, many of us are left to pass judgment on his contrition, and move on. The victims of his sexual harassment, of course, don't get the option to move on.

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If 1B Ryan Healy could hit a baseball with the same approach as starting pitcher Marco Gonzales throws a baseball, the Mariners would solve their offensive slump in one batter.

That may be a slight exaggeration, but after watching Healy hit a pair of three-run homers Sunday, the imagination does run a bit. He has 20 homers, but was otherwise slumping so badly that manager Scott Servais benched him Saturday.

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To those who say manager Scott Servais and general manager Jerry Dipoto were awarded contract extensions too early -- they have yet to win a thing in Seattle -- the alternative is to screw around again with the Mariners' baseball management, which historically has been churned like buttermilk. Only to be perpetually sour.

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For the rest of the Mariners season's road trips, Edwin Diaz buys Jean Segura's drinks, calls the Uber drivers and shuts up when told to.

Segura seemed to be the no-brainer MVP of the 89th MLB All-Star Game Tuesday night in Washington, D.C., when his three-run homer in the eighth gave the American League a 5-2 lead. But Diaz blew the save by giving up a two-run homer in the ninth to Cincinnati's Scooter Gennett to to tie the game at five.

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Entering the All-Star break, much is to like about the Mariners. Much is to panic about the Mariners too.

Despite a 22-6 run during May and June that made them the favorite for the second wild-card spot, the Mariners (58-39) have dropped eight of the past 11, including Sunday's 4-3 loss in Denver that completed a sweep for the 51-45 National League Rockies (box).

The slump puts them closer to the third-place Oakland A's than the first-place Astros. None of that bothers me. It's just baseball, and a real race.

What pisses me off is Robinson Cano.

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Mariners fans have to hope the franchise is as good at baseball as it is at social media. The abrupt campaign to get out the vote for SS Jean Segura as the fan-selected 32nd player for the American League's All-Star team worked brilliantly.

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After a half-season of good health, Felix Hernandez, 32, was put on the 10-day disabled list Tuesday with back soreness that has recently nagged him. With the All-Star break starting after Sunday, the chance to rest now might cost him only the start he was to make Thursday in Anaheim, where the Mariners begin a three-game series at 7:07 p.m. Tuesday.

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At spring training, it would have been hard to believe that the Mariners in July would be disappointed at the selection of three players as American League All-Stars. But after a 57-34 start to the season, the absences of pitcher James Paxton and SS Jean Segura were almost as bleak as the selections of DH Nelson Cruz, closer Edwin Diaz and RF Mitch Haniger were joyful.

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Jerry Dipoto of the Mariners and Billy Beane of the Oakland A's are the only MLB general managers who were major league players. I don't know whether that is bad or good.

What I will say is that they, more than their colleagues who came to the top via the sport's analytics side without ever fouling a ball off an instep, are viscerally experienced in the vital baseball art of failing fast and moving on faster.

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Unlike other major sports, baseball has milestones related to the calendar's holidays. For example: In Seattle, you can tell it's Memorial Day because the Mariners are out of the playoff race. Occasionally, you can tell it's the Fourth of July because the Mariners are out of the playoff race.

Rarely, you can tell it's Labor Day because the Mariners are out of the pennant race.

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