Padres 1, Mariners 0

The M's dropped a 1-0 decision to the Padres in Cactus League play yesterday.

The lone run of the game was a first inning homer by ex-Rattler Terrmel Sledge, the second batter of the game for the Padres.

Ex-Rattlers and their performances for the M's were:

Adam Jones (WI '04): 0-for-1
Michael Garciaparra (WI '03): 1-for-1
Cesar Jimenez (WI '03) with a scoreless, hitless inning

Justin Thomas (WI '06) had three strikeouts over a pair of scoreless, hitless innings. That led to this exchange on Geoff Baker's blog:

Baker:
Hargrove isn't going to sound any alarm bells on March 3, even if his team has scored just five runs over the first three exhibition games played here. He mentioned the pitching several times, especially the work of young lefty Justin Thomas, who came out of nowhere to toss two scoreless innings.

Commenter Willmore:
Geoff, you might want to get to know the minor league system a bit better. Justin Thomas is a top-10 prospect with the Ms and him pitching over Aaron Small was actually a breath of fresh air. Small is an emergency call-up if the mop-up guy on your team gets injured, Thomas is a future starter.

Baker:
This is meant for "Willmore" and his comment down below. No need to be snarky, I'm well-aware of who Thomas is, his prospect status and the fact he strikes out a hitter an inning. But I'm not overly concerned about a Class A pitcher who might help this team in a few years, or could blow up when he reaches Class AA. The Mariners have a lot to figure out this season with the five pitchers already in the rotation. Small still has a shot to land a bullpen job. Hey, I said that Thomas pitched well. What else do you want? If he does it again, maybe we'll do a full story on him. But there are a lot more pressing issues for the club right now.

Commenter Willmore:

I didn't mean to be snarky. I usually try to come off as magically delicious. You just made it sound like Thomas was a no-name who will never see the light of day in a Mariners uniform. It would have been far more informative of you, from a journalistic standpoint to mention that he is a well thought-of prospect with a possible future.
Cheers, mate.

Cheers indeed.