My family bought the Seattle Mariners "Weekend Plan" this year, meaning tickets to every Friday, Saturday and Sunday home game. I was fortunate enough to attend all three games of a weekend series with the Kansas City Royals, which as far as I know is the first time I've ever undertaken such a feat. As such, I feel compelled to share the experience with you, the reading audience.

The weekend odyssey began Friday evening, with the M's hosting the Royals at 7:05 p.m. in the first of a three-game series. Although the team has been truly mediocre thus far this season, there was a bit of optimism entering the game -- the Mariners had just returned from a decent (3-5) roadtrip through Cleveland, Boston and New York, and most importantly, Alex Rodriguez was going to be back in the line-up for the first time in five weeks.

Rodriguez did not disappoint, homering in his first at-bat against righty Jeff Suppan. The former Red Sox prospect settled down, however, and let his team go to work. And go to work they did.

The Royals scored two in the third, one in the fourth, and four more in the fifth to take a 7-1 lead, chasing starter Jeff Fassero after just 4.2 innings. Fassero, supposedly the Mariners ace, now has an ERA of nearly eight and has allowed 75 hits in just 53.1 innings. Reports from behind the plate say he's no longer hitting 90 MPH on the radar gun. This isn't mechanical, mental, or anything else -- Fassero has simply lost it.

Suppan ran into trouble in the fifth, allowing five more runs before giving way to Jose Santiago, Alvin Morman, Scott Service and finally Jeff Montgomery. The M's managed to get one in the ninth, but by that time it was already 12-6, the middle relief of Brent Hinchliffe and Eric Weaver having let Seattle down once more.

Game two proved to be another four-hour, American League slugfest, won again by the Royals 11-10. Neither Ken Cloude nor Jay Witasik were effective starters, and the bullpens didn't fare all that well either. The M's built a 9-7 lead late in the game, but K.C. scored four in the eighth to win it, all four runs coming off of Jose Paniagua, who had been the Mariners most effective relief pitcher. Montgomery picked up his second save of the series, getting the final five outs of the ballgame.

Sunday was much more enjoyable, for several reasons. First, I sat in the best seat I've had in quite a while. Not that the seat printed on my ticket coincided with the seat I actually sat in, but it isn't difficult to find a single seat in the lower level of the Kingdome. I wound up five rows up from the field, about half way between the edge of the first base dugout and first base itself.

Second, the game didn't go four hours. In fact, it didn't even go three hours. Two hours and thirty-seven minutes after the first pitch, Carlos Febles grounded out to David Bell and the game was over; 5-1 Mariners.

Finally, there was actually some pitching worth watching. Starter Jamie Moyer was his usual (non-1999) self, allowing no runs and scattering eight hits and two walks over eight strong innings. Whereas the Royals had pounded Fassero and Cloude, both primarily fastball pitchers, in the first two games of the series, Moyer kept them off-balance by changing speeds and mixing his excellent change-up with curveballs and the occasional fastball.

Even Royals starter Chris Fussell, making his first start of the season, pitched well despite leaving after six innings trailing 4-0. Fussell is far from overpowering, but he appears to have a good arsenal of pitches and he didn't beat himself with walks, issuing just three in six frames, and he never allowed two in one inning. Formerly a prospect in the Baltimore organization, Fussell could be a serviceable third or fourth starter if he keeps it up.

Other notes from the weekend: