It’s still palindrome week for a few more precious days, and this is maybe the palindromiest of them all. I love palindromes and am always trying to come up with my own, but I’m terrible at them. If you have a good one, leave it in the comments!

In Mariners News...

• The Mariners got off to a good start in the second half, sweeping the White Sox. That hasn’t happened in...a while.

• Nelson Cruz’s extra-innings home run was historic:

• Marly Rivera from ESPN has this great piece on Félix’s early days with the club as he adjusted to life in the US.
• Scout’s Jamey Vinnick interviewed Tyler O’Neill about his current hot streak.
• You already know that the Mariners outfielders lead MLB in DRS, and the infield ranks 8th, and that overall the defense is so, so much better to watch than previous iterations, but here it is, presented in video format by our own Tee Miller:

In Mariners Minors Action...

• It was a rough day in the system, to say the least. The Rainiers lost a tough one yesterday when Jean Machi gave up a late go-ahead home run. In Machi’s last 11.1 IP, he’s given up 14 H, 11 ER, 2 HR and has walked 4 while only striking out 6. If Emilio Pagan gets optioned back to Tacoma to make room for Gaviglio, they will welcome him with open arms. (No but actually please don’t do that Mariners.) DJ Peterson continued his hot hitting with a two-run dinger.
• The AquaSox lost their third straight and are currently 12-19. They did not take a walk as a team and struck out 9 times, which is the opposite of C-ing the Z. Evan White was absent for his third game in a row; he suffered a leg injury on the 14th and is in Arizona rehabbing.
• The Clinton LumberKings were blanked, 5-0. Luis Rengifo was 2-for-4 and Yojhan Quevedo, who continues to be a quietly underrated part of the system, was on base all four times with two hits, a walk and a hit by pitch. After seeing a 10-game hit streak last week snapped, he’s currently working on a six-game hit streak, and has at least one hit in 23 of his last 26 games.
• The Travelers hung in for a while against the Tulsa Drillers, but an 8-run fourth inning sunk them. Too bad, too, because the Travs put up 7 runs, which is a lot for a club that’s had trouble scraping together offense at times.
• Modesto is 0-4 since we recorded the podcast praising them as the Astros of the Cal League. The bullpen, which has been aces, fell apart and couldn’t hang on to a 5-1 lead. Luis Liberato stole two bases and cranked a monster oppo shot; he’s batting about .300 since being called up from Clinton.

Around the League...

• The stove is starting to heat up. The A’s sent a pair of relievers in Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson to the Nationals to help out with their beleaguered bullpen. In return, the A’s get Blake Treinen, who has been ehhhh this year, but more importantly, two top Nationals prospects in LHP Jesus Luzardo and 3B Sheldon Neuse.
• Despite struggling this year and the bananapants market for starting pitching right now, the Blue Jays seem unwilling to move veteran righty J.A. Happ among other key pieces. I guess they feel like if they can’t give their fans playoff baseball, they can’t rob pun-ability from them too.
• The Orioles, on the other hand, seem ready to deal and are currently listening on star closer Zach Britton. His early-season injury might have lowered his price somewhat, but not enough to dissuade a prospect-rich club like the Dodgers, it seems.
• Uhhh is there a different Abraham Almonte?

• I love this doofus so much and I’m not even sorry about it:

Kate’s pick:

To celebrate palindrome week (and pastiche week, I guess):