This was an easy game to come in feeling cocky. The Pirates, despite a strong start to their season, do not have a reputation as a juggernaut. Even with a winning record, they haven't done much hitting, and it wasn't unrealistic to expect their middling offense to struggle against Felix Hernandez. I always think the Mariners are going to win with Felix on the mound, and well, there's not a whole lot Pittsburgh can muster to change that impression.

Of course, sometimes the games we're most confident about are the ones that implode in our faces. Remember Seattle's four game series at home against Texas earlier this year? I certainly went into that series with an attitude of "well, the M's should win Felix's start but they'll probably lose the other three." I couldn't have been much more wrong, and it's odd how often it seems that the games we feel best about turn out differently than we'd expect. It's just one of those odd feelings or emotions that one (hopefully) only encounters while watching sports. Like superstitions.

Still, while fans are rightly leery of overconfidence, the fact remains that such an attitude usually isn't misguided. Felix is really good, the Pirates aren't a great hitting team, and sometimes the final score looks like you might expect it to. That ended up being the case today.

To win, the M's had to crawl out of an early 1-0 hole. The best part of interleague is getting the rare opportunity to watch stars like Andrew McCutchen, but the worst part of interleague is seeing said stars reach base in their first five times at-bat during the series. McCutchen's fifth hit plated Pittsburgh's lone run in the bottom of the first.

In the fourth, the M's crawled back without the benefit of a base hit. Michael Saunders and Jason Bay led off the inning with back to back walks, and each advanced on a Kendrys Morales groundout. Saunders then raced home on a wild pitch that dribbled just far enough away from catcher Michael McKenry. Remember when Jeff kept track of doilies? This was the doiliest doily.

Offensively, it was a struggle all day long for Seattle. Endy Chavez had two singles and Michael Saunders walked three times, but the Mariners registered just three hits all afternoon. Jesus Montero had a big one, though, a deep line drive into the centerfield bleachers to break the tie in the seventh inning. From there, Felix worked two more scoreless frames and Tom Wilhelmsen slammed the door in the ninth. The save may be an inadequate and misguided statistic, but nobody can accuse Wilhelmsen of racking up a cheap one today: facing McCutchen and Garret Jones with a one run lead on the road is a difficult endeavor, and he did well to get through the inning unscathed.

Bullets: