(My Sportsbook) - The Seattle Mariners were expected to challenge the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for supremacy in the American League East last season. If the first week of the 2009 campaign is any indication, that notion could be coming to fruition a year later.

The new-look Mariners shoot for fifth consecutive victory when the team holds its home opener against the defending division champion Angels this afternoon at Safeco Field.

Seattle was one of baseball's biggest disappointments a year ago, when the club stumbled to an AL-worst 61-101 record and finished 39 games in back of the Angels in the division standings. The Mariners has surged out of the gates under new manager Don Wakamatsu this season, however, winning five times on a seven-game road trip to start the year.

The Mariners come home off an impressive three-game sweep of Oakland over the weekend, closing out the series with a 1-0 triumph on Sunday.

Erik Bedard (1-0) pitched brilliantly for Seattle, yielding a mere three hits and striking out seven while issuing just one walk over 8 1/3 innings of work. David Aardsma came on with the tying run on second base to record the final two outs and seal the victory.

The shutout was the second for the Mariners in four games, with Jarrod Washburn and Brandon Morrow teaming up for a five-hitter in a 2-0 win at Minnesota last Thursday.

Seattle scored the game's only run in the top of the seventh inning, when Adrian Beltre singled with one out and crossed the plate on Mike Sweeney's double two batters later.

The Mariners' strong start is only one reason fans in Seattle are excited about today's lid-lifter, the first of a three-game series with the Angels. The contest marks the return to Safeco Field of Ken Griffey Jr. in a Mariners uniform following a decade-long absence.

Griffey broke into the majors with the Mariners as a 19-year-old in 1989 and became the most decorated player in franchise history during his 11-year tenure in Seattle. The future Hall of Famer won the 1997 AL MVP award as a Mariner and made 10 All-Star teams while garnering 10 Gold Gloves and seven Silver Slugger awards during his time as the team's center fielder.

After spending eight injury-plagued seasons in Cincinnati and splitting 2008 between the Reds and Chicago White Sox, Griffey signed a one-year deal with the Mariners in February.

The surprising Mariners will send out Carlos Silva in their home opener, with the right-hander attempting to rebound from a poor first start of the season. Silva took the mound last Wednesday in Minnesota and was tagged for six runs on eight hits, including a pair of homers, in five innings to receive the loss in a 6-5 Seattle setback.

Subpar starts were also common for the Venezuelan last season, the first of a four-year, $48 million deal he signed with the Mariners as a free agent. Silva proceeded to win only four of 19 decisions and recorded a lousy 6.46 earned run average in 28 starts, while opposing hitters batted a robust .331 against him.

Silva does have good career success when facing Anaheim, however. In 11 previous appearances (10 starts) against the Angels, the 29-year-old is 6-2 with a 3.77 ERA and one shutout. He split a pair of decisions versus the Halos last season while allowing eight runs over a combined 16 innings.

The Angels endured a tumultous first week of the season, but ended it on a high note with Sunday's 5-4 home victory over Boston that evened the team's record at 3-3. Howie Kendrick led the charge by going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI, while Bobby Abreu added a two-run single to help Anaheim prevail in a game that featured a benches-clearing incident between the teams in the first inning.

Maicer Izturis finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and Vladimir Guerrero hit a solo homer for the Angels, who got a solid outing of out starting pitcher Dustin Moseley in the rubber match of the three-game set.

Moseley (1-0) held Boston's potent lineup to three runs -- two earned -- on six hits through the first 5 2/3 innings, exiting with a 4-3 lead. Jose Arredondo and Scot Shields protected the one-run edge and Brian Fuentes notched his second save of the season despite being touched for a run in the ninth.

Anaheim will begin a six-game road trip through Seattle and Minnesota with today's test and hands the ball to Shane Loux for the opener. The journeyman hurler will be making his first start in the majors since September 24, 2003, when then a member of the Detroit Tigers.

Loux made four starts and 11 relief appearances for the Tigers that season, but spent the next three years toiling in the minors and spent 2007 out of baseball before signing a minor-league deal with the Angels last year. The right-hander was named the Pacific Coast League's Pitcher of the Year after going 12-6 with a 3.98 ERA in 22 starts for Triple-A Salt Lake, then was rewarded with a callup to the majors last August.

The 29-year-old, who made seven relief appearances for Anaheim late last season, was slotted into the fifth starter's role due to injuries to John Lackey, Ervin Santana and Kelvim Escobar during the spring.

Loux has faced the Mariners twice previously in relief, including a scoreless one-inning stint at Safeco Field last September.

The Angels have won in 10 of their last 13 visits to Seattle and went 7-3 at Safeco Field during 2008, while taking 14 of the 19 overall meetings between the teams last season.