(My Sportsbook) - The top two teams in the American League's West Division at the moment start up a two-game series tonight at Seattle's Safeco Field, where the first-place Mariners continue their homestand by taking on the Texas Rangers.

Seattle, a club which lost an AL-worst 101 games a year ago, has started off the 2009 season strong under first-year manager Don Wakamatsu and tops the West with a 15-10 record, 2 1/2 games better than the second-place Rangers.

Both teams will be sending out their respective aces in tonight's opener, as Seattle standout Felix Hernandez takes aim at a fifth victory of 2009 in a matchup against Rangers veteran Kevin Millwood.

Hernandez has won three consecutive starts and has not surrendered a run in either of his past two outings. After yielding just four hits and striking out seven over seven scoreless innings in a 1-0 decision over Tampa Bay on April 23, the talented 23-year-old delivered eight dominating frames to beat the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field this past Tuesday. Hernandez fanned a season-best nine batters in that game and gave up only four hits and a walk.

The native Venezuelan, who is 4-0 with an outstanding 2.38 earned run average in five starts this season, will be facing a Texas squad that has given him plenty of trouble in the past, however. Hernandez is just 4-8 lifetime against the Rangers with a 4.38 ERA in 16 starts, and he went 0-4 in six appearances versus Texas last season.

Millwood has pitched equally as well as Hernandez thus far, although he doesn't have the record to show it. The right-hander has compiled a 2.13 ERA over his first five starts, the third-best mark in the AL, and held opposing hitters to a .210 average during the season's first month. Despite those excellent numbers, Millwood is just 2-2 for the year.

The 34-year-old is coming off a winning performance in his last start, however. Against Oakland on Tuesday, Millwood worked eight innings and permitted four runs -- two earned -- on 10 hits to lead the Rangers to a 5-4 triumph.

Millwood has faced the Mariners 18 times previously and owns a 7-9 record with a 4.72 ERA against tonight's opponent. He lost all three of his 2008 starts versus Seattle and was roughed up for 16 runs (12 earned) over 14 innings in those games.

The Rangers begin a seven-game, three-city road trip tonight and will be entering the trek with momentum after taking the final two tests of a three- game set with the Chicago White Sox over the weekend. Texas received strong pitching from Matt Harrison in Sunday's finale, with the young lefty tossing five shutout innings in his team's 5-1 win.

Harrison (2-2) held the White Sox to six hits and did not walk a batter before turning things over to the bullpen, which combined to allow just one run and three hits the rest of the way. The 23-year-old got early support from Ian Kinsler, who led off the bottom of the first with his ninth home run of the season.

Kinsler finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and a pair of runs scored to raise his season average to .337. Nelson Cruz added three hits for Texas, while Michael Young ended 2-for-4 with an RBI single.

Seattle won two of three tilts against visiting Oakland in its last series, but had to work overtime to get the final one. In a 15-inning thriller that lasted a shade over five hours, Jose Lopez gave the Mariners an 8-7 win with an RBI single that plated Franklin Gutierrez.

Lopez and Wladimir Balentien both collected three hits for the Mariners, who tied the contest in their final at-bat on two occasions. Mike Sweeney had a two-run homer in the marathon, while Kenji Johjima belted a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth that tied the score at 4-4.

The Athletics had seemingly put the game away by scoring three times in the top of the 13th inning, but Seattle rallied for a trio of runs in the bottom of the frame to pull even. Gutierrez drew a bases-loaded walk and Ichiro Suzuki came through with a two-out, game-tying RBI single during the comeback.

Jason Vargas, called up by the Mariners from Triple-A on Friday, threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief to pick up the win.

Texas won 11 of 19 meetings between these divisional foes last season, including five of the nine games played at Safeco Field.