"There were a lot of things we did not have time to verify after last night's game, mostly because of tight deadlines and the late hour. But piecing it all together this morning, through some further conversations, it's become clear that Milton Bradley packed up and left the ballpark while last night's game was still going on.

Bradley was removed from the game after a sixth inning strikeout. It was not a particularly good at-bat, with Bradley hacking away at some less-than-quality pitches early to get behind in the count, then, after battling back a bit, staring at a third strike down the middle.

But that's not why he got benched.

From what I'm told, Bradley came back to the dugout and told manager Don Wakamatsu something along the lines of "I'm done. I'm not helping the team.''

Those probably were not his exact words, but that was the message he conveyed.

Wakamatsu had Ryan Langerhans warm up immediately and followed Bradley into a tunnel between the dugout and clubhouse to talk him off the ledge and tell him not to quit on his teammates. At some point, Bradley was about to return to the dugout, but once he saw Langerhans playing left field in his place, left again and returned to his locker.

From there, he quickly packed and exited the stadium with the game still in progress.

I should not have to tell anyone how serious this is.

Leaving the park while a game is still going on is a serious violation of every written and unwritten rule in baseball. It's something the organization will have to address as well as the veteran players on this team.

Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik told me this morning that he's not going to comment on any issue that may have taken place in the dugout or clubhouse. Nor will he verify whether our description of what took place was accurate.

"If there is an issue, it will be dealt with internally,'' he said.

Bradley has been putting enormous pressure on himself since the season began. He's been the team's best hitter for the past 10 days or so, which is why he found himself batting in the clean-up spot again last night. His ability to cope with the pressure, much of it self-induced, has been an ongoing topic of coversation within the team's ranks."