If there was one thing the Houston Astros don’t want to do for the rest of the season, it’s play the Seattle Mariners. The Astros have now lost nine of their last 10 against the Mariners, a mind-boggling statistic that underscores just how poorly the team is performing at the moment. Sure, the Mariners aren’t necessarily the crème de la crème, but they’re a division foe that Houston would ideally be playing competently against. Instead, nothing but misery has ensued between the two squads over the last calendar year — at least from the Astros’ perspective. Part of the reason why the Astros weren’t able to get over the hump versus the Mariners this past week was the poor effort by Yordan Alvarez. In the four games against Seattle, Alvarez — who’s by far the Astros’ best hitter and needs to be on his A-game at all times if the team wants to have any hope of competing in the American League — collected eight hits and struck out five times.…