Here's the boxscore from today's game ...

On Morrow's injury ...
"They still don't think its of great concern. What we're planning on doing is having him let it rest. We have a little bit of time so instead of having him he do what he did this time we're going to make sure it's out of there before he throws another bullpen."

"It's not in the joint so that's encouraging but we're going to take our time with it."

On if there still enough to get him ready for the season ...
"We talked about it the other day about him being in the back of the rotation. It's going to be tight, but we still think we have time. It just depends on how fast he come back."

We're just going to let that thing get completely out of there before we even start talking about a bullpen date."

On his bullpen session ...
"He went 22 pitches and felt something in there. It's not like something grabbed, he just felt it in there."

But when asked if it was a setback, Wakamatsu said "I would say so."

On his impression of Josh Fields' simulated game ...
"I think it would good that he pitched against guys like Griffey and Sweeney."

"To me he was pretty comfortable out there. Initially he was throwing a little too hard. But he made some good adjustments and he started pitching. I saw a good live fastball and a good hard breaking ball. It was encouraging."

On Cesar Jimenez who also threw in the sim game ...
He's still a little ways away, but he's pain free. He's been setback a little way. We're going to try and see where he is and get him ready. He's another guy we don't want to rush too fast, but we have to take a look at.

On his relievers ...
We tried to get some guys more in a relief situation. It just validates guys or it doesn't, especially in this closing role. It gives you a different look at guys.

The positives for me were I thought Aardsma was ok, I thought Corcoran was better. He kept the ball down. Kelley was good, his stuff was outstanding.

On Lowe and Batista ...
Just command. Again it's earlier, but as we get further into it, that early statement will be a concern, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt now.

Alright, this is coming way late today. I had to finish up a story for the paper and that kept me from blogging during the game.

A crowd of 7,855

Junior watch: He was 0-for-3 with a two ground outs and a strikeout.

The Mariners closing candidates left a little to be desired.

Miguel Batista allowed three runs on three hits in a five-run fourth inning.

Roy Corcoran worked a scoreless fifth inning, but in the sixth Mark Lowe got knocked around giving up three runs on four hits and only getting two outs before being lifted.

Shawn Kelley has actually better than all three.

Perhaps David Aardsma should be brought back into the closing mix. He's certainly has the stuff to do so and has looked strong this spring.

The Mariners only run so far came in the seventh on back-to-back doubles from Matt Tuiasosopo and Russell Branyan.

Yuni Betancourt had a double and a triple, but seemed to be favoring his hamstring a bit on the triple.

The Mariners fall to 6-3-1, while the Cubs improve to 7-8.

The Cubs broke a scoreless tie with five runs in the top of the fourth inning off starter Garrett Olson (2 runs) and reliever Miguel Batista (3 runs). Chicago added three more runs in the top of the seventh off right-hander Mark Lowe (0.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R).

The Mariners scored their only run of the game in the bottom of the seventh. Third baseman Matt Tuiasosopo led off with a double to the left field gap and scored on a double down the right field line by first baseman Russell Branyan.

Game Highlights:
* Starting pitcher Garrett Olson allowed 3 hits and 2 runs in 3.0 innings (+ 2 batters)...he did not allow a run in his first 3.0 innings of work.
* Yuniesky Betancourt went 2-for-2 with a double and triple in his two plate appearances.
* Roy Corcoran (1.0 IP), David Aardsma (1.0 IP), Shawn Kelley (1.1 IP) and Randy Messenger (1.0 IP) each contributed scoreless relief efforts.
* Franklin Gutierrez recorded 8 putouts in center field.

The Mariners return to Cactus League play tomorrow (Wednesday, March 11) facing the Kansas City Royals on the road in Surprise. Left-hander Erik Bedard (1-0, 0.00) is scheduled to start for the Mariners against former Mariner right-hander Gil Meche.

You read the post earlier from Lash, here's video of a few pitches from Morrow's bullpen.

I'm also uploading video of the Fields outing

Josh Fields knew he was throwing a simulated game today. He just didn't know that the first hitter of the game would be a hall of famer.

"I didn't know who I was going to be throwing to," Fields admitted. "Last week, I threw BP to some minor leaguers. I had no idea. All I knew I was going to throw to hitters."

Those hitters turned out to be Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Sweeney and Yuniesky Betancourt.

"I saw those guys and it was pretty cool," Fields said.

Griffey and Sweeney watched Fields closely behind the cages when he was warming up. Griffey even had a few comments about the velocity of Fields' fastball.

"It's comin'," he said.

Griffey also got the honor of stepping in against Fields first. And first pitch he saw was a fastball that sailed so high and wide that the catcher couldn't even get a glove on it.

Griffey paused and stepped out of the box, looked at Fields and said, "settle down, it's only going to sting for a second."

"He was giving me a hard time," Fields admitted.

Fields only threw one strike to Griffey which he fouled off. But the rest were balls.

He looked a little more poised against Sweeney and Betancourt, keeping the ball around the plate. Both players did put the ball in play off him, but nothing with any pace.

"It definitely adds a little adrenaline," Fields said. "I was just trying to calm myself down and make pitches. It took a little while, but once I calmed down, got myself in a rhythm. I felt a lot better."

Each player took three turns in the cage, the final two at-bats, Fields threw from the stretch. He failed to throw Griffey a strike. Against Sweeney, he snapped a nice curveball for a strike. But Sweeney saw something beyond that, he saw Fields tip the pitch, letting him know the curveball was coming. Initially Sweeney wanted to tell Fields, but waited till after the at-bat was done.

"He saw me do something a little different when I came set," Fields said. "There was a little hitch in there. It was really cool. I've wondered if I've done that for a while, even in college. Nobody's ever said anything to me about so I just assumed I was alright. It was good to hear that. It's something that I get to keep working on."

Ok here's a quick rundown from the morning meeting with manager Don Wakamatsu.

Brandon Morrow will throw a bullpen today at 10:45, and he's scheduled to make an appearance on Friday in Mesa against the Cubs.

Top draft pick Josh Fields is set to throw a simulated game today at 11:20 and Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Sweeney, Yuni Betancourt will all take swings against Fields. Wakamatsu said that Fields will also make his first appearance in a Cactus League game this weekend in Tuscon, most likely on Saturday. LHP Cesar Jimenez and RHP Jose Pena will also pitch in the simulated game.

It will be a lot of activity for Griffey today. He'll also play in the game against his former manager Lou Piniella. Wakamatsu said that Griffey will probably play every other day and start going deeper into games. They will still go day-to-day on Beltre whether they will play.

I'll be at both of those things and offer reports. Also I'm trying to track down Jack Zduriencik to ask him about the situation with WBC, particularly Felix Hernandez and Carlos Silva and the mix-up with manager Luis Sojo.

Here's a today's lineups ...

Cubs
Aaron Miles 2B
Ryan Theriot SS
Micah Hoffpauir 1B
Jake Fox DH
Mike Fontentot 3B
Reed Johnson CF
Doug Deeds RF
Koyie Hill C
So Taguchi LF
Rich Harden P

Mariners
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Yuni Betancourt SS
Ken Griffey DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Russell Branyan 1B
Wlad Balentien LF
Mike Wilson RF
Rob Johnson C
Ronny Cedeno 2B
Garrett Olson P