For those whose mortgages are under water and whose stress level continues to rise, Erik Bedard has four words of good news.

"My ass felt good," he said.

Well, of course it did - and for the Mariners and their top left-handed starting pitcher, that was good news.

Bedard missed a start with a strained muscle in his behind, and in one inning he allowed the Dodgers a run but felt no discomfort.

So, from now on, he'd prefer not to discuss his tush, thanks.

Seems fair.

Here's some video of Tyler Johnson and Brandon Morrow throwing bullpens this afternoon. Johnson, if he's healthy, will most likely be the left-on-left specialist in the bullpen - something he believes.

"I’m not really worried about that, if I’m healthy, I think I’m going to be there," he said. "It’s just a matter of my healthy. I’ve been to eight big league spring training, not like its my first second or third one I know what to expect. I know if I’m healthy I’ll be in the big leagues."

For his career, lefties are hitting just .228 against Johnson. But righties - albeit a smaller sample size - are hitting just .237.

Johnson said his bullpen session was good. But he admitted he didn't have the command that he did in his bullpen on Saturday.

"The last session was awesome, you wouldn’t have even known I had surgery," he said. "My stuff was just nasty as it has been."

Particularly nasty was his breaking ball that was sharp and biting and would cause troubles for most lefties.

"It’s doing what I want to do, it’s coming out of my hand nice and it’s got good spin," he said. "Even today I had it, it just wasn’t as accurate. As far as the rotation on the ball and movement, I couldn’t ask for anything better."

Morrow is coming back off of a strained forearm and threw 30 pitches. He was quite pleased with how the session felt, and more importantly how he felt afterward.

"I was definitely frustrated the last time because I had already taken five days off and then came back and not feel good, I felt good today," he said. "It was 30 pitches my normal bullpen effort level. I wasn’t airing it out or anything."

Morrow figures he'll throw another bullpen session on Thursday and be ready to pitch in another game after that. But does that mean he'll be ready when the seasons opens.

"I don’t know," he said. "I’m trying not to look at the calendar. I know were getting close to the deadline. I'm not trying to think about it. They told me not to worry about rushing back or feel like I need to be ready by then if I’m not feeling 100 percent."

You can’t pick up a newspaper today without wondering how much longer you’ll be able to pick up a newspaper.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer won’t be a newspaper after tomorrow’s edition. In San Francisco, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, papers are slipping quietly into extinction, and the Northwest is merely the latest victim.

The P-I is gone. There are rumors The Seattle Times is in financial problems and the company that owns The News-Tribune – the McClatchy Company – has gone from more than $70 a share to less than a dollar a share.

Maybe it’s something we simply have to accept, an industry that is dying, didn’t adjust to the times or simply ceased to become part or the cultue.

Reading a newspaper, or several of them, used to be more than a passion, it was how we stayed in touch with the world. Columnists were like old friends we knew or felt we did. As a boy, I thought everything Jim Murray wrote was wonderful – even his columns on horse racing.

Where would Murray find an audience today?

For most people at the P-I, this isn’t just the end of a job, it’s likely the end of a career. No newspaper in the country is hiring. Most are slashing jobs.

Maybe most of us won’t miss the newspaper, or even remember what they did.

Some of us will. And we’ll miss them more than we can say.

Sorry, I accidentally posted the lineups and erased the notes. It was a relatively non-eventful morning media session. Brandon Morrow and Tyler Johnson are both throwing bullpens today, so I'll be there for those. Lash and I will split up and be at each game. He'll stay here and I'll got to Goodyear.

So on to the notes ...

* Besides Stephen Kahn, outfielder Freddy Guzman was also optioned out today as well.

* LHP Tyler Johnson will throw a bullpen today and if it goes well, he could see his first game action of the spring later this week.

* Brandon Morrow will also throw a bullpen, but Wakamatsu hinted that he might to throw at least one more bullpen session before going back into the game.

* The issue of pitches issuing walks came up again. Seattle has handed out 74 in 141 innings.
"To me it’s really about an organizational philosophy of what we are trying to accomplish it. Are we accomplishing that right now? Absolutely not," he said.

"It’s just the mentality. When we get narrowed down here, I think that’s when we’ll start getting concerned if those things continue. I try to look at positive of most things, to me its going to be whether they are nibbling or whether they are attacking the strike zone.

We’ve talked about it being one thing if they are getting hit down here its one thing, but if they are giving free passes, no manager in baseball likes that."

* Wakamatsu admitted that the defense playing behind the M's pitchers hasn't always helped, noting that Shawn Kelley ended up giving up a home run after a catchable fly ball in the outfield wasn't caught and an errors by Yuni Betancourt led to more hits and runs.

* He did point to Kelley as a positive, saying he was the only pitcher who was missing down in the zone when he missed.

* As for his hitters not taking walks - Seattle has just taken just 40 this spring, Wakamatsu said it's a process. He pointed to Yuni's change from Friday to Sunday.

"The big thing yesterday was Yuni," Wakamatsu said. "I think the other day in Chicago he had three at-bats and saw four pitches. Yesterday he had six or seven pitches in the first at-bat, trying to find some positive and reinforce them.

It’s expectations. Again do they know what we expect as an organization? I think he does.

Looking back to yesterday, when he has six or seven pitches at bats that's a big step in the right direction and you should pat him on the back because that’s what we are looking for."

Of course, Yuni being Yuni, he could go out and swing at the first pitch of his next four at-bats. Wak knows it's going to be a slow process with him.

AT GOODYEAR
Seattle Mariners (7-8-1)
50 Prentice Redman CF
9 Jeff Clement C
27 Matt Tuiasosopo 3B
5 Mike Sweeney DH
13 Chris Shelton 1B
59 Mike Carp LF
12 Mike Morse RF
15 Carlos Triunfel SS
1 Reegie Corona 2B
-----------------------------
71 Chris Jakubauskas RHP

Cleveland Indians (6-10-1)
29 Josh Barfield CF
12 Ben Francisco LF
48 Travis Hafner DH
41 Victor Martinez C
2 Jhonny Peralta SS
25 Ryan Garko 1B
13 Asadrubal Cabrera 2B
4 Tony Graffanino 3B
62 Trevor Crowe RF
-----------------------------
45 Jeremy Sowers LHP

IN PEORIA
Los Angeles Dodgers (9-7)
15 Rafael Furcal SS
30 Orlando Hudson 2B
55 Russell Martin C
5 Mark Loretta 1B
33 Blake DeWitt 3B
9 Juan Pierre CF
3 Delwyn Young DH
75 Xavier Paul RF
83 Mitch Jones LF
-----------------------------
18 Hiroki Kuroda RHP

Seattle Mariners (7-8-1)
23 Mel Stocker CF
3 Ronny Cedeno SS
24 Ken Griffey Jr. DH
29 Adrian Beltre 3B
30 Russell Branyan 1B
61 Mike Wilson RF
15 Jamie Burke C
6 Chris Woodward 2B
95 Tyson Gillies LF
45 Erik Bedard LHP

Cuts coming today, but you won't read about many of them.

Stephen Kahn, a 25-year-old right-hander on the 40-man roster, was optioned to the minors Monday.

With a split-squad double-header on their schedule, the Mariners won't send anyone else to minor-league camp until after those two games - which means talking to players late this afternoon or early this evening.

With tomorrow's off-day scheduled, that's going to make the moves a little tougher on the cuttees.

Why?

Imagine this: You're in major league camp. You've got a day off tomorrow, maybe a little golf scheduled. Maybe time with the family.

And suddenly, at 6 p.m., you're told you've been sent to the minor league camp - and you're to report tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m.

Ouch.

Such is life in spring training.

Don't expect any stunning surprises. With more than 50 players in camp - not counting those still away at the World Baseball Classic - the Mariners have players who need work and won't get it unless they're sent down.

That doesn't make being sent down any more palatable.