UPDATED: Saunders crushed a 3-run homer to right in his second at-bat, first three-run homer for the Rainiers this season.

Since there is no Mariners game, I'm at the Rainiers' game tonight. And I'd thought I'd pass on the news that outfield prospect Michael Saunders has been activated. Saunders had offseason surgery on his left shoulder (his throwing shoulder) at the end of last season, and his start had been delayed as he rehabbed. I know I mentioned a few days, he'd be back in mid-May, but he's back sooner than expected.

But he's back and Rainiers manager Daren Brown said Saunders has no restrictions and has been cleared completely. He's in the lineup tonight, playing left field and batting second ahead of Jeff Clement in the line-up against the Fresno Grizzlies.

If you aren't doing anything feel free to tune into 850-AM or the Rainiers website to listen to TNT contributor and venerable voice of the Rainiers Mike Curto call the game.

The Mariners may have the day off, but there are roster moves being made. Right-handed reliever Roy Corcoran is being placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained neck. The injury is retroactive to April 29th, meaning he's eligible to come off on May 14.

In his place, the Mariners will call up lefty Jason Vargas, who has been solid for Triple A Tacoma this season.

Corcoran, 28, has appeared in eight games this season, all in relief. He has posted a 1-0, 7.27 mark, allowing 13 hits, 9 walks and 7 earned runs in 8.2 innings pitched.

Vargas, 26, is 1-1, 2.49 in 4 starts at Tacoma. He has not allowed a run in his past two starts, tossing a combined 11.2 innings and giving up just 4 hits.

Vargas (right) has pitched in the Major Leagues with Florida (2005, 2006) and the New York Mets (2007). He has a career ML record of 6-8, 5.81 in 31 games, 20 starts. Vargas missed all of the 2008 season following surgery to repair the labrum in his left hip on March 17, 2008.

Just make to sure there is no confusion. I do not compile this information, that job falls to the Mariners' Kelly Munro, who does this every day, I'm just copying and pasting to pass along to you.

AAA Tacoma Rainiers (PCL)
Tacoma OFF DAY

Of Note: Mike Carp (right) is hitting .455 (10x22) with 6 runs scored, 3 extra-base hits and 5 RBI during his current 5- game hit streak. Prentice Redman has hit safely 16 of 19 games this season, batting .321 (25x78) with 18 runs scored, 4 doubles, 6 home runs and 10 RBI. Since starting the season batting .045 (1x22), Clement is batting .375(15x40) with 7 runs scored, 7 extra-base hits and 8 RBI in his last 9 games. Tacoma placed starting pitcher Chris Seddon on the 7-day disabled list with soreness in the back of his left shoulder. Seddon, who is 1-2 with a 6.86 ERA, felt his shoulder act up in the 5th and final inning he pitched Monday night at Colorado Springs.
Today’s probable starter:
LH Jason Vargas (1-1, 2.49) vs. Fresno

AA West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx (Southern League)
Mississippi RAINED OUT
West Tennessee
Of Note: The Diamond Jaxx game on Wednesday with Mississippi was postponed due to rain. No date has been officially announced as a makeup date for the game. The Diamond Jaxx will hit the road on Thursday, beginning a 5 game series with the Birmingham Barons. Since April 21, Greg Halman is batting .300 (10x30) with 8 runs scored, 1 double, 6 home runs and 17 RBI. He currently leads the Southern League with 23 RBI this season and is 2nd with 8 home runs. Ezequiel Carrera currently ranks 2nd in the Southern League with a .358 (24x67) average, hitting safely in 13 of 18 games with an at-bat. He also ranks 2nd in the league with a .482 on-base percentage. After allowing 3 earned runs in his first outing of the season, Justin Souza has not allowed an earned run in his last 14.0 consecutive innings. During this stretch he has limited opponents to a .192 (10x52) batting average, while walking 2 and striking out 13.
Today’s probable starter:
LH Danny Christensen (0-0, 0.00 ERA) at Birmingham

A High Desert (California League)
High Desert 6 runs, 8 hits, 1 error
Inland Empire 3 runs, 7 hits, 2 errors
Pitching Lines:
RH Alfredo Venegas 4.0,3,3,3,1,6,HR
RH Travis Mortimore (W, 1-1) 1.0,0,0,0,0,0
LH Edward Paredes 1.0,1,0,0,0,0
RH Steven Richard 1.0,0,0,0,1,0
RH Phillippe Aumont 1.0,2,0,0,1,1
RH Anthony Varvaro (S, 4) 1.0,1,0,0,0,3
With the Bats:
DH Joe Dunigan (right) 2x4, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI
2B Edilio Colina 2x4, 2 R
CF Tyson Gillies 1x4, R, HR, RBI
SS Juan Diaz 1x4, R, 2B
Of Note: For the 3rd time this year, Joe Dunigan left the yard twice, and the Mavericks bullpen was stellar as they defeated Inland Empire 6-3 on Wednesday night. With the win, the Mavs still have not lost consecutive games this year. Dunigan hit solo home runs in the 2nd and 6th, and he is now tied for the league lead in home runs with 7.
Dunigan has hit safely in 9 of his last 10 games, batting .415 (17x41) with 10 runs scored, 9 extra-base hits and 9 RBI. Juan Diaz has hit safely in 15 of 17 games this season with 5 multi-hit games, batting .368 (25x68) with 14 runs scored, 7 extra-base hits and 7 RBI. Edilio Colina currently has a 10-game hit streak (.333/15x45), while also hitting safely in 17 of 18 games this season (.293/24x82). Kuo Hui Lo is batting .441 (15x34) with 9 runs scored, 1 double, 4 triples, 4 home runs and 14 RBI during his current 8-game hitting streak. Alex Liddi went 0x4 in the game, ending his hit streak at 8 games. During the streak he hit .500 (17x34) with 8 runs scored, 4 doubles, 4 home runs and 8 RBI. He has also hit safely in 15 of 19 games this season, batting .395 (30x76) with 10 multi-hit games.
Today’s probable starter:
RH Jake Wild (2-0, 0.93 ERA) at Inland Empire

A Clinton LumberKings (Midwest Lg.)
Burlington 0 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors
Clinton 1 run, 7 hits, 1 error
Pitching Lines:
RH Aaron Pribanic (L, 2-1) 5.2,5,5,4,2,5,2WP
RH Cheyne Hann 1.1,0,0,0,0,2
RH Greg Moviel 1.1,1,1,1,0,2
RH Ryan Moorer 0.2,1,0,0,0,0
With the Bats:
SS Terry Serrano 2x3, 2 R, 3B, BB
2B Ogui Diaz 2x4, RBI
CF Maximo Mendez 2x4, RBI
C Juan Fuentes 1x1, RBI
Of Note: It was only a matter of time, but the first member of the "big three" of the LumberKings rotation finally lost as Aaron Pribanic allowed 5 runs (4 ER) over 5.2 innings in a 6-3 loss to Fort Wayne on Wednesday night. Terry
Serrano recorded his 2nd consecutive 2-hit game and has hit safely in 5 of his last 10 at-bats with 3 runs scored, 3 extra base hits and 3 RBI. Cheyne Hann has not allowed a run in his last 4.1 innings in relief. He has held opponents to a .200 average, while walking 1 and striking out 6 in 8.2 IP.
Today’s probable starter:
RH Adam Harben (0-0, 1.50 ERA) vs. Fort Wayne

First of all, we're going to have Carlos Silva as a guest blogger as he and Larry have made up after their little dust up in Chicago. Ok, that's a lie. That's not going to happen. Carlos would probably only make it through four paragraphs before we'd have to go to a blog reliever.

Ok, I'm kidding.

No, the changes are relatively minor, are still in progress, but will be relatively useful. Since I started working on this blog, I asked, then begged and then demanded for a blog roll. In the past, there was some veil of secrecy and level of CIA code clearance that I did not possess to make these changes on my own. But our new computer guy Doug Connaroe gave me clearance (he may one day regret that). And so after some tinkering I've started a blog roll on the right side of the browser.

What is a blog roll you say? Well, it's kind of a cross between a California Roll and a Spicy Tuna Roll, minus the flying fish roe. No, basically it's just a list of links to use at your disposal. I know I post links often on here, but some of these will help negate some of that, especially some of the ones that I constantly use. So if you look there are links to all of our TNT coverage, links to the Mariners active and 40-man roster and current stats, links to the five major minor league teams sites and a link to each teams current stats. There's also links to the Mariners baseball blogosphere as well.

This list isn't finished and isn't concrete. I'm adding some baseball reference stuff, some good national baseball blogs and other things I check daily as a baseball writer and a baseball fan. So keep checking it, because it will keep changing.

With that in mind, if you think there is a site that I should have up there. Then let me know, I can put it up.

You may wondering why I am writing so much about what seems like a minor change. Well, I have a tendency to do that. If you remember I wrote like 1000 words on a roster move that wasn't going to happen. Anyway, this blog roll may not seem like the biggest change. But what it is a matter of convenience for you the reader. What we want is for readers to know that this blog is a place for news, analysis, ramblings, but also a one-stop place where you can get other information about the M's, their minor league teams or baseball in general. What we're hoping is that once you get to the blog, and perhaps you may be wondering what Jeff Clement is hitting for the Rainiers, or if Greg Halman is on the 40-man roster, you don't have to go scouring through the net, it's right there on the right for you to go to.

As always, we welcome your input, so feel free.

AAA Tacoma Rainiers (PCL)
Here's Mike Curto's game story
Tacoma 6 runs, 13 hits, 2 errors
Colorado Springs 3 runs, 6 hits, 1 error
Pitching Lines:
RH Andy Baldwin (right)(W, 1-0) 6.0,3,1,1,0,5,2HB
RH Brodie Downs 1.0,1,0,0,0,0,HB
LH Justin Thomas 1.0,1,1,0,0,1
RH Randy Messenger 1.0,1,1,1,0,0
With the Bats:
C Jeff Clement 2x5, R, HR, RBI
3B Chris Shelton 2x5, R, HR, RBI
CF Freddy Guzman 2x4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 SB
1B Mike Carp 2x5, R
SS Chris Woodward 1x5, R, HR, 2 RBI
Of Note: Chris Woodward and Jeff Clement hit back-to-back home runs in the 5th inning to back Andy Baldwin's solid pitching as Tacoma beat Colorado Springs 6-3 on Tuesday night. Chris Shelton also homered for the Rainiers, who had 13 hits, 5 for extra bases. Mike Carp is hitting .455 (10x22) with 6 runs scored, 3 extra-base hits and 5 RBI during his current 5-game hit streak. Prentice Redman has hit safely 16 of 19 games this season, batting .321 (25x78) with 18 runs scored, 4 doubles, 6 home runs and 10 RBI. Since starting the season batting .045 (1x22), Clement is batting .375 (15x40) with 7 runs scored, 7 extra-base hits and 8 RBI in his last 9 games. Tacoma placed starting pitcher Chris Seddon on the 7-day disabled list with soreness in the back of his left shoulder. Seddon, who is 1-2 with a 6.86 ERA, felt his shoulder act up in the 5th and final inning he pitched Monday night at Colorado Springs.
Today’s probable starter:
OFF DAY

AA West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx (Southern League)
Mississippi 6 runs, 8 hits, 2 errors
West Tennessee 12 runs, 12 hits, 2 errors
Pitching Lines:
RH Luis Munoz 5.2,3,2,2,0,7,HR,HB
LH Nick Hill 0.1,0,0,0,0,1
RH Marwin Vega 0.2,2,3,0,0,1
RH Mumba Rivera 0.1,1,0,0,0,0
RH Jared Wells (W, 1-0) 1.0,0,0,0,0,2
RH Aaron Cotter 1.0,2,1,1,0,1
With the Bats:
CF Greg Halman (right) 2x5, 2 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI
LF Ezequiel Carrera 3x3, 3 R, 3B, RBI, SB, SH
PH/2B Jeff Dominguez 2x3, R
DH Marshall Hubbard 2x3, 2B, 2 RBI, SF, BB
3B Matt Mangini 1x5, R, HR, 2 RBI
Of Note: Behind an 8 run 8th inning, the Diamond Jaxx took game 4 and the series against Mississippi on Tuesday night, 12-6. The Diamond Jaxx sent 13 batters to the plate in the 8th and Greg Halman would cap the inning off with a grand slam. Halman also recorded a career-high 6 RBI in the game and his 2nd multi-HR game of the season. He has hit 3 home runs in his last 2 games and 6 in his last 8. Since April 21, Halman is batting .300 (10x30) with 8 runs, 1 double, 6 home runs and 17 RBI. He currently leads the Southern League with 23 RBI this season.
Today’s probable starter:
LH Danny Christensen (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Mississippi

=> Read more!

Yes, it's another day game, the last game of a road trip on which the Mariners have gone 3-2.

Erik Bedard vs. Gavin Floyd, and a healthy Bedard has been a force in April. He has struck out 29 batters in 26 innings and walked only four. That's the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the game.

What the Mariners need today is some production from No. 3 hitter Ken Griffey Jr. (.196) and No. 4 hitter Adrian Beltre (.169)- as much for those players as for the team.

Here's the Seattle lineup:
Ichiro RF
Lopez 2B
Griffey Jr. DH
Beltre 3B
Branyan 1B
Balentien LF
Johnson C
Gutierrez CF
Betancourt SS
Bedard RHP

The very thought of you

Griffey may not be hitting his weight, but pitchers still work to him cautiously. With two outs and no one on, right-hander Gavin Floyd walked Junior on four pitches.

Beltre followed with a double, and Griffey was held up at third base.
Russell Branyan grounded out.

Griffey now has 11 hits this season - and 13 walks.

That's No. 100

On a 1-0 pitch to the first batter of the second inning, Bedard left a fastball over the plate and A.J. Pierzynski hit it out - the 100th home run of his career.

Bedard's command is clearly off a bit. He needed 24 first-inning pitches to get three outs, and he's already walked two batters and hit a third.

Rob Johnson threw out two runners attempting to steal in the second inning or Bedard might still be working.

After two: White Sox 1, Mariners 0

Beltre lives!

Jose Lopez led off with a double and Adrian Belte singled him to third base, then stole second. He's 2-for-2 today.

Russell Branyan popped out. Balentien popped out. That's six Mariners baserunners stranded in the first three innings.

Little hits, little ball

Ichiro's ground ball hit first base and bounced high for an infield single. Jose Lopez followed with an infield single that handcuffed third baseman Wilson Betemit.

Junior doubled to left center field, scoring two runs - Griffey's fourth and fifth RBI of the year.

Beltre's third hit was a single up the middle, scoring Griffey. Beltre now has 10 RBI.

To the bottom of the fifth: Mariners 3, White Sox 1

Five and good day?

Bedard has thrown 89 pitches through five innings, and may not have much left.

He hasn't had an easy afternoon - one 1-2-3 inning - and so many of his pitches have come under duress. He's thrown 100 or more pitchs in each of his last three starts, so Bedard may start the sixth inning, but don't expect him to go much further.

In the sixth: Mariners 3, White Sox 1

Oops

Bedard had nothing left and gave up back-to-back singles before the Mariners went to reliever Shawn Kelley.

Wilson Betemit doubled home a run, then Kelley struck out Brian Anderson.

With the infield playing in to cut off the potential tying run, the White Sox scored on Alexi Ramirez's sacrifice fly.

That tied it and ensured Bedard a no-decision. He didn't pitch poorly, just wasn't at his best. The line on Bedard: five innings, six hits, three runs, three walks, three strikeouts, 92 pitches.

After six: White Sox 3, Mariners 3

Oops, and oops again

Kelley, the rookie who has pitched so well in April, gave up back-to-back home runs to Carlos Quentin (No. 8) and Jermaine Dye (No. 6), and was replaced by David Aardsma.

Those are the first runs allowed in Kelley's career, and they may hand him his first loss.

After seven: White Sox 5, Mariners 3

That'll do it!

It's a final, 6-3.

After losing a 2-1 game in chilly weather, the Mariners play the nightcap of this double-header in even chillier weather.

If pitching dominated the first game, it should own Game 2 - Felix Hernandez vs. John Danks, a lefty with a 0.95 earned run average.

Gentlemen, find your bats. First team to score wins.

Ok, that's that

Ichiro singled, Chavez bunted him to second and Ichiro stole third base.

DH Sweeney singled home a run, and that should be enough, don't you think?

After half an inning: Mariners 1, White Sox 0

Yuni time

Yes, he drives you crazy when he won't take pitches, occasionally takes an inning off in the field and appears not to think - but Yuniesky Betancourt can hit.

One swing - a three-run home run in the second inning - has given Felix more runs than Chris Jakubauskas got in a complete-game loss.

Felix will take them and more.

To the bottom of the second: Mariners 4, White Sox 0.

Rolling, rolling, rolling

Lopez singled and Branyan - shattering his bat - doubled down the right field line.

Balentien flied out deep enough to get a run home, and Betancourt singled to put runners at first and third base with one out.

Jamie Burke walked to load the bases, and Ichiro forced Branyan at the plate. Chavez grounded out, and the Mariners left 'em loaded.

To the bottom of four: Mariners 5, White Sox 0.

Wak Ball

Branyan doubled, his third hit, and with him running, Balentien grounded to the right side.

With Branyan at third, Betancourt singled for his third hit and - gasp! - stole second base. Ichiro legged out an infield single, Chavez flied out.

To the bottom of six: Mariners 6, White Sox 0.

The numbers pile up

Branyan sets a career high with four hits, Betancourt sets a career high with five RBI and Jakubauskas must be wondering where all this offense was four hours ago.

As Felix walks to the mound, he has a streak of 17 consecutive scoreless innings going.

Can you say 4-0?

To the bottom of the seventh: Mariners 7, White Sox 0

It's a wrap

Roy Corcoran allowed a run in mop-up time, but Felix stretched his string of consecutive scoreless innings to a career-best 19.

The final: Mariners 9, White Sox 1

You can count the in-house attendance for Game 1 of the double header in the hundreds, not the thousands.

It's always the case: an April game, not on the schedule, played on a week day, in bad weather ....

Put another way, if both benches emptied, then charged the stands as one, fans would be out-numbered. They may continue to wander in as the game goes along, but it will be getting colder.

We're off - 39 degrees and falling.
Patience, patience

Three innnings in, the Mariners have worked Chicago starter Bartolo Colon for 48 pitches - not bad considering they've had only one baserunner.

Chris Jakubauskas, by contrast, has thrown an economical 31 pitches over three innnings - and no White Sox batter has reached base.

Seattle's goal is to get Colon out relatively early and eat away at the Chicago bullpen.

After three: No score.

Bad time for a bad pitch

After walking a batter, Jakubauskas gave up a single to Carlos Quentin, then got the second out of the inning.

On a 1-1 pitch to Paul Konerko, the rookie right-hander left a fastball up, and Konerko doubled into the left field corner for two runs.

Two-run mistake.

Into the fifth: White Sox 2, Mariners 0

A Chicago mistake

Russell Branyan drew a walk and Jose Lopez grounded to third base - but second baseman Brent Lillibridge dropped the relay, so everyone was safe.

Rookie Rob Johnson doubled home a run, but Franklin Gutierrez popped out.

Yuniesky Betancourt - first-pitch swinging - just missed the left field foul pole. Foul ball.

Betancourt - second pitch swinging - then popped out.

To the bottom six: White Sox 2, Mariners 1

Luck is not his friend

Jakubauskas has thrown a marvelous game - eight innings, two hits and two runs allowed - and is about to see his record drop to 1-3.

Two starts ago, against the Angels, he pitched 5 1/3 innings, gave up two runs and lost.

The kid from the indpendent league doesn't have the greatest numbers or much luck, but he's shown he can pitch in the bigs.

To the ninth: White Sox 2, Mariners 1

One last shot

Adrian Beltre aboard on an error, Jose Lopez a one-out walk - and there it was, a point-blank scoring opportunity.

Pinch-hitter Mike Sweeney struck out. Beltre stole third base.

Pinch-hitter Wladimir Balentien flied out.

Final: White Sox 2, Mariners 1

Second game starts at 5:11 p.m. (PDT)

Endy Chavez was still accepting congratulations today, although many teammates weren't certain precisely what they were congratulating him for.

On Monday, Mike Sweeney and the team held a ceremony for Chavez having earndd his American citizenship - during which Sweeney and others teased him that he was no longer a Latino.

Turns out, it was his residency, not a change of citizenship - Chavez had been issued a green card.

"And I can't even have that yet," he said.

As for the clubhouse ceremony?

"It was a lot of fun," Chavez said.

Adrian Beltre and Ken Griffey Jr. made an executive call and it was the stuff of genius.

The Mariners were scheduled to stretch and take batting practice on the field before Game 1 of today's double header. It is, by Chicago terminology, a bit cheeky.

Beltre and Griffey found a way to have the team take BP in the covered cages - meaning no pitchers had to shag in the outfield.

The White Sox never planned to take the field, so the move made perfect sense.

Now, about the two games.

"I think I'd rather be a pitcher than a hitter today," Don Wakamatsu said.

Reliever Brandon Morrow agreed.

"Not to many hitters are going to want to swing at inside strikes today," he said. "Once a pitcher is hot, he's OK. Hitters? I don't know how they keep their hands warm."

No, it's not freezing. It's not raining. It is windy, a swirling, brisk wind that seems to be in your face no matter where you are on the field.

The Mariners are now taking infield.

Most players are in stocking caps.

Here's the Game 1 lineup:
Ichiro RF
Chavez LF
Griffey Jr. DH
Beltre 3B
Branyan 1B
Lopez 2B
Johnson C
Gutierrez CF
Betancout SS
Jakubauskas RHP

LO NAMED CALIFORNIA LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Taiwan native Kuo Hui Lo (right) ripped apart Cal League pitchers this week, with 4 homers in 5 games -- including a pair of roundtrippers to cap off the week on April 26. The Mariners prospect hit safely and had at least 1 RBI in each game this week. He currently leads the circuit with 6 triples and an .811 slugging percentage. Lo is riding a 6-game hitting streak into the third week of the season.
.429 (9-21), 7 R, 0 2B, 2 3B, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0 SB, 1.190

AAA Tacoma Rainiers (PCL)
Here's Mike Curto's game story ... of note Jeff Clement made his first start at first base and Cesar Jimenez looked solid in his second rehab apperance.

Tacoma 1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors
Colorado Springs 5 runs, 10 hits, 1 error
Pitching Lines: IP, H, R, ER, BB, K
RH Chris Seddon (L, 1-2) 5.0,9,5,5,1,1,3HR
RH Jesus Delgado 1.0,0,0,0,2,1
LH Cesar Jimenez 1.0,1,0,0,0,1
RH Doug Fister 1.0,0,0,0,0,0
With the Bats:
CF Freddy Guzman 1x3, R, 3B
DH Mike Carp 1x4
C Guillermo Quiroz 1x3
Of Note: Jason Hirsch allowed 3 hits in 7.0 innings and Eric Young, Daniel Ortmeier and Matt Murton hit solo homers as Colorado Springs earned a 5-1 victory over Tacoma on Monday. Hirsh struck out 9 and allowed 1 run when Freddy Guzman tripled and scored on a fielder's choice in the 6th. Mike Carp is hitting .471 (8x17) with 5 runs scored, 3 extra-base hits and 5 RBI during his current 4-game hit streak. Prentice Redman went 0x4 in the game ending his hitting streak at 9 games. During the streak he hit .429 (15x35) with 4 multi-hit games. Redman has also hit safely 15 of 18 games this season, batting .324 (24x74) with 17 runs scored, 4 doubles, 6 home runs and 10 RBI. Jeff Clement also went 0x4 in the game, ending his hitting streak at 7 games (.419/13x31). Since starting the season batting .045 (1x22), Clement is batting .371 (13x35) with 6 runs scored, 6 extra-base hits and 7 RBI in his last 8 games.
Infielder Ben Billingsley was transferred to extended spring training, and infielder Erick Monzon joined the club from Double-A West Tennessee, where he hit .200 (5-for-25) with two home runs and three RBI.
Today’s probable starter:
RH Andy Baldwin (1-1, 1.72 ERA) at Colorado Springs

=> Read more!

Outfielder Endy Chavez became an American citizen on Monday, a process the 31-year-old had undertaken quite some time ago.

He was prepared for most anything, except perhaps the response of his teammates.

As he has done each time something of import has happened since the first week of spring training, Mike Sweeney called players to a circle in the clubhouse for an announcement.

“Endy Chavez has become an American citizen today,” he announced, making Chavez stand on a chair in the middle of the circle. Much cheering ensued. “Today, he is no longer a Latino!”

Sweeney then turned to one of Chavez’s fellow native Venezuelans, Carlos Silva, and asked him to lead the team in a moment of silence. Everyone was quiet, and then Silva broke the spell.

“Bleep you!” he yelled, and everyone laughed and slapped Chavez on the back.

That’s about as serious as this group gets about such things, but Chavez was beaming.

After weeks of working out and taking ground balls and trying to learn the intricacies of playing first base (believe me it's more difficult than you think), Jeff Clement will start his first game at first base tonight in Colorado Springs against the Sky Sox. A big thanks to the estimable Mike Curto - the voice of the Rainiers and frequent TNT contributor for the heads up. Here's his minor league column he wrote for the TNT this week.

If you want to listen to the game, tune into 850-AM at 5:05. Or you can click here to listen to the broadcast of Curto's call.

That's the kind of thing they told us in grade school in California, where they were afraid rain would somehow intimidate young minds who so rarely saw it.

It's taking turns here at the ballpark, drizzling one moment, coming down pretty hard the next. Tarps on the infield, players hidden away safely inside.

Hitters can get their work done in cages under the stands. Pitchers?

"We don't have anyone - rotation or bullpen - who was scheduled to throw today," pitching coach Rick Adair said. "So no one is missing any work."

Brilliant scheduling?

"Luck," Adair said. "We have the off-day (Thursday), so it's just the way the it worked out today."
Personally, I'd have gone with brilliant scheduling.

The boys are playing cards, working the crosswords, reading at the lockers or - in Mike Sweeney's case - studying video.

No word on the game, yet. Here in the midwest, things can change quickly, but the front that's hunkered down over the ballpark doesn't seem in a hurry to leave.

If they play, here's the Mariners lineup:
Ichiro RF
Chavez LF
Sweeney DH
Beltre 3B
Branyan 1B
Lopez 2B
Johnson C
Gutierrez CF
Betancourt SS
Jakubauskas RHP

I've been meaning to do this, but have had some logistical issues with doing this, but here's the complete minor league report we receive from the Mariners daily.

AAA Tacoma Rainiers (PCL)
Mike Curto's game story.
Tacoma 5 runs, 11 hits, 0 errors

Colorado Springs 7 runs, 11 hits, 0 errors
Pitching Lines: IP, H, R, ER, BB, K
RH Gabby Hernandez 5.0,7,4,4,1,3
RH Eric Hull (L, 3-1) 2.0,4,3,3,0,1
LH Justin Thomas 1.0,0,0,0,1,1
With the Bats:
1B Mike Carp 2x4, 2 R, HR, RBI
C Guillermo Quiroz 2x4, R, HR, 2 RBI
DH Jeff Clement 2x4, 2B, 3B
SS Chris Woodward 2x4
RF Prentice Redman (right)1x5, R, HR, RBI
LF Bryan LaHair 1x4, R, HR, RBI
Of Note: Guillermo Quiroz, Mike Carp and Bryan LaHair each hit home runs for Tacoma, but the Rainiers fell 7-5 to Colorado Springs on Sunday afternoon. Eric Hull took the loss for Tacoma, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits in 2.0 innings. Prentice Redman extended his hitting streak to 9 games, batting .429 (15x35) with 4 multi-hit games. Redman has also hit safely 15 of 17 games this season, batting .343 (24x70) with 17 runs scored, 4 doubles, 6 home runs and 10 RBI. Since starting the season batting .045 (1x22), Jeff Clement is batting .419 (13x31) with 6 runs scored, 6 extrabase hits and 7 RBI during his current 7-game hit streak.
Today’s probable starter:
RH Chris Seddon (1-1, 6.14 ERA) at Colorado Springs

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It was a quiet time in the Seattle clubhouse this morning, just a handful of players and me, the always amiable beat guy.

Wladimir Balentien and Jose Lopez were playing cards, and when I asked who was winning, each said ‘I am.’ The team bus hadn’t arrived, and there were no coaches, no manager to talk to.

What could possibly go wrong?

Carlos Silva came out of the training room and I asked how his back was. He’d had spasms a night earlier, come out of the game after gritting his teeth on each pitch the final two innings – and Silva had won.

So I asked the question, and he ignored me and kept walking. Sometimes, players are focused and don’t hear you. Sometimes, they ignore you.

A few minutes later, Silva walked back across the clubhouse and as he passed, I asked again, ‘How’s your back this morning?’

“Good,” he said, and kept moving.

Not exactly expansive, but straight forward. About two minutes later, MLB.com writer Jim Street entered the clubhouse and glanced around, then asked who was winning the card game. We beat guys don’t miss a thing.

“They both are,” I told him.

Street saw Silva across the room and asked me, “How’s Carlos feeling?”

I told him Carlos might not be in a talkative mood, explaining our brief conversation. Silva came walking over, angry.

“If you have something to say to me, say it to me, don’t tell him,” he said. “You’re always stirring up poo.”

Ok, he didn’t say poo. Close enough.

“I was trying to save him and you time,” I told Silva.

“You’re always stirring up poo,” he said. “That’s why I don’t talk to you.”

I stared at him. A confused beat guy does that. Carlos had never not talked to me before.

“Don’t ever ask me for another interview,” Silva said and walked away.

I turned to Street.

“See what you started?” I asked. I thought about accusing him of stirring up poo.

And that, sometimes, is life in the clubhouse.

Endy Chavez is batting a cool .389 in his career against the Angels, and Russell Branyan is hitting .625 with two home runs and six RBI in this series.

It's Jarrod Washburn vs. Jered Weaver - we're underway!

The Angels awaken

Torii Hunter singles on a jam-shot into center field, then Washburn makes a rare mistake - a fastball up - and Howie Kendrick hits it out.

That's two quick runs, and the Mariners trail for the first time this series.

After two: Angels 2, Mariners 0

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Adding on

The Angels worked a walk out of Wsshburn, then Bobby Abreu doubled off the wall in right center field and Gary Matthews Jr. scored from first base.

Mariners have two hits, both singles.

After three: Angels 3, Mariners 0

There goes another one

A one-out home run from Juan Rivera, and the Angels are pulling away.

Washburn is a fly all pitcher, and it's a long fly ball kind of day - at least for the home team.

After four: Angels 4, Mariners 0

Adding on, again

A one-out double by Abreu, an RBI single from Torii Hunter and the Angels are averaging a run an inning.

The Mariners have three singles, one of those a pop fly lost in the sun.

Washburn is giving up just enough offense to lose, and he may do just that.

After five: Angels 5, Mariners 0

It's Over

Mariners never got much going and went quietly.

Final: Angels 8, Mariners 0

Closer Brandon Morrow is having what he calls his annual shoulder soreness - a pinch that causes a quick burst of pain when he tries to throw.

"I had it last year, and it took three days to clear it up," Morrow said. "I had it the year before, it took about three days. If I have a shoulder problem, it's always this."

Morrow last pitched Thursday, and said he felt the pain then, got loose and pitched. He said his velocity was down, and the next day he couldn't even get loose.

Today is his third day not throwing - other than a quick catch to test it. Morrow doesn't want a setback, and neither does the team.

"If we need a closer in the ninth, and I hope we do, it'll probably be David Aardsma," manager Don Wakamatsu said. "The creative aspect will be trying to get to him."

Shawn Kelley has thrown two consecutivce days, Mark Lowe hasn't pitched particularly well, so Roy Corcoran might act as a middle-inning bridge if the Mariners need one today.

The Mariners rotation has the second-lowest earned run average in the American League (3.49) - and Erik Bedard is among the reasons.

Starting tonight in Anaheim, Bedard's ERA is 1.86. It will face a major obstancle tonight in the Angels.

Bedard, in his career, is 1-4 vs. the Angels with a 6.68 ERA. One of the big reasons is Vlad Guerrero, who's on the disabled list. Another is Torii Hunter - who's not! - who is hitting .450 in 20 at-bats, with two home runs and six RBI against the lefty.

As April games go, this one's big within the AL West.

Branyan's back - boom!

Russell Branyan's first game-swing in a week resulted in his third home run and a 1-0 lead for Seattle.

Guess the back is feeling better.

In the second: Mariners 1, Angels 0

No boom, but a few bangs

Mariners have been trying to add-on since Branyan's home run, using the hit-and-run play - and failing - and not quite getting down a bunt.

Then they opened the fifth inning with consecutive singles by Ichiro, Endy Chavez and Ken Griffey Jr. - and a two-rund double from Adrian Beltre.

That got the Angels bullpen stirring.

Branyan walked to load the bases again, and Jose Lopez chopped a high infield single to make it 4-0 and keep them loaded, and Rob Johnson parachuted a single into center field.

That brought Angels reliever Rich Thompson in and put the Mariners up by five - still with no one out.

On the verge of blowing this one open, in the fifth, it's Mariners 5, Angels 0.

That should be enough ...

Thompson's first pitch in relief was wild and scored Branyan, then Yuniesky

Betancourt's one-out sacrifice fly got home another run - and the Angels went to their bullpen again.

Bedard now has a seven-run lead and has allowed one hit in four innings. In theory, this should enough.

Mariners 7, Angels 0

Now THAT'S ugly

Why you never count wins until they're over: the Angels got a loud home run from Mike Napoli, an infield single off the glove of Lopez and a bloop single from Robb Quinlan - and then it got ugly.

Chavez tried to throw a runner out at third, and his throw skipped off Beltre's foot and into the stands.

That sent one run home and put Quinlan at third, from where he scored on a fly ball.
Bedard got out of it there, but it was one bad-looking rally.

After five: Mariners 7, Angels 3

For now, the who's-on-first riddle for the Seattle Mariners is over - tonight, it appears, he will be Russell Branyan.

Branyan is tentatively penicled in to play first base for the first time in a week and, should something during batting practice prevent his appearance, Mike Sweeney will play.

On Thursday, neither was available because of back problems, nor was utilityman Ronny Cedeno.

All were down with minor injuries, so catcher Jamie Burke played first base in Seattle's 1-0 victory over Tampa Bay.

Afterward, there was speculation centering around the disabled list. Not so fast, cowhands.
Branyan and Sweeney each appear ready to play, Cedeno will likely get another day or two off. And Burke will return to being the reserve catcher/emergency relief pitcher.

Thought I'd share a couple things ...

Mike Carp isn't going anywhere and left-handed reliever Cesar Jimenez, who's been on the disabled list with a sore shoulder, has been placed on a rehab assignment in Tacoma. I don't know what his schedule is yet, I'll know more later.

UPDATE: Jimenez will throw one inning or no more than 30 pitches in relief tonight.

I've had a few calls about the possibility of Rainiers first baseman Mike Carp being called up, most likely because he sat out of last night's 4-2 loss game against the Salt Lake Bees.

Normally, when a player like Carp sits out of a game like that and there are injury issues going on with the big club, it's something more than a coincidence.

But after a call or two, I found out that Rainiers manager Daren Brown was giving him a much-needed night off. I'm still waiting on a call back from Brown to verify some more stuff.

Checking with my sources, none of them have heard about Carp being called up, regardless of how last night appeared.

Carp had played in every game thus far for the Rainiers, and in his last three games going into last night, he was 0-for-12 and over the last five games he had just one hit in 17 at-bats. So a break was needed.

Perhaps it was well timed by the Rainiers and Mariners.

But that leads me to this question?

Is Carp the guy you bring up right now, if they place one of the three dinged up players on the disabled list (a whole other issue to debate)?

Let's look at the pros and cons

Pros
1. He's left-handed. Even with a healthy Branyan, the Mariners are exceedingly right-handed hitting heavy. And at times they bat all three in a row - Ichiro, Chavez, Griffey. Having another lefty bat would be nice.
2. His approach is great and he does have some gap power. The Mariners' offense of late has been tepid at best. Perhaps Carp would add some punch to it.
3. Besides first base, he can also play some left field and not look horrible out there. Is he Endy Chavez? No, but some would say he's better than Raul Ibanez.
4. He is on the 40-man roster

Cons
1. The guy has never had a single big league at-bat, so asking him to come in and be a contributor on any level might be a bit much.
2. He can only play left field and first base. If Ronny Cedeno continues to be bothered by a hamstring, adding a third first baseman to the list really doesn't help out your defensive versatility.
3. He is 1 for 17 in his last five games.

So if, and I do mean if - because the way it sounds Don Wakamatsu is hesitant to place Cedeno, Branyan or Sweeney on the disabled list. If you don't call up Carp, then who do you call up?

Matt Tuiasosopo? Not going to be him. He's got a tender throwing arm and hasn't played in the field since joining the Rainiers.

Mike Morse? He brings versatility and some big league experience, but he's another right-hander. He's also not on the 40-man roster.

Chris Woodward? He'sthe most versatile player the Rainiers have now that Chris Burke is gone. Woodward can play all four infield positions and fill in the outfield. He's not a great hitter and also right-handed. Not on the 40-man roster.

Jeff Clement? Well, he is a left-handed bat. But he's missed the last few games to be with his wife and new son. And also he plays only one position - catcher. He's only taken a few ground balls at first, and I think we saw how that worked yesterday with Jamie Burke.

Bryan LaHair? He's left-handed, he can play first, he can play some left field if needed and he has big league experience. He's even shown some better pop in the last few games. But there is still some questions as whether he can hit on big league level.

Who knows what's going to happen? It doesn't sound like Wak wants to make roster move, but if you had to, you could retroactive Branyan's spot on the DL to April 18th.

Then again, I just spent about 800 words and an hour, speculating on a move that hasn't happened and most likely won't happen.

First of all, as I wrote in my game story tonight, let any doubters about Felix's dominance or his place atop the Mariners rotation be drilled in the ribs with one of his fastballs.

I can't tell you how impressed I was with him. I've seen him look more dominant at times and have statistically better starts, but what he did with the lineup he had behind him was just outstanding.

Look at all the things he had working against him.

• The Mariners back-up catcher, Jamie Burke, was forced into starting at first base because of injuries.
• Seattle’s two top left-handed hitting power threats – Russell Branyan and Ken Griffey Jr. – were on the bench.
• The line-up Wakamatsu put on the field had a combined five home runs between the nine players, while going against one of the AL’s best in Shields
• He tweaked his already achy right ankle in the second inning and could feel it throbbing all game.
• And the Rays, despite their 6-10 record, are still the defending American League champs with five hitters at the top of the order that are as good as any in baseball.

A few quotes on Felix ...

From Wak ...
“He showed you what he can truly be,” Wakamatsu said.

“To be able to come out and do what he did on a day like today is special,” Wakamatsu said. “It was just an outstanding performance by him.”

Wakamatsu also praised Felix's growing maturity. He mentioned him shaking off the errors. There was a time this spring where the team booted a few balls behind him and Felix let it get to him a little. Today that didn't happen.

Here's what Jamie Burke had to say about Felix, noting it was quite different watching Felix from first base.

“He’s grown and grown as a pitcher,” Burke said. “He’s got the knowledge of a 30-year-old veteran that’s been around. It’s great to see him grow.”

“When we turned those double plays and he’s staring at me and screaming … it’s a great feeling,” Burke said. “It just pumps you up.”

Felix also believes that he's matured and is able to control his emotions.

I asked him about the ankle, and if it hurts when he pitches or afterward, he said: "It hurts all the time." Basically, because he pitches every fifth day, it's not something that's going to heal immediately. I'm sure most of you have sprained an ankle in the past and once you sprain it, it's pretty dang easy to sprain it again. Even the slightest - tweak like today - can make it hurt.

Alright, let's get to Ichiro and his lead-off home run - the only run of the game.

As the notes listed below, it was the 28th of his career.

Ichiro could never recall ever leading off a game with a homer and winning the game 1-0, even his youth baseball days, but as he pointed out, he didn't always bat lead-off. That was something that came in his professional days.

As for the significance in this game, he was philosophical as usual.
“In reality, when it first happens, they’re all just important because you don’t know what the outcome is,” Ichiro said through his translator Ken Baron. “They are all equal at that moment. But looking back on it, it was a special case.”

“Even before the game started, I think we could all tell what kind of game it would be,” Ichiro said, referencing the pitching match-up of Shields and Hernandez. “You could tell it was probably going to be a one-run game.”

One more thought ... David Aardsma was filthy in the eighth inning. That was pretty sweet, just dominating. This is a guy the Mariners got for Fabian Williamson. Good job, Big Z on that one.

Here's a few notes though ....

RAYS NOTES:
• James Shields recorded his second outing of the season of at least 7.0 innings and one or fewer earned runs…was his first loss while allowing only a single run since Sept. 14, 2007 at Seattle…is now 1-2, 2.10 ERA (7 ER, 30.0 IP) at Safeco Field in four starts.
• Pat Burrell worked a season-high 3 walks, his most walks in a game since June 13, 2008 at St. Louis…has walked 4 times in a single game twice in his career (last: 5/6/07 @ SF).
• Carl Crawford had his 5th multi-hit game of the season, going 2x4 on the day.
• Tampa Bay was shut out for just the 2nd time this season.

MARINERS NOTES:
• The Mariners 1-0 victory was the 2nd of the season, marking the first time to have two 1-0 wins in the same season since 2004 (6/11 vs. MON; 9/15 vs. ANA)…Seattle is now 35-41 all-time in 1-0 games.
• Ichiro lead off the game with a home run (2), giving him 28 lead off home runs and tying him with Jimmy Rollins and Davey Lopes for 12th on the all time leadoff home run list.
• Marked the 22nd time in Major League history that a leadoff home run has decided a 1-0 game and 2nd in Mariners history (Greg Briley, 6/19/92 at MIN)…thanks to SABR home run guru David Vincent for the research help.
• Felix Hernandez tossed 7.0 shutout innings for the 11th time in his career (last: 5/31/08 vs. DET)…he struck out 7 batters; has struck out at least 6 in each of his 4 starts and now leads the American League with 27 strikeouts.
• Hernandez has tossed at least 7.0 innings in each of his 6 starts vs. Tampa Bay…Seattle has won 5 of his 6 starts.
• Brandon Morrow recorded his 5th save of the season (5-for-5) and is now tied for the American League lead…has not allowed a run in his last 6 appearances while giving up only 2 hits…also has not allowed a run at Safeco Field as a reliever since April 26, 2008 vs. Oakland (1-0 with 7 saves in 21.1 innings pitched spanning 22 appearances at Safeco while striking out 29).
• David Aardsma continued his scoreless inning streak by tossing a scoreless 8th. Has not allowed a run this season in 6.2 innings, the longest for a Mariners reliever this season.
• The Mariners recorded only 4 base hits and are now 2-2 when recording 4 hits or less this season…from 2006-08, Seattle had been 2-33 when recording 4 hits or less.
• Seattle committed season-high 3 errors, most since having 3 errors June 9, 2008 at Toronto…last recorded 4 fielding miscues on May 13, 2008 at Texas.
• Today was the fastest game of the year (2:22)…Tuesday’s game (2:23) was the previous fastest game.

As many of you have noticed and voiced complaints about, the FSN feed from Safeco the last two days have experienced technical difficulties. I was told the feed was lost for some time today.

Here's an explanation I received in email from FSN's Jill Wiggins about the situation..

Today’s Mariners game on FSN Northwest went off the air at 5:06 pm due to a lightning strike at the network’s technical operations facility in Atlanta, GA. The strike disabled the facility’s uplink capability and service was interrupted for approximately 30 minutes until a backup facility could resume transmission of the network’s feed. We understand and apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment this may have caused the Mariners organization, their fans and all of our viewers. FSN Northwest will replay this afternoon’s game in its entirety immediately following the live postgame and a 90-minute condensed replay will air at 10:30pm.

As I've said before, I love me some day baseball. Even if it is freezing cold day baseball. Today is a day when paying $7 for the bleacher seats and sitting in the sun is a wise investment.

I'd wear a Snuggie if somebody gave me one right now. Even it was bright pink. In fact, I'm thinking the Mariners should sell navy blue snuggies with the Mariners logos for people who want to buy them. I'd bet you they would sell more than you would think.

Top of 1st
Felix looking sharp, striking out Upton and Longoria.

Bottom of 1st
Ichiro starts off the game with a solo home run to right. It was his 28th lead off homer of his career.

Top of 2nd
Well, this is interesting. We have a double error on the play as Jamie Burke boots a ball at first, then makes a wild throw past Felix who was covering. The ball then gets by Rob Johnson, who was backing up allowing the lead runner to go to third. So there was an error on BUrke and an error on Johnson, oh and Felix seemed to tweak his ankle on the play. But he gets out of the inning, striking out Navarro and getting Iwamura to pop up.

Bottom of 2nd
Shields mows through three hitters in the second.

Top of 3rd
And the Mariners commit another error as Yuni is forced to hurry a throw on a slow roller from Carl Crawford and he throws it wide of Burke at first. The play is scored as a hit with Crawford advancing to second on a throwing error on Yuni. And again Felix gets out of the jam with a strike out of Longoria.

Bottom of 3rd
Three up, three down, but Jason Bartlett made an outstanding play on the ball to short by Ichiro. That's far more difficult than he made it look.

Sorry for the delay, having some computer issues, or more specifically internet issues - lost my connection. I hear FSN is having technical difficulties as well.

Anyway, not much has happened since. We're in the top of the seventh. Felix has allowed four hits, the Mariners have three hits and three errors, and still lead 1-0. A couple of nice double plays have helped.

Felix could be done after seven he was at about 105 pitches. And I was right, Aardsma is in the eighth.

Felix -- 7 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 7 K

Shields has been just as good, the guy made one bad mistake to Ichiro and really hasn't been hit hard since. He may go the distance.

Top of 8th
Aardsman comes in and looks strong two Ks and a nice split to get Longoria to pop out.

Bottom of 8th
Shields gets a quick out to start the inning as Yuni, is well, Yuni. But Burke reaches on a Longoria error. Joe Maddon brings in Brian Shouse and the submarining lefty gets out of the jam, striking out Endy Chavez with Ichiro on second. We go to the ninth with Morrow coming in and facing Pena, Burrell and Zobrist.

Shields 7 1/3 1 R, 4 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks. 102 pitches, 69 strikes.

Top of 9th
Pena with a ground ball to the right side, but the M's have the shift on and get him out. But Pat Burrell walks (his third of the game). Gabe Kapler is in to pinch run for him. And now Kapler moves to second on a wild pitch.

But Morrow gets out to get the save. Felix now 3-0.

* 17,639 was the paid attendance

Rays (6-9)
BJ Upton CF
Carl Crawford LF
Evan Longoria 3B
Carlos Pena 1B
Pat Burrell DH
Ben Zobrist RF
Dioner Navarro C
Aki Iwamura 2B
Jason Bartlett SS
---------
James Shields (2-1, 4.58)

Mariners (9-6)
Ichiro RF
Endy Chavez LF
Jose Lopez 2B
Adrian Beltre 3B
Wlad Balentien DH
Rob Johnson C
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Yuni Betancourt SS
Jamie Burke 1B
--------------
Felix Hernandez (2-0, 4.26 ERA)

UPDATE: And now we have the (correct) lineups ... and Burke is at first.

Rays (6-9)
BJ Upton CF
Carl Crawford LF
Evan Longoria 3B
Carlos Pena 1B
Pat Burrell DH
Ben Zobrist RF
Dioner Navarro C
Aki Iwamura 2B
Jason Bartlett SS
---------
James Shields (2-1, 4.58)

Mariners (9-6)
Ichiro RF
Endy Chavez LF
Jose Lopez 2B
Adrian Beltre 3B
Wlad Balentien DH
Rob Johnson C
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Yuni Betancourt SS
Jamie Burke 1B
--------------
Felix Hernandez (2-0, 4.26 ERA)

First and foremost, the reason I haven't posted the line-up is that we haven't seen one. We saw an early one that manager Don Wakamatsu set out, but that's going to to change.

Why?

Because Ronny Cedeno tweaked his right hamstring a little and they've scratched him from the line-up.

"Ronny's injury is real minor, it's just one of those deals where you don't want it to blow on him," Wakamatsu said.

Mike Sweeney is also out due to back spasms. Russell Branyan, also suffering from back spasms, took ground balls and some swings, but they aren't sure if they are going to play him.

So that would mean with all three out, Jose Lopez, who was scheduled to play first will most likely move back to second, and back-up catcher Jamie Burke would play first base.

Burke worked out at first during batting practice and looked fine.

It's not a position he's unfamiliar to. He played there six times last year, the last being on Sept. 18, 2006, for two innings. In 2006 with Triple A Oklahoma City, Burke started 18 games at first. Don't let his squatty frame fool you, Burke is a pretty good athlete. He was drafted as a third baseman and he was a kicker in college at Oregon State. Remember when he pitched last year? (Pictured right) I'll get you the lineups as soon as possible.

If that's the case, the Mariners will have a lonely bench. Wak called them all emergency guys that he hopes he doesn't have to use.

When asked if it is getting to the point where he might make a roster move, Wakamatsu said it didn't seem likely with so many guys close to coming back.

"None of the injuries are severe enough where we want to DL somebody and bring up some body right now," he said.

* WABUBBA, I asked Wak about the Ichiro steal last night in the sixth and here's his response.

"In that situation, he has the greenlight. It was one of those things where the pitcher was extremely slow and then he slidestepped and got thrown out," Wakamatsu said. "In defense of that, with our offense the way it is. Are we going to walk right now? Are we going to drive those guys in? That's why I've always, even in spring training, said we'll make some mistakes aggressively. It might no always look like the smartest. We will push it. No one wants to get thrown out in that situation. But if he gets there, maybe we get a base hit, we score a run and some things start happening.

* Wak was asked about Ken Griffey Jr.'s recent production at the plate or lack there of.

"It's a combination of things, maybe that he's not getting the pitches, and that's why he walked a lot, and if guys aren't hitting around him doesn't make it any easier on him," Wakamatsu said. "If you look at the immediate order no one is really swinging it. It's a lineup where we have to feed off each other. Versatility comes when people are swinging it well, but right now we are getting it."

Part of the reason this is getting to you so late is that our pregame meeting with Wak was delayed by Junior who sat in on the dugout and acted like a manager taking questions for awhile and talked of himself in the third person which was great. It was quite humorous.

Here's a few snippets ...

On being out of the line-up?
We don't play Ken on day games after night games.

On if temperature is a factor?
The temperature is fine, but once it gets below 52 degrees Ken doesn't play.

So when do you play?
Ken plays on special days, like Mothers' day.

A Latin reporter asked Griffey if he's picking up any Spanish being around so many Latin players...

Just the cusswords. That's all I know.

And Japanese?
No, Ichiro won't teach me any of the cusswords.

Griffey said it was one of the first things they did with Japanese players that came to the U.S.
"That's the first thing we taught Mac Suzuki," he said.

On the Mariners leading the league in bunts?
I don't know, but I'll have at least two this season.

Greetings from a cool and crisp Safeco Field. The sun is out, but it's not a real warm by any means. Right now, Cesar Jimenez and Carlos Silva are out playing some frisbee in the outfield. It's something that the pitchers do to run around a little. It's funny because some of them look so awkward trying to catch it - not always the highest level of coordination or grace.

For those of you masochistic enough, you can listen to my weekly appearance with Ian Furness on KJR here. Of course, I offer my thoughts about Yuni and Washburn.

Anyway, it's tough to argue with the pitching match-up we get to see today.

James Shields - 2-1 with a 4.85 ERA, 19.2 IP, 19 hits, 10 runs, 6 BB, 9 K
He's got a great changeup (which you see him gripping below). He's made four career starts against the Mariners and is 1-1 with a 2.12 ERA. The one win came in his only start against the M's last season, when he beat Carlos Silva 5-3 in Safeco.

VS.

Felix Hernandez - 2-0 with a 4.26 ERA, 19 IP, 19 hites, nine runs, six BB, 20 Ks.
You're in the rubber game of a series with the defending AL champion Tampa Bay Rays, is there any pitcher on staff you'd rather want making the start? Felix has made six starts against the Rays, he's 1-1 with a 2.54 ERA. Seattle is 4-1 in his starts and has pitched at least 7.2 innings per start against the Rays.

Headed down to the clubhouse, and I'll be back with some more pregame stuff in a few along with some links.

In the second, already down 4-0 to Tampa, the Mariners lost first baseman Mike Sweeney to an awkward checked swing.

A man with a history of back problems, Sweeney was clearly in pain and was led off the field by trainer Rick Griffin.

Ironically, Sweeney was playing first base because Russell Branyan hasn't played since Friday because of a stiff back.

Initial diagnosis from the clubhouse: Sweeney has muscle spasms.

Jose Lopez is at first base, Ronny Cedeno at second now.

Seven games into this home stand, the Mariners are 4-3, and they've won wiithout much help from their bigger hitters

Adrian Beltre is just 3-for-28 on the home stand, Jose Lopez 4-for-24, Ken Griffey Jr. 5-for-23 and Ichiro 6-for-26.

Combined, that’s a .178 batting average.

So it's been pitching and defense and figuring a way to create a run or two that's kept Seattle afloat. Whatever it takes, until the weather and the bats heat up.

Tonight, it's Chris Jakubauskas vs. Jeff Niemann.

It's breezy and cool - some would say cold - and it's about time for the anthem.

That's trouble

Jakubauskas is having one of those innings he avoided all spring - one that gets worse and worse.

It started on a one-out grounder off Mike Sweeney's glove. Base hit. Then a ground ball through the left side of the infield.

Carlos Pena then banged a double into left center field (two runs), and singled over a drawn-in infield for another.

After a walk, Jakubauskas got a visit from pitching coach Rick Adair - then uncorked his second wild pitch of the inning.

The rookie then got a pop up for the second out, but walked Akinori Iwamura with his 34th pit`h to load the bases.

Jason Bartlett flied out - deep - and Jakubauskas limited the damage to three runs.

Rays 3, Mariners 0

And they add on

Rays got another run, but were prevented from a bigger inning when Franklin Gutierrez turned a sacrifice fly into a double play.

From deep center field, Gutierrez threw out Carl Crawford trying to go from first to second base.

Great throw, and saved the Mariners more trouble.

Second inning: Rays 3, Mariners 0

It's getting worse

Mike Sweeney left the game in the second inning, when a checked swing produced instant back spasms.

No sooner had he left than Tampa added another run - they've scored in every inning.

Through three, Jakubauskas has thrown 60 pitches, most uncer duress.

Rays 5, Mariners 0

And worse again

Fourth inning, and yes, the Rays scored again.

Jakubauskas had nothing but tenacity on the mound tonight. No great command, no great stuff, nothing but will.

Tampa got a one-out infield single and an RBI double, and when Carlos Pena walked, manager Don Wakamatsu went to the bullpen and reliever Sean White.

Seattle is down six and, did we mention, hitless?

Rays 6, Mariners 0

Hey! Baserunners!

Fifth inning, down seven runs, the Mariners got their first baserunner when Adrian Belre reached on an error and, moments later, Cedenno dcrew a walk.

Jose Lopez then brought a chilled, silent crowd to its feet with his second home run of the season - and Seattle's first hit of the night.

Life! This team has life!

Rays 7, Mariners 3

Moral victory!

After allowing the Rays to score in six consecutive innings, the Mariners - and Miguel Batista - shut them out in the seventh.

Oh, happy day.

Rays 8, Mariners 3

<
And that's a final

Mariners lose quietly, with four hits.

Final score: Rays 9, Mariners 3

Another day without power-hitter Russell Branyan, whose back continues to bother him enough to keep him out of Seattle’s lineup.

That means Mike Sweeney will play first base – and the Mariners will likely have to continue to manufacture runs. Some day soon, the home runs may come, from Ken Griffey Jr. or Adrian Beltre, but in cool weather that’s less likely.

That’s why the Mariners took bunting practice about 3 p.m., with everyone from Ichiro Suzuki to Endy Chavez dropping balls for hits and for sacrifices. Don Wakamatsu watched the whole affair, which was taken seriously.

And then, before the team stretched, there was one of those 2009 impromtu Mariners moments. From the first base line, using fungos, a handful of players tried to hit a baseball off the left field foul pole.

None hit it, but there was a lot of yelling and laughter.

Asked what his team was doing, Wakamatsu never cracked a smile and deadpanned: “They’re working on shortening their swings.”

Another day at Safeco.

Here’s your Mariners lineup:
Ichitro RF
Endy Chavez LF
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Mike Sweeney 1B
Jose Lopez 2B
Rob Johnson C
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Yuniesky Betancourt SS
Chris Jakubauskas RHP

The Mariners begin the night in first place in the American League West, despite a rather dramatic lack of middle-of-the-lineup production.

Through the first 13 games, no one has more two-out RBI than Endy Chavez (3). Adrian Beltre and Jose Lopez have two apiece, but this is not yet a team that produces two-out runs.

If they don't score much tonight, it'll figure. Since the start of the 2006 season, Jarrod Washburn has the worst run support (4.28 runs per game) of any starting pitcher in the American League.

In 120 starts since the beginning of the 2006 season, Washburn's teams have scored two runs or less in his games 58 times - and not scored at all in 13.

Something to think about ...

Starting from behind

A walk to leadoff hitter Jason Bartlett cost Wasbhurn when Evan Longoria doubled on a sinker that stayed up.

That was bad, but Pat Burrell singled home Longoria with two outs and the Mariners are down two runs before coming to bat.
How can a veteran pitcher walk the first batter of the game? Focus, usually. In the big leagues, you can't go to the mound feeling for your stuff. Do and you end up with an inning like Washburn's.

Rays 2, Mariners 0.

Two can play this game

Endy Chavez walked and with one out, Ken Griffey Jr. tried to drop a bunt down the third base line against a dramatic infield shift.

Instead, he one-hopped his bunt to the mound, where Andy Sonnanstine fielded and threw wild to second base - everybody safe.
With two outs, Mike Sweeney rolled a single up the middle for an unearned run.

After one: Rays 2, Mariners 1

Life on the edge

Washburn skirted disaster in the fourth inning, loading the bases with two outs on a pair of hits and a walk.

He coaxed a ground ball from second base man Akinori Iwamura, Belte fielded cleanly and the Rays failed to score.

Tampa keeps pushing, Washburn manaages to hold. That's not a trend that's likely to last.

The Mariners need runs.

Rays 2, Mariners 1

The Mariners get runs

Mike Sweeney started the fourth by getting hit by a pitch, took third when Jose Lopez singled and then ...

Well, Gabe Kapler was playing so shallow in center field than when Rob Johnson hit a long fly ball his way, he couldn't get to it and it fell for a two-run triple.

Two batters later, Yuniesky Betancourt hit one to left center field and Kapler - still playing shallow - couldn't get that either.

RBI triple.

Then Ichiro laid down what appeared to be a great squeeze bunt, except Betancourt didn't score. In fact, Betancourt barely moved at third base.

Go figure.

After four: Mariners 4, Rays 2

Good night, Mr. Washburn

The veteran lefty could be 3-0 for the first time since 1998, and he's pitched well enough to win again.

Washburn has gone seven innings, allowed two runs and been dominant against Tampa's left-handed hitters. They've gone 0-for-10 tonight with six strike outs.

Two innings left, and it's up to the bullpen.

Mariners 4, Rays 2.

And that's a wrap

David Aardsma worked the eighth, Brandon Morrow the ninth and Seattle wins its 9th of the young season.

The final: Mariners 4, Rays 2

UPDATE: Well, I talked to manager Daren Brown and told him what has been reporter, he gave me a grin and said, "He's not here, that's all I can say." That may have well been yes.

MOO,
I'm guessing cash considerations since that's what the M's paid. Maybe they can just cancel the check.

Well, I'm here covering the Rainiers game tonight and Chris Burke was a late scratch from the line-up. The reason well he's been traded back to the Padres, the team the Mariners acquired him from.

Apparently back-up shortstop/infielder Everth Cabrera injured his hand on Sunday and may e out two months and the Padres needed a replacement so they went and got a player they were familiar with. The trade won't be announced till Tuesday. I'll see if I can get confirmation after the game, I wouldn't expect it, but I guess I can go to his locker and see if it's cleared out.

Former TNT writer Corey Brock has the story on mlb.com, as does my buddy Dan Hayes from the North County Times.

The Mariners gave up cash considerations to get Burke in the spring.

Burke was hitting .237 in 10 games with the Rainiers with a couple of doubles, a homer and 3 RBI, he also seven walks and 11 strikeouts.

What does it mean? Not a great deal, but it's one less guy they can bring up as a utility infielder if something happens at the big league level.

As you know, I've probably been pretty critical of Yuniesky Betancourt since I started covering the Mariners. I used to think he simply didn't get it - as in understanding how to put a good at-bat together – but now I see he simply just isn't learning, either out of stubbornness or ignorance. Regardless of why, this message needs to be delivered to Mr. Betancourt: "We've had enough. Your recent performances simply will not be accepted. Take a seat on the bench and take some time to figure it out."

He should be sat and sat for an extended period to deliver a message that either get with the program, start learning, start focusing in games or we'll move on without you. Do I think Ronny Cedeno is the everyday answer at shortstop? Not completely, but right now I would trust him more than Betancourt. Part of the reason Cedeno never really hit it off with Lou Piniella with the Cubs is rumored to be that Lou thought Cedeno was flighty and lost focus during games. If Cedeno was flighty, what does that make Yuni?
Could you imagine Lou trying to manage Yuni? It would be vicious and short-lived because Lou could have never stomached Yuni's recent stretch of play without a tirade or a tantrum. And he simply would have gotten rid of him.

Manager Don Wakamatsu seems to have a pretty good poker face, but he lets a few verbal jabs slip in from time to time. As he was trying to explain the back-to-back errors Yuni committed in Sunday's loss, there was a tone of exasperation in his voice. And he ended his thought with this, "It's about focus."

Clearly Yuni is lacking it right now, and Wakamatsu might be best served to deliver a message and bench him for more than a few games. So far everything else he's tried with Yuni hasn't worked. I know it's early, but letting it go on a few more games just allows Yuni to believe he can get away with playing that way, despite the Mariners' coaching staff's preachings and scoldings. Wakamatsu has always maintained that from day one he would do what's best for the team, first and foremost. Feelings and other circumstances be damned.

Look, I don't hate Yuni, and I don't doubt his talent. But at this point you have to question his willingness to learn, his ambition to improve and his overall role in this organization. He's regressed and it's frustrating to watch.

Ok, there's my Yuni rant. Here's another one from the USS Mariner. I could go on for another 10,000 words but its really just the same complaints and same solutions.

Sunday's game was a sluggish one, as I wrote in my game story for today's paper. The kind of lethargy, fueled by Yuni's errors, made it feel like many of the games I covered last year, and that's something this new staff has worked hard to avoid.

Here's the AP story from Tim Booth which focuses on Rick Porcello getting his first career win. Porcello looked pretty solid over seven innings. Wakamatsu mentioned his poise for being so young and Ronny Cedeno, who homered off Porcello, was surprised to hear that the kid is only 20 years old - the youngest player in the majors.

Here's the game notebook.

Columnist John McGrath was at the game and wrote about the Mariners offense, or lack thereof. Also, if you didn't get the chance, you should check out Johnny Mac's column on the 50th anniversary season of Cheney Stadium. Good stuff.

Here's the game stories from the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News.

Let's get to some other links from the weekend.
Here's my Sunday column on catching up with Raul Ibanez in Denver last weekend. Sundays also mean my MLB power rankings.

Ibanez also hit a walk-off homer for the Phils on Sunday.

Rainiers announcer and TNT contributor Mike Curto has his minor league notebook, leading with the hot hitting of Mike Carp. Also Mike covered Sunday's Rainier win thanks to a Jeff Clement game-winning hit.

ESPN's Jim Caple has a nice story on the Mariners.

A few of my fellow Montanans were here to cover the first two days of the opening homestand. Bill Foley of the Montana Standard in Butte (a UM grad) wrote a big story on hometown boy Rob Johnson.

Here's Baseball America's Matt Eddy's wrap up of the Mariners minor league system.

Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle and the Sporting News, says the Mariners are one of five teams that will be staying around in the mix all season.

Yahoo's Jeff Passan believes the 500 homer club is losing it's importance. I couldn't agree more.

I'll add some more later, but here's a few things really quickly ...

* Reliever Shawn Kelley gave the Mariners a bit of a scare when he threw and awkward pitch off the mound and the limped to the dugout after getting out of the ninth inning. But Kelley brushed it off, saying it was just a cramp and that he’s been battling some dehydration. …

* First baseman Russell Branyan missed a second straight game with back spasms. Wakamatsu hopes to have him back on the field for Tuesday’s series opener with Tampa Bay. “It’s still locked up,” Branyan said.

* Seattle pitchers tossed three wild pitches in the game as Kelley, Carlos Silva and Mark Lowe all uncorked wayward pitches. The Mariners had that happen three times in 2008. The team record is four which has occurred on three different occasions the latest was August 17 of last season against the Twins.

TIGERS NOTES:
• In only his second Major League start, Rick Porcello earned his first Major League victory while setting a career high
with 7 innings pitched. He was the Tigers # 1 pick in the 2007 draft.
• Detroit is now 5-1 against the AL West after sweeping the Rangers and winning 2 of 3 in Seattle.
• Every member of the Tigers lineup recorded at least one hit except catcher Matt Treanor. Carlos Guillen, Ramon
Santiago and Josh Anderson each had multi-hit efforts.
• Ramon Santiago recorded a career high 5 RBI with a single, fielders choice and he capped it off with a 3-run double
in the 8th inning. His previous career high was 4 (9/18/2003 vs. TOR).
• Miguel Cabrera went 2x4 with 3 runs scored. He has hit safely in 11 of 12 games this season while batting .489.
MARINERS NOTES:
• The Mariners lost their first series (1-2) of the season after winning or splitting their first three (MIN, OAK, LAA).
• Carlos Silva gave up three runs in the fourth inning, but only gave up one hit, an RBI double by Brandon Inge. Silva
has now lost each of his last 4 starts against Detroit and is now 0-4, 14.11 ERA (23 ER, 14.2 IP). His last win against
the Tigers was Sept. 24, 2007 at Comerica Park.
• Seattle pitchers (Silva, Lowe, Kelley) had 3 wild pitches in today’s game, one short of the franchise high of 4 (3x, last:
8/17/08 vs. MIN). They recorded 3 wild pitches four times in 2008.
• Seattle pitching gave up a season high 8 runs, but only 5 earned (previous: 5, 2x, last: 4/16 vs. LAA).
• Endy Chavez went 2x4 with an RBI and has now hit safely in 12 of the 13 games this season, batting .392 with 5
runs, a double, home run, 6 RBI and 4 stolen bases. Coming in to the game, he ranked ninth in the American League
in batting. Chavez has now recorded 6 multi-hit games on the season, including 4 in his last 6 games.
• Endy Chavez’s single in the 1st inning was his 17th on the season. Chavez entered Sunday’s game, 1st in the
American League in singles.
• Ronny Cedeno homered in the 3rd inning, his first homerun since July 24, 2008. He has now recorded an extra-base
hit in two straight games. He doubled on April 17 vs. Detroit.
• Shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt recorded two errors in the 8th inning. It was the third time in his career that he has
had two errors in one game (last: 7/18/08 vs. CLE).
• Jaimie Burke made his first start of 2009 after being called up from AAA Tacoma. He went hitless on the day.

It's a beautiful day here at Safeco and I can't tell you how much I love day baseball. I know that financially it makes more sense for the Mariners to have games at 7 p.m., but it wouldn't hurt my feelings to see the Mariners have some more day games on Saturday.

The problem is that if it's during the day, the game can't be broadcast on television because of the blackout agreement signed with Fox for it's game of the week. Look, that whole agreement is just idiotic, especially since Fox's game of the week is always seems to feature either the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets or Cubs. Also frustrating is people who have the MLB extra innings package are still susceptible to the blackout. Meaning I'm paying good money for a service that promotes you get all of the games, when it should say, you get all of the games unless they happen to be a Saturday day game and isn't the Fox game of the week.

MLB should just take control and say to Fox, "We're going to televise whatever games we want or we'll take our business to the four letter."

As you can tell his upsets me some, there are 30 teams in baseball not just the two that Fox determines it will show on what is a pretty hacky broadcast - i.e. Tim McCarver is death to my ears.

Let's have some day baseball on Saturdays, televise them games still so people can see it, and allow some people to watch baseball with the sun on their shoulders like it was meant to be played.

Ok, there's my mini rant for the day.

GAME UPDATES start here ...

Top of 1st
Silva has a little trouble giving up opposite field hits to Placido Polanco and Maggs "I need a haircut" Ordonez. But he gets out of it with no damage. It took 21 pitches to get through the inning, something to watch for later.

Bottom of 1st
Endy Chavez beats out an infield hit. I know it may be sacrilege, but I think Endy may be faster than Ichiro from home to first.

Top of 2nd
The Mariners turn a big 4-6-3 double play and Jose Lopez digs the short hop that Yuni fired to first on the play.

Bottom of 2nd
Yuni called out of the baseline on a double play that Polanco tried to tag him on

Top of 3rd
Ronny Cedeno ends the inning with a nice sliding stop on a ball toward the hole on the right side. He makes a play that Lopez could never even come close to getting to.

Bottom of 3rd
Make a great play, lead off the next inning --- with a homer, a deep shot to left. It's Cedeno's first of the season, Mariners 1, Tigers 0.

Top of 4th
Silva hasn't been sharp, but he hasn't been horrible. But he paid for a lead-off walk to Cabrera as he gave up back to back hits including an RBI double to Brandon Inge. After the double, his very next pitch to Josh Anderson was in the dirt and about a foot behind him. The extremely wild pitch allowed a run to score and then Jim Leyland ran the suicide squeeze with Ramon Santiago. Silva's throw was a little late and Jamie Burke couldn't block the plate to keep Inge out. Tigers, 4 Mariners 1

Bottom of 4th
Not much going against Porcello, who seems to have found a nice rhythm.

Top of 5th
Silva looks a little better than the fourth. But his pitch count is slowly building. It ends with 94 pitches, only 54 were strikes. His line: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, O K, 1 BB, 1 WP

Bottom of 5th
Mariners still can't get much going on Porcello

Top of 6th
I still can't seem to figure Mark Lowe out. One outing he'll look absolutely dominant like the 2006 season, and then he'll have outings like today where the fastball lacks movement and he gets slapped around and is all over the place with his fastball. Tigers up 5-1.

Bottom of 6th
Porcello cruises through the three hitters again.

Top of 7th
Miguel Batista works a quick innings, well sort of. I mean he still takes forever to throw a pitch and throws to first too much, but he does make it through without any damage.

Bottom of 7th
The Mariners have five hits, they should have six but Brandon Inge made a fabulous diving catch on Adrian Beltre's screaming line drive down third. Beltre's done it hundreds of times to hitters so somebody returned the favor.

Top of 8th
Yuni was well, Yuni at his worst booting back-to-back ground balls to load the bases, and then Batista makes it worse by giving up a double to Ramon Santiago that clears the bases. It's now 8-1 and the Mariners really don't have the pop in their lineup to come back from monster deficits like this. As columnist John McGrath said, their offense is kind of like the old wishbone offense in football, its great when you're ahead or the game is close, not so much when you are down big. None of the runs given up were earned for Batista

Bottom of 8th
The Mariners pick up a run on an RBI single from Endy Chavez, but the inning ends when Junior grounds out to first with runners on first and second.

Top of 9th
Shawn Kelley gives up a hit and a walk but gets out unscathed.

Bottom of 9th
Lopez gets a double to left. Mike Sweeney makes the Mariners first pinch hit appearance and gets a pinch hit. But nothing comes from it as Ronny Cedeno pops up to end the game.

Tigers 8, Mariners 2

The lineups are up for today, we haven't talked to Manager Don Wakamatsu yet, but he's got Jose Lopez penciled in as the first baseman today. Obviously, Russell Branyan's back is still bothering him.

Perhaps Wak told Lopez about playing there last night because when he walked by and glanced at the lineup he didn't pause or take a second glance. Then again, with Lopez it's entirely possible that he might not know what the position numbers are either.

UPDATE: Well, we finally got to talk to Wakamatsu, the Mariners had a lengthy Kangaroo court session, under supreme Kangaroo justice Ken Griffy Jr., who donned a black judges robe with the words: "Judge Mo Money" across the front in Mariners letters. He also was sporting an old school, thick gold rope with a big gold 24 on it, obviously left over from this foray into the musical worldHere's the lineup
Mariners
Ichiro RF
Endy Chavez LF
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Jose Lopez 1B
Yuni Betancourt SS
Jamie Burke C
Ronny Cedeno 2B
Franklin Gutierrez CF
---------
Carlos Silva P

Tigers
Curtis Granderson CF
Placide Polanco 2B
Magglio Ordonez RF
Miguel Cabrera 1B
Carlos Guillen DH
Brandon Inge 3B
Josh Anderson LF
Ramon Santiago SS
Matt Treanor C
----------
Rick Porcello (0-1, 7.20 ERA)

Jim Leyland has won 1,331 major league games, Don Wakamatsu 8. Not one to rest on numbers, Leyland sought out the Mariners rookie manager before this series began just to wish him the best and congratulate him on joining the fraternity.

It touched Wakamatsu.

"One of the ways I judge managers is by what their players and former players say about them," Wakamatsu said. "Jim is one of those manager whose players respect and love him. Over all the years he's been in the game, that's say a lot."

It's the Tigers vs. the Mariners, Leyland vs. Wakamatsu at Safeco Field.

And off we go.

Just another 'A.B.' at third

Adrian Beltre has won consecutive Gold Gloves at third base, and showed why in the second inning.

Marcus Thames grounded sharply down the line and Beltre smothered the ball with a dive, got to his feet and threw off-balance - a strike to first baseman Mike Sweeney.

Great play, yes, but more than that.

If the ball gets by, it's a double. And the next Tiger hitter, Gerald Laird, singled.

That's one potential Detroit run erased by defense, and Erik Bedard and Edwin Jackson remain wrapped up in their shuouts.

Not many hits or bunts, lots of zeroes

Detroit has four hits, Seattle two into the fifth inning - and the Mariners have yet to drop a bunt.

No sacrifices yet, because they've not been in position to bunt.
E

ndy Chavez doubled in the first inning, Ken Griffey Jr. singled - on a 97 mph fastball - in the fourth.

Bedard just got Magglio Ordonez on a ground ball with a runner at second.

To the botom of the fifth: no score.

Out at home

It wasn't much of a rally, but it's as close as anyone has come to scoring tonight.

With one out, Jose Lopez struck out but reach first base on Laird's passed ball. On a hit-and-run single by Rob Johnson, Lopez took third.

Yuniesky Betancourt then flied to medium center field, Lopez lit out for home and Curtis Granderson's throw was perfect - out at the plate.

After five: no score.

Safe at home

The game changed on the weakest hit the Tigers have managed, a two-out, two-on bloop to right field that chased home the first run against Bedard.

As bad, when Ichiro Suzuki fielded it and threw home, he over shot catcher Johnson and Bedard, who was backing up, and sailed the all into a camera well.

Two runs scored, Ichiro got the error.

To the bottom of the sixth: Tigers 2, Mariners 0.

Last chance

Bottom of the ninth, Fernando Rodney pitchintg, a crowd of 31,966 on its feet.

Endy Chavez walks to bring up Griffey, who popped out.

Adrian Beltre - the hero 24 hours earlier - flied to the warning track in left field.

That sent the game to Mike Sweeney, who grounded to third.

The final: Tigers 2, Mariners 0

Off to a start that matches the best in franchise history, Don Wakamatsu's Seattle Mariners have done more than win games this month - they've won hearts and minds.

And not just those of their long-suffering fans.

One of the tasks handed Wakamatsu and his staff was changing the clubhouse environment, forming a team instead of 25 guys on the same roster.

That staff convinced players like Jose Lopez and Yuniesky Betancourt that fundamental baseball was more than catching ground balls and hitting. It was moving a runner over so the next hitter could get him home more easily.

Ken Griffey Jr. put an exclamation point on those lessons opening day, when he grounded to the right side of the infield to get a runner from second to third - and the next batter drove him in.

Those lessons continue, and the learning curve has made Seattle not only a fun team to watch, but apparently a blast to play for.
The clubhouse is alive with conversation and laughter, teasing and joking.

And, on the field, the Mariners have played as a team - using the bunt, hit-and-run and squeeze as additional weapons.

As a result, teams are going to have to defend the Mariners differently - and that's an edge, when you're a team others must adjust their game to play.

Their are months of baseball left, but give Wakamatsu and his staff this - they've created a new team, a new chemistry, in relatively little time.

Part of that has involved patience. If Yuni can't get a bunt down or Russell Branyan flubs a relay throw or Brandon Morrow blows a save, this team shows faith.

So far, that faith has been rewarded.

Whatever lies ahead, this team has taken a giant step forward in playing watchable baseball - and enjoying it.

While Lash is covering the Mariners tonight, I'm here at the home opener for the Tacoma Rainiers. Due to some changes on the staff, I'll be covering more than a few Rainiers games, which isn't a bad thing.

I won't always be blogging from the Rainiers, but I decided to post from here since I talked to Jeff Clement for the first time since he was sent to Triple A in spring training. As expected, he was his typical good natured self. I also talked with Rainiers hitting coach Alonzo Powell, who said that Clement's average isn't indicative of the type of the type of bats he's been having.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Powell said. "He's had some quality at-bats, he's laid off some bad pitches for the most part. I'm not worried about him right now. He's consistent in his approach. I think its just a matter of time until he gets going."

Clement was very frank about his recent play saying: "Obviously right now, I’m not playing as well as I can. Hopefully that gets turned around in a hurry."

And it did in his first at-bat tonight. Clement crushed a two-run homer deep to right field off of pitcher Edgar Gonzalez.

UPDATE In his second at-bat, Clement nearly missed out on another home run as he pulled a ball down the line that was foul by a foot or two. But later in the bat he drove a ball to the left-center gap for an RBI double. .

Here's a transcript of our pregame interview ...

On how the .052 batting average would appear to people upon first glance?
Well, I would definitely say not to panic, 19 at-bats is nothing. Over course the season you get 400 to 500 at-bats. Obviously I’d like to be having more success. Last year at this point, it was the complete opposite and I was having a lot of success.

I haven’t had as many consistently good at-bats as I did a year ago. I’ve got quite a few walks. I’m striking out way more than I should be. I’ve had a lot hittable pitches that I just haven’t been getting the barrel to. It’s been a daily effort where I’m trying to get in the cage and get things figured out. So when I get out to the field, I’m not thinking about anything, I’m just seeing it and hitting it.

People go through slumps during a season, does it just look worse because its at the beginning?
I’d rather have it be after I’ve had some success and all the sudden you have a 1-for-19 slide. It’s the beginning of the season and you’d rather get off to a hot start, but it’s a lot easier to take when the team’s having some success. We’re 6-2 and for me to be swinging the bat the way I have, it makes it a lot easier than if we were 2-6 and I was coming up in key situations and I’m not getting it done.

What was your reaction to being sent to Tacoma during spring training?
The decision was made. I went in there and they told me. What are you going to do go sulk or go bring the rest of the team down? No way. I’m not going to go do that. It’s too easy to get bitter about different things. That’s not me. That’s not the way I want to be. That’s not the kind of guy I want to be in the clubhouse. You just take it for what its worth. Coming down here, I just want to play up to my capability and if I do that, I know everything is going to work out. I don’t know how it will, but I know it will

Did you think you were pressing during the spring?
I really don’t think I was pressing. I didn’t do anything special this spring and I didn’t do anything awful. I was kind of just another player. It’s a tough situation when you’re playing once every three days – the same boat as Rob and Jamie. It’s tough to get in a rhythm.

It was also tough in the fact that I rehabbed all offseason and I didn’t start catching till baseball started. I got down there a little bit early, caught a couple bullpens and that’s it. My body is still trying to get used to the wear and tear of playing every day.

So you would have done more if not for the rehabbing of the knee surgery?
I would definitely been catching before spring training, and I know I would have been hitting. I went over four months without swinging a bat. I don’t know in my life if I’ve ever gone four months without swinging a bat. Maybe my first four months of my life. From age 5 or 6 on I haven’t went that long without hitting. I don’t know if it had an effect or not.

I’d be willing to say from age 12 to age 25, I’ve taken as many swings as anybody else. My dad was my HS baseball coach, I used to take 300 swings a day off o him. And my high school coach was already willing to throw BP, I used to hit, hit, hit.

Do you think not hitting for four months had an effect?
To go that long without hitting, it probably has some kind of effect. Just trying to figure out how to get back to what works, get back to my swing and what works best.
I’ve been doing that every day, trying take one round o ground balls during BP and I’ve been working with Darrin Garner are roving infield coach. I’m getting comfortable there now. I don’t think that position is as easy as everyone thinks it is. When you haven’t taken a ground ball in 7 years, it’s not as easy to field as guys going from third base to first base.

How is the work at first base going?
It’s a work in progress. The thing is, when I get out there, I want to help the team. I don’t want to get out there and just be awful for the pitching staff and the rest of the team. I want to make sure when I go over there I can make the plays I should be making.

The more I’ve been taking ground balls, during the game I’m paying more attention how much they’re in the action. It’s a lot, There’s all sorts of ground balls, you have to learn the bunt play and learning the nuances of playing a new position.

Do you have an idea when you might get some game action at first?
I have no idea. I really don’t.

You just don’t take ground balls for two weeks and feel comfortable. I think that’s what people expect. I don’t know how long it will take. I’m just going to keep working at it.

Remember the dreaded Carlos Guillen trade? Of course, you do. Well, this makes it even harder to swallow. All these years later, not only is Carlos Guillen still a Tiger, but so is the man the Mariners got for him - infielder Ramon Santiago.

Worse, both are in the lineup tonight.

It's Felix Hernandez vs. Jutin Verlander. And we're off .

Yuni, Yuni, Yuni

Detroit rolled out three runs and made Felix Hernandez throw 36 pitches in the second inning, and Yuniesky Betancourt didn't help his pitcher.

With one out and the bases loaded, Brandon Inge hit a chopper toward the hole a short, and Beancourt - who did not appear to be going full speed - slapped at it with his glove and knocked it into shallow left field.

Two runs scored.

Hernandez seemed a bit unnerved by the non-play, and on an ensuing squeeze bunt, tried to force a play at home and didn't get an out.

It's now the fourth inning, Seattle doesn't have a hit and Felix has thrown 60 pitches.

Uh-oh.

Tigers 3, Mariners 0.

Here comes Seattle

There's a reason Verlander has a 9.35 ERA, and it's not that he's been shutting teams out.

Taking a no-hitter into the fifth, Verlander allowed a double to Adrian Belte and singles by Russell Branyan and Jose Lopez for a run.

Rob Johnson bunted Branyan and Lopez up a base. Betancourt grounded to third, and the throw home skipped, and when Gerald Laird couldn't hold it, Branyan scored.

Franklin Guttierrez then pushed your basic perfect bunt past the mound and no one made a play on it - single, RBI, tie game.

Ichiro singled up the middle - with the runners breaking - for another run, and the Mariners led, 4-3.

Verlander wild-pitched home a fifth run, and the folks at Safeco Field are on their feet.

They're loud, they're proud, they're enjoying the ride.

After five: Mariners 5, Tigers 3

Branyan sits down

After a hard slide home, Branyan's back stiffened up and he came out of the game.

That probably leaves Seattle with its best defensive infield: Lopez at first, Ronny Cedeno at second, Belte at third and Betancourt at short.

Branyan will be re-evaluated Saturday.

Win No. 8, anyone?

Belte just pushed home Ken Griffey Jr. from first base on a double, and it's now 6-3.

Rookie Shawn Kelley pitched a scoreless inning of relief, and David Aardsma followed with another. Figure the ninth goes to Brandon Morrow, who hasn't pitched in a few days.

Morrow math

Morrow threw 12 pitches, 11 strikes, and finished this one up quick.

The Mariners are 8-3.
Final: Seattle 6, Detoit 3

A quick note on these postgame updates: Because of the earliness of our deadlines for the print edition, I'm going to try and provide these because we get some interesting stuff after the game that I can't fit in my game stories. So I'm going to offer it up here on most games I cover -- that and I don't sleep much.

Here's the boxscore ...

First two things about the game ... Manager Don Wakamatsu pointed to two key turning points in the game ... Wlad Balentien striking out with the bases loaded in the fourth and Roy Corocoran's 0-2 pitch with two outs to Nike Napoli that resulted in a two-run single. The pitch was a fastball that just stayed out over the middle. On 0-2, that ball can't be anywhere near the middle of the plate, which Corcoran would be the first to say, just bad execution.

"Anywhere but up," he told the Everett Herald. "That's just putting it on a tee for him."

Balentien's strikeout was really costly because it looked like Joe Saunders was finally out of his rhythm. He hit Russell Branyan with a pitch to load the bases and was and threw three straight balls after going up 0-2. But if you look at the pitch sequence from MLB.com, Saunders knew what he was doing, he kept going away, away, knowing that:
1. Wlad doesn't like to swing at that pitch.
2. Wlad isn't going to hit that pitch hard.
3. Wlad is still undisciplined enough to hack at it, which he did.

On 3-2, Saunders pitch was out of the zone, not as bad as a few of the pitches Wlad layed off of, but just out enough for him to not to be able to foul off. Saunders knows Balentien isn't the type of hitter to lay off that pitch yet. And until he does figure it out, Wlad's never going to see the playing time he wants - for any team in baseball. Just look at the pitch sequence from mlb.com. Saunders made it clear where he was going to pitch Balentien in that at-bat. And Wlad simply didn't make the adjustment.

Let's move on to the bit of a baseball history that we got to witness tonight at Safeco Field.

In the fourth inning, Ichiro slapped a hard ground ball through the right side off of Angels starter Joe Saunders. It's a hit we've seen from him hundreds of times. And it was career hit 3,086, moving him past Isao Harimoto, who held the Japanese baseball record 3,085 career hits.

Ichiro was very philosophical when he met with the local English-speaking media.

"Mr. Harimoto in 1995, 14 years ago, told me 'the only guy who could beat my record is you.'" Ichiro said through translator Ken Baron. "Looking back on that now, for him to be able to say that to a player who only had one year under his belt, I am amazed Mr. Harimoto would have that vision."

When asked what was going through his mind when Harimoto told him that at the time, Ichiro responded: "I thought, 'what is this crazy man saying?'"

On what it meant for him to have Harimoto to be in attendance?

"Mr. Harimoto's plan was to go home tomorrow, so if I didn't get the record today, I was worried about what he had to do with his plane ticket, so I had that kind of pressure as well."

Ichiro was supposed to speak with Harimoto at some point after meeting with the media, and when asked what he would say, he responded: "He traveled all the way here from Japan, which is a long distance, so I want to express my thankfulness to him."

Ichiro's never been big on records, and I think the whole chase of this record and the onslaught of Japanese media - which still pales in comparison to the WBC - was a distraction to him and disrupted his obsessive routine. But you could also tell it was something he wanted. No matter what he has said in the past about records in the past, this is an accomplishment that he's proud of.

Let's talk about Chris Jakubauskas' effort against the Angels.

His numbers: 5.1 innings pitched, 5 hits, 2 runs, 3 strikeouts and 0 walks. He was on an 80 pitch limit and ended up throwing 81 with 60 of them strikes. At one point, he'd thrown 35 pitches and 29 were strikes.

"We saw what we saw in spring training," Manager Don Wakamatsu said. "His poise, the quality of his pitches. I think he tired real quick for lack of being stretched out. What impressed me so much was how efficient he was with his pitches and how aggressive he was."

Jakubauskas' game plan was pretty simple.

"They are pretty patient team, but if your around the plate a lot they tend to get aggressive," he said. "Tonight they weren’t really hacking so I was trying to throw ball down the middle first pitch and if they started to hack I was going to make an adjustment."

Jakubauskas knew he was on a pitch count but that didn't make coming out of the game any easier.

"As a starter you never want to come out, especially when it's your guys out there (on base), Jakubauskas said. "But they had set the number and I hit the number and you gotta do what your manager tells you to do. I have all the faith in the world in the guys behind me and unfortunately we let it get away from us tonight, we’ll pick it up again tomorrow."

Much has been made about Jakubauskas winding road to the Mariners, his failure as a college first baseman because of a lost swing, his transition to pitcher in four seasons of the independent leagues, working odd jobs like concrete surfacing and giving baseball lessons in the offseasons of those years to starting against the Los Angeles Angels - the team he grew up rooting for in Upland, California.

"I’m sure when I go home tonight and sit down tonight and think back on it, it will hit me," he said. "It seems like a long time ago."

When asked if he had any advice for some of those guys toiling in the independent leagues desperately clinging to the last seams of a baseball dreams, Jakubauskas said: "Just keep throwing. Weird things happen. One of my buddies told me, 'if someone wants to give you a uniform, wear it, because one day's no one's going to want to give you one, and you'll be stuck."

Photos courtesy of Getty and AP

Some other tidbits from the Mariners below

=> Read more!

I'll give you one guess who these people are. Can't imagine there has been a run on Jakubauskas jerseys by people not named Jakubauskas.

The reason Vlad Guerrero is out of the lineup is that he suffered a strained right pectoral muscle and is headed back to Los Angeles to be examined by Dr. Lewis Yocum on Friday. Line-ups at the bottom of the post.

UPDATES START HERE:
Top of 1st
A solid start for Jak - that's what were calling him because I refuse to a 12 letter name over and over, same with Wak and Z. Jak gives up a two-strike hit to Chone Figgins, but gets a double play ball from Howie Kendrick. Unfortunately the double play twins can't turn it and get just the lead run. But Jak comes back and strikes out Bobby Abreu looking with a fastball on the outside corner and then throws a nice elevated 92 mph fastball to get Torii Hunter swinging. The Jak family below me was quite excited.

Bottom of 1st
Joe Saunders works a 1-2-3 inning. Mike Sweeney hit a ball mildly hard, but the linedrive was caught by Maicier Izturis at shortstop.

Top of 2nd
Jak looking strong, he works a perfect inning, striking out Gary Matthews Jr. on a high fastball to end the inning.

Bottom of 2nd
Not much going on for the Mariners either. Saunders looks strong.

Top of 3
Jak has thrown 31 pitches only eight of them were balls. Not bad, another 1-2-3 inning.

Bottom of 3
The Mariners are 4-0 against lefty starters this year -- of course those lefties were Francisco Liriano, Glen Perkins, Josh Outman and Brett Anderson. Joe Saunders is a little better than three of those guys -- and the Mariners go down 1-2-3.

Top of 4th
Jak gets a tough break as Rob Johnson's tough attempt at catching a pop foul over the railing of the camera pit at Safeco hits his glove and bounces out, and like how it always works, Torii Hunter takes advantage of the new life and rips a double to left-center. But Jak kept his composure and got Kendry Morales to ground out to end the inning. Jak is at 55 pitches with 43 of them for strikes. He may get another inning or two.

Bottom of 4th
Congratulations to Ichiro becoming Japan's all-time hits leader. His hard ground ball through the right side gave him 3,086 career hits, surpassing the mark of 3,085 set by Isao Harimoto. The small but boisterous Safeco crowd gave him a standing ovation and the shy superstar took off his helmet and acknowledged the applause.

But the M's used the record hit to get an early 1-0 lead as they moved him around and got him in on Adrian Beltre's grounder to short. The whole situation seemed to fluster Saunders for a moment as he loaded the bases, but he struck out Wlad Balentien to end the inning.

Top of 5
Jak rolls again, gives up one hit, but that's about hit.

Bottom of 5
Saunders has refound his rhythm. M's down 1-2-3

Top of 6
Jak gets a standing ovation, leaving after giving up a pair of hits. But the bullpen can't get it done. Roy Corcoran implodes giving up four runs - two of them charged to Jak - and receiving some boos as he replaced by Mark Lowe. And it doesn't end there as Lowe give up a run-scoring single. The damage is five runs five runs on five hits -- Angels 5, Marines 1

Here's the lineup
Mariners
Ichiro RF
Chavez CF
Sweeney DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Jose Lopez 2B
Russell Branyan 1B
Wlad Balentien LF
Rob Johnson C
Yuni Betancourt SS
--------
Chris Jakubauskas RHP

Angels
Chone Figgins 3B
Howie Kendrick LF
Bobby Abreu RF (I left him out as Snydro pointed out)
Torii Hunter CF
Kendry Morales 1B
Mike Napoli C
Gary Matthews RF
Juan Rivera DH
Maicer Izturis SS
-----
Joe Saunders (1-1, 2.63)

The sunny day has grown overcast and the Mariners are taking BP, so lets get to it.

A few notes ...
* Chris Jakubauskas will be on a pitch count of around 70 to 80 pitches. But as I've come to realize with ultra-prepared Wakamatsu, having Jakubauskas start isn't something he was forced to do out of inconvenience.

"He was a guy that we planned and put this bullpen together so if something like this happened, he'd be the go to guy because he pitched so well in spring training," Manager Don Wakamatsu said.

* Jarrod Washburn is not here today. He was suffering from the flu yesterday and today and Wak told him to stay home.

* The lineup has a different look with Franklin Gutierrez, Junior and all getting the day off. Lots of righthanders as the M's face lefty Joe Saunders

Here's the lineup
Ichiro RF
Chavez CF
Sweeney DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Jose Lopez 2B
Russell Branyan 1B
Wlad Balentien LF
Rob Johnson C
Yuni Betancourt SS
--------
Chris Jakubauskas RHP

Angels
Chone Figgins 3B
Howie Kendrick LF
Bobby Abreu RF (I left him out as Snydro pointed out)
Torii Hunter CF
Kendry Morales 1B
Mike Napoli C
Gary Matthews RF
Juan Rivera DH
Maicer Izturis SS
-----
Joe Saunders (1-1, 2.63)

"We're just getting Gutierrez a day off just because he’s been going so hard and just making sure that guys are playing, getting Balentien in there and Sweeney against Saunders," Wakamatsu said.

Wlad Balentien said his sore left elbow if perfectly fine now.

* Kenji Johjima could be out as much as three weeks. It's a grade 1 sprain which is the mildest of the 1-3 grading scale.

"I felt discomfort the inning before that at-bat when I was covering first base and I felt it again when I was ruining to first base," Johjima said through translator Antony Suzuki. "I felt like a pinch down on my hamstring. I’ve never felt anything like that in the past in my career."

Joh was in relatively good spirits despite the news, joking with media a few times.

"We have to alternate," he said when asked about Ichiro then him going on the DL. "We have Japanese media here so if we go on the DL together at the same time, we’ll lose all the media, so I don’t want to start that."

"They say that a lot of the fast runners get this type of injury and I’ve never been a fast runner so I don’t know why I’m getting this. I guess it’s part of the game."

When asked about Ichiro, Daisuke Matsuzaka and now him -- all members of the Japanese WBC team going on the DL, he responded: "Yes, it’s a coincidence. Unfortunately, it’s a coincidence."

Then he was asked about other Japanese professional players in Japan being hurt. He said there were a few, but "also a coincidence." I asked a few Japanese reporters and they said there were three guys on the DL.

Wakamatsu wanted no part of that conversation when asked.

* Jamie Burke was in good spirits being back in the clubhouse.

Wakamatsu said Rob Johnson will be the starter and Burke the back-up.

"I’ve known Jamie from three different organizations and I trust his ability to call a game and his relationship with the pitching staff," Wakamatsu said. "He’s a good fit to bring up. He was in competition all spring to make the club and it’s nice to bring up somebody who I know personally and trust."

I asked him if Jeff Clement's low numbers and hitting struggles had anything to do with it.

"It’s just the timing of everything," Wakamatsu said. "We talked about Jeff going down and getting some at-bats and catching a little bit more. With Kenji, we’re looking at a couple of weeks here and Jamie is the perfect guy to bring up."

Still, if Clement was hitting .370 with a few homers and extra base hits, their decision might be different.

* As I said about Wak and his obsessive nature to be prepared, he mentioned that one of the reasons they kept Johnson and not Burke or Clement was precisely for this reason.

"One of our biggest decisions coming out of spring training was the fact that if that happened, we would feel comfortable with Rob filling in," Wakamatsu said. "So far, he’s done a tremendous job both offensively and defensively. He’s done a great job and that’s what earned him a spot on the team."

"His toughness and his ability to handle a pitching staff early. Those are things we demanded from all the catchers in camp and he stood out right away. This is something that he was not going to let pass by. He earned the spot and had a great relationship with the pitchers and also swung the bat well."

* The decision to bring up Sean White was based largely on what he did in spring training.

"Being able to see what he did in spring training," Wakamatsu said. "Hopefully what we’re talking about is a short stint until Rowland-Smith is able to get back. For us, he’s the right guy to fill that spot in the bullpen."

UPDATE: The Mariners only had 38 guys on their 40-man roster because Ryan Feierabend was placed on the 60 day disabled list. So no player was dropped.

The Mariners just made some roster moves, as expected.

Catcher Kenji Johjima has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right hamstring. The Mariners called up veteran Jamie Burke to take his place. Burke actually flew to Seattle today and was on standby to join the team pending final examination of Joh's hamstring.

Johjima left last night's game in the bottom of the fourth inning after experiencing tightness in his right hamstring running out his go-ahead, RBI single. He was re-examined today by Mariners medical director Dr. Edward Khalfayan. Khalfayan diagnosed a grade 1 strain. Johjima is expected to need two to three weeks to fully recover.

Johjima has appeared in seven games with Seattle this season, and is hitting .250 (6-for-24) with 4 RBI.

Burke has played in two games with the Rainiers this season, collecting a pair of hits in six at bats with a double and an RBI. While most would think that Jeff Clement would be the natural call-up, since he's already on the 40-man roster as well, it didn't happen largely because Clement is hitting .053 (1-for-19)for the Rainiers.

Burke spent the 2007 and 2008 seasons in Seattle, batting a combined .283 (58x205) with 11 doubles, two home runs and 20 RBI. He is a career .301 hitter in 171 big league games.

The Mariners also called up right-hander Sean White, who will move to the bullpen and provide some help since Chris Jakubauskas will be starting today in place of the injured Ryan Rowland-Smith.

White made two appearances with the Rainiers this season. He has no record and a 4.15 ERA with Tacoma (2 ER in 4.1 IP). White spent the 2008 season in Tacoma, but appeared in 15 games with Seattle in 2007. He has a career major league mark of 1-1, 5.06 with the Mariners.

To make room for White, infielder Matt Tuiasosopo was sent back to Tacoma, as expected.

Here's the box score.

A few housekeeping things....

* Manager Don Wakamatsu said that Jarrod Washburn was fighting a really bad head cold and some flu like symptoms. One of the reasons they took him out after six innings was that Washburn was starting to feel weak.

Washburn whispered a few words in the cluhouse. His voice was clearly gone and he asked not to answer questions because of it.

* Kenji Johjima has a strain of the right hamstring. Wakamatsu said it will be reevaluated on Thursday. If he goes on the disabled list, they could either call up Jeff Clement or Jamie Burke. Clement is struggling mightily at Triple A Tacoma, hitting just .053 (1 hit in 19 at-bats). The M's could call on veteran Jamie Burke, but he's not on the 40-man roster, and so to call him up, someone would have to be taken off the 40-man roster, which would make the eligible to be claimed by another team. But someone like Bryan LaHair, who is on the 40-man, could be dropped to make room.

Also I asked Wakamatsu if they are going to have to make a roster move to add some bullpen help with Chris Jakubauskas starting for the disabled list bound Ryan Rowland-Smith. Wakamatsu said they were going to meet after the game to make that decision and minor league director Pedro Grifol and some other scouts were loitering around Wak's office.

However some of the best relievers in Tacoma thus far, Denny Stark, Eric Hull, Randy Messenger and Jesus Delgado are not on the 40-man roster either. So Wak and his guys have decisions to make.

Let's go to Ichiro
Here's video clip of it.

Ichiro was his typical interesting self following the game. He met with a really large group of Asian reporters after the game, and then addressed the English-speaking writers, even taking a few digs at us.

Here's a transcript ...

In your thoughts of this record, did grand slam ever enter your mind?

“I definitely didn’t think grand slam, but a lot of times when I have records on the line, I have had a tendency to hit home runs in those situations. So it crossed my mind that it might happen, but a grand slam, that barely happens in any situation, so that did not cross my mind.”

Will you feel better when the record is behind you?

“The American media finds out this information through the Japanese media and that’s why you come here (locker). So I am glad that part of it is going to disappear.”

Did you feel you had to do something special on your return tonight because the team has been playing so well?

“I didn’t think I had to do anything special today, especially because the team made it easy for me to come back and play with everybody. I am thankful for that, but also today, I felt that if the team didn’t win tonight when I got back, all of you guys would write about that, so I am glad that is not going to happen.”

On what it meant to have Isao Harimoto on hand at the game?
"This game had a lot of meaning for me for him to come all the way here from Japan to see me play. It's probably the first and only time that will happen.”

On hitting a homer on the same day as Junior hit a memorable homer?

For me to hit a home run on the same day Junior hit ahistorical home run for him too is special for me. But not only that was special, but probably the two lightest guys in baseball hit home runs together - Me and Endy Chavez. That is very special to me as well.”

* Let's get to Griffey's home run

Here's the video of it.

He tried to downplay it saying, “I just try to go up and do what I can. If it goes out, it goes out."

After the homer he grabbed his son, Trey, who was in the dugout and kissed him on the cheek.

"The guys put him up to it," Griffey said. "It's one of those things where the guys were teasing him. It wasn't his fault. He toled I scarred him for life. He wasn't real happy about that. He said we would have to discuss some things when we got home."

No player has ever 400 homers for one team and 200 for another.

Now we get to Rob Johnson and Shawn Kelley
Johnson, as I've mentioned numerous times, is from my home state of Montana. He had a big impact going 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored, and really it could have been 3-for-3, his chopper in his last at-bat was bang-bang play at first base.

"Kenji was 2-for-2 when he got hurt, I just wanted to keep it going," he said.

While the two-run single was big, the lead-off double in sixth was probably more impressive. He showed speed most catchers don't have legging out the double and a head-first slide into second that knocked the wind out of him.

"Right out of box I was thinking two, I saw the ball skip a little bit and I knew Torii's quick so I knew I had to go," Johnson said. "Wak had been preaching aggressiveness so I knocked the wind out of me."

Johnson raved about the performance of Shawn Kelley, who came in and cleaned up the mess left by Miguel Batista. Kelley came in with runners on first and second with no outs. He got an out on a sac bunt, then struck out Erick Aybar and Chone Figgins. The strike out to Figgins, Kelley painted a fastball on the outside half that Figgins feebly waved at.

"He has ice in his veins," Johnson said. "He looked like a veteran out there. He really trusts his stuff. He was just dotting them. The strikeout to Figgins he just dotted it, down and away, I didn't even move."

Said Wakamatsu: "When Kelley came in there and pitched out of that jam, it was the turning point in the ballgame. Another big step for our bullpen."

Some notes from the M's

ANGELS NOTES:
• Jered Weaver is now 3-3, 6.00 ERA in 8 starts at Safeco Field. The Angels have lost 5 of his last 7 starts in Seattle.
• The Angels gave up a season high 11 runs and walked 6 batters for the third time this season.

MARINERS NOTES:
• Seattle has now won 6 straight games, their longest winning streak since winning 8, (June 23-July 1, 2007). At 7-2, this start ties the Mariners best start in franchise history. Seattle was 7-2 during the record-breaking 2001 season.

• Ichiro Suzuki went 2x5 with a grand slam home run in today's game. With his grand slam to right field in the seventh inning, his second hit of the game, he tied Isao Harimoto for the most professional hits by a Japanese-born player with 3,085. Isao Harimoto was in attendance for today's game.
• Ken Griffey Jr. homered to right-center on a 2-1 pitch in the fifth inning. It was his 400th home run as a Mariner, and his 613th overall. Griffey later singled to left in the 7th and came around to score.

• Endy Chavez and Ken Griffey Jr. hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning to give the Mariners the lead. It was the first time the Mariners have hit back-to-back home runs since Wladimir Balentien and Kenji Johjima went deep consecutively at Minnesota on Aug. 17, 2008, the only time during the 2008 season.
• Endy Chavez went 2x4 and extended his hitting streak to 9 games. He remains tied for the longest hitting streak in the Majors this season. This now ties the second longest hitting streak of his career (last: July 18-26, 2004 w/ MON).
• Ichiro’s grand slam in the seventh inning was the fourth of his career (last: August 25, 2005).

• Jarrod Washburn recorded the 100th victory of his career with today’s 6.0 inning effort and his 25th as a Mariner.

• Jose Lopez's sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning led to the Mariners first run of the game and was the 7th of the year for Seattle. The Mariners lead the AL in sacrifice hits this season. In 2008, the M’s were 4th in the AL with 36 sac bunts.
• Since the 2006 season, Lopez leads the Major League's in sacrifices (SF+SH) with 48.
• Rob Johnson came in to the game as a pinch runner for Johjima in the fourth inning and finished the game 2x3 with two runs scored and two RBI. It was the second multi-hit game of his career (last: 9/26/08 vs. OAK).
• Mariners notched season high’s in hits (15) and runs scored (11) and walks (6) in today’s game.
• Angelo Terranova of Port Angeles was the winner of ESPN 710's "7 in the 7th" contest as the Mariners scored seven runs in the seventh inning. Terranova won $7,000 as part of the promotion.

I'm way behind on doing my notebook for the paper and up here by myself, so game updates won't be quite as thorough as last night.

Top of first
Jarrod Washburn works an easy 1-2-3 first inning.

Bottom of first
Ichiro Suzuki was greeted warmly by fans at Safeco in his first at-bat of the season. But he lines out meekly to shortstoop. Endy Chavez continues to hit, slapping a single to center. Junior gets another strong ovation but grounds softly to first. The Angels can't turn the double play, but get out of the inning on a groundout by Adrian Beltre.

Top of 2
Wash has another 1-2-3 inning with Torii Hunter hitting a ball semi-hard.

Bottom of 2
Kenji Johjima with a single, but not much else as Yuni looks bad in a strike out.

Top of 3
Another 1-2-3 for Wash -- I'm not saying anything else.

Bottom of 3
Franklin Gutierrez leads off with a walk, but later gets thrown out trying to steal second. Ichiro lines a single for hit No. 3,084. And Endy Chavez follows with a walk to give the Mariners runners first and second with one out. But Junior struck out and then Beltre grounded weekly back to the pitcher.

Top of 4
Washburn another 1-2-3 inning, and while I haven't said anything, columnist Dave Boling said the words no hitter and the Everett Herald's Kirby Arnold said the words "perfect game." Not that I thought either was a possibility.

Bottom of 4
In the category of things you don't see every day, Russell Branyan hits a towering pop up to center and Torii Hunter had no idea where the ball was. He lost it in the sky. This is a guy that played in the metrodome where it happens all the time, and it rarely happened. The ball dropped about six feet in front of him and Branyan got a double. And since Yuni can sacrifice, so can his buddy Jose Lopez, who dropped down one to move Branyan to third.

The small ball paid off as Joh singled up the middle past a very angry Jered Weaver. But Joh seemed to injure something on the play. After a check with the trainers he stayed in the game. Yuni follows with a double down the line and Joh really looked strained. Wakamatsu went to Rob Johnson as a pinch runner -- Big ups for Montana!!

Johnson is then thrown out at home on Franklin Gutierrez grounder to third. For a moment I thought Johnson and Jeff Mathis may have a collision, but Mathis seemed smart to side step Johnson and tag him from the side --- apparently he knows you don't mess with Butte guys.

Ichiro flies out end the inning. Still, Mariners lead 1-0.

Top of 5
Well, the no-hitter and perfect game are gone as Vlad singles up the middle. And then the shutout is gone as Torii Hunter lost another ball in center- actually left-center as he absolutely crushes a belt high 3-1 fastball right over the plate deep into the night.

Ummm, interesting attempt by Russell Branyan to catch Juan Rivera's pop up in foul territory. It proves costly as Rivera doubles to left center. But Branyan comes back with a nice dig on Adrian Beltre's tough backhanded stab and throw to get Jeff Mathis. Washburn gets out with any further damage by fielding Erick Aybar's soft grounder and tagging out the speedster.

Angels lead 2-1

Bottom of 5
Endy Chavez hit his first homer as a Mariner to right, but that was kind of overshadowed when that Griffey guy just belted his home run and Safeco since his return. And this place went absolutely insane. I even had some goosebumps. Griffey pointed to his family in his private box after rounding the bases. It was his 400th career homer as a Mariner. Much props to the fans at Safeco, who refused to stop cheering until he gave them a curtain call, which he did and the place erupted again.

The inning ends as Beltre pops out, Russell Branyan's hard liner to left is gloved and Lopez taps out to the pitcher.

Top of 6
Washburn continues to pitch well. He went 1-2-3 in the sixth.

To answer your question Snydro --- it appears that Rob Johnson will be starting tomorrow. Kenji Johjima has tightness in his right hamstring according to the Mariners and will be reevaluated tomorrow. I imagine Jeff Clement has just been pulled out of the lineup in the Rainiers game as a precaution.

Bottom of 6
Rob Johnson (MONTANA!!!) doubles to right-center showing some good hustle with a head first slide to beat Torii Hunter's throw. He had to take a few moments because he dove headfirst and it meant landing hard on his protective cup. It's not a fun feeling - I know from experience. Erick Aybar was laughing at shortstop, knowing what happened.

Yuni shows some hitting presence, driving a single to the right side. With runners on first and third, the Mariners bunted Franklin Gutierrez. It wasn't a straight suicide squeez as Johnson didn't leave immediately. But he did leave after Weaver fielded the ball. He would have probably been out at home, but Weaver dropped the ball in his attempt to throw home and everyone was safe on the play.

The Angels brought in Kevin Jepsen to replace Jered Weaver, who kind of looked like his brother Jeff at times. OK, well not that bad.

Ichiro's soft grounder up the middle was turned into a 4-3 double play as Howie Kendrick made a nice play. It was pretty close at first and manager Don Wakamatsu went out to have a chat with first base ump Marty Foster. I didn't see the replays on the inhouse screens, so I couldn't tell. But the inning ends with Endy Chavez's soft grounder.

Top of 7
The Mariners bring in Miguel Batista and he promptly gives up a double down the line to Hunter, he then strikes out pinch hitter Kendry Morales, but the ball was away from where Johnson was set up and it gets by him so Morales reaches first on a passed ball. Batista then gives up an RBI single through the right side to Juan Rivera. There were quite a few boos from the crowd of 18,513. There were some cheers when Wakamatsu came out of the dugout to talk to Batista and more cheers when Wak signaled to the bullpen for Shawn Kelley. Batista left the field to some heavy boos from the fans.

With runners on first and second, Jeff Mathis lays down a sac bunt to move the runners up. We're playing some National League ball here - no waiting around for the three-run jackshot. Kelley strikes out Aybar on a pitch in the dirt- kind of a scary moment when Johnson delivers a low throw to first, but Branyan makes the play. Kelley then blows a 96 mph fastball by Chone Figgins to end the inning.

If I were Wak, and I know I'm not, but any time I had the urge to go to Batista, I would go to Kelley. I hope that's the case from now on.

Bottom of 7
Kevin Jepsen throws hard, but not many are strikes. He gives up a single to Junior and then walks Beltre and Branyan. Jose Lopez then smokes a pitch to center. Torii Henry retreats and makes the catch, but all three runners tag up and advance. The Mariners go up 5-3.

The Angels then bring in Jason Bulger to replace Jepsen.

And my fellow Montanan (yes, I'm going to keep mentioning that), Rob Johnson, comes up clutch with the bases loaded ripping a single up the middle driving in two runs. The inning is still alive as Yuni singles. Both runners move up on a wild pitch from Bulger, and then Bulger walks Gutierrez to bring up Ichiro. And he hits a GRAND SLAM! on a 3-2 pitch, deep to right. This place is insane right now. The homer ties him with Isao Horimoto and the Mariners are up 11-3.

That's all for Bulger, Scioscia brings in Justin Speier. But it doesn't matter, this game is done.

Top of 8
Franklin Gutierrez's defense is ridiculous, just think we watched Willie Bloomquist, Jeremy Reed and Wlad Balentien play the bulk of the innings at centerfield last season.

FINAL SCORE -- MARINERS 11, ANGELS 3.

I'm going to roll back to T-town and provide some post game stuff later.

In this photo (courtesy of Getty Images) Ichiro speaks with Isao Harimoto before the game. Harimoto is the all-time hits leader in Japan with 3,085 in his career. Ichiro has 3,083. So Mr. Harimoto is here to follow Ichiro's quest to break it.

We spoke with Harimoto and he said that he hopes Ichiro breaks the record soon, like tonight.

"As soon as he could do it, I’d be happy," he said. "People are almost too crazy about this. So if he’d could do it today, I’d be happy."

Back in Japan, this is major news. Harimoto and Ichiro are the only two professional players to ever amass more than 3,000 hits. Harimoto of course did his all in the Japan professional league. Ichiro had 1,278 hits in Japan and now has 1,805 in the major leagues.

Harimoto thought that Ichiro would break his record.

"Actually when he was in Japan, I told him that he was going to break my record," Harimoto said. "That was proably like 15 years ago. I don’t remember telling him that, but Ichiro remembers very well. He reminded me about it."

While Harimoto always thought Ichiro would break the record, he said if Ichiro had stayed in Japan it would have taken longer.

"If you hit that many, pitchers are always going to walk you," he said. "Here Ichiro could have five hits and they’re still going to pitch to him. In Japan, if you have two hits in the game, they are going to walk you."

Or even worse … as he simulated a ball going toward his head.

Harimoto maintained that the record isn't the true Japanese hits record because he didn't do it all in the Japanese professional leagues. And he also did it playing in seasons with about 130 games. But he recognizes the accomplishment still.

I talked with a few Japanese reporters and this is major news in Japan. Think about when Pete Rose approaching Ty Cobb's record. But they aren't debating about the legitmacy of the record because Ichiro did it in two different leagues. Most Japanese fans recognize that the major leagues are a better level of baseball, and that more than half of Ichiro's hits came in the US is even more telling.

Think about if it were in the US and this situation was happening. I'm sure Jay Mariotti's head would explode on Around the Horn as he was screaming his opinion and sports talk radio would have day long debates. But in Japan, its just the excitement of the accomplishment.

So watch Ichiro, if he gets 3 hits, he'll have the most hits of any Japanese professional baseball player.

AUDIO UPDATE: Here's my interview with Ian Furness today. It's a mess of stuttering yammerings and blather. I always think of about five more interesting things that I should have said. Oh well, I wish I could say I was better.

UPDATE #2: The venerable voice of the Rainiers, Mike Curto, pointed out that the Rainiers home opener is Friday. I should have known that since I have to cover it. And he also gave me a few notes on relievers throwing well ...

Eric Hull - 6 IP, 1 hit allowed, 0 ER.

Randy Messenger - 3 UP, 1 hit, 0 runs

Denny Stark - 3.1 HO, 2 hits, 1 run - hit 95 on Rainiers' radar gun multiple times.

Jesus Delgado - one game, 3 no-hit innings, looked most impressive of the group.

Griffey is back at DH. Wakamatsu said the back is still stiff. With Ichiro back in the lineup, it doesn't mean Wak won't continue to move guys around and feature multiple lineups.

"Early in the season we’ve got to make sure we’re allowing guys to play, but writing him in solidifies right field so we’ve got to be a little more creative," Wakamatsu said. "We talked about giving guys some days off to make sure everybody can be a part of it."

Who it will cost at-bats is most likely Mike Sweeney, which Wakamatsu admitted.

"The challenge is to find Mike Sweeney some at-bats," Wakamatsu said.

Some of this ABs came yesterday if Wakamatsu had decided to pinch hit Sweeney for Russ Branyan when he faced Darren Oliver twice late in the game. But Wakamatsu decided to stick with Branyan.

"What we’ve tried to do so far, whether it’s the pitchers and leaving them out there, we’re trying to find that balance where they can succeed," Wakamatsu said. "Russell is our first baseman and he’s going to have to face tough lefties as we go along. Now is not the time to take some confidence away from him. AS we go forward, hopefully he builds that confidence. His production numbers have always been good against lefties."

Well that's not completely true, Branyan only has 388 career plate appearances against lefties and in 299 at-bats, he has 61 hits including 20 homers for a .204 batting average and his OPS of .730

Still with the return of Ichiro, at-bats are going to become less and less for some players, including Sweeney, Endy Chavez, Wlad Balentien and Ronny Cedeno, but Wakamatsu isn't concerned about hurt feelings.

"A lot of it goes back to spring training, whether it’s where guys hit in the lineup or where they play, we’re going to do what’s best for the club first and everybody’s bought into that," Wakamatsu said. "You worry about those things as a manager but the bottom line is that we’ve got to put the best product on the field at any time."

Here's today's lineups
ANGELS (3-4)
Chone Figgins 3B
Howie Kendrick 2B
Bobby Abreu RF
Vlad Guerrero DH
Torii Hunter CF
Robb Quinlan 1B
Juan Rivera LF
Jeff Mathis C
Erick Aybar SS
--------------
Jered Weaver RHP (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

MARINERS (6-2)
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Endy Chavez LF
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Russell Branyan 1B
Jose Lopez 2B
Kenji Johjima C
Yuniesky Betancourt SS
Franklin Gutierrez CF
-------------
Jarrod Washburn LHP (1-0, 0.00)

Sorry, I totally forgot to post this earlier. We have injury update on shortstop prospect Carlos Triunfel, who hurt his left leg last week.

Triunfel suffered ligament damage in his left ankle and fractured the fibula in his left leg.

Triunfel had surgery today (Wednesday) to repair damage to the ligament in his left ankle. The surgery also allowed the broken fibula to better line up, which should help the healing process.

The surgery was performed by Mariners team medical director, Dr. Edward Khalfayan. He was assisted by Dr. Martin Mankey, a foot and ankle specialist.

Triunfel will begin his rehabilitation from surgery in Seattle in approximately two days. He is expected to be able to return to baseball activities in four to six months.

Sorry about the one sentence post, but I did it from the "crackberry" on the field.

Anyway, as expected Ichiro Suzuki was activated off the disabled list, forcing the Mariners to make a move on the 25-man roster. But the expected move of sending third baseman Matt Tuiasosopo back to Triple A Tacoma, didn't happen. Instead the Mariners placed Ryan Rowland-Smith on the disabled list with triceps tendonitis.

Chris Jakubauskas is going to make the start in his place. That means the bullpen is down a guy, but the Mariners have yet to make a move. Wakamatsu said that neither Cesar Jimenez nor Tyler Johnson is an option right now.

The Mariners could make a move tomorrow with the Rainiers opening in Tacoma. But looking at the staff, I'm not sure who it would be. None of the relievers on the Rainiers is pitching particularly well. Lefty Justin Thomas could be an option, or perhaps it could be Randy Messenger.

Jakubauskas probably won't throw more than 70 pitches. His longest outing of the spring was six innings, but it's doubtful he can go that far.

Rowland-Smith went on the disabled list - retroactive to April 11th, meaning he's eligible to return on April 26th.

"It's just really stiff," Rowland-Smith said. "It's like it's locked up."

Rowland-Smith tried to demonstrate by curling both arms up all the way. While his right arm curled up as far as one would go, his left arm had about an 8-inch difference.

"There's no range of motion," he said.

Rowland-Smith noticed the discomfort a few days ago, and thinks it may be a product of overworking the arm while making some mechanical adjustments with pitching coach Rick Adair.

"My body didn't respond and my elbow didn't respond the way it should," he said.

"It's really frustrating," he added. "I felt stressed out the last couple days. I'm going to use this week to reflect on last year and reflect on spring training and just get my mind in the right place."

First of all, this is going to be short, as I need to try and sneak some sort of a workout in before heading up to Safeco Field this afternoon. I think I'm doing my weekly appearance with Ian Furness on KJR today, but not certain when so I'll keep you posted. The Mariners Insider wishes a big happy birthday to our new Huskies Insider and longtime TNT reporter Todd Milles.

Here's a question I want to ask. Although its early and a lot can happen, the Mariners have played some good baseball as of late.

Does this make you want to go to Safeco Field and watch them play more than perhaps at the beginning of the season?

Links from yesterday's home opener ...

Here's Lash's game story.

Here's the AP's game story from Gregg Bell.

My story focused on the solid effort of Carlos Silva. Will this continue? I'm not certain, but he had a bid day, so I have him his due.

Here's yesterday's notebook.

Columnist John McGrath takes a closer look at Yuni's game winning sac bunt.

Columnist Dave Boling wrote about the Angels continued recovery from the Nick Adenhart tragedy.

News reporter Brian Everstine took in the fan experience for opening day.

Some very cool photos from yesterday's home opener in the TNT photo galleries.

From the Rainiers, Mike Curto provides a recap of last night's loss in Fresno.

From the LA papers ...

The LA Times game story ... This notebook says that Angels players are happy with the six game suspension for REd Sox pitcher Josh Beckett after an incident a few games back. Columnist TJ Simers also has some thoughts on Nick Adenhart.

Welcome to the home opener. And I've already got some internet issues. Not sure why, but its acting kind of sluggish and slow, like Jose Vidro in the batters box last year. Hopefully you enjoy this sojourn through an afternoon of baseball in football weather.

Lineups posted at the bottom ...

Top of 1
El Buffalo Lite - Carlos Silva - has been shelled pretty good in his previous starts. Manager Don Wakamatsu talked about Silva maintaining his aggressiveness and use his sinker. So far, so good. Silva goes 1-2-3 to get out of the first.

Bottom of 1
Shane Loux is kind of like Silva in that he's going to throw sinkers, not be really overpowering and use his defense to get outs. The only difference? He's not getting paid $12 million a year to do so. The real question remains, How long of an ovation with Junior get when he steps to the plate? I'm guessing 2 minutes and I'm timing.

After a Gutierrez walk, this place erupted. The first ovation was about a minute, with Griffey taking his hat off and saluting the crow, though he didn't milk and yet a good portion of fans never stopped cheering.

Junior base hit to right, and Safeco is rocking. Did you honestly think he wouldn't find a way to get a hit?

With runners on first and third, Beltre nubs one off the end of the bat. Loux fields it gets, the lead runner at second by Erick Aybar's throw to first is wide and late, Mariners 1-0 with two outs.

The M's and Don Wakamatsu continue to be aggressive as Beltre steals second. But its for not as Branyan strikes out looking.

Top of 2
Another 1-2-3 inning for Silva, who struck out Torii Hunter (looking) and Kendry Morales (swinging). The second sinker Silva threw Morales was pretty nasty. Silva always said that his ball should sink on days like today.

Bottom of 2
Well, Loux, who you may not know was the PCL pitcher of the year last year with at 12-6 record and 3.98 ERA (yes, those are good numbers for the hitter friendly PCL), has settled in with a 1-2-3 inning of his own.

Top of 3
El Buffalo snorting a little with another 1-2-3 inning with another strikeout. Who is this Carlos Silva and where has he been since his first three starts of last season?

Bottom of 3
Yuni Betancourt leads off the inning and sees six pitches, fakes a bunt on the first and then swings at the next five, finally grounding out weekly to first. Endy Chavez follows and squares to bunt only he actually bunts the ball and makes a hustle play to evade the tag at first. Angels manager Mike Scioscia clearly displeased with the call, argues with home plate umpire John Hirschbeck to no avail. But it matters little as Ronny Cedeno promptly grounds into a 6-4-3 DP.

Top of 4
Well, the perfect game (didn't think it was really a possibility) when Silva hit Howie Kendrick. The no-hitter ended a few pitches later with Bobby Abreu dumping in a double down the line and the shutout ended when Kendrick scored on Vlad Guerrero's fielders choice. Silva still got out of the inning with no other damage. Mariners 1, Angels 1

Bottom of 4
And the Mariners are robbed of at least one run as Bobby Abreu makes a nice leaping catch up against the fence on Jose Lopez's hard hit ball to left. I don't know that it was going to get over the fence, but if it gets over his head it easily scores Russell Branyan from first, instead we head in to the fifth tied at 1-1.

Top of 5
A little rough grazing for El Buffalo, he got two quick outs but then gave up a single to Gary Matthews - he of the no homers and no RBI - and a double to Erick Aybar, and then walked Chone Figgins to load the bases. But Silva battled Howie Kendrick tough and got him to strike out Kendrick with a changeup on 1-2 count. It wasn't his third best pitch in that at-bat.

Bottom of 5
The Mariners get a little something going. Franklin Gutierrez works a walk. I know he hasn't hit well of late, but he's still working counts which is good to see. Yuni follows with a single through the left side and Endy Chavez gives the M's the lead on a single to right. Yuni tries to go to first to third on the single, but Gary Matthews made an excellent throw to cut him down. Mariners lead 2-1

Top of 6
Um wow, with two outs Torii Hunter just annihilated a 3-1 pitch to left that took about one second to leave the park. I was just commenting to our columnist Johnny McGrath that Silva had done a good job of staying ahead of hitters and not falling into any really plus hitters counts. Well, he got behind 3-1 to Hunter, served one up and Hunter tattooed it to left. We;re tied at 2-2.

Bottom of 6
Junior draws a leadoff walk much to the displeasure of the Safeco Fans who want to see the kid swing away. Adrian Beltre flies out to right and Mike Scioscia goes for a pitching change bringing in the lefty Darren Oliver to face Russell Branyan. The left on left matchup works for Oliver who strikes Branyan out looking on a sinker that looked to be inside. The inning ends with Lopez fly out to left.

Top of 7
You can't stop the Buffalo!!! A 1-2-3 inning in the seventh, this has to be Silva's best start since July 8th of last season.

Top of 8
It's getting interesting. David Aardsma replaces Silva and gives up a leadoff single to Chone Figgins. Howie Kendrick bunts him over, but Aardsma gets Abreu to pop up to center. Wakamatsu then has Aardsma walk perennial Mariners killer Vlad Guerrero to get to Torii Hunter. Hunter works the count full and draws a walk from Aardsma to load the bases with two outs. But Kendry Morales helps Aardsma out by swinging at the first pitch and popping it up to Jose Lopez to end the inning.

Bottom of 8
Well, the chance for heroics goes by the wayside. Cedeno strikes out, Griffey strikes out on just three pitches and Adrian Beltre strikes out on a check swing by doing his usual and appealing his own check swing to first --- And no, I have no idea why he does it. Neither does he, at least that's what he's said before. WE go to the ninth ...

Top of ninth
Brandon Morrow in and he comes out throwing gas, striking out Mike Napoli with three fastballs hitting 99 on the stadium radar. Gary Matthews flies out to deep center. But Erick Aybar keeps the inning alive with a soft liner on broken bat to right, and then Morrow seems to lose his focus a little and walks Chone Figgins. Morrow gets out of the inning by coaxing a soft bouncer, that he was smart to try and field, and let Jose Lopez take and tag second.

Bottom of ninth
Darren Oliver stays in to get Branyan to ground out. Wak could've gone to Mike Sweeney to pinch hit, but the Angels would have just went to Scot Shields a hitter earlier. Instead, Shields is in now to face Jose Lopez and Joh. Joh gives one a ride, but not today. WE go to bonus panels, which shouldn't be surprising since I am the extra innings jinx.

Top of 10
Roy Corcoran in for the Mariners and its been a battle. He gave up a leadoff single, but coaxed a 5-4-3 double play out of Vlad Guerrero. To be fair, Guerrero now runs and walks like he's had double hip and knee replacements. Corcoran then walked Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales, but got Mike Napoli to ground into a fielders choice to end the inning.

Bottom of 10
Franklin Gutierrez leads off with a deep double to center, Yuni's up to sacrifice him to third, and he lays down a perfect bunt that Scot Shields throws away allowing the M's to win the game. 3-2. yuni wins the game with a bunt, there's something I never thought I'd write.

The line-ups
MARINERS
Endy Chavez RF
Ronny Cedeno LF
Ken Griffey DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Russell Branyan 1B
Jose Lopez 2B
Kenji Johjima C
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Yuni Betancourt SS
---------
Carlos Silva P

ANGELS
Chone Figgins 3B
Howie Kendrick 2B
Bobby Abreu LF
Vlad Guerrero DH
Torii Hunter CF
Kendry Morales 1B
Mike Napoli C
Gary Mathews Jr. RF
Erick Aybar SS
----
Shane Loux P

Greetings from a frigid and wind-chilled Safeco Field. It is not warm down on the field, so I doubt it will be warm in the stands.

I heard Chuck Armstrong asking whether they should keep the roof open or not. I was tempted to yell, "What are you crazy? Close it! And buy some damn space heaters too!"

Right now it is 1:08 and the Mariners are wrapping up batting practice. Manager Don Wakamatsu had the team out on the field early at 12:10 for stretch. I assume he wants to get them back into the warmth of the clubhouse sooner, plus all of the home opening activities.

* Wakamatsu's pregame media session was unusually crowded - not totally unexpected on opening day.

A few things ... Ken Griffey Jr. was supposed to start in right field but he has a little bit of a stiff back. So Wakamatsu moved him to DH.

The line-up is ...
Endy Chavez RF
Ronny Cedeno LF
Ken Griffey DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Russell Branyan 1B
Jose Lopez 2B
Kenji Johjima C
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Yuni Betancourt SS
---------
Carlos Silva P

Here's the Angels lineup
Chone Figgins 3B
Howie Kendrick 2B
Bobby Abreu LF
Vlad Guerrero DH
Torii Hunter CF
Kendry Morales 1B
Mike Napoli C
Gary Mathews Jr. RF
Erick Aybar SS
----
Shane Loux P

Here's the opening day itinerary ...


* 3:02 The Mariner Moose and 30 kids from Dance Premier studio get the show started with a special "Opening Day" dance party.
* 3:03 A Celebration of this year's World Baseball Classic including a "Parade of World Flags."
* 3:10 A Moment of Silence to remember former Mariners GM Dick Vertlieb, former Mariners pitcher Dave Roberts and Seattle Icon and Friend of the Mariners, Ed "Tuba Man" McMichael.
* 3:14 First Corps Command Honor Guard from Fort Lewis and National Anthem by Navy Band Northwest.
* 3:21 Presentation of Gold Gloves to Adrian Beltre (2nd consecutive) and Ichiro Suzuki (8th consecutive), and Ichiro's 8th consecutive season with 200 hits.
* 3:22 Dave Niehaus will present an "Ode to Safeco Field" in honor of the ballpark's 10th Anniversary.
* 3:23 National Anthem, Navy Band Northwest
* 3:25 Ceremonial roof opening (weather permitting)
* 3:27 Mariners Awards - Ichiro and Beltre receive gold gloves
* 3:29 -- Dave Niehaus celebrates 10th anniversary of Safeco
* 3:31 Ceremonial Make-A-Wish® "Run Around the Bases" by 7-year old Arjun Vaghela of Bothell, who is undergoing treatment for neuroblastoma, a cancer that strikes children 10-years of age and younger.
* 3:34 The Ceremonial First Pitch will be delivered by Mariners great Harold Reynolds, now a host on the new MLB Network.


* 7th Inning Stretch "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" will be performed by a Tuba Ensemble in honor of Ed McMichael, the Tuba Man.

Long-time Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas, who was also the voice of NFL films passed away earlier today. Kalas' voice is has an unmistakable quality and tone that most people won't soon forget.

It's a sad day today for Phillies fans and for baseball fans.

Here's some links to some Kalas remembrances ...

Here's the call from the stadium today as the announcer remembers Kalas

The AP Story

From the Lehigh Valley news ...

Here's an interview he gave just a few weeks ago in anticipation for the 2009 season.

Here's a story from 2002 from the Philly Inquirer that looks back on Kalas' career.

ESPN has gotten reactions from people around baseball.

Greetings from Denver. I'm down here spending some time with family, but I also did a little work sneaking down to Coors Field to see the Rockies play the Philadelphia Phillies and talk to Raul Ibanez.

But besides Ibanez, you'll notice in the photo above that Miguel Cairo is also with the Phillies this year along with coach Sam Perlozzo, and of course GM Pat Gillick - a former Mariner himself - had already traded for Jamie Moyer and signed Greg Dobbs.

The game was pretty good. Phillies starter Brett Myers got knocked around early, but he stayed in the game and the Phillies rallied to get him the win. Raul aided that rally, absolutely crushing a homer to right. See the highlight here.

As usual, Raul was doing extra hitting and obsessive preparation before the game. Our conversation was only supposed to be five minutes, but it turned into close to 30. Most of it was about the change in atmospheres. He was careful not to get into talk about last year's clubhouse, other than in generalities. But he admitted that seeing the Phillies get their World Series was something that made him a little jealous.

He also talked about being on a team filled with "superstars" like Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Cole Hamels, and being impressed with their level of commitment to preparation for each game.

But a good portion of our conversation was spent talking about his own preparation during the season and in the offseason. It's something that Raul is very passionate about.

"If I didn't do all these things, there is no way I'd be standing in this clubhouse right now," he said.

He called it an "addiction" and a "compulsion" and admitted that his wife called it "pyscho."

Cairo, who I teased often on here, was genial and asked how the Mariners looked at spring training. We talked about last seasons expectations and how it made the team tight. We both pointed to the sweep by the Orioles in the first road trip of the season that made some players start to panic unnecessarily. But as he pointed out, when you see upper level people in the organization panicking, it carries over to the players.

We also chatted a little about the development of Jose Lopez and Yuni Betancourt and he admitted that he was a little surprised that the Mariners seemed to be so cautious when it came to the handling of those players, mentioning that Lopez and Betancourt seemed to do what they wanted at times without much repercussion.

But he didn't discount either players' talent. Saying that both players are on the cusp of being really good.

Also talked with Dobbs, who admitted that he's still living in whirlwind, going from being on the shuttle between Seattle and Tacoma to getting a World Series ring.

Anyway, that's about it from Denver. I'll leave you with a picture of Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who the Mariners passed up on for Jeff Clement. In hindsight, it's not looking like a great move. Clement is still struggling in Tacoma, and has just one hit in the first four games. But I think he'll start hitting again.

It starts with Endy ... for now.

Until Ichiro returns from the disabled list on Wednesday, Endy Chavez is the Mariners leadoff hitter - and a good one, at that.
has a six-game hitting streak. The last Mariner to start a season with a six-game hitting streak was ...

...Ichiro, in 2005. He got it to seven.

And we're off: Erik Bedard vs. Trevor Cahill.

Mr. Bedard is working

Through two innings, Bedard has faced and set down six Athletics in a row, three by strike out.

That required 31 pitches.

The Mariners, by contrast, have three walks and one hit-by-pitch (Russell Branyan) but not hits.

Franklin Guttierrez has now grounded into four double plays this season.

That Mariners offense
Six innings in, and - did we mention? - the Mariners don't have a hit against youngster Trevor Cahill.

The scouting report on Cahill was that he has a great slider but issues throwing strikes. So far, no issues. And no hits.

Bedard, meanwhile, has allowed a couple of hits but no runs, pitching beautifully.

After six: No score.

The offense lives
Adrian Beltre singled one out into the seventh to break up the no-hitter, and Mike Sweeney doubled with two outs to score Beltre.

Nine outs for another win, and Bedard is on the mound, with 78 pitches thrown.
Mariners 1, Athletics 0

Bedard for the win...

Bottom nine, last chance for Oakland.

Mariners have made defensive changes: Cedeno from shortstop to left field, Chaverz from left to right field and Yuniesky Betancourt the shortstop.

Bedard's first pitch of the ninth was his 99th, and in the bulllpen, David Aardsma is warming.

Ryan Sweeney singled. Orlando Cabrera sacrificed Sweeney to second base, which brought Don Wakamatsu out - and Aardsma in. Bedard cannot pitch much better.

Aardsma vs. Jason Giambi? Strike out.

Aardsma vs. Matt Holiday? Four-pitch walk.

Aardsma vs. Jack Cust? Line out to left.

Mariners win, 1-0.

It’s Easter Sunday, and the Seattle Mariners are in first place.

No, it doesn’t particularly mean much, but it’s something they couldn’t say on any day of the 2008 season. And perhaps the most surprising aspect of it is how they got there, one week into the new year.

The bullpen has two wins, the rotation two.

Jose Lopez leads the team with six RBI, and Russell Branyan has two home runs, and while those are solid enough numbers, they don’t tell the story of a week in which the Mariners did things they simply couldn’t a year ago.

These Mariners have twice come back from deficits to win – not first inning deficits, but late-in-the game comebacks. They manufacture runs with bunts and ground balls – players giving themselves up to advance runners, to score runners.

The atmosphere is different, the attitude altered. They believe they can win games doing what they’re doing, and think they’ll surprise anyone who underestimates them.

“The kind of baseball we’re playing wins games against anyone,” Felix Hernandez said. “It’s just good, exciting baseball.”

Even if it were just for a week, that would be improvement.

But consider the American League West for a moment. On Saturday, Oakland couldn’t use Eric Chavez – not even as a late defensive replacement – because his shoulder is a mess. Across the diamond, first baseman Jason Giambi asked out late in the game because he said his legs were gone.

Want to trade Seattle’s immediate future or Oakland’s?

One week into the season, the Texas Rangers have a 6.49 earned run average. Seattle’s is 3.42. Want to trade pitching staffs?

And in Anaheim, the Angels have most of their rotation on the disabled and suffered a loss in the first week that went far beyond scores and standings. They remain, even in mourning, the best team in the West.

Except at the moment.

The Mariners are not the team they’ll be in a year, when players like Miguel Batista, Jarrod Washburn, Adrian Beltre, Eric Bedard – and their salaries – will be gone.

They aren’t the team they may become this season, when pitchers like Chad Cordero or Tyler Johnson come off the disabled list.

Or when Ichiro Suzuki returns.

What they are, at this moment, is a team that believes it can win. Yes, that faith may be fragile, and reality may overwhelm it – but the job Don Wakamatsu and his coaching staff has done this spring, and this week, has transformed the Mariners.

One week in, that’s encouraging.

ESPN's Tim Kurkjian wrote this story on Adam Jones for ESPN magazine.

Here's one of the quotes from the story ...

"[Former Mariners outfielder] Jay Buhner came up to me my first spring and said, 'Shut up and listen,' then he walked out of the room," Jones said. "John [Shelby] had nine years in the big leagues. Crow [hitting coach Terry Crowley] has been in baseball for like 50 years. They had finished good careers before I was even born. Why not listen? I'm a sponge for these coaches.

Look, every time I watch Franklin Gutierrez play, I jump a little more on his bandwagon, but if the Mariners could have kept Jones and Chris Tillman and still had everyone else to trade they could have done so much ... well, let's not think about that.

The Eyes Have It

Five games into the season, Ken Griffey Jr. has started four and is batting under .200 - but has a .471 on-base percentage.

Junior has walked six times already, and the rest of the Mariners roster as only five walks.

They'll have the chance to gain on him today, when he starts on the bench against Oakland. Endy Chavez, who has hit in each of the five games this season, is leaading off for the 3-2 Mariners.

It's Felix vs. Josh Outman.

Walks kill - or at least hurt

Felix has been wild through two innings, hitting one man and walking two others. The walks have caught up with him.

Walks to Jack Cust and, with one out, Mark Ellis - the No. 8 hitter - set up a two-run double to No. 9 hitter Lando Powell, and Oakland has mmoved ahead.

A sacrifice fly has pushed home a third run, and Hernandez is working far too hard to just be in the second inning. Forty-seven pitches, most under duress.

Not what the Mariners need after Ryan Rowland-Smith lasting only 3 1/3 innings a night earlier.

After two: Athletics 3, Mariners 0

Gone and then some

One out into the fourth, Russell Branyan left the building with extreme prejudice.

No one was on, but he an Outman offering - and isn't that a great ame for a pitcher, Outman? - way over the wall in right center field.

That's two home runs on the season for Branyan, one run for Seattle today.

To the bottom of four: Athletics 3, Mariners 1

Wak ball!

Ronny Cedeno walked, Yuniesky Betancourt singled and, after a bunt trickled foul, Endy Chavez grounded to first base - moving both runners up.

That's the way the Mariners played it small all spring, and it's worked again. Franklin Guttierrez followed with a two-run single to tie the game, and when Mike Sweeney singled, Seattle had chased Outman.
That's the kind of basics baseball that has the whole roster involved.

Guttierrez, trying to steal third, jumped too early and was caught in a run own - although replays showed he was never tagged.

Oops.

To the bottom of the fifth: Mariners 3, Athletics 3

Oops again

Jack Cust homered to break the tie, a two-run shot made all the more aggraating because he shouldn't have batted in the inning.

Justin Giambi popped straight up over the plate, and catcher Kenji Johjima stared into the sky, then fell over and missed the ball.

Giambi then singled, and two outs later, Felix gave up the home run.

After five: Athletics 5, Mariners 4.

Balentien has to leave

Outfielder Wladimir Balentien left the game after hitting in the sixth with what was called a sprained left wrist.

The injury occurred in the first inning, when Balentien landed awkwardly, trying to make a diving catch of what became Orlando Cabrera's double.

He stayed in the game, went 0-for-2 with a walk. Balentien was replaced in the lineup by Ronny Cedeno.

If he's going to miss more than Sunday and the off-day Monday, Balentien could wind up on the disabled list.

Those scrappy Mariners

Sweeney reached on an error, Adrian Beltre singled and Branyan drew a walk to load the bases in the eighth inning, bringing on reliever Brad Ziegler.

Time to pinch-hit with Griffey? Nope. Wakamatsu stayed with Jose Lopez, who doubled home two runs to tie, then stayed with Johjima, who singled home two more.

This is probably as poorly as they've played in the young season - and they'r now six outs from a win.

To the bottom of the eighth: Mariners 7, Athletics 5.

Wak Ball II

Chavez singled, Guttierrez bunted him over, Sweeney singled him home - the Mariners are getting good at this.

That ninth inning run put them up by three, and Brandon Morrow is in to close it out.

Ground ball out from Ryan Sweeney, but Morrow hit a batter, got a line out to right field from Bobby Crosby then got a ground ball to Lopez - which he booted.

That brouht up Nomar Garciaparra as the potential tying run. Morrow struck him ou.
It's a final: Mariners 8, Athletics 5.

It's Oakland - of course it's cold

Fifty-five degrees at game time, but with brisk winds that make it feel much colder.

Ken Griffey Jr., playing right field tonight, tried to invoke what he called the '60-degree rule.'

"That's where I don't play games when it's below 60 degrees," Junior said.

Maybe Aussie Ryan Rowland-Smith has the same rule. He fielded an excuse-me roller from Jason Giambi, then threw wildly to first - the Mariners first error of the season - and Orlando Cabrera scored all the way from first base, with Giambi ending up at third.

Rowland-Smith got Eric Chavez to pop out, Nomar Garciaparra to fly out.

Great pitching, bad fielding.

After one: Athletics 1, Mariners 0

Quiet ball
Griffey walked one out into the second and starter Brent Anderson seemed to come unnerved.

Soft singles by Jose Lopez, Russell Branyan and Kenji Johjima tied the game and left the bases loaded.

Yuniesky Betancourt doubled off the scoreboard - the first hard-hit ball of the rally - to push home two more. Endy Chavez rolled a single up the middl to score another pair of runs.

Anderson got a double play, but he's down four runs and didn't feel he pitched poorly.

To bottom of the second: Mariners 5, Atletics 1

Living on the edge

Rowland-Smith is almost daring Oakland to knock him out of the game and, in the second inning, Chris Jakubauskas is warming up.

A double, an error, two walks and a sacrifice fly - and Rowland-Smith gave up only one run.

Amazing. But it's costing him: he's already thrown 52 pitches in two innings.

Mariners 5, Athletics 2

Five Doesn't Look Like Enough

Rowland-Smith was lifted one out into the fourth inning, with two men on and 82 pitches thrown.

Reliever Jakubauskas came in and hit Jason Giambi, then got Matt Holiday to pop out to Griffey, making a long run in right field.

Eric Chavez tapped back to the mound, and the Mariners escaped without allowing a run, though Oakland left the bases loaded for the second time in four innings.

It's a high-wire act so far.

Mariners 5, Athletics 2

Five REALLY doesn't look like enough

Jakubauskas is gone, Roy Corcoran is in and the Athletics make another run.

Against Cocoran, Oakland gets a Matt Holliday RBI double, a walk and a long sacrifice fly.

With men on first and third base and two outs, Corcoran loaded the bases with a walk to Jack Cust.

Corcoran got his ground ball then, forcing Oakland to leave 'em loaded for the third time in six innings.

Now it's a one-run lead:

Mariners 5, Athletics 4.

That's One!

In his 130th major league relief appearance, David Aardsma nailed down a two-inning save - the first of his career.

Seattle hangs on to win, goes to 3-2 and then puts pies in the faces of Aardsma and Jakubauskas.

High times in Marinerville.

It's true, that following up a day in which you go 7-for-10 is tough, but Ichiro Suzuki had another 10 at-bats in extended spring training today - and managed only five hits.

Clearly, the man is slipping.

Manager Don Wakamatsu said Ichiro would play a third game today, perhaps even play in the outfield a little.

General manager Jack Zduriencik was less enthused about that.

"We're going to be careful and give him time, which isn't easy because he'd like to be playing today," Zduriencik said. "We'll get him more at-bats and have him in Seattle when we work out Monday."

For those living in a lettuce patch, Ichiro began the season on the disabled list with a bleeding ulcer. He's eligible to come off on April 15 - the second day of the Mariners first home stand.

Ichiro's return will mean some juggling for Wakamatsu - with Ichiro and Franklin Guttierrez playing every day, that means Ken Griffey Jr., Endy Chavez and Wladimir Balentien will have to share time in left.

It's not a bad problem to have, having Ichiro back, but it will make Wakamatsu's job a tad more difficult.

While we place much emphasis on the Mariners, we don't want to forget about the organization's minor league squads and some of the top prospects. Across the country, the minor league teams open their seasons. Above is the new scoreboard at Cheney Stadium, but unfortunately this spate of nice weather will go unused as the Rainiers open tonight in Fresno not Tacoma, as I joked with Rainiers manager Daren Brown the other day, they'll return right when the sleet and rain will be coming back.

In today's News Tribune, we ran our Rainiers preview and PCL capsules.

A few things from that, since I was the one who wrote it. I talked quite extensively with Daren Brown about the Rainiers, and a lot about Jeff Clement.

* Brown doesn't think that Clement will allow being set down to Triple A to affect him. While some might pout (see Jeremy Reed two years ago) and complain and let it bother them, Clement was disappointed upon initially hearing the news, but went back to focusing on the task at hand.

"He's not that type of kid," Brown said. "He's ready to go back to work. He was disappointed, but it's human nature to be disappointed. But at the same time, it's time to go back and work on things he needs to work on to get back there and hopefully this time he'll stay."

* Clement is going to see action at first base. When and how much remains to be seen as the story mentions. He's working out there, and trying to learn the position. Brown isn't going to play him there until, Clement deems himself comfortable.

"I think he'll be alright," Brown said. "I know how hard he's worked behind the plate and I know he'll work hard trying to get accustomed to playing first base. He's not there. It will be a continual thing with him."

People might scoff at the idea of learning to play first base. But its far more than just standing on the bag and catching throws. There's more to it. Good defensive first baseman might not get noticed much, but bad defensive first baseman (Ryan Howard) do.

* Clement's first priority is still catching and improving defensively there. Much has been made about his deficiencies behind the plate, but Brown said the improvement is still noticeable.

"Compared to where he was when I first saw him, it's no comparison," Brown said.

* Brown agreed that Clement's recent struggles might be a matter of pressing and trying to do too much.

"I know he's a kid that wants to do well, and I think he puts too much pressure on himself sometimes," Brown said. "I know the guy they saw in spring training and the guy they saw last year in the big leagues is not the same player we saw in Tacoma at the start of last year. Sometimes guys get caught up trying to show something on every pitch and every at-bat. Takes a little more time down below and they take off. Looking for him to get off to a good start and get that confidence back."

Mariners minor league info ...
If you want some added insight, check out Prospect Insider and Mariners Minors

Triple A -- Tacoma Rainiers
* PCL preview from my buddy and former co-worker Mason Kelley for Milb.com
* Rainiers roster
* Rainiers schedule
* Also go here if you want to listen to the venerable Mike Curto call Rainiers games.

Double A -- West Tenn Diamond Jaxx
* A solid team featuring SS Carlos Triunfel, C Adam Moore, OF Greg Halman and RHP Josh Fields.
* Southern League preview
* West Tenn roster

Class A -- High Desert Mavericks
* Hard-throwing pitcher Phillippe Aumont and Michael Pineda highlight the team
* California League preview
* High Desert roster

Class A -- Clinton Lumberkings
* league preview
* Clinton roster

Extremely sad news coming out of LA as talented young pitching prospect Nick Adenhart was one of three people killed in a hit-and-run accident just after pitching six scoreless innings for the Angels against the Oakland A's.

Adenhart was in a car that was slammed into by a mini-van that ran a red light and then fled the scene. The van was supposedly traveling close to 70 miles per hour when it slammed into the car. The car then slammed into the pole.

Here's the story from the Los Angeles Times. Here's the AP story. This story from of ESPN has some quotes from Torii Hunter in it.

There is some debate whether tonight's game should be cancelled. There should be no debate. Commissioner Bud Selig should step in immediately and postpone the game to a future date and if he doesn't then, well, then I don't know what business the guy has holding the highest position in baseball. A player died in shocking and stunning matter and expecting his teammates to play the next day is ridiculous.

Besides the tragic news of Adenhart's death, the Angels organization is also dealing with the news that one of their fans, who was involved in a fight on opening day in the stadium, has died due to injuries suffered in the altercation.

Time to Plan

Catcher Rob Johnson and pitcher Jarrod Washburn have had three days to do nothing but study Twins hitters and plan their approach today.

"Don (Wakamatsu) told us before the first game when I'd be catching, and who," Johnson said. "That let Jarrod and I sit on the bench for three games and talk about hitters and how to attack them."

Now, we'll see if planning helps.

Two Outs, Here They Come

The Mariners have been impressive with two outs in this series, and Adrian Beltre's two-out single scored Franklin Guttierrez in the first inning to give Washburn a lead.

In their three-plus games here, the Mariners scored 17 runs - nine of them with two outs.

Mariners 1, Twins coming up.

Now that's a center fielder

The game has just started, and Franklin Guttierrez has dominated it. His double set up the only run, and his diving catch robbed Alexi Casilla of extra bases when the Twins were batting.

Washburn loves the 'dome

Coming in wih a 5-1 record and a 2.76 career ERA in the Metrodome, Washburn is pitching like a man who owns the building.

Through five innings, he's thrown 54 pitches and allowed two baserunners.

Yes, this is the $10 million No. 4 starter. So far, he's pitching as if he's a bargain.

Now, unless they expect him to throw a shutout, the Mariners need to score a few more runs for Washurn.

After five: Mariners 1, Twins 0

A couple of throwbacks

Good as Washbun as been, Minnesota's Glen Perkins has been right there with him, and this has become the kind of pitching duel the American League rarely sees.

Perkins got a standing ovation when he walked off the mound after the eighth inning, having allowed one run on 104 pitches.

Washburn? He got into trouble one out into the eighth inning, giving up a walk, then a single to the No. 9 hitters, Brendan Harris.

Rick Adair went to the mound, David Aardsma was warming in the bullpen, the top of the Twins order coming to bat.

Denard Span popped out for the second out on Washburn's 96th pitch.

Alexi Casilla grounded out. Inning over.

Now, to the ninth. Do you stick with Washurn, who's thrown 96 pitches? Do you bring in closer Brandon Morrow to protect a 1-0 lead?

Stay tuned.

OK, it's Morrow

The closer is in, and Wakamatsu has gone with his best infield defense - putting DH Adrian Beltre at third, Ronny Cedeno at second and moving Lopez from second to first base.

That means the Mariners lose the DH for the rest of the game.

Morrow's first two pitches were high, and catcher Johnson - who drove in the Mariners second run in the top of the ninth - trotted to the mound for a conference.

Michael Cuddyer walked on four pitches, meanin Morrow had walked the last four batters faced.

Justin Morneau was called out on strikes after chasing a couple of high fastballs.

Joe Crede took a called third strike, too - and either third strike could just as easily have been ruled a ball.

Pinch-hitter Jason Kubel flied out.

Final: Mariners 2, Twins 0.

Mr. Silva's first start

Carlos Silva vs. his former team, in his first start since ending the 2008 season an angry, confused pitcher.

Spring training saw him struggle despite losing 30 pounds, although late in camp adjustments he made with pitching coach Rick Adair and bullpen coach John Wetteland excited him - and got fine results.

Can he pitch with passion and not get overly excited? Can he pitch without the kind of pounding he endured last year?

Silva got a ground ball out, saw a ground ball up the middle become a base hit.
Michael Cuddyer popped out, and Justin Morneau - as dangerous a left-handed hitter as you'll find in he American League Central - hit one into the upper deck for a 2-0 lead.
Silva gave up another ground ball base hit, but he struck out Joe Crede looking.

After one: Twins 2, Mariners 0

Branyan Weighs In

Russell Branyan hadn't had much of a series two games in, batting .125 without an RBI.

The 3-2 fastball Kevin Slowey threw him in the second inning cured him - and he slammed it over the wall in straight away center for a two-run home run.

If the fence had been 10 feet higher, it still would have gone out.

Adrian Beltre scored on tghe home run, leading off the inning with a hustle double.

To the bottom of the second: Mariners 2, Twins 2

Two by two by two ...

No sooner did Branyan tie it up than the Twins came back using a two-out, two-run home run from leadoff hiter Denard Span.

That's three two-run home runs in two innings.

Silva is using a lot of pitches early. To get the first six outs of the game, he threw 40.

After two: Twins 4, Mariners 2

Welcome to the Metrodome - now duck

Baseballs are flying tonight, and second baseman Jose Lopez hit the latest, a solo shot in the fourth that pulled the Mariners within a run.

The kid who caught the ball beyond the left field fence was booed when he wouldn't throw it back on the field, but he just turned red and held on to his prize. Clearly, a future world leader.

With two outs, Wakamatsu unleashed little ball: Ronney Cedeno singled and with Yuniesky Betancourt batting, Cedeno took off - and Yuni doubled him home for the tie.

Endy Chavez singled off Slowey, sending Betancourt to third, and the Twins bullpen is getting loose.

They should be: Chavez stole second base, so unnerving Slowey he wild-pitched Betancourt home with his 72nd pitch.

Wak ball!

To the bottom of the fourth: Mariners 5, Twins 4

Mistakes Kill

Silva deserved better in the fifth, when the Twins rallied to retake the lead.

After he'd walked Span, Silva got a ground ball to first baseman Branyan, but instead of throwing to second to get the lead runner - and perhaps a double play - Branyan stepped on the bag and threw late to second.

It's the second time he's done that in three games. Yes, he's been talked to about it.

What followed was a rally that included Morneau's ground ball just beyond the range of Lopez at second, and a ground ball double that got by Branyan at first base.

After five: Twins 6, Mariners 5

A new Mariner

Silva gone after five innings and 98 pitches, and in relief is Chris Jakubauskas, the 29-year-old rookie right-hander.

The independent league refugee pitched like it was still spring training.

He struck out the first man he faced - now there's a memory he'll keep - got two quick fly balls and sat down. He'll be back.

It's Nathan Time

Jakubauskas and Mark Lowe put up zeroes over the last three innings, but the Mariners didn't score either - and now they're facing Joe Nathan, a veteran closer.

Odds are, it's another one-run loss for Seattle.

Cedeno struck out.

Betancourt flied out.

Chavez grounded out.

Game over. Twins 6, Mariners 5

Let 'em Run!

Don Wakamatsu has his rabbits at the top of the lineup, Endy Chavez and Franklin Guttierez, and after Chavez singled, he was running when Guttierrez doubled.

Second and third, no one out, Ken Griffey Jr. had a long at-bat - fouling off six pitches - but popped out.

Adrian Beltre flied out, and Chavez scored to put Seattle ahead, 1-0.

It's a half inning into Game 2, but the Mariners haven't trailed, yet.

To the bottom of the first, Erik Bedard has a 1-0 lead.

Let 'em Run, II

Chavez chopped a one-out single over the firsts baseman's head, then stole second base wih Guttierrez up.

With two outs, the Twins walked Junior, and Beltre singled home Chavez.

That's another manufactured run, and Bedard now has a 2-0 lead.

Two outs, who cares?

Fourth inning, two outs, no one on. Wladimir Balentien singles and - after taking one pitch - Yuniesky Betancourt singles to left field.

On the play, Balentien got to third, and the throw from there back to second was late - runners at second and third base for Chavez.

Chavez grounded a single into right field, his third hit of the game, and both runners scored. The Mariners are now up 4-0, with Bedard having allowed one hit, and infield single.

The lefty looks good

A word about Mr. Bedard - wow.

Through four innings, he's thrown 53 pitches and shut out the Twins. He just pitched out of trouble in the fourth inning, striking out Delmon Young with runners at second and third base.

Bedard, who has said this is one of his least favorite parks in which to pitch, has been in full command tonight. He's struck out five, walked none.

The Twins come back - with a bit of help.

Bedard got himself in trouble in the fifth, but with one run in, two men on and two outs, he came ever so close to getting out of it.

On a two-strike pitch, Bedard threw a fastball that froze Michael Cuddyer, hit Kenji Johjima's glove and appeared to be a third strike.

Umpire Chuck Meriwether hesitated, then called the pitch a ball.

Two pitches later, Cuddyer singled home two runs.

Such is life in baseball. Pitchers have to deal with hitters, their own teammates on defense and, yes, umpires.
To the sixth: Mariners 4, Twins 3.

It's up to the bullpen

After five innings and 85 pitches, Bedard departed and right-hander Roy Corcoran replaced him.

Corcoran threw a six-pitch sixth inning, and worked the seventh with right-hander David Aardsma warming up behind him.

Six more outs, the Mariners would start their season 2-0 on the road against a very good Twins team.

But if the last three outs of a game are the toughest to get, the last six - with a one-run margin - is one long stretch to survive.

After seven: Seattle 4, Minnesota 3

Morrow is up

Brandon Morrow was warming in Game 1 when the Mariners broke the game open, so Miguel Batista finished, instead.

Tonight, Bedard, Corcoran and Aardsma have gotten through eight innings with a one-run lead.

Morrow is warming up.

Balentien singled, and with two outs was on second base. Guttierrrez singled him home to pad that lead. Griffey flied out.

Morrow is coming in.

Seattle 5, Minnesota 3.
The 27th Out

Morrow got the first two batters, walked the next three. With a two-run lead, Batista was brought in to end it.

He didn't.

An infield single made it 5-4.

A two-run single by Alexi Casilla won it, 6-5.

General manager Jack Zduriencik is stockpiling arms like a man putting up wood for the winter – and the Seattle Mariners are hoping one or two of them wind up on the roster.

After snaring injured pitchers like closer Chad Cordero and left-handed specialist Tyler Johnson, Zduriencik on Tuesday reached into the past and signed one-time closer Jeff Zimmerman to a minor league contract.

“We might have the best extended spring training staff ever assembled,” Zduriencik joked.

In Zimmerman, the Mariners are taking a look at a 36-year-old right-hander who hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2001, when he saved 28 games for Texas. The next spring, Zimmerman was hurt – and since then has undergone two ‘Tommy John’ surgeries to reconstruct his right elbow.

“He was working out for a few teams and (director of professional scouting) Carmen Fusco saw him and was very impressed,” Zduriencik said. “We all watched him a little later – my staff and I, Don Wakamatsu and his staff – and he threw very well. The ball came out of his well, his arm was strong, we just said ‘wow’ to each other.

“Jeff was touching 90 mph, and he’d only been throwing again for two weeks. He had a history with (bullpen coach) John Wetteland and the desire to play here. So we signed him and sent him to Arizona.”

What’s the plan for Zimmerman?

“He’s going to go on a program that will get him ready to pitch for us this year,” Zduriencik said. “No promises were made, but this pitcher was really good at one time. We’ll see what we have.

“Our doctor was surprised at what he saw during the physical – I think he expected more problems. He passed his physical. For the next month or so, Zimmerman will be on his own schedule rather than join a team.”

In a game that demands more pitching depth than any team seems to have, Zduriencik has spent all spring grabbing arms, most of whom are in the minor leagues at the moment – Jesus Delgado, Luis Munoz, Luis Pena, Cordero, Johnson and now Zimmerman have all been signed since February.

“If one or two of these guys work out, you’ve greatly improved your pitching depth,” Zduriencik said. “In guys like Johnson and Cordero and Zimmerman, you’ve got experienced late-inning guys. In the others, you have power arms. We’ll see how it works out, but the goal from Day One here was to improve this team, and we continue trying to do that.”

When Don Wakamatsu opened spring training with the stated purpose of helping every play in camp improve his game, it was a lovely philosophy.

Did it happen?

Probably not - but not for lack of effort with the Seattle coaching staff. They worked one-on-one with each of he 60-plus players who came to camp, a remarkable effort.
Some players didn't improve. They may never improve. Sadly, that's part of baseball, too.

Now that the season has started, that coaching effort hasn't ended.

Matt Tuiasosopo, for instance, is with the team until Ichiro Suzuki returns. A third baseman, he has worked out with coaches the past few days at first, second and third base.
Today, after early batting practice, Tuiasosopo trotted out to left field, and coach Lee Tinsley hit him fly balls - and talked to him about his actions - for about 15 minutes.

Tuiasosopo may not start a game while he's here, and may be limited to pinch-running or playing in a blowout.

Still, this coaching staff is working with him with an eye toward the future. If Tuiasosopo can play three or four positions, his route to the majors might become shorter, and his value to the Marines would increase.

Wakamatsu's edict - to help every player reach their potential - didn't end with spring training.

This staff is still working, often one-on-one, with the players on the roster. It's fascinating to watch. And down the line, it might make this a better franchise.

Wow, that seemed relatively easy. Get good pitching, pick up a few timely hits, move runners along and make the play defensively. Not rocket science but harder than you think.

Lash had the duties in Minnesota. Here's his game story.

Here's a notebook leading with Mike Sweeney being with a team on opening day for a 13th season when there was some doubt whether he would make it.

Lash also had a story talking with the nervous energy of opening day.

Our photo staff put together this photo gallery from yesterday's game

Here's the AP story from the game.

You can see a replay of Griffey's home run HERE.

From the Minnesota papers ...

The Star Tribune had this game story and this story as well

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press, there is this game story. The Press also had this story discussing what it would have been like if the Twins were playing their new open air stadium on Opening day.

Around the AL West ...
ESPN's Jim Caple had this Q&A with Jason Giambi

The Rangers roughed up last year's Cy Young winner Cliff Lee. Kevin Millwood looked good yesterday, we'll see if it continues.

Kelvim Escobar could be back in the Angels rotation by the end of April. John Lackey's contract re-negotiations have stopped for the time being.

The revamped A's offense didn't do much against Joe Saunders and the Angels. Bill Dwyre's writes about the model of efficiency that is the Angels.

AP Photos

OK, you want to be nervous, feel free.

Felix Hernandez just pitched out of a first-inning jam, but more alarming, badly turned his right ankle on the Astro turf here fielding a ball that was foul.

He stayed in the game, but is being taped between innings.

Pain and swelling will be factors tonight and perhaps beyond.

There's no score, but all Mariners eyes are now on Felix.
Happy New Year

Anyone who watched the Mariners in 2008 remembers the frustration of watching an anemic offense not do the simple things required of scoring.

Well, it's a new season, baby.

Adrian Beltre led off the second inning with a double, and Ken Griffey Jr. grounded to the right side of the infield to push Beltre to third base.

Jose Lopez flied out to left field - just foul - but deep enough to get Beltre home.

This team worked all spring on just this kind of situational hitting, and two innings into their first game, it's given the Mariners lead, 1-0.

Junior, Junior, Junior

Leading off the fifth inning, Junior made a little history with his first home run of the season.

It was No. 612 in his career, and the eighth opening day homer he's hit - tying him with Frank Robinson for the major league lead.

It was also his 399th home run of his Mariners career.

All that, and it's good for a 2-0 lead.

Bad pitching, good pitching

Felix Hernandez pitched himself into a bases-loaded, no one out situation - two singles and a walk - and then pitched out of it with his lead shortened but intact.

After the Twins loaded 'em up, Hernandez got a pop fly, gave up an RBI single and then induced cleanup hitter Justin Morneau to ground into a double play.

Five innings in: Seattle 2, Minnesota 1.

Power to the Powerless

Franklin Guttierrrez has speed, a fine arm and little power - at least that's the scoutin report.

After Endy Chavez singled one out into th sixth inning, Guttierrez took Francisco Liriano deep, just clearing the fence in left-center field for his first home run.

Bad scouting.

Seattle 4, Minnesota 1

Looking very ace-like

Ever since he poked his head into the big leagues, Felix Hernandez has been an ace in waiting - and waiting and waiting.

Good but not quite over that hump, he was challenged this spring by new manager Don Wakamatsu and pitching coach Rick Adair to grow into that role, and to do it now.

An ace leads. He eats innings on days he doesn't feel good. He wins without his best stuff. He leads.

Pitching on a twisted ankle, Felix has thrown 95 pitches in eight innings, and leads 4-1. He's eaten innings, shown tenacity and done his job.

Brandon Morrow is warming up, but Felix may talk them into letting him start the ninth. Usually, if a manager gets his closer up, he puts his closer in.

We'll see. Either way, a commanding performance tonight from Felix.

And in the end ...

Felix stayed in the dugout, Morrow sat down and Miguel Batista came in - this after Jose Lopez banged a two-out, two-run single to make it a 6-1 game.

That's three RBI tonight for Lopez, and the kind of game this team couldn't have drawn up much better.

Great starting pitching, fine clutch hitting - not a bad beginning for a team coming off a 101 loss season.

Opening night hits everyone from bat boys to superstars, from bullpen coaches to, yes, even the folks who watch from the press box.

Kids in the stands are overwhelmed when their home town heroes burst through clouds of smoke and trot to the foul line as they’re introduced. Rookies like Rob Johnson, Matt Tuiasosopo, Shawn Kelley and Chris Jakubauskas get goose bumps and smile a lot.

The games matter beginning now. The spring training crowds and the intimate ballparks in Arizona and Florida are replaced by coliseum-like stadiums and 40,000 or so folks on hand to make noise.

For me, opening night is a wistful event. My father, who shared and enjoyed my love of the game, is gone now. My best friend, a fellow sports writer who went to college with me – and covered the NFL but loved baseball – is gone, too.

They loved baseball and the start of each new season.

So, too, did friend and fellow beat writer John Hickey, whose job was one of those lost when the Seattle Post-Intelligencier ceased publication last month. John is a fine writer, a diligent reporter, and he loves the game.

That he’s not here is a loss, to him and to all those readers who enjoyed his work.

And despite all that, I’ll get caught up in the emotions of the evening tonight. Seeing Ken Griffey Jr. in a regular season Seattle Mariners uniform is going to take me back, oh, 20 years or so.

Seeing the joy in Mike Sweeney’s face at having dodged retirement and become a valued part of a team, that’s a pleasure. Watching the guys who made this team late in camp, who sit in the clubhouse wide-eyed and try to say precisely the right thing when asked a question.

To watch Don Wakamatsu’s first game as a big-league manager, to see the pride of his coaching staff enjoying the moment – that’s a one-time pleasure you can’t recreate.

In this ballpark, the Metrodome, I got to watch Kirby Puckett and got to know Tony Oliva. I sat here through a pair of World Series, and was here when Butch Huskey tried to run through the left field wall in pursuit of a long-gone home run.

The next day, Junior and others taped a chalk-like outline of his body on that fence. Even Huskey laughed.

I’ve had the chance to see the first opening day of dozens of players who became stars – and hundreds who knew just how precious each day in the big leagues could be. And I’ve seen the final openers for players who meant a lot to me.

Last year, I got to opening day weeks after quintuple by-pass surgery, and watched the game not as a beat writer, but as a fan of the game. After almost dying, one of the things on my list – and yes, after a heart attack, everyone makes a list – was to make it back to an opening day as a beat writer.

This game and the men who play it have a grip on me. Spring training is a lovely time, without pressure, without the tough losses or exhilarating wins that a regular season holds. Opening night is just that, and produces a game that opens six months of baseball. We’re about to watch the best players in the world do their best, and their best can be a special thing to watch.

For all of us who love the game, opening night is just short of magic. It’s real, and whether on the field or on the couch, watching at home, it reawakens the passion for the game that scandals and strikes, lockouts and steroids cannot ruin.

Welcome to opening night. Enjoy.

AP photo

Well, go ahead make a copy of it, bookmark it, because come October you will have proof of how much, or more likely how little, we know about baseball. Here's our staff predictions for each division, the playoffs and the World Series. Immediately you probably have to question our thinking when three of the six guys have the Cubs in the World Series, with one of us having them win it.

In my first full year covering baseball, I admittedly got caught up in some rare euphoric state of my first time on a major league beat and let some hyperbole get to my head when I made some of my predictions last year.

Did I believe John McLaren when he said that Richie Sexson was going to win the comeback of player of the year. No. Come on, I was starstruck, not stupid. But I felt pretty stupid picking the Mariners to win the AL West last season. I think I even went on ESPN radio's baseball show and told them the Mariners would win 90 games. Looking back, people should have had me examined for heat stroke or malaria, or something.

Not this year, I'm a hardened, bitter cynic. I picked the Mariners, third, which is where all of my cohorts picked them, with the exception of Darrin Beene, who had them last. Do I think the Mariners are better than last year? Yes, about a 1,000 times better. They have a plan, an emphasis, a style and most importantly, they seem to be headed in the direction where they want to go. Could they be better than third in the AL West? Definitely. This division is not good - perhaps the worst in baseball. So if they can play good baseball, not flashy, just consistent baseball, they can surprise some teams. Don't get me wrong, a lot of things need to go right for them just to finish third. But put it this way, I feel more confident that this team can do those right things, than the team I saw heading into the season next year.

Anyway, here's our picks, feel free to agree, disagree, even mock them. And feel free to post your own. I'd be curious to what you think.

News Tribune picks below

=> Read more!

They are here, they have worked out, and the Seattle Mariners are officially ready for opening day.

The roster is set. The lineup has been written.

With Ichiro still in Arizona, working out and trying to recuperate from a bleeding ulcer, the Mariners will honor him by hanging his jersey in their dugout during the series in Minneapolis. Ichiro will join the team in Oakland, although he won’t be eligible to play until April 15.

Felix Hernandez is the opening day starter. Brandon Morrow the opening day closer.

“We’re not a finished product,” manager Don Wakamatsu said. “We’re going to try to play our game, and we’re going to use our entire roster. I expect to use the entire bench in this series.”

Almost everyone who has an audience has picked this team to finish fourth in the American League West. The Mariners believe – from GM Jack Zduriencik to rookie Matt Tuiasosopo – they can surprise people.

Soon enough, we’ll begin finding out.

The first lineup:
Endy Chavez LF
Franklin Guttierrez CF
Mike Sweeney DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Ken Griffey Jr. RF
Jose Lopez 2B
Russell Branyan 1B
Kenji Johjima C
Yuniesky Betancourt SS

The final two spots on Seattle’s 25-man opening day roster will be filled this afternoon, but as interesting a question is how many of those players won’t finish the season in a Mariners uniform.

The assumption all winter has been that Erik Bedard will be dealt by the July trade deadline. And while Adrian Beltre is a marvelous player, but realistically the Mariners aren’t going to extend his $12 million a year contract.

So he’s going to be traded, too.

If Jarrod Washburn pitches well and anyone offers anything, he’s gone. The same with Miguel Batista, who can pitch relief or start.

Beyond that?

This could be a make-or-break season for the double-play combo of Yuniesky Betancourt and Jose Lopez. Can Yuni buy into Don Wakamatsu’s small-ball efforts? He squared to bunt a dozen times this spring – but never actually tried to bunt for a hit.

And Lopez is coming off a productive season, but still isn’t a good defensive second basreman. With 19-year-old Carlos Triunfel on the horizon, if the Betancourt-Lopez tandem doesn’t perform well early, one of them is likely to become available late.

Then, there’s closer Chad Cordero, rehabbing from shoulder surgery and expected back in May. Yes, he’s a veteran closer of the Eddie Guardado mold – command over velocity.

If Brandon Morrow is the closer of the future, beginning now, Cordero might prove to be quite a trade chip if he can prove he’s healthy again. Whether he closes in Seattle or sets up Morrow, if he appears to be the pitcher he was two years ago, he’s a 29-year-old pitcher teams will covet down the stretch.

Similarly, that catching depth that extends beyond Kenji Johjima and Rob Johnson to Jeff Clement and Adam Moore, means the Mariners could move one of those young catchers if another team offers enough in return.

Jack Zduriencik has shown a willingness to make deals large (J.J. Putz) and small (Chris Burke). He has stockpiled young players and pieces like Chris Shelton, in part to improve the Mariners minor league season and in part to act as a 7-11 convenience store for teams in need of a quick fix.

So, yes, the final 25-man roster will be of interest. But figure that roster is a month-to-month – if not week-to-week – production. It will change dramatically during the course of the season.

An emotional Ichiro Suzuki all but begged his general manager and manager to let him play despite ulcers, but Jack Zduriencik said he couldn’t let himself be persuaded.

“This was serious,” Zduriencik said. “We had to take the decision out of his hands, because he did not want to do this. We put him on the disabled list He wanted to negotiate.”

On the DL for the first time in his major league career, Ichiro told doctors his stomach had been bothering him since before the World Baseball Classic began last month, and that he had taken medications to ease the pain.

“He was treating the symptoms, so when he got to Arizona and started feeling light-headed and tired, we had a pretty good idea where to start looking,” Dr. Mitch Storey said. “It might have been caused by bacteria, by stress, which produces acid – we don’t know yet, but with the tests we took, we should know Monday.”

Ichiro began a course of medication and rest, limited to a strict schedule of when and how long he could work out for the next few days.

“You’re talking about a warrior, and telling him he wasn’t going to be on this team opening day was emotional for him,” manager Don Wakamatsu said. “Everyone on this team knows what he was willing to risk to play. We couldn’t let him risk it.”

Ichiro stayed behind in Peoria for a few days when the team flew to Las Vegas on Saturday morning. He was not happy, but he understood the decision.

“We’re optimistic we’ll have him back in two weeks,” Zduriencik said.

Storey said ulcers typically require three or four weeks of treatment, but that Ichiro had begun healing last week when Wakamatsu forced the issue by sending him home and barring him from working out with the team over a three day period.

Because Ichiro was placed on the DL retroactive to March 31, he’ll be eligible to come off for the Mariners second home game of the season on April 15 - if there are no complications.

“I don’t see any reason he won’t be able to play in two weeks,” Storey said.

Ulcers are relatively rare among players – Zduriencik joked that general managers often get them – but Storey said that’s because they are often caught early.

“If a player complains of stomach pains, we usually take care of that with medication and it doesn’t go further,” Storey said. “Ichiro played with it, would have one good day, then a bad one, but didn’t stop playing or working.”

For now, he has.

Ok, I just got a call back from manager Don Wakamatsu as he boarded a plane for Las Vegas.

I asked him if this was something that Ichiro had been playing with throughout the WBC or if it was a result of the WBC. And he wasn't sure because Ichiro hadn't mentioned any discomfort when he came in.

"The first sign we had was the light-headedness in the game against Milwaukee," he said. "I'm just glad we were able to catch as it as soon as we did."

Wakamatsu called the meeting with Ichiro about going on the disabled list "emotional."

"This is a guy that's never been on the disabled list and something he takes great pride in," he said. "But we had to convince him that this was the best thing for him and the best thing for this team. He did not want to not be with the team when the season opened."

Ichiro being stubborn still lobbied to play, and Wakamatsu admitted Ichiro won't be able to rest like a normal person would rest.

"It's a challenge, we're trying to get him to understand the severity of this and how important these first few days are when it comes to his recovery," he said. "This is a serious thing, and if we had misdiagnosed it or he pushes it too soon, it could be really serious."

When I mentioned if people realized the true strain that he was under in the WBC with the crushing expectations and overwhelming media scrutiny, Wakamatsu went even further.

"To me, it's just the fact that he cares that much," he said. "I don't know if people give him enough credit for how much just he much cares about playing the game, his teammates and the teams he plays on."

As for how it affects the 25-man roster, Wak didn't let on who might replace him there or in right field - those decisions will be made after Vegas, but he did say that Endy Chavez will most likely move to the lead-off spot in his place.

"Guys are just going to have to make up his production in other areas," he said.

Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik has decided to send Rule V draft selection Reegie Corona back to the New York Yankees.

Per Rule V draft rules, Corona must be on the team's 25-man roster for the entire season or be sent back. If the Mariners wanted to option a Corona back to the minors, the club must first offer him back to his original team for $25,000 (half of the $50,000 claiming fee).

Zduriencik also had the option of trading for Corona. However the recent signing of utility man Chris Burke made the idea of trading a player to keep Corona far less necessary.

Corona, 22, appeared in 26 spring games, batting .281 (16x57) with 9 runs, 3 doubles, one home run and 7 RBI.

This puts the Mariners 40-man roster at 36 players

UPDATE 1:18: Apparently Ichiro has been cleared to work out by team physicians. KIRO Mariners reporter Shannon Drayer is reporting this. This is good news for Ichiro and the Mariners. I'm sure the Mariners won't want the workouts to be too strenuous. But that he's able to take some BP, and such is good."

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with GM Jack Zduriencik and he said that Ichiro was not happy with the decision to be placed on the disabled list. He wanted to try and play through the discomfort and fatigue.

"At the end of the day, we took the decision out of his hands," Zduriencik said.

Even after the diagnosis, Ichiro wanted to get some work in to stay shape.

"He wanted to work out today," Zduriencik said. "We had to tell him no."

The remedy for this is heavy rest and lack of activity, which isn't something Ichiro is used to or will accept easily, but Zduriencik said the Mariners will be vigilant in making sure that he does not try to rush himself back.

"We want him to really rest because that's the remedy for this," Zduriencik said.

Zduriencik said the decision to place him on the DL was prudent, considering the time of the year.

"This was a decision based on what's best for 162 games, not the early window of games he would miss," he said. "Had we allowed him to play, or this thing got worse later in the season, you're looking at the possibility of him missing 14 or 15 games."

Zduriencik seemed confident that Ichiro would play the day he becomes eligible, which is April 15th and the second game of the opening home stand against the Angels. There is a slim possibility that he could join the team in Oakland next weekend.

"He'll also have the off-day workout in Seattle (April 13th) and I think he should be ready to play in that second game, if everything goes as planned," Zduriencik said.

As for the 25-man roster, Zduriencik said they are going to wait till after the games in Las Vegas to decide. Currently, the Mariners have 36 players on the 40-man roster after shipping Rule V pick-up Reegie Corona back to the Yankees (see above), which means that Mike Wilson or Mike Morse could be added to the 40-man as a replacement. Of course, knowing Zduriencik he could also find somebody on the waiver wire as well.

The Mariners announced today that Ichiro will start the season on the 15-day disabled list because of a bleeding ulcer.

"It was a very difficult decision to place Ichiro on the disabled list," GM Jack Zduriencik said, "especially since we know what a fierce competitor he is, and how important it is to him to help the team. However, we determined it was in both his best interest, and the best interest of the club, to place him on the DL at this time."

Ichiro had been suffering severe fatigue, which caused him to miss the Mariners last three Cactus League games (March 30-April 1). He was examined by doctors, including Mariners team physician, Dr. Mitch Storey in Arizona yesterday. They determined that he had suffered a bleeding ulcer. The ulcer is not currently bleeding, but in the interim, doctors have ordered restricted activity.

Ichiro will be eligible to return to Major League games on Wednesday, April 15.

While this comes as a shock to many fans, if you know Ichiro, this isn't surprising. This is a man who internalizes everything, particularly when it comes to baseball. He swallows it and hides it under a cool facade.

In the past, he had been bothered by stomach issues at times. In his approach to break George Sisler's record in 2004, he admitted to having stomach aches.

I truly believe the grind of the WBC had a lot to do with it. The crushing Japanese national media attention, the lofty expectations of a nation of fans and his own extremely personal goals placed a lot of pressure on him. Pressure which he just he kept inside. He's not the type to let it out with a rant or a temper tantrum, that's not his way. Call it a poker face if you want.

One thing I noticed in his postgame celebrations of this year's championship was a sense of relief. Sure he looked overjoyed to win, a look I hadn't seen from him in a while. But was it joy that they had won, or was it joy that they had won, and all of the other nonsense - like the high attention to his at times slumping bat - was finally over.

Suzuki appeared in four games with the Mariners in Spring Training, hitting .417 (5-for-12). He reported to camp on Thursday, March 26, after leading Team Japan to its second consecutive World Baseball Classic championship.

Ichiro has played in 197 consecutive games (dating back to Aug. 26, 2007), the 4th-longest active Iron Man streak in the Majors. He has played in 807 of Mariners last 810 games over the last five seasons, and since coming to Seattle in 2001, has played in 1,280 of 1,296 possible games (missed only 16 games in 8 years).

TODAY
Seattle used five strong innings from Carlos Silva and an offensive explosion to bury San Diego, 18-3, ending their Arizona portion of spring training with a 16-16-2 record.
FRIDAY
Seattle flies into Las Vegas to spend the last 30 hours or so of spring training there. Tonight they’ll play Colorado in a 7:05 p.m. game that will be broadcast on KIRO and televised on FSN. Probable starting pitchers: Franklin Morales vs. Jarrod Washburn.
NOTABLE
No word yet on Ichiro or his visit to the doctor. The Mariners and their fans are understandably anixous. ...
Silva’s five-inning start was impressive enough that, when he came out after five innings, teammate Mike Sweeney hugged him and delivered a manly peck on Silva’s cheek. Coming off a particularly bad outing, Silva said he worked with pitching coach Rick Adair and manager Don Wakamatsu – and listened. “They said when I was in Minnesota, I was throwin the ball nice and easy, and I’d been trying to do too much down here,” he said. “I worked on that in the bullpen today and took it into the game and hit my spots.” When he got in a little trouble, Silva induced a double play. Twice. “Long time since I got two double plays,” he said. “This game was important for me and important for my team. They have to see I can pitch.” Silva’s next start will come against his former team, Minnesota, in the third game of the year.” …
Think the Mariners have embraced little ball? With one out in the third inning, Chris Woodward walked and Endy Chavez bunted for a single - with both runners moving up a base on a throwing error. Ronny Cedeno then bunted for a hit and an RBI and set off a four-run rally. "When those guys play like that, we get a lot out of it," Wakamatsu said. ...
Add Chavez: Though he only played in 10 games with Seattle because of the World Baseball Classic, Chavez made the most of those – batting .500 in 32 at-bats. …
Ah, the Big League Life: Reliever Mark Lowe was ‘packing’ for the season, and threw – not folded, mind you, but threw – more than a half dozen shirts on hangers into a box, sealed the top and sent it on to Seattle via a team truck. Won’t that lead to wrinkled dress shirts? “You hang ‘em the shower, let ‘em steam a little, they’re good,” Lowe said. “I wear mostly t-shirts, anyway.” Lowe worked two innings later, allowing one run. …
Sweet family moment after Ken Griffey Jr. left the game. From the end of the dugout, he waved into the crowd – and 6-year-old son Tevin came flying down and jumped onto the field. Father and son then returned to the dugout for an inning. Both got a big ovation when they walked toward the clubhouse together in the sixth inning. …
Seattle has also embraced big ball: After Yuniesky Betancourt singled and Woodward doubled o open the fourth inning, Chavez homered for a 7-0 lead. One out later, after Griffey Jr. walked, DH-for-the-day Jose Lopez homered and it was 9-0. …
When the Mariners fly to Vegas today, they’ll take a handful of minor leaguers with them: outfielder Tyson Gillies, infielder Carlos Triunfel and pitchers Denny Stark, Eric Hull and Sean White. …
Mariners third baseman Matt Tuiasosopo, who batted .404 in 22 spring games, was named the Peoria Rookie of the Year by the group that hosts Seattle and San Diego here each spring. “I just wanted to come here and work hard and make a good impression on Wak and the staff,” Tuiasosopo said after accepting the award. “I knew what was going on with Adrian Beltre, it maybe being his last year. I wanted to make a good first impression, have a good campp and do what I could do.”
QUOTABLE
From Carlos Silva, after being asked how well he had to pitch to get a kiss from Mike Sweeney: “I don’t know, bit Felix kisses me every day.”

Ichiro Suzuki, missing his third consecutive game, is seeing a doctor this afternoon to determine whether his symptoms – he’s been light-headed and without energy – are more serious than general weariness.

The team expects Ichiro to accompany it to Las Vegas on Friday, and to Minnesota for opening day on Monday.

Ichiro played for Team Japan during the World Baseball Classic, then appeared in four spring games with Seattle. The Mariners suspect the intense pressure Ichiro felt during the WBC – he is the face of Japanese baseball – wore him down.

But they’d also hoped a few off days would reinvigorate their right-fielder.

According to manager Don Wakamatsu, Ichiro reported still feeling weary today, so the team scheduled a doctors visit.

We’ll know more later today

No decisions will be made in camp today, which means the final roster won’t be set until the team is ready to leave Las Vegas on Saturday.

Not that there’s much left to decide. Bottom line, only questions remain are whether the Mariners get to keep Rule 5 draftee Reegie Corona as a minor and which pitchers – Roy Corcoran or Luis Delgado – sticks in the bullpen.

For the record, here’s the 24-man roster for opening day, with the 25th man still up in the air:

Catchers (2) – Kenjj Johjima and Rob Johnson.

Infielders (6) - Adrian Beltre, Yuniesky Betancourt, Russell Branyan, Ronny Cedeno, Jose Lopez and Mike Sweeney.

Outfielders (5) - Wladimir Balentien, Endy Chavez, Ken Griffey Jr., Franklin Guttierrez, Ichiro Suzuki.

Starting pitchers (5) – Felix Hernandedz, Erik Bedard, Carlos Silva, Jarrod Washburn, Ryan Rowland-Smith.

Relievers (6) – Brandon Morrow, David Aardsma, Miguel Batista, Chris Jakubauskas, Shawn Kelley, Mark Lowe.

To be determined (1) – Luis Delgado or Roy Corcoran.

No huge surprises, although if you’d said the day camp opened that Jakubauskas would make the team, most fans would have replied “Who?” And, of course, Griffey wasn’t a Mariner when camp opened, nor was Delgado.

Keep this in mind, too. By June 1, the bullpen almost certainly will include closer Chad Cordero and – if he doesn’t implode – situational lefty Tyler Johnson, a certified looney.

This team is a work in progress. By August 1, after the trading deadline, you may not recognize the roster.

As expected, Mike Morse did not make the 25-man roster. However, somewhat surprisingly he cleared waivers and was then outrighted to Triple A Tacoma, meaning he'll join Jeff Clement on the Rainiers. Not a bad squad shaping up for the Rainiers.

Because he's been outrighted, Morse is off the 40-man roster and considered a minor league player.

I'm a little surprised that Morse cleared waivers because of his versatility and his offensive potential, but really he didn't hit enough or play enough infield this spring to draw enough interest. It's too bad because I really thought he had made a major step forward last spring. But the fluke shoulder injury really kind of messed it all up.

Rule 5 selection Jose Lugo, a left-handed reliever, did not make the 25-man roster and was returned to the Minnesota Twins.

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Seattle Mariners Executive Vice President & General Manager of Baseball Operations Jack Zduriencik announced today that the team has outrighted INF/OF Mike Morse to Triple-A Tacoma and returned Rule 5 selection LHP Jose Lugo to the Minnesota Twins.

These transactions leave the Mariners 40-man roster at 37 players. The Mariners now have 35 players in Major League spring training, including LHP Cesar Jimenez (15-day DL) and LHP Ryan Feierabend (60-day DL).

Morse, 27, batted .275 (14x51) with three doubles, one home run and seven RBI in 22 Cactus League games. Morse has appeared in 107 games with the Mariners over the last four seasons, batting .300 (90x300) with three home runs and 37 RBI. He spent nearly the entire 2008 season on the disabled list after having left shoulder reconstruction surgery.

Lugo, 24 (turns 25 April 10), appeared in 11 spring games, going 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA (2 ER, 7.1 IP). He was acquired by Seattle from Kansas City for cash considerations on Dec. 11, 2008. He was selected earlier that day by the Royals in the Major League phase of the Rule 5 draft from the Minnesota Twins.

Per MLB rules, players chosen in the Major League portion of the Rule 5 Draft must remain in the Major Leagues for the entire 2009 season. If the ML team wishes to option a player back to the minors, the club must first offer him back to his original team for $25,000 (half of the $50,000 claiming fee).

The moves continue and the portrait of the opening day 25-man roster grows clearer.

The Mariners sent pitchers Garrett Olson and Randy Messenger to the minors and put left-hander Cesar Jimenez on the 15-day disabled list.

They sent Chris Shelton to the minors and gave catcher Jason Phillips a choice - be released or become the bullpen catcher.

"Guess which I chose?" asked Phillips, the veteran who will now catch in the bullpen this season.

"He's almost like adding a coach, with his experience," manager Don Wakamatsu said.
Putting Jimenez on the DL with biceps tendinitis gives the team a little time to make decisions. He's out of minor league options, and before too long he's either on the roster or placed on waivers, where another team might grab him.

All this means that final spot in the bullpen - at least for now - comes down to Chris Jakubauskas or Jesus Delgado.

Delgado is out of options. Jakubauskas isn't.

The Mariners roster is all but set, as are most big-league rosters, but the final decision on the 24th or 25th man always comes down to more than who played well in camp.

In the Seattle bullpen, for instance, that final spot could go to any of handful of pitchers – Cesar Jimenez, Garrett Olson, Jesus Delgado, Chris Jakubauskas among them.

Clearly, Jakubauskas has pitched well enough to make the team. That doesn’t mean he will. Just as Miguel Batista probably stays because of his $9 million contract, the Mariners face losing Jimenez and Delgado, who are out of minor league options.

Do you risk an arm that intrigues you for a guy who’s had a great camp? The simplest answer is ‘yes,’ but that’s not always the baseball answer.

GM Jack Zduriencik plucked Delgado off waivers this spring, and his plus-fastball is intriguing. If you keep him, Jakubauskas goes to the minors and can be brought up later.

Similarly, the team may want to keep Jimenez for the same reason.

Pitching well in spring training can win a job. It can also win notice that wins a job later in the season. For now, Jakubauskas sits and waits while the Mariners brain trust debates issues more involved and who threw well in camp.