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Ryan Divish has been with Tacoma News Tribune since 2006, covering the Tacoma Rainiers and high school sports. Divish played baseball at Dickinson State University and also earned a journalism degree from the University of Montana.
E-mail Ryan.
Larry LaRue has covered the Seattle Mariners and Major League Baseball for The News Tribune since 1988. E-mail Larry.
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Lee Pelekoudas, whose 30 years with the Seattle Mariners began as a traveling secretary and included a term as interim general manager, resigned today.
The son of a major league umpire, Chris Pelekoudas, Lee has been with Seattle since 1979, most recently as the associate general manager.
Over his career he has counseled general managers from Dick Balderson to Pat Gillick, from Woody Woodward to Jack Zduriencik.
"When I joined the Mariners in 1979 I fulfilled a dream of working in Major League Baseball. I deeply appreciate the tremendous opportunity I've had to work with some great people in a great city, and appreciate all that it has meant to me and my family for the past 30 years," Lee said.
"In particular, I want to thank Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong for the confidence they have had in me over the years. I believe the organization is headed in the right direction and know it will be successful. It's now time to do the next thing."
Pelekoudas is what is known in the game - with respect - as an old school baseball man, the kind whose love of the game and those in it is admirable for its purity.
The game was better when he was part of it, and the Mariners a better organization for his years here.
He will be missed by those he touched, including many who never knew his role in helping shape their careers.
Men like Pelekoudas are the lifeblood of the sport, those whose work is done behind the limelight.
Whatever his plans now, baseball will always be part of them. It will be a better day for baseball when he returns to it.
Carlos Silva will pitch an inning or so of relief today - his first since April - but he's going to be a Frog, not a Rainier.
The Mariners are sending Silva to Everett, not Tacoma, in part because they don't want to jeopardize the Rainiers run for the post-season.
"In Everett, we can control the situation a little better," manager Don Wakamatsu said. "Carlos will throw an inning, then Thursday throw again - maybe in Tacoma, maybe in Everett - and then one last time on Sunday."
Then, it's back to the Seattle bullpen for September.
The lineup is up and Ichiro isn't in it, though the team says tomorrow is the day he'll play.
No Ken Griffey Jr., no Adrian Beltre, who are both taking batting practice - as is top draft pick Dusin Ackley, who formally OKed his contract today.
Ackley took fly balls in the outfield, schmoozed with new teammates and was immediately taken under the wing of Mike Sweeney, who showed him around.
Beltre comes off the disabled list tomorrow, Griffey's left knee may allow him back in, but Ackley is headed for Arizona and instructional league, then the Arizona Fall League.
Bottom line: No offensive reinforcement today against the Angels. Here's the lineup:
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Josh Wilson 3B
Jose Lopez 2B
Mike Sweeney DH
Bill Hall RF
Jack Hannahan 1B
Jack Wilson SS
Rob Johnson C
Ryan Langerhans LF
Luke French LHP
Ichiro is stretching and running in right field, with manager Don Wakamatsu, a trainer and translator on hand should he suddenly need mouth-to-mouth.
On the sidelines, some 30 yards away, are six Japanese photographers and a couple of television camera crews, recording each smile, wince and wink.
We forget, occasionally, that Ichiro remains a larger-than-life figure in Japan, and that a dozen Japanese writers follow him around daily - only marginally interested in what the Seattle Mariners do unless it directly impacts Ichiro.
Ichiro means a great deal to the Mariners, and to their fans. He may mean more in Japan.
Will he play tonight? He's running harder now than he has in a week, and after missing seven games he's getting more than a little antsy.
Wakamatsu, on ther other hand, doesn't want to be the manager who rushed Ichiro back, saw his outfielder tear a muscle and miss getting 200 hits for the first time in his career - which is how it would be viewed if Ichiro hurt himself.
Ichiro's now running the bases at about speed, working on his turns. Just in time, a third camera crew has arrived.
No decision yet. Smart money is on waiting another day. If Ichiro wants to play, however, he'll play.
A few weeks ago, it seemed impossible to think the Tacoma Rainiers were a postseason caliber team. They were 7 1/2 games out of the Pacific North Division of the PCL and any playoff chances were fading with each game. To make matters worse they were embarking on a nine-game road trip.
But what happened, Tacoma swept the road trip taking four games from Fresno and five from Portland to improve to 70-66 and skip past Colorado Springs (69-65) into first place in the division.
Here's Ian Ruder's story from Sunday's win where the Rainiers beat Padres pitching prospect Aaron Poreda, who was acquired from the White Sox in the Jake Peavy deal.
The Rainiers open their final homestand of the season today at Cheney Stadium. They will host the Salt Lake Bees for a four-game homestand, and wrap up the homestand with a big four-game series against Colorado Springs that could decide the division winner.
Garrett Olson is scheduled to start tonight for the Rainiers.
Yes, Virginia, it's slim pickings trying to put together a formidible attack for Seattle, these days.
Ichiro remains out with a strained calf.
Ken Griffey Jr. misses a third game with a tender knee.
Adrian Beltre has a bruised cajone.
Russell Branyan, herniated disk.
The good news is, Ichiro could return Mondoay when the Angels come in, Beltre and Griffey should be ready Tuesday - when the Mariners can expand their roster and bring up, among others, first baseman Mike Carp.
For now, however, this is the lineup:
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Josh Wilson 3B
Jose Lopez 2B
Mike Sweeney DH
Bill Hall RF
Jack Hannahan 1B
Kenji Johjima C
Jack Wilson SS
Michael Saunders LF
Ryan Rowland-Smith LHP
Russell Branyan watched the Seattle Mariners win their 68th of the season tonight, then dressed and brushed his teeth.
"I can still do that," he said.
What Branyan cannot do is swing a bat or play the game, not with a herniated disk in his back, discovered during an MRI Saturday.
The Mariners deemed it serious enough to put him on the 15-day disabled list, and both they and Branyan know the rest of his season could be in jeopardy.
"It depends how my body responds to rest and treatment," Branyan said of missing the rest of the season. "It's been bothering me since the All-Star break, and it started to affect the way I ran, the way I fielded.
"It just seemed in everyone's best interest to find out what was going on."
Branyan will be given rest and treatment for the disk problem, but knows his season might be over. That would be a shame.
Given the first chance in his career to play every day in the big leagues, he's batted .251 with 31 home runs and 76 RBI in 116 games at age 33.
At the All-Star break, Branyan was hitting .280.
Russell Branyan, who has fought persistent back pain much of his career and all of this season, was pulled from the lineup Friday - and placed on the 15-day disabled list tonight.
Branyan has a herniated disc in his back and the team hopes their leading home run hitter can return by mid-September.
That means just as Ichiro and Adrian Beltre return for a run through the American League West - a trip that takes Seattle through Oakland, Los Angeles and Texas - Branyan will miss all of it.
For now, Jack Hannahan, a third baseman by trade, will play first base.
With Branyan going on the DL, the team recalled reliever Chris Jakubauskas from Tacoma.
On Tuesday, when rosters expand, the Mariners will bring up a handful of minor league players - from Brandon Morrow to Garrett Olson.
They will also bring up a first baseman, probably rookie Mike Carp.With their season still in the balance - 33 games left, including tonight, with a 67-62 record - losing Branyan is a body blow.
Without him, the Mariners have only one player with as many as 55 RBI, Jose Lopez. Without him, their leading home run hitter is Lopez, who has 19 homers.
They've played without most everyone on the roster at one point or another - Felix Hernandez being the exception - and they will play now without Branyan.It makes a tough September schedule all the more difficult.
This team has shuffled its roster, rotation and lineup all season, which may make its improvement all the more surprising.
Today, for instance, the Seattle Mariners won't have Ichiro (calf), Adrian Beltre (testicle) or Russell Branyan (back) because of injuries.
In fact, a glance at the Mariners lineup tonight shows six players, including the starting pitcher, who weren't in Seatle when the year began.
Josh Wilson was in San Diego, Bill Hall in Milwaukee, Jack Hannahan in Oakland, Jack Wilson in Pittsburgh, Ryan Langerhans in the minors and Ian Snell in Pittsburgh.
Amazing.Here's what Don Wakamatsu has put together tonight:
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Josh Wilson 3B
Jose Lopez 2B
Mike Sweeney DH
Bill Hall RF
Jack Hannahan 1B
Jack Wilson SS
Ryan Langerhans LF
Rob Johnson C
Ian Snell RHP
Ichiro is working in the outfield as this is being written, but he won't be in tonight's lineup.
Adrian Beltre is eligible to come off the disabled list today, but apparently won't. And Josh-not-Jack Wilson is starting at shortstop despit Jack-not-Josh Wilson's two-hit night Thursday.
Here's who will be playing:
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Jack Hannahan 3B
Jose Lopez 2B
Russell Branyan 1B
Mike Sweeney DH
Bill Hall RF
Josh Wilson SS
Ryan Langerhans LF
Rob Johnson C
Felix Hernandez RHP
Tonight, Felix Hernandez will make his 27th start of the season, and opens the game against Kanssas City with a 12-5 record and a 2.73 earned run average.
How's he rank in the Cy Young Award derby?
Well, he's second in ERA to KC's Zack Greinke's 2.43.
Felix is tied with five players with 12 wins - behind C.C. Sabathia's 15, Justin Verlander and Josh Beckett (14) and Scott Feldman and Roy Halladay (13).
When you get to innings pitched, Sabathia leads the league with 185, followed by Halladay (184), Greinke (181), Verlander (181), James Shields (179) and then Felix (178).
Felix is fourth in striketouts with 173, trailing Verlander (211), Greinke (197) and Jon Lester (187).
Though the opposition is hittin just .238 against Hernandez, its hitting even less against five other starters - including Sabathia and Beckett (.235).
Greinke and Halladay each have five complete games, Verlander and Beckett three each. Felix? He has one.
With a month left to the season, Felix doesn't lead the league in any significant category but is near the top in most of them.
How he fares over his last six starts could move him closer to a Cy Young Award, but if you're in his camp, you probably want to hope a few very good pitchers have a bad month.
