Mark Lowe pitched a simulated game in Arizona this week, and the best thing about that might have been he didn’t have to lie about it the next day.

Lowe is one of those gifted young Mariners relievers, a high-90s guy who overwhelmed the AL in 15 games in 2006 by allowing just four runs in 18 2/3 innings. Then elbow surgery sidelined him most of last season.

When Lowe, 24, returned to the Mariners in August, that fastball was still there in the four games he pitched.

What frightened him and the team was how he

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The Seattle Mariners are looking for more than five coaches for their 2008 staff, they’re looking for clubhouse presence – and clearly, they’re narrowing their focus on men who have it.

With coach John McLaren all but a rookie manager, he and the Seattle front office and narrowed the list of candidates, and here are the frontrunners to join batting coach Jeff Pentland:

&bull Jim Riggleman, bench coach.

&bull Mel Stottlemyre, pitching coach

&bull Larry Bowa, third base coach

&bull Norm Charlton, bullpen coach

&bull Eddie Rodriguez, first base coach

Most of those

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The Seattle Mariners front office and manager John McLaren are meeting in Arizona this weekend to discuss replacements to a 2008 coaching staff that now includes one man – hitting coach Jeff Pentland.

High on the list of candidates for bench coach is a familiar name to Mariners fans, Lee Elia.

Elia worked with the Mariners in two different stints under Lou Piniella, from 1993 to 1997, then again from 2001 to 2003. A former manager, third base coach, bench coach and hitting instructor, Elia has worked with McLaren in Seattle and Tampa Bay.

Among the other

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After finishing with their best record in four years, the Seattle Mariners and new manager John McLaren swept all but one member of the 2007 coaching staff out of work Friday.

Hitting coach Jeff Pentland, under whom the team batted .287 this season – second in the American League – has been invited to return.

Pitching coach Rafael Chaves, third base coach Carlos Garcia, bench coach Mike Goff and bullpen coach Jim Slaton were not.

First base coach Gary Thurman will return to his minor league roving instructor position, the one he held until the first week

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