Richie Sexson worked out early and has the rest of the day off to be with his son, who came down with a case of pneumonia late last night. Sexson has three kids.

Sexson popped his head into John McLaren’s often about 10 minutes before the team was set to take the field to let McLaren know he was headed to Scottsdale to be with his family.

* McLaren went into great length the how the addition of Miguel Cairo is going to benefit the Mariners.

There were times last season where in-game strategy was affected on

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Let’s get to it. Since I didn’t post any stuff yesterday, we’ll get the twice the news today.

First of all, here’s my story from Tuesday on Mariners’ No. 1 draft pick Phillippe Aumont. And to add to it, here’s some video I shot a few weeks back of him throwing in the bullpen.

Here’s my story on utility infielder Mike Morse and his yearly quest to make the 25-man roster out of spring training.

Here’s the story from MLB.com on Bret Boone admitting his

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News Tribune photographer Drew Perine is down here working for the week. And in coordination with the photo desk back in Tacoma, he’s putting togther a gallery each day. He’s got some pretty cool shots… here’s an example…

Here’s his gallery from the first day…. and here’s his gallery from Tuesday.

As mentioned before, Erik Bedard will get the start in the opener of the Cactus League for the Mariners, Friday against the San Francisco Giants in Scottsdale.

Getting the start for the Giants is former University of Washington standout and Giants 2006 No. 1 draft pick Tim Lincecum.

It’s been much debated amongst Mariners’ fans about the decision to draft Brandon Morrow ahead of Lincecum with the sixth pick, while Lincecum went a few spots later at 10th..

Morrow with a bigger frame and similar velocity was viewed

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All right, let’s get to some links to make you think – about something other than work.

Today is one of those days when you love being outside – just check out this forecast in comparison to this forecast. To be fair, the Puget Sound area had a pretty good run of weather the past few weeks. It could be worse, you could be living here.

Here’s my story from yesterday concerning the slotting of the Mariners’ rotation and Sunday’s Spring Training Box.

I didn’t get to post this yesterday,

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Not much going on in the morning meeting, especially in comparison with all the rotation talk coming yesterday.

I saw Jose Vidro walking around the clubhouse without a limp. Manager John McLaren said Vidro’s a little sore, but won’t have any limitations for practice.

There is no live batting practice, so it won’t be quite as entertaining.

A few quick notes…

The pitchers had a bet going during fielding fundamentals yesterday, with the losing team getting its hair cropped. So today, Mark Lowe’s flowing locks are

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We all know the guy can bunt and some people wish he could bunt more. Anyway, he puts the time in at practice.

One of the drills that is common during live pitching is a bunting station for players. The players are fed balls through a pitching machine and are supposed to bunt them. Ideally they would land them in two spray painted circles that are angled down each line 10 feet away. To spice it up, manager John McLaren was betting a dozen golf balls with players that they couldn’t put

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The Mariners starting rotation is finalized.

As expected, manager John McLaren slotted Miguel Batista, last year’s leading winner, at the No. 5 spot the rotation with Carlos Silva at the No. 3 and Jarrod Washburn at No. 4.

So here’s the rotation and who they are scheduled to make their first start against.

LHP Erik Bedard (13-5, 3.16 ERA) vs. Texas, March 31 Opening Day

RHP Felix Hernandez (14-7, 3.92 ERA) vs. Texas, April 1

RHP Carlos Silva (13-14, 4.19

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