Felix Hernandez was placed on the 15-day disabled list after the game Monday, a move that means the earliest he could start again would be July 9 in Oakland.

To take his spot on the Mariners roster, the team called up left-handed pitcher Cesar Jimenez from Tacoma. Jimenez will join the team tonight and almost certainly work out of the bullpen.

Hernandez hasn’t pitched since spraining his left ankle in a home-plate collision against the New York Mets, and now won’t make more than one more start before the beginning of the All-Star

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A year ago, in the feel-good story of the season, the Seattle Mariners and their fans welcomed Ken Griffey Jr. home in as memorable an interleague series as Safeco Field ever hosted.

Today, the Cincinnati Reds are offering Junior’s services around the majors – and the Mariners have declined deep discussions about any possible trade for the future Hall of Famer.

Why?

Simple. The team is on pace to lose close to 100 games and has a payroll of about $118 million. Adding Griffey’s $12.5 salary this season would only increase that payroll – and that’s

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After determining all the pitchers unable to start Tuesday’s game, the Mariners decided to give lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith his first major league start – and told the rest of the Seattle bullpen to be ready.

"I’ve never pitched nine innings in my life," the pitcher. "In my dreams, I can go five, six innings. Realistically, they’ll probably hold me to 50 pitches or so."

Manager Jim Riggleman said Rowland-Smith would pitch as long as he got out5s, but admitted he didn’t know how long that might be.

"We’d like to get four, five innings, but if he

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Here’s the line to Olney’s blog on ESPN. To see the full item, you have to be an “insider” but you can still read the majority of it for free.

Basically, manager Jim Riggleman is making some tweaks to how the Mariners prepare in an attempt to shake them out of their first-half slump. He’s having infielders take infield practice before batting practice, something most teams don’t do.

Another change he’s making is with defensive positioning. He’s having outfielders position themselves more to the pitcher’s tendencies.

To be fair, Riggleman says these are

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It’s 1 a.m. in San Diego and I’ve been meaning to get around posting these links all day, but my ADD and a late dinner prevented it. But let’s get to it. This is something you can use all week because there’s plenty to read up on…

* First let’s get to the Mariners. Here’s my game story from Sunday’s win which completed the sweep of the Padres (who are absolutely terrible). In case you missed it, here’s my gamer from the other day, which leads with Carlos Silva.

OK, I’m running a little behind. And I don’t really have a good reason why. I am putting together a massive linkage post for later, kind of like the Sunday paper.

Seriously though, I doubt anybody’s watching this game in Seattle. It’s 90 degrees there and I’d be out on lake or the sound somewhere hanging out and working on my tan and a hangover.

So I’m putting the over-under on the number of people watching on 36.

Although it is Erik Bedard vs. Jake Peavy on the mound as well.

A

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A few things quickly from the pregame stuff.

* JJ Putz played catch off of flat ground, 30 throws to be exact.

“It was very, very elementary,” Putz said. “It was a nice and easy game of catch. I just threw to Brian (Schweiger). It was like the first day of throwing on a program before spring training, like January in San Diego. I had no pain. It was good.”

Manager Jim Riggleman isn’t even thinking about getting Putz back until after the all-star break.

* Riggleman also slotted the rotation again, and

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* Here’s my game story that leads with Jarrod Washburn collecting his first win.

* Here’s the game story that leads with the Cha Sizzle facing his former teammates. It also has Felix updates in there.

* The Rainiers lost last night, But if you aren’t doing anything in Tacoma this evening – I can’t believe I just wrote that – you should go Cheney. Rich Dorman is starting for the Rainiers, while Angels prospect Nick Adenhart is going for Salt Lake.

* The

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