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Mariners Insider

Archives: Feb. 2009

Feb.
28th

At least one fan remembers Carlos Silva


Carlos Silva lost weight, did the work, has been a good spring training teammate – and none of that mattered to a few folks watching him pitch today.

Two innings, five hits, two runs. One home run allowed, twenty-six pitches thrown.


And, midway through the second inning, a leather-lunged fan yelled ‘You’re STILL throwing batting practice!’

Had Silva thrown all zeroes and all strikes, it wouldn’t have meant all that much. That his first outing wasn’t over-powering was hardly a surprise – he’s not an overpowering pitcher.


A

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Feb.
28th

Mariners make Beltre’s decision for him – no WBC

Adrian Beltre gave up his apartment, was ready to leave for the World Baseball Classic tomorrow and then got the news – the Seattle Mariners had made the decision for him and he won’t be going, after all.

"If it was my decision, I was ready to go," Beltre said. "They talked to my agent yesterday and to me today and said they’d made the decision. Maybe I was being a little selfish, but I wanted to go.

"I’d be angry if I didn’t understand, but I do. I’m a big piece of this team, and they don’t

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Feb.
28th

Around the Horn: There’s a crowd at first base


No team wants to collect first basemen, but the Seattle Mariners have managed to do just that over the off-season, although at least a few of them are athletic enough to play other positions in a pinch.

In no particular order, the Mariners have Russell Branyan, Mike Carp, Bryan LaHair, Mike Sweeney, Mike Morse and Chris Shelton, and have talked about – but never tried – pushing catcher Jeff Clement in that direction.

Branyan is a left-handed hitter who once hit 20 home runs in a season, although that season

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Feb.
27th

Mariners first win is a blow out

Erik Bedard and a handful of relievers shut the Dodgers out until the ninth inning, and the Seattle offense pounded out 20 hits in an 18-2 victory.

Their first victory of the spring included home runs by Mike Wilson, Matt Tuiasosopo and Mike Carp, who had five RBI.


“It was good to see Adrian Beltre and Erik Bedard back out there, and we swung the bats pretty aggressively,” manager Don Wakamatsu said.

Beltre’s first game of the spring included two hits and an RBI, and he felt fine after playing.


He’ll test himself with one more

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Feb.
27th

Bedard makes quick work of the Dodgers

Scheduled to pitch one inning against Los Angeles, left-hander Erik Bedard went two – and then had to go throw in the bullpen.

Against the Dodgers, he got six outs on just 14 pitches – nine of those strikes. At that pace, he could have thrown a complete game with 63 pitches.


Instead, he left the game with a lead, threw another 20 pitches in the bullpen and called it a good day.

“I was just getting the feel for my pitches, throwing strikes,” Bedard said. “Fourteen pitches in two innings? That’s not me.”

As for

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Feb.
27th

Here’s the Game 2 lineup – and Beltre is in it

The Los Angeles Dodgers visit Peoria today, and the Mariners have a lineup that features a former Dodger – Adrian Beltre – as their designated hitter.

Here’s the lineup for Game 2 of the Cactus League:

Ronnie Cedeno SS

Jose Lopez 2B

Russell Branyan 1B

Adrian Beltre DH

Bryan LaHair LF

Mike Morse 3B

Franklin Gutierrez CF

Prentice Redman RF

Rob Johnson C

Erik Bedard P


Typical of the second game of the spring, the Mariners have 11 pitchers on hand to pitch as needed in relief.

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Feb.
27th

Around the horn: A look at who’ll be catching in April


It’s never too early to start looking ahead, so we’re going to begin looking at the competition in Mariners camp, position by position.

When pitchers and catchers reported to spring training more than two weeks ago, one argument was that four catchers – Jamie Burke, Jeff Clement, Rob Johnson and Adam Moore – were each going to be major league ready by opening day.

And that didn’t include the man dubbed Seattle’s regular catcher by manager Don Wakamatsu: Kenji Johjima.

An embarrassment of riches, because there’s no way the
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Feb.
26th

Mariners run – for better or worse – into a tie

Base-running got them a run and took away several as the Seattle Mariners opened the Cactus League season with a 4-4 tie against San Diego.

“We’re going to make mistakes, we’re going to struggle a bit and we’re going to adjust,” manager Don Wakamatsu said.

Two Mariners were thrown out at the plate by wide margins, another was thrown out at third base, one man was caught stealing and one – Reegie Corona – was picked off first base twice.

The Mariners are pushing aggressiveness this spring. Now, they have to fine tune it so they’re not

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