Adrian Beltre is home in Los Angeles, recuperatng from shoulder surgery, Chris Woodward is at thid base and the Seattle Mariners have all but cancelled the Wladimir Balentien-is-the-regular-left fielder experiement.

Ken Griffey Jr. is out there tonight, with Mike Sweeney the designated hitter.

With Endy Chavez on the disabled list, the Mariners brought in left-handed hitting Ryan Langerhans as a defensive replacement. Balentien’s future with the franchise is now behind him.

By next week, the Mariners might be using a new-look infielder of 1B Russell Branyan, 2B Yuniesky Betancourt, 3B Jose Lopez and SS Ronny Cedeno.

…

Read more »

The Seattle Mariners have come up with an intriguing possibility to rework their patchwork infield next weeek – make a second baseman of Yuniesky Betancourt.

With that one move, they could free Jose Lopez to play third in the absence of Adrian Beltre and keep Ronny Cedeno at shortstop.

Betancourt is due off the disabled list (hamstring) next week, and manager Don Wakamatsu and his staff have discussed the possibility of moving him from shortstop.

“There’s a defensive energy with Cedeno at shortstop, and he’s made the plays,” Wakamatsu said.

Lopez is fine with playing third

…

Read more »

It’s raining in New York, so no batting practice on the field for the Mariners – but lots of tidbits fromt the clubhouse.

The game is now scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. (EST).

Outfielder Ryan Langerhans, as expected, is here and in uniform, taking the roster space of Adrian Beltre.

Beltre underwent surgery to remove a bone spur from his left shoulder, and the team was told there was no damage to the rotator cuff – just plenty of inflammation caused by the spur.

Erik Bedard could start in Boston on Saturday, but he’s not

…

Read more »

Look we all know about the greatness of Felix Hernandez. And we’ve seen him make the leap to another level this season. But of course, this being the Northwest and the fact that the four-letter network seems to think the world revolves around the American League East, Felix can get kind of lost in the hype. Think about how much we had to listen to the transition of Joba Chamberlain from reliever to a starter.

But the King is starting to turn some heads. ESPN’s Buster Olney wrote the top

…

Read more »

Adrian Beltre has a home in Los Angeles, and since he’s not going to New York with the Mariners – and won’t have shoulder surgery until Tuesday – he decided to play one more game.

The opportunity today: steal a series from the first-place Dodgers and flee to the east coast.

It’s Garrett Olson vs. Hiroki Kuroda, and the Mariners get one more day of Gold Glove defense at third base.

What they need as much is production from left-handed hitters like Ichiro, Russell Branyan and Ken Griffey Jr.

The hot stay hot

Among the

…

Read more »

As they try to make up for the loss of Endy Chavez, the Seattle Mariners acquired outfielder Ryan Langerhans from the Washington Nationals in exchange for AAA utilityman Mike Morse.

It’s likely Langerhans, 29, will join the Mariners in New York before Tuesday’s game there to give manager Don Wakamatsu more options off his bench.

“That’s possible, but this is a Triple-A trade,” general manager Jack Zduriencik said. “At this point, Langerhans will report to Tacoma. He can play all three outfield positions, as well as first base. He adds to the depth in our system.”

Langerhans

…

Read more »

If you’ve ever wondered how Felix Hernandez would do in the National League, where he’d face a pitcher evey few innings, read on – it’s Felix vs. the Dodgers tonight.

Yes, it’s Adrian Beltre’s last game for 6-8 weeks, but the Mariners badly need a dose of good news. The kind a win would bring.

The team looked lackluster in defeat last night, and then got the word from Beltre today that he was going to have surgery on his left shoulder.

That will thin out an already quiet offense, so what Seattle needs is a start

…

Read more »

Gold Glove third baseman Adrian Beltre is in the lineup tonight against the Dodgers, but he won’t play again until after undergoing surgery to remove bone chips from his left shoulder.

Just when hasn’t been decided, but within the next week Beltre will have surgery that will likely keep him out of the Seattle Mariners lineup 4-8 weeks.

“We’ve been bracing for this for awhile,” general manager Jack Zduriencik said. “It creates a dilemma, but it creates an opportunity, too.”

Asked if itt were one play that pushed the

…

Read more »