Eric Wedge announced just a few minutes ago that Milton Bradley will serve his one-game suspension tonight, instead of the appealing it.

Bradley went to Wedge about an hour before the game and asked to serve it tonight. It makes sense. It’s one game why prolong it.

That means Ryan Langerhans will start in his place in left field. That’s back to back games for Langerhans. That doesn’t happen much.

Mariners (13-16)

• 51  Ichiro Suzuki (L)    RF
• 9  Chone Figgins (S)    3B
• 4  Adam Kennedy (L)     2B
• 30  Miguel Olivo         C
• 17  Justin Smoak (S)     1B
• 29  Jack Cust (L)        DH
• 55  Michael Saunders (L) CF
• 12  Ryan Langerhans (L)  LF
• 26  Brendan Ryan         SS

45  Erik Bedard          LHP

 

Rangers (16-13)

• 5  Ian Kinsler          2B
• 3  Andres Blanco (S)    SS
• 10  Michael Young        DH
• 29  Adrian Beltre        3B
• 17  Nelson Cruz          RF
• 25  Mike Napoli          1B
• 7  David Murphy (L)     LF
• 8  Yorvit Torrealba     C
• 20  Julio Borbon (L)     CF

41  Alexi Ogando         RHP

Wedge also said that reliever David Aardsma has been bothered by forearm stiffness and is going to take a few days off. Once the pain subsides, Aardsma will throw a bullpen session and return to Tacoma. Wedge didn’t seem overly concerned.

“It happens,” he said. “He’s feeling good in regard to the hip, and that’s the most important thing. This is nothing to be concerned about. I’m sure it didn’t help that it was 20 degrees. Just some normal soreness, so we’re going to be careful with it.”

Center fielder Franklin Gutierrez has begun the rehab process, playing last night in Tacoma and going 1-for-4 as DH. He wanted to start in the outfield, but the Mariners were concerned about the amount of rain that had fallen pregame.

What’s the plan for Gutierrez? He has basically no game experience,  playing in just parts of six spring training games.

“We’re going to re-evaluate this weekend and see where he’s at,” Wedge said. “We’re taking it day-by-day right now. We’ll see how it all comes together this weekend and go from there. We’ll see how much time, if any, that he needs.”

Gutierrez is starting to feel like a normal person again. You could see it on the road trip. He was eating meals and didn’t look so pail or gaunt. Most importantly his strength is returning.

“It is coming back,”  Wedge said. “We wouldn’t have sent him out if we didn’t feel good about that. That was the first step. The first couple of days he had some energy issues, but he picked it up after that. His weight’s been good, his energy level is up. Physically, he’s definitely headed in the right direction. Now he needs reps and some at-bats.”