| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2010 6:41 am |
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Sports 
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MARINERS NOTEBOOK: M’s confident in Silva’s conditioning SEATTLE — Before the Seattle Mariners won their 85th game and paraded around Safeco Field with a salute to Ken Griffey Jr. and the fans Sunday, they took part in a little-known but highly important end-of-season exercise.Each player underwent an exit physical exam, which allows the team’s medical staff to get an end-of-season gauge of each player’s condition. “It’s kind of like taking a test,” head trainer Rick Griffin said. “You fill out a form to make sure there’s nothing going on that we don’t know about. We’re with these guys for seven months, so we know if they’ve got something. But it’s just a matter of putting everything on paper and following up with what they’ve had during the course of the year and what we can do to make sure that doesn’t happen again, or to get them better from the condition they have.” The exit exam doesn’t include the treadmill stress test that’s administered during spring training, but body fat measurements are taken. “We do that because we want to see what they are now compared to the All-Star break compared to the beginning of the season,” Griffin said. “That helps us determine what we think is a good spring training weight for them.” That, of course, brings to mind Carlos Silva. The burly starter missed most of this season with shoulder inflammation after losing 30 pounds last winter when he was put on a strict nutrition and exercise program. Yes, he put on weight during his inactivity this season. “Considering he didn’t pitch for over 100 days, he still did a lot of conditioning and a lot of work,” Griffin said. “He put a little (weight) on, but he didn’t put on anything like last year. He’s going to be pitching in winter ball, so he’ll get some innings in and go back home and come back to spring training and compete for whatever position there is. He did better this year in terms of his conditioning and his weight, so he doesn’t have to deal with that big issue like he did last year. He just needs to pitch.” No players are scheduled for offseason surgeries, although outfielder Endy Chavez (knee) and pitcher Erik Bedard (shoulder labrum) will rehab through the winter after major procedures and probably won’t be ready to play until midseason. Chavez, who was celebrating on the field with his teammates after Sunday’s final game, is staying in Seattle this week to work with Griffin. He’ll go home to Venezuela and work with a knee specialist for five weeks, then come back to Seattle in mid-November to be re-checked by team medical director Dr. Edward Khalfayan. Bedard has been working with a therapist near his home in Canada and wasn’t with the team during the final homestand. He was cleared to take off his shoulder brace and start therapy about a week ago. He’ll return to Seattle in about six weeks to be re-checked. Hernandez is king of Sept. No starter put out a finishing kick like Felix Hernandez this season, and Tuesday he was rewarded for it by being named the American League’s pitcher of the month for September. In a final stretch that Cy Young Award voters may want to note, Hernandez went 6-0 with a 1.52 ERA in seven starts. He also won the award in June, when he went 3-0, 0.94, becoming the first player in Mariners history to win it twice in the same season. Also, former Mariner Jarrod Washburn won the award in July, giving the Mariners three of the six winners this season. The Mariners’ pitching staff led the league with a 3.87 ERA. Hernandez finished the season 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA (66 ER, 238.2 IP) in 34 starts. He led the majors with a club record 29 quality starts, and led the AL with a .792 winning percentage (19-5) and .227 opponents batting average. Among AL starters, Hernandez also ranked tied for first in wins (19), second in ERA (2.49), tied for second in starts (34), third in innings pitched (238.2) and fourth in strikeouts (217). This won’t be the last time Hernandez’s name will come up in the offseason. He’s under club control through the 2011 season, but the Mariners would like to re-sign him and avoid a situation that could be a distraction next season. Hernandez said little about his contract status this year, although amid the celebration after Sunday’s final game said he loved playing for the Mariners and wanted to stay. M’s win more series than Halos Winning the division and returning to the playoffs is the Mariners’ ultimate goal, and despite a third-place finish they accomplished what all good teams must do — they won series. The Mariners won 30 of their 52 series this season, twice the number they won last year. In fact, the Mariners won more series overall than the AL West champion Angels, who went 29-21-2, and beat the Angels in four of the six series the two teams played. The Mariners won at least one series against every team in the American League and went 3-for-4 in interleague series, being swept by the Colorado Rockies. “If we can come out of this year learning anything, it was we were able to beat some of the best teams,” manager Don Wakamatsu said. “You don’t know it until you do it, but we went into Boston and played well, the last series against New York and even Anaheim. We ended up playing them extremely tough and having a winning record in our division. Those are things we proved as we go forward that we are capable of doing.” Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com\marinersblog |
- Sorry, Hawkeye; M*A*S*H gets bowled over
- Former Whidbey student shot
- County archive software paid for but waiting for set-up
- Ruling expected on Sultan beating statement
- ‘Roadkill’ caucus seeks a voice for centrist Democrats
- Police seek witnesses in two accidents
- PAWS calls out for critter care-givers
- Boeing has a busy test schedule
- Ex-Boeing engineer jailed for espionage
- Morning mystery: What happened to House Bill 3181?
- Lynnwood sets height limit on grass: 8 inches
(10) - State Senate votes to toss I-960's tax-raising hurdle (9)
- School levies in Snohomish County all passing, Marysville bond failing (7)
- Schools do well in levy elections (7)
- A tidy lawn could be law in Lynnwood (4)
- County archive software paid for but waiting for set-up (3)
- Lynnwood makes law against too tall lawns (3)
- Two suspects sought in Everett shooting that injured two (3)
- Vote on school levies by Tuesday (3)
- Sorry, Hawkeye; M*A*S*H gets bowled over (2)
- Jackson girls outlast Meadowdale owdale
- OBT raises barre in children’s program
- Junior firefighters
- School levies passing
- Mavericks topple Wolfpack
- Get a second look at Second City Feb. 13
- Sports Briefs
- Warriors advance 11 to regional meet
- Arlington's Cascade Valley Hospital celebrates expansion, national award and 100 years of service
- Business Licences Feb. 2010
- Technology tips for launching your own business
- Business Events Feb. 2010
- Tech Talk: No excuse today for going without a Web site
- State already raising fees and rates that restrict business growth
- Some legislators again targeting people’s initiative petition rights
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