Mariners tell Eric Byrnes to keep on pedaling

In the past three days, the Seattle Mariners' Eric Byrnes:

Pulled back the bat on a suicide squeeze play that resulted in Ichiro Suzuki being tagged out at home plate. He essentially got Texas manager Ron Washington kicked out of that game because Washington couldn't believe the pitch was called a ball because he figured no hitter would pull the bat back with a runner steaming home from third.

Bolted from the clubhouse within minutes after that game on a cruiser bicycle, pedaling in the Safeco Field basement corridor past a surprised GM Jack Zduriencik.

Went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in today's 3-1 loss to the Texas Rangers, dropping his batting average to .094.

Became an ex-Mariner.

The Mariners made that not-too-difficult decision about two hours after today's game, releasing Byrnes and replacing him with outfielder Ryan Langerhans, who they've called up from Class AAA Tacoma.

The Mariners also optioned little-used infielder/outfielder Matt Tuiasosopo to Tacoma and called up infielder Josh Wilson, who led the Raininers with a .333 average, 11 doubles, a triple and 11 RBI. His 11 doubles led the Pacific Coast League.

Langerhans was batting .282 with a .391 on-base percentage.

Because neither Langerhans nor Wilson were on the 40-man major league roster, the Mariners must move one more player (in addition to Byrnes) off that roster. They're expected to make that move Monday, and it's not expected to be anyone off the current major league club.