I imagine it's normal to look back to the beginning when you reach the end of something you enjoy so much.

That's where I am today. I've written my final words as an employee of The Herald, where I've worked 27-plus years, including the past 13 years covering the Seattle Mariners.

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The Mariners are going to Japan next March to begin the 2012 season against the A’s – that news was announced this morning – and it brought back the memory of one of the bigger disappointments for a lot of us covering the team.

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You know the season is just about over when most of the reporters’ questions are for their season wrapup stories in the next few days and not about anything too pertinent to today’s game.

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Not much news on the Mariners front before tonight's antepenultimate (or is it prepenultimate? Go ahead and Google it, kids) game between the M's and A's. We do know this much:

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No need to turn that radio dial the next few years if you're a Mariners fan. The Mariners announced this morning a multi-year contract extension with 710 ESPN as its radio network flagship. Length of the contract was not announced.

The deal includes all regular-season games and at least 20 spring training games, plus pregame, postgame and offseason programming focusing on the Mariners.

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Today’s pregame media gathering with Mariners manager Eric Wedge began with a quick injury report -- Chone Figgins won’t play again this year, Brendan Ryan still has pain in his neck, Justin Smoak isn’t starting again, Casper Wells still doesn’t feel well.

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The end is either here or near for Mariners third baseman Chone Figgins’ season.

Manager Eric Wedge said this afternoon that Figgins would put in a full workout during batting practice today, and that would help determine if he’ll play again. Figgins has been out since Aug. 2 because of a strained right hip flexor.

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Emotions flowed again for the late Dave Niehaus this afternoon as the Mariners unveiled what's going to be a very popular place at Safeco Field.

The Dave Niehaus statue was unveiled to a small crowd of family and friends of the Mariners' longtime broadcaster, who died last November. The statue, with a figure of Niehaus behind a desk with a microphone and his scorebook, features a place where fans can sit next to the Hall of Famer.

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Operating on the theory that players can get bigger and stronger in the weight room but must keep playing games if they’re to improve on the field, the Mariners will have a huge contingent in winter ball this offseason.

Mariners minor league director Pedro Grifol said 75 players, ranging from a few on the big-league team to some from the Dominican and Venezuelan summer programs, will take part in various winter leagues.

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Major League Baseball this morning announced its tentative schedule for 2012 (tentative because game times are not yet set), and the Mariners will open on the road for the fourth straight year, April 6 at Oakland.

The home opener will be April 13 ( a Friday) against the A’s.

The Mariners will play the National League West in interleague games, including home series in June against the Giants and Dodgers.

A few highlights of the 2012 schedule:

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Hard to believe that this is Cesar Jimenez’s 10th year in the Seattle Mariners’ organization. In some ways, it seem like 20 years since he was a 17-year-old in his first professional season with the Everett AquaSox. That was 2002.

Since then, Jimenez has been one of the more intriguing Mariners prospects.

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Before we dive into the Mariners' news of the day -- and there are snippets -- I share this moment of utter humility.

As I rode the elevator back to the Safeco Field press box this afternoon after talking with players and manager Eric Wedge, it stopped at the main concourse. To my absolute delight, a young woman rolled into the elevator a large rack filled with dozens of bags of cotton candy. Some of it is pink, some blue and, to me, all of it a sugary delight.

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Before we lose ourselves the next few hours into the release from real life that baseball can be, the Mariners held a touching pregame observance on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy.

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Like all the other rookies with the Mariners this year, outfielder Trayvon Robinson is being introduced to big-league baseball in a lot of different ways. First at-bat, first hit, first SportsCenter highlight, etc.

Today, first big dose of clubhouse ridicule.

As Robinson walked on to the field before batting practice, he saw his likeness on the center field wall at Safeco Field.

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We’ve all been there in our youth. The nice family car sits in the driveway and, wouldn’t you know it, the keys are on the counter and the family is gone for the day.

You’ve had your license for a couple of months, so you obviously know everything there is to know about driving. And that car is there for the taking. I mean, Mom and Dad wouldn’t have left it if they didn’t expect you to drive it, right?

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While the Mariners keep trying to figure out the Angels the next three days in Anaheim, I’m home in Snohomish County trying to conquer weeds in the back yard. When we get together again late this week, the Mariners will introduce a couple of new players to Safeco Field.

Among the latest minor league callups, third baseman Alex Liddi and pitcher Steve Delabar will suit up as Mariners for the first time (Michael Saunders also is up for the second time this year).

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Painful as it was to watch rookie Anthony Vasquez battle his command last night and get torched by the Angels, he’s staying in the Mariners’ starting rotation.

Manager Eric Wedge left that question open-ended after the game last night but today, considering all factors, the Mariners decided that Vasquez will start again Sept. 5 against the Angels in Anaheim.

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Minutes before tonight's Mariners-Angels game -- and a few hours before the deadline for teams to make trades for players who would be eligible for the postseason -- the Mariners traded infielder Jack Wilson to the Atlanta Braves. The Mariners will receive a player to be named later.

Wilson, on the disabled list with a bruised left heel, began the season as the Mariners' starting second baseman but lost that job in June when rookie Dustin Ackley was called up.

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Pretty big day news-wise at Safeco Field, and I’m not just saying that because Kurt Busch is here to throw out the ceremonial first pitch (the redneck NASCAR side of my heart flutters, though).

Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik got a contract extension today. It’s hard to expect anything other than that from a guy who has replenished the organization with young players who just might make a longterm impact.

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Nick Franklin, the Mariners’ highly regarded shortstop prospect whose regular season was interrupted by injury and illness, will get six more weeks of baseball this year in the Arizona Fall League.

Franklin is among seven players in the Mariners’ organization – four pitchers and three position players -- who’ll play for the Peoria Javelinas. The 38-game fall league regular season runs from Oct. 4-Nov. 17.

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Before we get into a few notes on the Mariners, this just in: The AquaSox Boys are at Safeco Field!

Yep, the Everett AquaSox, the Mariners' Class A team, is visiting the big house on their day off before making a final-week push to make the Northwest League playoffs. The Sox are a game behind first-place Eugene in the West Division with five remaining this week at Spokane.

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The Mariners’ season has long passed the point when a victory is the greatest thing to be accomplished in a day. Take today, for example.

The Mariners were thoroughly thrashed by the Chicago White Sox – 9-3 on Gavin Floyd’s pitching and some heavy hitting by the Sox.

The lessons learned?

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Besides fans clamoring for the Larry Bernandez bobblehead, which fans will get tonight, there's not a lot of juice to the Mariners report before Game 2 of their series against the Chicago White Sox.

There is this:

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A few pregame notes as the Mariners begin a seven-game homestand with three against the White Sox (whose first baseman is former Jackson High and UW star Brent Lillibridge):

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The Seattle Mariners place tremendous value on having their minor league players experience a late-season division race and the win-or-else nature of playoff baseball.

But that’s not as important as making sure their players, especially pitchers whose arms are developing, remain healthy. That’s why Taijuan Walker, the Mariners’ first-round draft pick last year who’s had a successful season at Class A Clinton (Iowa), is done for the year.

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