Mariner notes

Published 10:33 pm Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Next series

Opponent: Cleveland Indians

When: 4:05 p.m. Friday, 12:55 p.m. Saturday, 10:05 a.m. Sunday

Where: Progressive Field in Cleveland

TV: Fox Sports Net on Friday and Sunday. No TV on Saturday

Radio: KOMO (1000 AM) all three games

Pitchers: Friday _ Seattle right-hander Felix Hernandez (8-8, 3.28 earned run average) vs. left-hander Jeremy Sowers (2-6, 5.95). Saturday _ Left-hander Jarrod Washburn (5-14, 4.93) vs. right-hander Anthony Reyes (2-1, 2.22). Sunday _ Left-hander Ryan Rowland-Smith (3-2, 3.73) vs. left-hander Zach Jackson (0-0, 4.91).

Protection plan: Mariners manager Jim Riggleman defended his decision not to use closer J.J. Putz in the ninth inning Tuesday night after Putz seemed perturbed at being told not to warm up.

Riggleman said he didn’t use Putz because he’d either pitched or warmed up in eight of the previous nine games.

“Before the game he indicated to me that he was a little sore,” Riggleman said. “As a manager, when you pitch your closer two days in a row and that word ‘sore’ comes up, it’s tough to put him back out there. I can’t hear from somebody that ‘My arm hurts’ and put him out there with good conscious.”

Not in a season like this, when the Mariners are playing for little more than to prepare for 2009.

“If we were fighting for a playoff spot, he’d have been in there,” Riggleman said.

With the Mariners leading 3-2 in the eighth inning Tuesday, Putz got off the bullpen bench and prepared to throw. Riggleman phoned bullpen coach Norm Charlton and told him to have Putz take a seat. Roy Corcoran pitched the final two innings and recorded his first major league save.

Morrow report: Brandon Morrow’s fifth start with Class AAA Tacoma was his roughest since he was sent down to be converted into a starter. He threw 79 pitches and gave up five hits and six runs, including two homers, in 4 2/3 innings Tuesday night against Sacramento.

It inflated Morrow’s ERA as a starter to 6.75, although that’s not the focal point at this time of the conversion.

“As we knew it would be, it’s going to be a little bit of a hot and cold process,” Riggleman said. “The breaking ball wasn’t as effective as it had been in his previous outing.”

He is scheduled to start Sunday at home against Portland. Riggleman said he would start one of three games against the Yankees during the Mariners’ next homestand.

Officially, Morrow didn’t start the game Tuesday even though he was the first pitcher on the mound.

Why?

It was the completion of the April 6 game that was postponed in the first inning because of rain. That’s why the boxscore also includes such names as Greg Norton (traded); Jeff Clement, Wladimir Balentien and Tug Hulett (all now with the M’s); and Bronson Sardinha (released and now with Cleveland’s Class AAA team in Akron).

Of note: Contrary to what Riggleman said early this week, Carlos Silva will come off the disabled list and start Monday, not Sunday. Starting him Monday allows the Mariners to avoid moving a player because rosters can expand Sept. 1. … Saturday’s game at Cleveland won’t be televised because the starting time falls within the window of the FOX national telecast. It originally had been part of FOX’s national schedule before the network dropped it. … Riggleman said the September callups are sure to include a couple of pitchers for the bullpen, including Mark Lowe, who was optioned to Tacoma this week. … Former Seahawks lineman Chris Gray threw out the ceremonial first pitch Wednesday.

Kirby Arnold, Herald Writer