M’s drudge up smiles for early a.m. photos

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, February 22, 2006

PEORIA, Ariz. – It’s not easy to put on a smile at 7 in the morning.

The Seattle Mariners tried anyway Wednesday, when they posed for mug shots, baseball card pictures and even 3D images to be used in video games on photo day at spring training.

“They always say, ‘Smile!’ and sometimes that just ticks me off,” pitcher Kevin Appier said facetiously. “I’m not a smiley guy.”

Pitcher George Sherrill tried to oblige for the cameras, but it wasn’t easy.

“They want you to smile, but it’s awfully early for that,” he said.

Players moved from station to station inside and outside a multipurpose room at the Mariners’ training facility. At one, they recorded video clips that will be shown during games at Safeco Field (Question: “What was your first Halloween costume?” Richie Sexson’s answer: “Bumblebee.”)

Perhaps the most interesting photo situation – and most difficult for the players – was the station where 3D images where shot for video games. Players sat in a chair with their heads against a backrest and had to remain still while the chair rotated 360 degrees. Images were photographed from the front, sides, back and top of their heads.

“The toughest part was that they wouldn’t let you blink,” Sherrill said. “That wasn’t easy because there was a light shining in your eyes.”

For some, photo day also brought back childhood memories of elementary school pictures and dressing in clothes they’d never wear on any other day. Pitcher Scott Atchison remembered his mom making him wear a particular shirt.

“She made me wear that shirt three years in a row,” he said.

The Mariners will keep mugging for the cameras today and Friday when the team’s annual TV commercials are shot. There will be six commercials this year, with a return to the humorous format that gives fans a look behind the scenes at the players and their personalities.

Producing a commercial on Ichiro Suzuki will be the biggest challenge because he isn’t here. Suzuki is in Japan training for the World Baseball Classic.

“We’re going to come up with footage of Ichiro that we already have,” said Kevin Martinez, the Mariners’ vice president of marketing. “The spot will be about Ichiro, but through the fans’ perspective.”

Hammer time: Manager Mike Hargrove said he agrees with designated hitter Carl Everett’s observation that last year’s Mariners were a team that hoped to win but didn’t always expect to win.

“That doesn’t mean we would play less hard,” Hargrove said, “but we’d play less aggressive.”

Hargrove said the 99-loss season of 2004 had lingering effects last year, when the Mariners lost 93 games.

“If you get beat over the head with a hammer enough times, you start looking for the hammer,” he said.

New arrival: Roberto Petagine worked out with the Mariners on Wednesday, one day after he agreed to terms of a minor league contract. The M’s are looking at him to compete for a bench role because he’s a left-handed hitter with a history of power, especially during six seasons in Japan from 1999-2004.

Petagine averaged 37 homers and 99 RBI in Japan, with a .446 on-base percentage and a .633 slugging percentage. He hit 20 home runs with 69 RBI last year with the Boston Red Sox’s Class AAA team in Pawtucket.

“He raked the ball over there (in Japan) and he raked last year when he was with the Red Sox,” said Ted Heid, the Mariners’ director of Pacific Rim operations.

Petagine worked out at first base Wednesday but he’s apparently more suited to the DH role.

“He’s like Edgar (Martinez),” Heid said. “He doesn’t bring a glove to the ballpark.”

Planet of the Appier: Pitcher Kevin Appier, a 38-year-old veteran trying to make the team on a minor-league invite, has amused teammates and fans with a running commentary during workouts. Some examples from Wednesday:

“Nobody ever gives me the ball,” he said while standing on third base as the middle infielders finished a pickoff-rundown drill. “Nobody lets me play.”

And, talking with a trainer after running from the mound several times during the drill: “Can I get an injection in my ankle? I would recommend WD-40.”

Lining them up: Hargrove said he has written two different lineups this month, “although over the course of the winter, it was about 502.”

The second spot in the batting order seems to be the most uncertain, and Hargrove said he would try Kenji Johjima, Jeremy Reed, Fernando Vina and Matt Lawton there in exhibition games.

Yuniesky Betancourt will bat eighth or ninth, Hargrove said.

“That will take some of the pressure off him,” he said. “But I think this kid will become an offensive shortstop. He still has some holes (in his swing), but it’s a problem that I think experience will cover.”

Of note: Relief pitcher J.J. Putz didn’t practice Wednesday – his 29th birthday – because of a low back spasm. His back stiffened while throwing batting practice on Tuesday, although he finished his work before receiving treatment. His status was listed as day-to-day. … Hargrove, who complained to the grounds crew about the field conditions Tuesday, said they seemed better Wednesday. … Hargrove said he was pleased with the intensity of the first full-squad workout Tuesday. “There was nothing that sparked me to the point where I wanted to strangle anybody, and that usually happens.”