While driving to the ballpark listening to my theme song — Dazed and Confused, Zeppelin — I wondered what the Mariners’ lineup would be for tonight’s series opener against the Rays.
Would Ken Griffey Jr. take a seat in favor of a new attempt at offense via Ryan Langerhans in left field and Milton Bradley moving to the DH spot? Would there be something more radical, like Chone Figgins leading off and Ichiro batting third (heard that one on the radio this afternoon. Oh, come on, now)?
There is a different look to tonight’s lineup, although you can hardly call this a shakeup. More of a jiggle compared with what a lot of fans would like to see.
Ichiro, Figgins and Franklin Gutierrez are back in the top three spots, with Bradley up to fourth, Griffey fifth and Jose Lopez down to sixth. Jack Wilson will bat eighth after batting ninth in all 23 of his starts this season and Adam Moore bats ninth.
Manager Don Wakamatsu said essentially that there’s enough offensive ability on the current club to pull the Mariners out of this run-scoring drought. As long as the hitters put together good at-bats and execute the little things necessary to move runners into scoring position and get them home, things will change, he said. He also didn’t see the need to go out and buy another bat.
How will newly called-up Ryan Langerhans and Josh Wilson be used? Pretty much as you’d expect a fourth outfielder and backup infielder to be used — for late-game defense and occasional starts in order to give the regulars some time off.
So don’t look for Langerhans to become a more regular left fielder and Bradley the DH instead of Griffey anytime soon.
Here are tonight’s lineups:
RAYS
Rodriguez, second base
Crawford, left field
Zobrist, center field
Longoria, third base
Pena, first base
Kapler, right field
Burrell, DH
Navarro, catcher
Brignac, shortstop
Right-hander Shields, starting pitcher
MARINERS
Suzuki, right field
Figgins, second base
Gutierrez, center field
Bradley, left field
Griffey, DH
Lopez, third base
Kotchman, first base
Jack Wilson, shortstop
Moore, catcher
Left-hander Vargas, starting pitcher
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