PEORIA, Ariz. – Raul Ibanez looked at Ichiro Suzuki and asked, “How do you say lucky?”
Suzuki, having witnessed a third straight day of hitting perfection by the Seattle Mariners’ left fielder, wouldn’t go there.
“That’s no luck,” Suzuki said. “He has a magic stick.”
Magic is the only explanation Ibanez can come up with for a hitting streak that he certainly has never experienced. He hit an RBI single and a three-run home run in his two at-bats Thursday, making him 11-for-11 over the last three games.
“I can’t remember an 11-for-11,” said Mariners manager Bob Melvin, whose team ended the Arizona portion of the exhibition schedule with a 13-6 victory over the San Diego Padres.
During the streak, Ibanez has two doubles, a triple, the home run and seven RBI. He has raised his batting average 120 points to .426.
“I don’t know, it just goes in the hole,” he said.
When Ibanez returned to the dugout after his third-inning home run, Melvin greeted him with a few words that made him smile.
“He said, ‘Pack it up and go to Safeco Field right now,’” Ibanez said.
The Mariners don’t know of anyone in club history who has come close to an 11-for-11 streak, and Ibanez said he definitely hasn’t. Even Suzuki, sitting at his locker nearby, said he’s never done it.
“I just hope I can carry it over,” Ibanez said. “I’m trying to see the ball a long time and hit it on the barrel.”
Nobody has been hitting like Ibanez, but the Mariners are on an offensive roll themselves. Their 16 hits Thursday gave them 54 in the last three games.
John Olerud hit his first spring training home run in the first inning and Rich Aurilia went 2-for-2.
“It’s good to see guys like Ibanez and Olerud swing the bat like they are now,” Melvin said. “The timing is what you’d like to see, guys incrementally starting to see the ball batter and getting results toward the end. We’ve got two more games in San Diego, but everything is on schedule. It’s encouraging.”
The Spiezio watch: Third baseman Scott Spiezio was examined by a back specialist in Phoenix on Thursday as the Mariners looked for solutions to an injury that has kept him from playing since Saturday.
It’s possible that Spiezio will be placed on the disabled list, perhaps today after results of the exam are known and the team discusses how to deal with it.
If Spiezio lands on the DL, the Mariners likely would start Willie Bloomquist at third base and place infielder Ramon Santiago on the opening-day roster.
Spiezio injured his back when he planted his foot on the side of the pitcher’s mound while chasing a popup on March 25. He tried to play Saturday but left the game after one at-bat when he felt back pain while running to first base.
Waiting game: Left-handed relief pitcher Mike Myers is down to the final day before he will learn if he makes the team.
Myers is competing with Terry Mulholland for the final opening in the bullpen, and both have pitched well in spring training. Myers hasn’t allowed a run in nine innings and Mulholland has a 4.00 ERA in 18 innings.
Ron Villone, another lefty, is expected to make the team because he is strong in long relief and can be a starter. Villone has a 1.64 ERA in 11 innings.
“Terry and I aren’t on the roster and Ron is, so I would think Ron is on the team,” Myers said. “So it’s probably down to Terry and me. Terry has pitched great this spring and I’ve pitched great. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.”
And if it’s not meant to be?
“I’ve pitched well enough that I know I’ll be with another team,” Myers said.
The Boston Red Sox host the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday night, and all 25-man rosters must be set 24 hours before that game begins.
“If I don’t make this team and one of those teams wants me,” Myers said, “I can be in Boston and be in uniform by gametime.”
Roster moves: The Mariners shaved the roster to 27 players Thursday by sending right-handed pitcher Aaron Looper to Class AAA Tacoma, and placing injured outfielder Chris Snelling on the 15-day disabled list and pitcher Aaron Taylor on the 60-day DL.
Looper, the last remaining young pitcher in the big-league camp, pitched impressively, going 1-0 with a 1.74 earned run average in 10 1/3 innings of work.
“His stock has really risen with me this spring,” Melvin said. “He’s worked on an effective changeup that he’s throwing to left-handers and he throws his breaking ball to both sides of the plate now. This is a guy who we can bring up and pitch him in big innings. He has really, really come along well.”
Snelling is recovering from surgery Feb. 27 on the hamate bone in his right hand. His DL time is retroactive to March 26.
Taylor had rotator cuff surgery on his right shoulder on Sept. 5 and has been playing catch at spring training. He isn’t expected to pitch again until late this summer.
Fluent: Suzuki has become so accomplished at the English language that the more he speaks it, the more he hears it from other teammates who try to razz him.
He can also dish it out, though.
“How do you do it, Ichiro?” Quinton McCracken asked Thursday as he walked past as Suzuki was talking about hitting.
Without hesitation, Suzuki replied, “It’s obvious.”
Staying behind: At about the time the Mariners leave the training complex this morning on their trip to San Diego, Freddy Garcia will stay behind and pitch six innings in a minor league game in Peoria. Garcia will start the third game of the season, next Thursday against the Angels.
Reliever Julio Mateo also will stay in Peoria and pitch today in a minor league game.
Growth of the kids: Melvin said one of the most pleasant aspects of spring training was the development of the young position players in the Mariners’ organization.
“You’re seeing quite a few position players who can help us in the big leagues this year who are going to be in Triple A,” Melvin said. “We feel like if somebody gets hurt and we need them, we have some guys who can be productive in the big-leagues position player-wise. We always knew our pitching would be that way. But as far as prospects go in this organization, we have them all the way around now.”
Felix watch: Melvin didn’t get a chance to see pitcher Felix Hernandez during spring training, but he watched the 17-year-old right-hander long enough during the fall instructional league to form a high opinion.
“It doesn’t take long to figure out that this kid is going to be special, real special,” Melvin said. “He just tore through the instructional league. He was just toying with guys.”
Hernandez pitched 11 games with the Everett AquaSox last year, going 7-2 with a 2.29 ERA.
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