Opponent: Detroit Tigers
When: 1:05 p.m.
Where: Safeco Field
TV: FSN (cable)
Radio: KOMO (1000 AM)
Pitchers: Seattle right-hander Gil Meche (7-4, 3.92 earned run average) vs. left-hander Nate Robertson (8-4, 3.35).
Ichiro the DH
Ichiro Suzuki and Carl Everett traded positions Saturday, with Suzuki starting at designated hitter and Everett playing right field for the first time this season. Suzuki had started all 87 games in right until Saturday.
“We’re just giving him a break off his feet,” Hargrove said. “He’s played every game this year.”
Hargrove said the move to DH for a day – and not a request for Suzuki to play center field – was the topic of his conversation with Suzuki in the clubhouse after Friday’s game. Several Japanese reporters believed Hargrove had asked Suzuki to play center after Shin-Soo Choo struggled there Friday.
Instead, Willie Bloomquist made a rare start in center against a right-handed starting pitcher. Bloomquist had started 21 games in center in a platoon with left-handed-hitting Jeremy Reed, all of those starts against left-handed starters. Bloomquist’s last center-field start against a right-handed pitcher was Aug. 6, 2004 at Tampa Bay (Dewon Brazelton).
Asked if there were plans to play Suzuki in center, Hargrove refused to say. “If there were, I wouldn’t tell you,” he said.
Saturday was Everett’s first start in the outfield since Sept. 9, 2005, when he played left field for the White Sox against the Angels. His last game in right field was Aug. 28, 2005, when the White Sox played at Seattle. Everett has started 303 career games in the outfield, 246 in right.
The Mariners will have a new DH today when Eduardo Perez, acquired more than a week ago in a trade with the Indians, finally makes his first start. The Mariners will platoon him at DH, starting against left-handers while Everett starts against right-handers. Tigers starter Nate Robertson is the first lefty to start against the Mariners since Perez was traded.
Perez has one at-bat, as a pinch-hitter Tuesday in the ninth inning against the Angels.
High hopes for Lowe: With a fastball that hit 98 mph, a slider at 89 and no fear of throwing either for strikes, Mark Lowe showed Mariners fans Friday an arm that has excited the organization for some time.
Lowe, on the day he was called up from Class AA San Antonio, made his major league debut against the Tigers and pitched a scoreless ninth inning amid a huge case of nerves.
“He certainly showed us the stuff that made us believe that some point in time he could pitch at the back of a ballgame,” manager Mike Hargrove said.
Lowe, who started the season at Class A Inland Empire, recorded four saves while closing games in the month he played for San Antonio. He won’t close anytime soon for the Mariners, but it’s a job he definitely covets.
“I love closing,” Lowe said. “That’s the best job in the game.”
He loves the challenge of trying to overpower hitters with is stuff, the stress of trying to protect a ninth-inning lead and the exhilaration when he does his job.
“It’s stressful at times and I experienced a little of that,” he said. “When your team plays hard for eight innings and you blow it for them, that’s one of the worst feelings.
“But when you get the job done it’s the best feeling, getting the third out and shaking hands with your teammates. It’s one of the best feelings in the world.”
Setting the rotation: Right-hander Gil Meche will start Friday at Toronto in the Mariners’ first game after the All-Star break.
The Mariners will use the break to re-arrange their rotation, with Meche followed by left-hander Jamie Moyer, right-hander Felix Hernandez, left-hander Jarrod Washburn and right-hander Joel Pineiro.
Hernandez, who was pulled from today’s scheduled start in an effort to limit him to 200 innings for the season, will have gone 12 days between starts.
Of note: The Mariners will celebrate the brief existence of the 1969 Seattle Pilots today by wearing Pilots uniforms. In addition, former Pilot Tommy Davis will throw out the ceremonial first pitch. The Pilots played one season at Sick’s Stadium before they were sold to Bud Selig, who moved the team to Milwaukee and renamed it the Brewers. … Right-handed pitcher Jeff Harris, on the disabled list with tendinitis in his right shoulder, threw a scoreless inning Friday night for the Mariners’ rookie-level team in Peoria, Ariz., in his first rehab appearance. … The color guard from Snohomish County Fire District 1 took part in the National Anthem before Saturday’s game.
Kirby Arnold, Herald Writer
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