As the sun begins to set over Camelback Ranch and the last person slowly makes his way off the field after the senior citizen postgame walk around the bases (and I mean walk), those aren’t just shafts of sunlight still illuminating the diamond here.
Perhaps, after a 9-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers, they are rays of hope for this Mariners offense. Either that, or it’s just early in spring training and a few guys ran into some balls.
Jack Wilson, Jack Cust and Alex Liddi homered as seven of the Mariners’ nine runs were the result of balls that cleared the fence. Wilson hit a solo homer in the fourth inning, Cust a two-run shot in the sixth and Liddi (breaking up the Jack jacks) a grand slam in the seventh.
It’s obvious this team has to hit the ball out of the park to score and that they’ve got the guys to do it. I’m being sarcastic there, although the home runs came in handy because twice the Ichiro Suzuki-Chone Figgins 1-2 punch got on base with nobody out and the Mariners did little with the opportunities (scoring only a run in the first inning on a passed ball).
“If I hit as many home runs as Jack, we’ll have a good year,” Cust said, with Wilson standing across from him in the visiting clubhouse. He said it with a straight face (although Wilson was smiling).
Manager Eric Wedge wasn’t getting too carried away with the home runs or the eight other hits by the Mariners. More important to him right now is the quality of the at-bats, and he said that was good.
“You take it on a case-by-case basis,” Wedge said. “You saw some different individuals put up better ABs. It’s not all about results right now. You’re looking for approach and quality type of at-bats. That’s what you saw more of today. We’ve seen more of that the last three or four days. It takes some time for the work to leak into the ballgame, but you look for the quality of the at-bats first.”
A few other notes from today’s game:
• Right-hander Doug Fister produced his best start of spring training, allowing two hits and a run with four strikeouts in four innings. He threw 52 pitches, 34 of them strikes.
“He controlled the ballgame,” Wedge said. “He did a good job moving his fastball around, he had a good tempo and his secondary stuff looked good. I was really happy with the way he threw the ball today.”
Fister’s only real ding was Rod Barajas’ solo home run in the third on a changeup that he pulled down the left-field line. Other than that, he seemed to be cruising. Someone described it as “effortless,” a notion that Fister disputed.
“It’s a constant struggle and every pitch is different,” he said. “From pitch to pitch, it’s something different. A little twist here, a little twist there.”
So, this constant struggle is the usual stuff he must plow through early in spring training?
“It’s always,” Fister said. “Beginning of the year, end of the year. It’s just a matter of keeping the mindset of constantly working and not being complacent. Every day is different.”
Fair enough, although this one was darned good.
• Cust grounded out with a runner in scoring position in the first inning and struck out looking with a man on third base in the third, giving him eight strikeouts in 19 spring at-bats. Then, in the sixth with Franklin Gutierrez on after a leadoff double, he crushed a fastball from left-hander Wilkin De La Rosa over the fence in right-center field for his first home run as a Mariner.
“You’re constantly searching for that rhythm and timing,” Cust said. “The last couple of games I haven’t felt great, but usually I need a lot of at-bats to kind of get into a little groove. Playing two days in a row is nice, seeing the ball a little bit, knowing where your feet and hands are and where you need to be. Any day you hit a homer is a good day.”
•Right-hander Chris Ray threw a simulated inning Wednesday morning as he comes back from a tight calf.
“He’s had a bit of a calf problem and I wanted to make sure it was a controlled environment and make sure he got his work in,” Wedge said. “We’ll see how he comes off that and either simulate another game or get him into a real game.”
• Wedge said he hasn’t decided if Felix Hernandez will pitch in Saturday’s game against the A’s or pitch a morning B game. The Mariners’ printed pitching schedule, however, lists Blake Beavan as starting against the A’s.
That makes sense, given the Mariners would prefer to avoid having Hernandez face division opponents too much in spring training. He made his first exhibition start last weekend against the A’s.
• Wedge said he expects Erik Bedard, Thursday’s starter against the Angels, to pitch three innings.
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