EASY DOES IT FOR SILVA

Carlos Silva made a few tweaks to his pitching mechanics, but also his mental state, and it worked in his final exhibition start Thursday. He held the San Diego Padres to six hits and two runs in five innings of the Mariners’ 18-3 victory.

It was a vast change from Silva’s previous outing, when he gave up 11 hits and eight earned runs in 3 1/3 innings against the Los Angeles Angels. He said after that one that he tried too hard.

“I made sure I wasn’t jumping and trying to overthrow,” he said. “Sometimes when you are in the game, I think the harder I throw the tougher I’m going to look. That’s not the fact. Today I was nice and easy and tried to hit my spot and the sinker was working good.”

The Mariners also have adjusted Silva’s mechanics to have him stand taller over the rubber in order to create a better downward plane on his pitches, especially the sinker that has been his most effective pitch in his career.

The sinker bailed Silva out twice Thursday when he got the Padres to hit into inning-ending double plays.

“I’m aggressive enough,” he said. “If I’m going to put more aggression in myself, that’s not going to be good. I’m very happy the way I pitched today.”

Silva will pitch the third game of the season Wednesday at Minnesota.

FINAL ROSTER DECISIONS

With little fanfare or surprise, Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu revealed the order of his starting rotation — Felix Hernandez, Erik Bedard, Silva, Jarrod Washburn and Ryan Rowland-Smith.

Other decisions on the makeup of the team won’t be announced until Saturday when the Mariners play their final exhibition in Las Vegas.

Wakamatsu said the club has a firm idea how the final roster spots will take shape, but “there are still some decisions to make that are sensitive to the players on the team right now.”

Backup catcher and the makeup of the bullpen are the only unknowns.

Rob Johnson is considered the frontrunner to win the backup catching job over Jamie Burke, who is a non-roster player.

Two other non-roster pitchers are expected to make the team in the bullpen, right-handers Shawn Kelley and Chris Jakubauskas. Even though Wakamatsu met with them Thursday morning, neither said they knew whether they were or weren’t going to make the team.

“I know I’m going to Vegas on Friday, but I don’t know where I’ll be flying Saturday,” Jakubauskas said.

The Mariners will fly from Las Vegas to Minneapolis on Saturday. The players who don’t make the team probably will fly back to Arizona and continue workouts for the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers, who open their season next Thursday at Sacramento.

OF NOTE

Right-hander Mark Lowe continued his strong finish to what began as difficult spring training. He gave up one run and two hits in two innings against the Padres and, for the second straight game, had a crispness to his pitches he hadn’t shown early in camp. “I thought his stuff was better today,” Wakamatsu said. “We’re heading in the right direction. He’s been putting in a lot of time in the bullpen and working on some things and it’s getting better.” … Third baseman Matt Tuiasosopo, who will begin the season with Class AAA Tacoma, was named the top rookie of spring training among the Mariners and Padres, who share the Peoria Sports Complex. He batted .404 with two homers and nine RBI before being sent down. “In camps before, I’d put all this pressure on myself,” Tuiasosopo said. “I thought why? I’m not going to make the team. This time I wanted to get to know Wak and the staff and let them see the type of player I am. I was able to relax, I didn’t try to do too much and look at what happened.”

Kirby Arnold, The Herald