Mariners update

Opponent: Kansas City Royals

When: 5:10 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Where: Royals Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

TV: KSTW (channel 11) Tuesday and Thursday, Fox Sports Net (cable) on Wednesday.

Radio: KOMO (1000 AM) all three games.

Pitchers: Tuesday – Seattle left-hander Bobby Madritsch (2-0, 2.63 earned run average) vs. left-hander Darrell May (9-12, 4.91). Wednesday – Right-hander Ryan Franklin (3-11, 5.13) vs. right-hander Jimmy Serrano (0-1, 5.91). Thursday – Left-hander Ron Villone (4-3, 4.24) vs. right-hander Mike Wood (2-4, 4.50).

Loopy over Lopey

The Seattle Mariners consider Jose Lopez a key to the future of the franchise, and he showed why over the weekend against the New York Yankees.

Undaunted by the Yankees or the whole major league experience despite being just 20 years old, Lopez finished the series 4-for-10 with a home run and two RBI.

Sunday, he went 1-for-3 and drove in a run in the Mariners’ six-run seventh inning, and he played flawless at shortstop. Lopez displayed his range and strong arm in the third inning, when he back-handed a bouncer by Derek Jeter in shallow right field and threw him out at first.

Saturday, Lopez hit his first major league home run and made every play that came to him, showing he can charge slow rollers behind the mound and dive to stop balls up the middle.

“We’re seeing a lot of the things we saw in spring training. That’s why he’s here,” Mariners manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s got a great sense of how to play the game.”

Lopez was 16 when the Mariners signed him in 2000, and he quickly showed he could handle the game physically and mentally. He was named the Everett AquaSox MVP in his first full pro season in 2001 and was named the Mariners Minor League Player of the Year his next season, when he batted .324 at Class A Inland Empire and led the California League in hits and doubles.

He played shortstop, second and third base at Class AA San Antonio and made the Texas League All-Star team last year. It earned him an invitation to the Mariners’ spring training camp this year.

Melvin was impressed then, when Lopez batted .259 with two homers and 11 RBI in 26 games, and he still is.

“He knows how guys are going to pitch him. He hits the ball the other way when he needs to. If a guy’s on second with nobody out, you can hit-and-run with him. His bat stays in the strike zone a long time. For a 20-year-old kid, he has a great understanding of how to play the game.”

Lopez also is standing up mentally to the pressure of this level despite his youth.

“We wouldn’t have brought him here if we thought it would overwhelm him, and it hasn’t,” Melvin said.

The next step in Lopez’s development is simple, Melvin says.

“He just needs to play,” he said. “Play and learn the league more. Learn how guys are going to pitch him. Learn what the pitchers in the league have and get experience at the big-league level.

“He’s got the total package.”

Japanese history: When Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui hit home runs Sunday, it was the second time in major league history that two Japanese players homered in the same game. The first was June 6, 2004, when Matsui and Hideo Nomo homered in a game between the Yankees and Dodgers in Los Angeles.

Sleeve update: Melvin said Bobby Madritsch probably will be allowed to pitch with short sleeves Tuesday night at Kansas City. Madritsch, who has tattoos on both arms, was forced by umpires to wear long sleeves during his last outing against the Minnesota Twins, even though the Twins didn’t complain about it.

Melvin said the league has decided not to take a hard stance on the tattoos, although he planned to talk with KC manager Tony Pena before Tuesday’s game just to make sure the Royals don’t have a problem with it.

Celebrity pitch: Akira Ogi, former manager of the Orix Blue Wave and a Japanese baseball Hall of Famer, threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Sunday’s game. Mariners pitcher Shigetoshi Hasegawa stood alongside Ogi at the mound and Ichiro Suzuki caught his pitch.

Kirby Arnold, Herald Writer