Opponent: Oakland A’s
When: 1:05 p.m.
Where: Safeco Field
TV: Fox Sports Net (cable)
Radio: KOMO (1000 AM) and KKMO (1360 AM) Spanish language.
Pitchers: Seattle left-hander Jamie Moyer (20-7, 3.27 earned run average) vs. left-hander Ted Lilly (12-9, 4.18).
Unless someone’s plans change, today will be Mark McLemore’s last as a Mariner and maybe as a baseball player.
The 38-year-old feels certain the team isn’t interested in having him back next year, and he’s not sure he wants to return for a 15th major league season with anybody.
McLemore, considering retirement after 21 pro seasons, said he would go home to Texas and discuss his future with his wife and three children before making a decision.
“That will be the process,” he said before Saturday’s game. “Right now, I know me pretty good and I know I need some time to get away from this.”
Knowing this could be McLemore’s final game, Mariners manager Bob Melvin said he probably will start him today even though Ted Lilly will pitch for Oakland and McLemore rarely faces left-handers.
“You’d like to get him out there on the last day here because I’m not sure if he’ll be back next year,” Melvin said. “He’s been a big part of this.”
McLemore said he won’t treat today with any more significance than all the others in his career.
“I look at every day as being special,” said McLemore, who has never forgotten the minor league coaches early in his career who said he’d never last in the pros. “Just being here each and every day proving those people wrong means something to me.”
He says the decision to retire or not, heart-wrenching for some, won’t be difficult.
“At some point it’s got to be made, whether I make it or somebody else makes it,” he said. “It’s a lot harder decision to make the younger you are. The closer you get to it, you think about it more. It won’t be hard.”
Short hops: Melvin hasn’t decided if he will talk to his team before today’s finale. “Maybe individually,” he said. “As a group I’m proud of how hard everybody here played this year. In one way or another, I’ll get that across, whether it’s to the group or individually.” … Willie Bloomquist started Saturday for only the second time this month and played in just his fifth game in September. … John Olerud’s three doubles in his last two games give him 35 this season, tying him with Bret Boone for the team lead.
Kirby Arnold
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