Mariners Update

  • Thursday, May 23, 2002 9:00pm
  • Sports

Opponent: Baltimore Orioles

When: 7:05 p.m. today, 6:05 p.m. Saturday, 1:35 p.m. Sunday

Where: Safeco Field

TV: Fox Sports Net (cable) today and Saturday, no TV Sunday

Radio: KIRO (710 AM) all three games

Pitchers: Today – Seattle right-hander Freddy Garcia (4-4, 3.84 earned run average) vs. right-hander Scott Erickson (3-4, 4.11). Saturday – Right-hander Rafael Soriano (0-0, 0.00) vs. undecided. Sunday – Left-hander Jamie Moyer (3-2, 4.64) vs. right-hander Rodrigo Lopez (5-0, 1.94).

Edgar delayed: The Mariners had hoped designated hitter Edgar Martinez would return to the team Tuesday in Tampa, but he might be at least another week away.

Martinez wasn’t able to run the bases as planned on Thursday when he still wasn’t comfortable making turns. He had a tendon surgically removed from behind his left knee last month after injuring the leg while running to first base in Anaheim.

Under a best-case scenario, the team hoped to have Martinez run hard on the bases Thursday, report to Arizona for a weekend of at-bats with the Mariners’ minor leaguers and rejoin the team Tuesday in Tampa.

Positive signs: Four straight losses constitute barely a blip on baseball’s funk meter, which is one reason manager Lou Piniella hasn’t seemed stressed any more than usual.

Another reason is that Piniella actually was pleased with how the Mariners played in their four-game skid.

“I look at things a little differently,” he said. “I look at how are we winning and I look at how are we losing. I’m actually encouraged. If you look inside the numbers, sometimes when you’re losing you’re more encouraged than if you’re winning.”

The baserunning has been bad and the offense anemic, Piniella acknowledges, but he has been pleased with the starting pitching and defense. Freddy Garcia and Jamie Moyer pitched back-to-back complete games, Joel Pineiro could have gone deeper than six innings on Wednesday and James Baldwin worked seven strong innings Thursday.

Early in the season, when the Mariners built an early division lead and seemed on pace to match last year’s startling start, the starting pitching was a red flag. Starters weren’t going deep into games, and Piniella worried even though the team was winning.

“If you’re winning sloppily and your pitchers are going five innings, that’s not a good sign,” he said. “But when the pitching’s good and the defense is good, that’s really what allows you to win consistently.”

And allows a team to avoid the long losing streaks that make a four-game skid look meager.

“We’re not used to losing four in a row, but it’s a reality,” Piniella said. “Am I discouraged? Absolutely not. Do I think it will last the entire year? Absolutely not.”

He’s back: Jeff Cirillo returned to the Mariners’ lineup Thursday, starting at third base one day after Piniella benched him in what originally was to be more than a one-day demotion.

Cirillo, who landed in Piniella’s dog house because of frequent baserunning mistakes, didn’t even reach base Thursday. He went 0-for-4 out of the ninth spot and is hitting .247.

Progress for Abbott: Paul Abbott threw off the bullpen mound Thursday in yet another step forward in his quest to overcome an inflamed right shoulder.

“Passed another test,” he said.

Abbott, who went on the disabled list May 8, will throw another bullpen session on Saturday and pitch a simulated game on Tuesday before the Mariners’ game in Tampa. If all goes well, he expects to start a rehab assignment a week from Sunday in Tacoma.

Minor-league deal: The Mariners claimed 6-foot-6, 240-pound first baseman-outfielder Nathan Rolison off waivers from the Florida Marlins on Thursday and assigned him to Class AAA Tacoma.

Rolison, 25, merely had to switch clubhouses. The Rainiers were in Calgary on Thursday playing the Marlins’ Class AAA affiliate.

Rolison was hitting .254 with nine home runs and 21 RBI in 37 games at Calgary. He played eight games with the Marlins in 2000, his only major league experience.

To make room on the 40-man roster, the Mariners released right-handed pitcher Greg Wooten. The M’s would like to re-sign Wooten, 1-4 with a 5.77 ERA this season, but must wait until Monday and hope he hasn’t signed with another team.

Kirby Arnold

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