Opponent: Oakland Athletics

When: 6:05 p.m.

Where: Safeco Field

TV: Fox Sports Net (cable)

Radio: KIRO (710 AM)

Pitchers: Seattle right-hander Freddy Garcia (0-1, 4.26 ERA) vs. left-hander Mark Mulder (1-0, 3.38).

Before they even rolled out the first ball at spring training, the Mariners knew they could do a lot of damage this season. All that remained to be seen was whether this team could duplicate the magic of 2001.

It took only three games for the answer.

The Mariners won two of three from the White Sox, coming from behind in both victories and nearly finishing off a comeback in a one-run loss in the opener.

“It’s a sign that we’re a good ballclub,” Edgar Martinez said. “This is basically the same team we had last year, and we felt we had a chance to win pretty much every game. If you stay close you have a chance to come back in a lot of games. You start believing that after a while.”

In three games this week, the feeling was back.

“With me, it was, ‘Here we go again,’” Bret Boone said. “We had no business being in that game (Wednesday). We’re down 6-3 and all of a sudden we come back.”

Even the best teams need a confidence boost like that, especially in a sport known for its peaks and valleys over a six-month season.

“It helps you believe that you’ll be in every game,” Martinez said. “It gives you confidence and reassures in you the kind of team you have.”

What the first series showed, Boone said, is that there’s no letdown from last year.

“We want to get to where we’re capable of getting,” he said. “I think we’re a World Series-caliber team.”

Missing Athletic: Oakland third baseman Eric Chavez didn’t start Friday night and may not until Sunday’s game, A’s manager Art Howe said.

Chavez, who hit seven home runs against the Mariners last year, left Wednesday’s game against Texas with tightness in his lower back and didn’t play on Thursday.

Feeling fine: Not only is infielder Desi Relaford back from the sick bay after going home with the flu one day this week, he was in the starting lineup Friday.

“He’s been the only one, and that’s why we sent him home,” trainer Rick Griffin said.

This is the time of year when the flu typically sweeps through a baseball team, when the sniffles associated with playing in cold weather can spread easily. The M’s didn’t take Relaford’s illness lightly, and he left the stadium at game time Tuesday.

The best medicine, it turned out, was waiting for him at home.

“Mom’s in town and she made me a little soup,” Relaford said.

Debut day: Luis Ugueto, the Mariners’ Rule V draft pick, made his major league debut on Wednesday, the same day that two former Mariner minor leaguers who are Rule V players also played in the big leagues for the first time.

Right-handed pitchers Steve Kent and Jorge Sosa, both former Everett AquaSox, played Thursday with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Kirby Arnold