Next series
Opponent: Cleveland Indians
When: 4:05 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
Where: Jacobs Field in Cleveland
TV: Fox Sports Net, all three games
Radio: KOMO (1000 AM), all three games
Pitchers: Tuesday _ Seattle right-hander Carlos Silva (3-0, 2.83 earned run average) vs. right-hander Fausto Carmona (3-1, 2.89). Wednesday — Left-hander Jarrod Washburn (1-3, 4.03) vs. left-hander Cliff Lee (4-0, 0.28). Thursday — Right-hander Miguel Batista (2-3, 5.26) vs. right-hander Paul Byrd (1-2, 4.85).
Different strokes
Manager John McLaren stayed with the hot hand, starting Greg Norton at designated hitter for the second straight game in place of struggling Jose Vidro.
Norton went 3-for-4 and drove in three runs Saturday night, and it was no surprise to see him back as DH Sunday. He went 1-for-4.
Getting eight at-bats in two days is uncommon for Norton, one of those rare players who can sit for a week or more and still maintain his timing. How does he do it?
Like the performer striving for Carnegie Hall, it takes practice, practice, practice. Norton takes a lot of swings during batting practice and in the indoor batting cages. Because he’s a switch hitter, it often takes twice the work to make sure he’s in tune from both sides.
Then he takes a seat when the game begins and anticipates when he might be used.
“As the game goes along, I have a better sense of when I might go,” he said. “I try to keep pretty much the same routine starting around the sixth inning — getting down to the cage, stretching out and hitting.”
Former Mariner John Mabry called it the toughest job in baseball, particularly in the American League because pinch hitters are used sparingly compared with the NL. Norton has played three of his nine big-league seasons in Colorado, where manager Clint Hurdle made it his policy not to allow Norton to sit more than three days without an at-bat.
“It is a little bit tougher in the American League, but you do your extra hitting and do your early work. My routine doesn’t change,” Norton said. “The tough part about the American League is that during a game you have to think, ‘If this situation comes up, I might go.’ But in the National League, with the pitcher always coming up, you know when you’ll go.”
Of note: McLaren said Carlos Silva (thigh) and Miguel Batista (groin) continue to feel good and will make their next scheduled starts during the Cleveland series. … Felix Hernandez carved through the A’s in the third inning, striking out the side with only 10 pitches. His 10 strikeouts for the game were a season high. … The Safeco Field roof rolled overhead in the top of the eighth inning after rain began falling. The roof has been closed (or moved during a game) in seven of the Marines’ 14 games this season.
Kirby Arnold, Herald Writer
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