Opponent: New York Yankees
When: 1:35 p.m.
Where: Safeco Field
TV: None
Radio: KOMO (1000 AM)
Pitchers: Seattle right-hander Joel Pineiro (5-9, 5.78 earned run average) vs. right-hander Jaret Wright (5-2, 6.39).
Two pitchers, one opening
Both Gil Meche and Ryan Franklin are scheduled to throw in the bullpen today, putting them in line to start Saturday’s game at Anaheim.
Who will get the start?
Nobody quite knows, including Meche and Franklin. It would be Franklin’s regular turn in the starting rotation, but Meche is scheduled to come off the 15-day disabled list Saturday.
“Nobody’s said anything to me,” Franklin said.
He has been bumped from the rotation twice this season, the first time after the All-Star break when his turn was skipped, the second when he served a 10-day suspension for a positive steroids test.
Meche, on the DL with tendinitis in his right knee, said Wednesday he feels good.
“I want to pitch. I don’t know when it is going to be, but mentally I want to pitch,” he said. “My body feels good. I don’t want to rush it, but I’m getting anxious about getting back on the mound. We’ve only got one month of the season left and I want to get back out there and pitch like I’m capable of pitching when I’m fully healthy.”
Manager Mike Hargrove believes that will happen soon.
“We don’t anticipate it being beyond the 15-day (DL) period,” Hargrove said. “Where he will pitch in the rotation remains to be determined.”
Hurricane watch: Meche, whose offseason home near Lafayette, La., is about 140 miles from New Orleans, spent much of Wednesday watching news footage of the flood-ravaged city.
“I was glued to the TV,” he said. “When the hurricane went through, I didn’t think it was that bad until the levee busted. There has to hundreds of people still in attics and on rooftops.”
Even his hometown is feeling the impact, Meche said.
“I talked to some buddies back home and they can’t believe how many people in our hometown are lined up for gas,” he said. “The convenience stores are only letting in so many people at a time because people could walk in, steal something and walk out. They said it’s unbelievable there.
“It’s going to be shocking when they find out the amount of damage and lives lost. It’s going to take a long time to get power, the water system is contaminated and there must be a million poisonous snakes there. People are walking chest-deep in water having no idea what’s in it. It’s a bad situation.”
Lonely in left: Mike Morse spent eight innings of his first game in left field Tuesday, eager to have a ball hit his direction.
It never was, until the ninth when the last hitter of the game hit one to Jamal Strong, who had replaced Morse for the final inning.
“I’m out there all night, and then the last inning, two outs, last pitch they hit one out there, and it’s Jamal who gets it,” Morse said.
Otherwise, he was pleased with his first start in the outfield since he played youth ball.
“I felt like I had good reads, I was in the places I should have been and I knew if any balls were going to be hit over there, I was going to catch them,” he said.
Of note: Catcher Jeff Clement, playing for the Mariners’ Class A team in Appleton, Wis., was named the Midwest League player of the week after four multi-hit games that raised his average to .369 in the 23 games he had played for the Timber Rattlers. Clement, the third overall pick in the June draft, played five games with the Everett AquaSox before being promoted to Wisconsin. … Randy Johnson became the first left-handed pitcher to start against the Mariners since the Angels’ Jarrod Washburn faced them on Aug. 12, breaking a streak of 17 straight right-handers. … Scheduled pitching matchups for this weekend’s series at Anaheim are Jamie Moyer vs. Paul Byrd on Friday, Ryan Franklin vs. Washburn on Saturday and Jeff Harris vs. Bartolo Colon on Sunday.
Kirby Arnold, Herald writer
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