Opponent: New York Yankees
When: 7:05 p.m.
Where: Safeco Field
TV: Fox Sports Net
Radio: KOMO (1000 AM)
Pitchers: Seattle right-hander Jeff Harris (1-1, 1.69 earned run average) vs. right-hander Shawn Chacon (3-1, 1.80).
Blonde, not blind
When Richie Sexson walked past manager Mike Hargrove on Monday, the Mariners’ skipper wondered briefly if his star first baseman’s eyesight was still fuzzy.
Sexson had buzzed his dark hair down to the nubs, then dyed it blonde Sunday night.
“He did that once in Cleveland, and I told him he looked like a giant cue tip,” Hargrove said. “It kind of glows.”
Everyone was glowing about Sexson on Monday for a more important reason. One day after he couldn’t play because of blurry vision in his right eye, he could see clearly again and was back in the lineup.
Sexson believes a short-lived virus caused the eye problem, which forced him to leave the game after his first-inning at-bat Sunday. It cleared up Sunday night, he said.
“I’d had a sore throat on my right side, and maybe a little virus set in,” said Sexson, who admitted that the episode scared him. “I was worried that it might not come back,” he said.
It did, along with the new-look hair.
“Just decided to try something different last night,” he said.
Beltre fine: Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre also returned to the lineup after leaving Sunday’s game in the fifth inning because of a bruised right kneecap. He jammed the knee into the ground when he slid back into first base.
“It was pretty sore yesterday. I couldn’t straighten my leg,” Beltre said. “It’s much better today.”
Don’t do it again: Hargrove would rather not see a repeat of the unorthodox baserunning move that Ichiro Suzuki tried Sunday.
Suzuki ran through the bag instead of sliding on a forceout at second base, figuring he might beat the throw and allow the runner on third base time to score. Suzuki was thrown out, veering away at the last moment to avoid a collision with White Sox second baseman Tag Iguchi.
Suzuki’s reasoning was that he could reach second base faster without sliding and, even though he’d over-run the bag and be tagged out anyway, it would allow time for the runner on third to score.
“There are times when I’m willing to give up an out for a run,” Hargrove said. “But I’m not willing to give up an injury for a run.”
All’s well back home: Gil Meche said his family near Lafayette, La., was fine after Hurricane Katrina barreled through the state Monday. He has an offseason home just outside Lafayette in Scott, La.
“They got some rain and some wind, but that was about it,” Meche said.
Meche said he experienced two other Category 5 hurricanes when he was young, Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the aptly named Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 when he was 10.
“We never had a direct hit, just some shingles and siding ripped off the house,” he said.
Kirby Arnold, Herald Writer
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
