Opponent: San Diego Padres
When: 7:05 p.m.
Where: Safeco Field
TV: FSN (cable)
Radio: KOMO (1000 AM)
Pitchers: Seattle right-hander Gil Meche (3-2, 4.84 earned run average) vs. right-hander Clay Hensley (2-2, 3.70).
Cameron returns to scene of his prime
His uniform is different and, after a harrowing injury last year, so is his outlook on life. One thing that hasn’t changed is the smile.
Mike Cameron returned to Safeco Field on Friday with his smile intact, even if his game isn’t quite there.
“It’s exciting to get a chance to get back out there,” he said. “It’s been a long time.”
Since Cameron last played for the Mariners in 2003, he became a free agent and signed with the Mets, suffered severe facial injuries in an outfield collision last August and was traded to the Padres in November.
He spent all winter recuperating from those injuries and was getting his game in order at spring training when he suffered a strained oblique. That cost him most of April, and he entered Friday batting .245 with one home run and 11 RBI.
“I’m feeling pretty good, about as good as I can get,” Cameron said. “I’m in good playing shape. I missed those two weeks at the beginning of the season, but other than that I’m trying to catch up a little bit and get myself comfortable. I can swing the bat a little better than what I’m doing, but a few hits will help me mentally.”
Returning to Seattle already has helped, too.
When he was introduced before his first at-bat, most in the crowd gave him a standing ovation. When he trotted to his position, fans broke out the bright yellow “Cameron’s Center Field Crew” signs that were an everyday presence when he played for the Mariners.
It’s the relationship with the fans that helped make Cameron’s four years in Seattle so special, he said.
“When I came here, I’d played only two years in the big leagues,” he said. “I spent the majority of my career here. This is a pretty special place.”
Sweeney’s comeback: This weekend’s series also is a homecoming for Padres pitcher Brian Sweeney, who broke into the majors three years ago with the Mariners. He pitched five games with the M’s in 2003 before they traded him to the Padres in the Jeff Cirillo deal.
Sweeney said he won’t forget day the Mariners called him up from Class AAA Tacoma, Aug. 16, 2003, particularly catcher Pat Borders carrying his equipment bag into the clubhouse at Safeco Field.
“He got sent down on the same day I was called up, but he knew it was my first time,” Sweeney said. “He said, ‘Give me that,’ and he carried my bag in for me. He knew what that day meant to me, and it was a nice gesture.”
He also remembers getting emotional once he reached his locker in the Mariners’ clubhouse.
“When I saw my jersey, with my name and number on the back, that’s when it hit me,” Sweeney said. “I had become a part of something I’d dreamed about my whole life.”
Hobbled, hurting: Adrian Beltre returned to the lineup Friday despite a tight left hamstring, mostly because Willie Bloomquist is down with a bruised left hand.
Bloomquist, hit on the hand by a pitch Thursday in Oakland, fielded ground balls before Friday’s game. Manager Mike Hargrove held him out of the lineup even though he’d hoped to rest Beltre.
“With Willie getting hit on the hand, it has limited what he can do,” Hargrove said. “And Adrian said his leg is a lot better.”
Of note: Hargrove said pitcher Julio Mateo would come off the disabled list today. He’s been out since April 29 because of tendinitis in his right shoulder. … Hargrove isn’t a fan of interleague play because he believes American League teams, with the DH, are at a disadvantage against the NL. “I don’t necessarily like it, but I do think it’s good that our fans get to see the teams that are not in this league,” he said. … Mariners pitchers entered Friday with an AL-best 281 strikeouts but had walked 149, fourth most in the league.
Kirby Arnold, Herald Writer
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
