UPDATED with the Cubs’ lineup and notes.
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The schedule says the Mariners play the Cubs at 1:05 p.m., but actually it’s a double-dip day in Peoria, and we don’t mean the Cold Stone Creamery around the corner from the spring training complex.
The Mariners are p
laying a 10 a.m. “B” game against the Padres on the main practice field on San Diego’s side of the Peoria Sports Complex, then their regular game against the Cubs in Peoria Stadium.
Here’s the Marines’ B-game lineup:
Dustin Ackley, second base
Chris Gimenez, third base
Michael Saunders, DH
Matt Tuiasosopo, first base
Mike Carp, left field
Luis Rodriguez, shortstop
Mike Wilson, right field
Greg Halman, center field
Steven Baron, catcher
Starting pitcher: Aaron Laffey
The Mariners’ lineup for this afternoon’s game against the Cubs in Peoria Stadium isn’t quite what we’ll see on opening day, but it’s close with Ichiro Suzuki and Chone Figgins again back-to-back at the top of the order and Franklin Gutierrez in center, Jack Cust at DH, Justin Smoak at first base and Brendan Ryan at second. Gutierrez slides into the No. 3 hole for the fourth time this spring. Adam Kennedy adds to his versatility with his first start in left field. Kennedy has started at first, second and third base so far.
Here are the A-game lineups (yes, that’s former Mariner Bryan LaHair at first base for the Cubs. And yes, they don’t have a DH):
CUBS
Kosuke Fukudome, right field
Reed Johnson, center field
Scott Moore, second base
Luis Montanez, left field
Bryan LaHair, first base
Josh Vitters, third base
Wellington Castillo, catcher
Darwin Barney, shortstop
Matt Garza, pitcher
MARINERS
Ichiro Suzuki, right field
Chone Figgins, third base
Franklin Gutierrez, center field
Jack Cust, DH
Justin Smoak, first base
Adam Kennedy, left field
Brendan Ryan, second base
Josh Wilson, shortstop
Adam Moore, catcher
Starting pitcher: Right-hander Doug Fister
And if that double-dip won’t be enough by the end of the day, then I’d suggest taking that trip to Cold Stone.
A couple of other early notes:
• Edgar Martinez is here to work mostly with the Mariners’ minor leaguers. Edgar says they’ll talk a lot about the mental approach to hitting. Jay Buhner is expected to arrive later today. Stil nothing official on when Ken Griffey Jr. will be here, although it wouldn’t be a shock if Junior and Jay were together here wreaking their own brand of havoc.
• Twenty-year-old catcher Steven Baron had an eventful day Sunday, getting his Northwest League championship ring for his role with the Everett AquaSox last year, then having to try and catch knuckleball pitcher Charlie Haeger in the bullpen during the Mariners’ game against the Angels in Tempe.
With the bullpens in Tempe alongside the baselines in the outfield, one knuckler Haeger threw got away from Baron and rolled toward home plate.
“The fans were yelling at me, ‘Catch the ball 75! You suck!'” Baron said. The problem, he said, is that he didn’t have a larger knuckleball mitt with him.
As for the championship ring, Baron said he plans to keep it in a safe place where he can look back on one of his best baseball memories.
• Speaking of AquaSox championship rings, pitcher Tom Wilhelmsen was trilled to get one. Knowing how much these guys cherish something like that and often have a special pace for it, I asked Wilhelmsen where he’d keep his ring.
“On my finger,” he said.
• With minor league full squads now here, there are nearly 150 players working out on the lower practice fields at the Mariners’ complex (in addition to the 56 still in big-legue camp). The minor leaguers hold their second full-squad workout this morning.
With that has come the beginning of Roger Hansen’s “Breakfast Club.” Hansen, a Stanwood resident who’s the organization’s catching coordinator, has “hosted” young players for years at his early morning “Breakfast Club.”
It’s hardly a gathering of coffee and donuts. It’s the pre-dawn workouts for players who break any number of organizational rules — showing up late, creating a problem at the hotel, etc. The transgressors are assigned to show up at the complex at 5 a.m. and run laps around the practice field as Hansen observes while having his coffee from a golf cart.
“We were here at 5 a.m. today,” Hansen said. “That made me get here at 3:45 to get in my workout. In other words, I’m in Breakfast Club, too.”
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