Mariners
No shifty move: Ichiro will stay in leadoff spot

By Bob Sherwin
Seattle Times staff reporter

	LENNY IGNELZI / AP Mariners manager Bob Melvin takes the ball from Freddy Garcia, who allowed eight runs, seven earned, in four-plus innings yesterday.
	E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Related stories Cactus League notebook: Donnelly hospitalized again with nosebleeds Grapefruit League notebook: Matsui homers in Japan return with NY

PEORIA, Ariz. — The experiment to use Ichiro elsewhere in the Mariners' batting order has ended before it really began.

That's not a news flash, rather a realization by manager Bob Melvin that Ichiro doesn't need to be shifted around the lineup. Melvin had planned to experiment this spring by using Ichiro in the No. 3 spot in the lineup, but did it just once, March 6. It probably won't happen again.

"We really don't need to," Melvin said of moving Ichiro in the order. "If we went cold for a streak and I really needed to shake it up, that's something I would do. ...

"As it is, I think we're pretty good where we are."

Ichiro was willing to do whatever his manager wanted, but leading off is the role he had most of his career in Japan and virtually every at-bat in his three years in Seattle. He batted third three games last season, June 2-4 against Baltimore. Ichiro was 8 for 14, including a 4-for-5 game.

Ichiro's speed, his 200-hit proclivity and his ability to make contact as well as anyone in the game makes him the leadoff prototype.

This spring he is trying to become a better leadoff hitter by becoming more patient.

The Mariners want him to avoid swinging at first pitches or early in the count. He is aggressive at the plate, and pitchers often take advantage by making him chase balls out of the strike zone. But he is showing more patience this spring.

"There was a period there he was getting a lot of first-pitch balls and he was swinging at them," Melvin said. "It seemed like the teams that know him the best, Oakland and Anaheim, had a pretty good idea. ... But it's becoming apparent when he gets a ball in the zone to swing at he hits it hard."

In 41 at-bats, Ichiro has swung at just three first pitches all spring. He's batting .415, with seven walks and only six strikeouts.
 
Are pitchers noticing?

"I think it's getting around," Melvin said.

Pitching with Ichiro

Melvin was asked yesterday what position player he would use to save the bullpen in a blowout game.

"I know Ichiro would love to go in there and get an inning," he said. "If I'd ask for volunteers, he'd put both hands up."

Ichiro, who was a pitcher in high school, threw once as a professional in an all-star game in Japan to one hitter, Shingo Takatsu. The pitcher hit a ground ball to shortstop.

"It's my dream," said Ichiro of pitching in the big leagues. "But I need to prepare in the bullpen."

Ichiro said he has only two pitches, a 93-mph fastball and a split-finger fastball.

How does Melvin know Ichiro wants to pitch? He says the right fielder sometimes throws curves into first baseman John Olerud, then nods his head toward the dugout.

Said Melvin, "I would not run Ichiro out there, believe me."

Garcia roughed up

Starting pitcher Freddy Garcia, who has had a good spring with a 1.84 earned-run average in four previous starts, had a rough outing in the Mariners' 9-2 loss yesterday to Arizona. Garcia gave up 10 hits and seven earned runs with two walks and three strikeouts in four-plus innings. His spring ERA ballooned to 4.82.

"I did not have really good control," Garcia said.

The right-hander said his fastball was high in the strike zone, and batters hit his breaking pitches hard.

"I've got to forget about it. What can you do?" said Garcia, whose final spring start is expected to be Friday in a minor-league game. His first regular-season start is scheduled for April 7 against Anaheim.

"He struggled with his mechanics," Melvin said of Garcia. "He tried to make the adjustments, but it was tough to do. He tried too many times to finish off the hitter with a breaking ball."

Notes

• Kevin Jarvis, trying for one of the expected 12 pitching spots on the final roster, threw two hitless innings. He has not allowed a hit in five straight innings over his last three appearances.

"He located the ball much better today," Melvin said. "He had a good slider."

• Third baseman Scott Spiezio, who developed back spasms in the first inning Saturday against Milwaukee, sat out yesterday and will probably miss today's game. Spiezio thinks he injured himself running up the mound trying to make a catch.

• Another player injured in the Milwaukee game, Hiram Bocachica, is OK. He took a pitch off the back of his left shoulder, fell, and lay motionless.

"My arm went numb for like 10 seconds," Bocachica said.

He was sore yesterday, but had one at-bat after taking over in right field.

• Dan Evans, the Dodgers' general manager until he was fired this winter, has been hired by the Mariners as a pro scout. Evans, who will be based in Southern California, will scout the Mariners' minor-league affiliates and do some amateur scouting until the June draft.

• Closer Eddie Guardado, who was slowed by pain behind his left knee earlier in the spring, will not have the opportunity to work in back-to-back Cactus League games, as Melvin would have liked. But he did pitch two innings Saturday. Right-hander Ryan Franklin and lefties Terry Mulholland and Mike Myers will pitch today against Oakland.

• The crowd of 13,171 was the third largest to attend a Mariners game here.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company