M's Notes: After a day's rest, Ichiro plays today

PEORIA, Ariz. — A swarm of bees — the pest-control man who sprayed them said they were killer bees — showed up at Mariners camp yesterday.

But Ichiro did not. Word was that he needed a day to regroup after helping Japan win the World Baseball Classic.

After resting, Seattle's All-Star right fielder is expected to make a rare first-day double today, playing in his first Mariners exhibition game of the spring, hours after participating in his first workout.

Anyone who saw him perform in the WBC knows he is easily capable of this on his first day. They might also have been interested to see Ichiro bat third in Sadaharu Oh's lineup.

Mike Hargrove was.

"I've always been intrigued by Ichiro hitting third," the Seattle manager said. "When I managed against him with Baltimore I was intrigued by the idea. It is not out of the realm of possibility that it would happen here."

He immediately followed that by stating with emphasis, "That would never be done without first discussing it with Ichiro."

It is not the first time Hargrove has been willing to discuss Ichiro hitting third, especially seeing Ichiro typically do well in each game of the WBC.

Earlier this week, the manager noted that Japan's lineup had, "different dynamics."

"If we thought that Ichiro hitting third would help us scoring runs, it's something we'd consider," Hargrove said. "But otherwise, I don't see that for us right now."

The outfielder has always seemed ambivalent about batting in the No. 3 hole.

When Lou Piniella suggested it first in spring 2001, Ichiro's first camp as a Mariner, the outfielder was resistant to the thought. He worried about the aspect of producing runs in addition to hitting like a demon.

Later, he relented at times. He batted third in three games in 2002 and 10 games in 2004 and hit .353 (18 of 51).

"It's not on the radar," Hargrove said of shifting Ichiro. "Nothing is even remotely being considered."

Ideally, Hargrove would like to have much of his order go lefty/righty.

"I can't give you a lineup yet," he said. "We have only two places set now, [Raul] Ibanez will hit third and [Richie] Sexson fourth. We had Sexson and Beltre hit fourth and fifth the other day but that's not something we're likely to do."

If Ibanez is third and Sexson fourth and the Mariners shoot to alternate lefty/righty, then Carl Everett could hit fifth with Beltre sixth.

As to the No. 2 spot in the order, Hargrove has backed away from the idea of hitting Kenji Johjima there as he suggested he might very early in spring training.

"We're not thinking of it any more," he said. "If at all, it's a distant possibility. No more."

While Jeremy Reed could be regarded a possibility to hit second, that would put three left-handed batters in a row, Ichiro, Reed and Ibanez.

Yuniesky Betancourt or Jose Lopez or Willie Bloomquist are other possibilities to hit second.

Meche out early

For the first time in 17 combined Cactus League or B-game appearances this spring, the Mariners starting pitcher could not work his scheduled number of innings. Pitching at Surprise, Ariz., Gil Meche came out with one out in the fourth frame of the 4-1 loss to Kansas City instead of going five.

Meche, who had allowed only one hit in five previous innings, was scored on for the first time, giving up three runs on five hits. Ironically, he explained his trouble came from the fact his side, where he had strained an oblique earlier in the spring, felt, "too good."

"I felt great," he said. "I never felt my side at all and that may have worked against me. When I got two strikes, instead of pitching to contact and maybe a quick out, I was throwing some nasty stuff."

As a result, the Royals fouled off a lot of pitches rather than hitting them fair and maybe making outs.

So, Meche, with a 75-pitch limit, knocked himself out of the game?

"Yeah," he said. "Pretty much."

Ironically, when Meche left in the fourth, he was replaced by Cha Seung Baek, who was dropped from the 40-man roster by Seattle after last season. He was re-signed this winter and was brought over from the minor-league side to share the pitching.

Baek worked 1-2/3 innings and got five straight outs, getting the ball down better than Meche, and getting three ground-ball outs, and striking out two.

Joe Borchard made his first start for Seattle, in center, and did not distinguish himself, although after reaching on a fielder's choice in the third, he stole second and scored on Fernando Vina's extra-base hit. He also struck out twice.

Opening-day pitch

Hargrove said he will announce his starting pitcher Thursday to start opening day. However, unless something changes, the schedule of spring starts has indicated for some time that Jamie Moyer can be expected to start his third opener.

Hargrove indicated the day of Seattle's spring training luncheon in early February that his rotation would be: Moyer, Joel Pineiro, Jarrod Washburn, Gil Meche with Felix Hernandez as the No. 5 starter so the Mariners could better control his workload and innings.

Battle at catcher

A duel has developed for the backup slot behind catcher Johjima, between Rene Rivera and Corky Miller, who was signed in early February and came to camp as an invitee. Neither has hit much this spring, but both are regarded primarily for their defense as catch-and-throw players.

The outcome may hinge on whether Seattle officials want Rivera to play every day at Class AAA Tacoma.

Guardado close

Closer Eddie Guardado worked a smooth 1-2-3 inning Tuesday and said, "I'm close to ready for the season."

"Spring for me is just a matter of finding the right arm slot," he said. "Once I got that, everything else falls into place. I had it going good the other day.

"My pitches were a hair higher than I wanted them. But close enough to take into the season."

Notes

• After being sprayed, the bee swarm left and the only injury was a sting suffered by a parking lot guard.

• Hernandez will start and is scheduled to pitch five innings in tonight's game that will be televised back to the Pacific Northwest on KSTW-TV.

• Ichiro donated his helmet from the WBC and Adrian Beltre donated his bat to the Hall of Fame.

• There are 7,500 tickets left for opening day.

Wednesday's box score

Seattle						Kansas City
	AB	R	H	BI			AB	R	H	BI
Vina 2b	2	0	1	1		DeJesus cf	1	0	0	0
Grcaparra 2b	1	0	0	0		Costa cf	3	0	0	0
Blmqvist ss	3	0	0	0		Grdzlanek 2b	3	0	1	0
Yngbauer ss	1	0	1	0		German 2b	0	0	0	0
Ibanez lf	3	0	0	0		Sanders rf	2	0	0	0
Jones cf	1	0	0	0		Guiel rf	1	0	0	0
Beltre 3b	3	0	0	0		Stairs dh	3	0	0	0
Ransom 3b	1	0	0	0		Gil ph-dh	0	1	0	0
Lawton dh	3	0	0	0		Brown lf	3	0	1	0
Johjima c	3	0	1	0		Ambres lf	1	0	0	0
Miller pr-c	0	0	0	0		Mntkiwicz 1b	2	1	0	0
Petagine 1b	2	0	0	0		McEwing 3b	1	0	1	0
Morse rf-lf	3	0	0	0		Berroa ss	2	2	2	1
Borchard cf-rf	3	1	0	0		Clapnski ph-ss	2	0	0	0
						Teahen 3b	3	0	2	2
						Gordon 1b	0	0	0	0
						Buck c	2	0	0	0
						Bako c	2	0	0	0
Totals	29	1	3	1		Totals	31	4	7	3

Seattle	001 000 000	—	1
Kansas City	020 100 01x	—	4

E — Sanders. DP — Kansas City. LOB — Seattle 3, Kansas City 8. 2B — Vina, Johjima, Teahen. 3B — Berroa. SB — Borchard, Gil. CS — Vina.

Mariners	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Meche, L	3-1/3	5	3	3	2	1
Baek	1 2/3	0	0	0	0	2
Woods	2	1	0	0	1	1
Fruto	1	1	1	0	2	3

Royals	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Affeldt, W	6	1	1	1	1	3
Dessens	2	1	0	0	0	4
Sisco, S	1	1	0	0	0	1

HBP — by Affeldt (Petagine). WP — Dessens. PB — Johjima, Miller. T — 2:32.

Bob Finnigan: 206-464-8276 or bfinnigan@seattletimes.com