M's Notebook | Weaver will tune it all out

NEW YORK — A calm-sounding Jeff Weaver vowed that today's do-or-die start at Yankee Stadium will be pitched on his terms.

Weaver wasn't taking shots at his pitching coach, manager, or a Mariners organization paying him $8.3 million for his 0-4 record and 18.26 earned-run average so far. But he also, in as diplomatic a tone as he could muster, insisted he would no longer be governed by the myriad voices telling him how to pitch.

In other words, if he's to go down in flames, it'll be with his matches and gasoline can.

"It's time just to listen to myself and trust in my abilities and what's gotten me to this point," Weaver said Friday as he spoke to reporters upon his return to a ballpark where he pitched for the New York Yankees in 2003. "And not try to incorporate every little thing that I hear in order to learn.

"You hear it every year and every time. And sometimes, you want to incorporate all those pieces at once instead of little bits and pieces. And I get caught up in that sometimes."

The Mariners have tried to get Weaver to work on using his legs more since spring training. They've asked him to make adjustments with each failed start and to stay with consistent arm angles.

But Weaver says he's always been the type of guy who changes arm angles at random. He feeds off his emotions and goes on gut instinct rather than choosing pitches to conform to a game plan.

Part of that has to do with the way he broke into elite-level baseball. He was a walk-on at Fresno State and has never quite been a polished gem.

"I was raw," he said. "I've succeeded when I just go out there, go with what feels right, mix it up, change speeds. Slow curveballs, hard curveballs. Just try to mess around."

Weaver was remarkably composed and good natured in talking about a start that will likely be his last unless he improves. He said he felt no added pressure, just impatience to get back on a mound he hasn't seen since lasting just one-third of an inning six days ago.

This time, he vowed, fans will get a look — win or lose — at the real Jeff Weaver.

"Trying to be something that somebody else wants you to be just doesn't work a lot of times," Weaver said. "It may work sometimes. It may help you out sometimes. But when things are going tough, you've got to just go back to the beginning and to who you are."

No rest in schedule with makeups official

Mariners manager Mike Hargrove won't be giving Weaver any added support from a full lineup of regulars. With the team's makeup dates with Cleveland officially finalized on Friday — May 21, June 11, Aug. 30 in Cleveland and Sept. 26 in Seattle — another three off days have been stripped from the Mariners' schedule.

That means Hargrove has to start resting regulars on his own, starting today with Adrian Beltre and Jose Vidro sitting down while Ben Broussard and Willie Bloomquist take their places at third and first base, respectively. First baseman Richie Sexson is to fill the designated-hitter role.

"That's the only way we can get days off, the days off that we need," Hargrove said. "I've looked at the numbers, and Adrian and Jose both aren't real strong against [Yankees starter Chien-Ming] Wang."

Beltre is 2 for 13 (.154) off Wang, while Vidro is 0 for 4. Bloomquist is 1 for 5, while Broussard is 4 for 12.

The new makeup dates mean the Mariners tonight will be five games into a stretch that sees them play 35 times in 36 days.

Notes

• CF Ichiro's infield single in Friday night's third inning gave him his first hit this month, snapping an 0-for-11 slump. May is traditionally when Ichiro shines, with the leadoff man entering Friday leading all active players with a .367 career average in that month.

• LHP George Sherrill's scoreless streak was snapped at eight innings when he yielded a three-run homer in the seventh inning to Johnny Damon. The runs were the first given up all season by Sherrill.

For the record

Streak: W1

Home: 8-6

Road: 5-5

vs. AL West: 7-5

vs. L.A.: 0-3

vs. Oakland: 4-1

vs. Texas: 3-1

vs. AL East: 2-2

vs. AL Central: 4-4

vs. NL: 0-0

vs. LHP: 4-2

vs. RHP: 9-9

Day: 6-3

Night: 7-8

One-run: 2-4

Extra innings: 0-0