Notebook | M's move Hernandez's return back

NEW YORK — A mound-weary Mariners team will have to wait an extra week before Felix Hernandez can come to the rescue.

Hernandez threw 52 pitches in a bullpen session on Friday, but the team decided Saturday that he's been inactive too long to have him start in Detroit this week as previously planned. Instead, he'll be pushed back until the May 15 opener of a series in Seattle against the Los Angeles Angels.

"I feel good but they want me to have more time," Hernandez said with a shrug. "I just want to do what's best for me right now."

Hernandez is to throw a simulated game on Tuesday in Detroit. He'll then throw a bullpen session on Thursday and start the following week if all goes well.

"Given the length of the layoff, we felt that it was the smart thing to do," M's manager Mike Hargrove said.

The team is eager for Hernandez to return, given its shaky pitching status. Jeff Weaver was the first Seattle starter on this trip to make it beyond four innings — going 5-2/3 frames on Saturday — and none have made it through six.

That's placed an enormous strain on the bullpen, further taxed Saturday when Julio Mateo turned himself in to police after his wife was allegedly assaulted at their Manhattan hotel.

There had been some thought to sending Hernandez, who strained the flexor pronator muscle in his right elbow in the first inning of an April 18 game, out on a minor-league rehabilitation assignment. The new projected start date for Hernandez means he'll have missed almost a month of action — and faced just five batters since throwing a one-hitter in Boston on April 11.

But Hargrove said the simulated game would serve an identical purpose to having him throw in a minor-league game. Hernandez said he used all of his pitches in Friday's session and that his arm felt great.

"I'm staying busy," he said. "I work out a lot right now. I feel very strong. My arm feels good."

Notes

• Hargrove isn't feeling good at all about the re-scheduled makeup games with the Cleveland Indians. He's most ticked off about the Aug. 30 date that his team now must play at Jacobs Field, having hoped MLB would allow the contest to be played a day after the regular season's conclusion — and only if needed.

"We're getting the short end of the stick," Hargrove said. "I don't understand that.

"It worries me from a competitive-balance standpoint," he added, saying the lost off-day that late in the season could seriously hurt his club. "I think it's not right."

• Pullman native Sean White pitched the final 2-1/3 innings of Saturday's game for the Mariners, giving up a pair of runs on three hits. But the work was badly needed to spare any more bullpen arms from being used.

• Ichiro went hitless again on Saturday and is now just 2 for 17 (.118) in May.

• The Mariners lost for the 12th time in their last 16 games played at Yankee Stadium.

For the record

Streak: L1

Home: 8-6

Road: 5-6

vs. AL West: 7-5

vs. L.A.: 0-3

vs. Oakland: 4-1

vs. Texas: 3-1

vs. AL East: 2-3

vs. AL Central: 4-4

vs. NL: 0-0

vs. LHP: 4-2

vs. RHP: 9-10

Day: 6-4

Night: 7-8

One-run: 2-4

Extra innings: 0-0