M's ready for one day off

PEORIA, Ariz. — The Mariners have their only scheduled off day of the spring today, one that manager John McLaren says "comes at a perfect time."

The Mariners are dragging a bit after going at it nonstop since mid-February. Even the seemingly indefatigable Ichiro looks like he could use a break. He went 0 for 5, with three strikeouts, against the Brewers on Monday to drop his average to .105.

"I think you'll see a little more energized ballclub — as opposed to what you saw today — on Wednesday when we come back," Mariners bench coach Jim Riggleman said.

Riggleman was speaking after managing the Mariners' split-squad 17-3 loss to Milwaukee at Peoria Stadium, a game in which Seattle pitchers yielded 25 hits.

Carlos Silva was stung for 13 hits and 10 runs (nine earned) in 4-1/3 innings in what Riggleman called "typical Arizona baseball — light air, hard ground, lots of hits. It's a tough place for pitchers to get their work in."

However, the Mariners' pitchers looked pretty energized a few miles down the road in Surprise — same light air, same hard ground. They won that game, 5-2, limiting the Rangers to six hits and taking a shutout into the ninth.

Cha Seung Baek blanked the Rangers for four innings (one hit, one walk, one strikeout), while R.A. Dickey added three shutout innings against his old team (three hits, two strikeouts, no walks). Dickey is looking more and more like he has earned a roster spot.

Baek in the running

Baek has been something of a forgotten man in camp, but McLaren remembers him.

In fact, McLaren insisted that Baek is still in the running for a spot on the pitching staff. Baek certainly didn't hurt his chances Monday against Texas, an outing that lowered his spring earned-run average to 0.82.

"He's in the mix," McLaren said. "He's had some good games for us in Seattle, and he's had some injuries. He seems to be well. Maybe he hasn't got the headlines like some of the other guys, but we are giving him a good look."

Baek is 27 and out of options, meaning he would have to clear waivers before the Mariners could send him to Tacoma. Baek is 10-8 with a 4.87 ERA in 27 major-league appearances (23 starts) and 46-36, 3.91 in 131 minor-league games.

His obvious role with the Mariners in 2008 would be as a long man, which could be problematic.

"The thing about him is, he's probably going to take a little bit longer to get loose," McLaren said. "He knows that, and we know that. It's something we have to see if he's capable of doing, how long it takes him."

Silva experiments

Silva wasn't particularly upset with his outing, blaming the shelling on the fact that he was experimenting with a new pitch — a cut fastball introduced to him this week by pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre — in the fifth inning.

He gave up seven straight hits in the inning, each one a bullet, as the Brewers scored seven runs.

"I overused it," he said.

Silva might have been fooled by the fact that he struck out the first hitter of the inning on a cutter, before the onslaught.

"Good start, bad end," he said with a laugh. "I'm going to keep working on it, because I know that pitch is going to help me out a lot. I threw some good ones — and a lot of bad ones."

"The homestretch"

Monday marked two weeks before opening day, and McLaren plans to use the final stretch — after the off day — to finalize his batting order and settle on the bench and bullpen. Those are the only personnel decisions looming for a team that came to camp with a set lineup and rotation.

McLaren said he also needs to decide who will hit second (most likely Jose Vidro or Yuniesky Betancourt), as well as the order of his four, five and six hitters — some combination of Adrian Beltre, Richie Sexson and Brad Wilkerson.

"We're going to start bringing some players together a little bit more, let them play together," he said. "I think we're starting to go down the homestretch. In the next 10 days, I'm going to flip-flop some guys. There's about three or four scenarios we're going to look at."

Notes

• Traditionally, the manager stays at the home field when the team plays split squads, but McLaren went to Surprise. He did it partly because he wanted to see Baek, and partly because he wanted to see the Rangers, the Mariners' opening day opponent. It was the Mariners' first game against Texas this spring.

"I just want to see their personnel, what their team looks like," McLaren said. "It's not like I'm going to scout for opening day, but I want to see what guys are running out there."

Another reason for McLaren's decision, no doubt, was that in Peoria, the Mariners were playing Milwaukee for the fifth time this spring, and the second time in two days.

"I've got the Brewers pretty well scouted this spring," McLaren said.

• The Mariners got good news on reliever Brandon Morrow, who has been sidelined with a sore arm. He threw 25 pitches in the bullpen and said he felt good. Morrow will have another bullpen session on Wednesday.

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com

Monday's box scores

Seattle (ss)						Texas
	AB	R	H	BI			AB	R	H	BI
Reed lf	3	0	0	2		Kinsler 2b	2	0	1	0
Lopez 2b	4	0	1	0		Meyer 3b	1	0	0	0
Valbuena 2b	0	0	0	0		Ctlanotto dh	3	0	0	0
Ibanez dh	3	0	0	0		Mahar ph-dh	1	0	0	0
Dmngz pr-dh	0	0	0	0		Young ss	2	0	0	0
Wilkerson rf	4	1	0	0		Roberts ss	2	0	0	0
Beltre 3b	4	1	2	1		Hamilton cf	2	0	1	0
Kinkade 3b	0	0	0	0		Ellison cf	2	1	2	0
Norton 1b	4	0	1	0		Botts lf	2	0	0	0
Clement c	2	0	0	0		Mench lf	1	1	0	0
Carroll pr	0	1	0	0		Blalock 3b	2	0	0	0
Burke c	1	0	1	1		Cruz rf	1	0	0	0
Cairo ss	3	1	1	0		Byrd rf	2	0	1	0
Jimerson cf	2	1	1	0		Vazquez 2b	1	0	0	1
							Broussard 1b		2	0	0	0

							Shelton 1b		2	0	1	1

							Sltlmacchia c		2	0	0	0

							Stewart c		1	0	0	0

Totals

30

5

7

4

Totals

31

2

6

2

Seattle (ss)	001 000 022	—	5
Texas	000 000 002	—	2

E — Shelton. DP — Seattle 2, Texas 1. LOB — Seattle 3, Texas 7. 2B — Beltre 2, Cairo, Ellison. S — Jimerson, Cairo. SF — Reed.

Mariners	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
	Baek, W		4	1	0	0	1	1

	Dickey		3	3	0	0	0	2

	O'Flaherty		1 2/3	1	2	2	4	2

	Jimenez, S		1/3	1	0	0	0	0

Rangers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO

	Jennings, L		4	2	1	1	0	2

	Tejeda		1	0	0	0	0	0

	Rupe		2	1	0	0	0	0

	Littleton		1	1	2	1	1	0

	Mathis		1	3	2	2	1	0

PB — Clement. T — 2:24.

Milwaukee (ss)						Seattle (ss)
	AB	R	H	BI			AB	R	H	BI
Dillon 2b	4	0	1	1		Ichiro cf	5	0	0	0
Bell ph-2b	2	0	1	0		Betancourt ss	1	0	0	0
Counsell 3b	4	1	2	1		Hulett ss-2b	3	0	0	0
Wilson ph-3b	2	1	1	0		Vidro dh	3	0	0	0
Gwynn lf	4	1	2	0		BJhnsn pr-dh	0	0	0	0
Brantley ph-lf	2	1	1	0		RJhnsn ph-dh	1	0	0	0
Hart rf	4	2	2	2		Sexson 1b	3	1	2	1
Rodriguez rf	2	0	0	0		Wilson lf	1	0	0	0
Munson c	3	2	3	3		Balentien rf	4	1	2	1
Maldonado c	2	0	0	0		Johjima c	4	1	3	0
Nix cf	4	1	1	0		Moore pr-c	0	0	0	0
Ford cf	2	2	2	1		Blmquist 2b	2	0	0	0
Chavez ss	3	1	1	0		Navarro ss	1	0	0	0
Cline ph-ss	2	2	2	2		Morse lf-1b	4	0	1	1
Katin dh	6	3	3	6		Tuiasosopo 3b	4	0	2	0
	Rivera 1b		5	0	3	1

Totals

51

17

25

17

Totals

36

3

10

3

Milwaukee (ss)	001 270 133	—	17
Seattle (ss)	000 300 000	—	3

E — Sexson. DP — Milwaukee 1, Seattle 1. LOB — Milwaukee 9, Seattle 9. 2B — Katin 2, Hart, Munson, Cline, Wilson, Ford, Tuiasosopo, Morse. HR — Munson, Katin, Sexson, Balentien. SB — Hart, Betancourt. CS — Gwynn.

Brewers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
	Capuano		3 1/3	5	3	3	2	2

	Narveson, W		3 2/3	3	0	0	1	4

	Bray		2	2	0	0	0	2

Mariners	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
	Silva, L		4 1/3	13	10	9	1	2

	Feierabend		1 2/3	2	0	0	0	0

	White		2	6	4	4	1	0

	Huber		1	4	3	3	0	0

T — 2:48.