Notebook | M's pitchers struggle to get into groove after the time off

BALTIMORE — An eight-day layoff between outings was almost the last thing Cha Seung Baek wanted to have happen after breaking spring training with a major league team for the first time.

The very last thing Baek wanted was to go out and yield a pair of home runs his first two innings of work this season to help send the Mariners to defeat. That's exactly what took place on Friday night as Baek served up a solo blast and then a two-run homer that turned a one-run deficit into a four-run gap.

The Korean starter, being used as a long reliever in the bullpen, doesn't want to make excuses about not having pitched since an exhibition game against the Chicago Cubs in Las Vegas in the final days of spring training. But he says he kept missing his spots, leaving the ball over the middle of the plate where the hitters could make contact.

"I felt good, but everything was down the middle," Baek said. "I don't want to make excuses, but I haven't pitched for a while."

Baek isn't alone in that quandary.

Left handed reliever Ryan Rowland-Smith also struggled in his season debut, throwing only a half-dozen pitches and yielding a single and a double after following Baek to the mound. Rowland-Smith also hadn't pitched since the team's final exhibition weekend.

"I was getting behind in the count," Rowland-Smith said. "That's always an issue for me. I never felt like I got in a groove."

Finding such grooves can be a problem when a pitcher doesn't throw for nearly a week, then gets to face only a few hitters.

Rowland-Smith knows the team is scrambling to figure out roles for its relievers — especially in the sixth and seventh innings — in the wake of closer J.J. Putz going on the disabled list. But he insists it isn't that big a problem with the pitchers themselves.

"No one's even spoken about it, about what's going on," he said.

Roy Corcoran enjoyed at least some success on the mound after replacing Rowland-Smith, despite allowing a run to score on a wild-pitch. But he also hadn't pitched since the team's final exhibition weekend.

Mariners manager John McLaren didn't want to put himself in a position of having to choose from among three relievers who hadn't pitched all season. He feels the long layoffs might have played a factor in the Friday night loss.

And until something is done about the bullpen, or Putz comes off the disabled list, that's the way it's going to stay. McLaren is exploring the possibility of adding another pitcher to the staff. But he doesn't expect that to happen during the team's stint in Baltimore.

Among the options being considered are lefty reliever Arthur Rhodes, who has thrown back-to-back relief outings for Class AAA Tacoma. Brandon Morrow won't be eligible to be recalled from AAA until the end of this week.

Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, who has two years of minor-league options left, could also be recalled without being put through waivers.

"We'll see how it plays out," McLaren said. "Again, things can change game to game."

Notes

• Richie Sexson talked after his ninth inning home run on Friday about it still being too early in the season to judge his performance.

"We're talking about four games," he said, after notching the homer and an earlier double, his first extra-base hits of the year. "It really is four games. I felt good for four games."

Sexson didn't get a ton of hits on Saturday night either, striking out his first three trips to the plate before lining out to first base. That left him 3 for 18 (.167) on the season.

Brad Wilkerson is also off to a slow start from the No. 6 spot in the order, going just 1 for 12 (.083) before sitting out Saturday night in place of Mike Morse.

Raul Ibanez is also struggling, going 0 for 3 on Saturday to be 3 for 18 (.167) on the season. In other words, every Seattle hitter in the middle of the order — aside from Adrian Beltre — is batting below .200. But McLaren, like Sexson, feels it's too early to make any knee-jerk moves.

"The season's young," he said. "We're just getting out of the box, and guys are just getting going here. We're giving guys a chance to get it going."

• Jose Vidro hit his second home run of the season in the second inning, a two-run blast that opened the scoring. It's the second straight year in which Vidro — no longer considered a deep power threat — has clubbed a pair of homers before the season is even two weeks old.

Last season, Vidro belted a pair of long balls in an April 15 game. He then failed to hit another homer until May 25 and didn't launch another after that until Aug. 8.

• Second baseman Jose Lopez built on his hot start to the year with a two-run homer in the fifth on Saturday that gave Seattle a 4-2 lead. It was the second homer of the year by Lopez, who'd also finished last season strong with a pair in the final week. Earlier last season, Lopez went through a long ball drought in which he hit only one home run between July 8 and Sept. 27.

• Corcoran enjoyed a second consecutive night of success in a tough relief spot on Saturday, coming in with the bases loaded and none out in the seventh after three straight walks by Green. Corcoran recorded three consecutive fly-ball outs, allowing only one run on a sacrifice fly by Adam Jones.

For the record

Streak: L2

Home: 2-1

Road: 0-2

vs. AL West: 2-1

vs. L.A.: 0-0

vs. Oakland: 0-0

vs. Texas: 2-1

vs. AL East: 0-2

vs. AL Central: 0-0

vs. NL: 0-0

vs. LHP: 0-1

vs. RHP: 2-2

Day: 1-0

Night: 1-3

One-run: 0-1

Extra innings: 0-0