Mariners Notebook | Batista hints at a secret weapon

A glimmer of good news came out of an otherwise lousy night for Miguel Batista on Friday.

Batista was forced from the game with a sore groin just one batter into the second inning, having walked five batters and yielded three runs. He said Saturday that he should make his next start and is hopeful about his secretive "new discovery" in Anaheim last weekend that he feels will help him get deeper into games.

Even with Friday's early exit against Oakland, he still tested some of the new strategy out and was pleased with the results. During an interview on Saturday, he let it slip that the discovery has something to do with finding ways to hide the ball from hitters.

Batista mentioned the game's first at-bat, against Oakland leadoff man Kurt Suzuki, when he sent him a pitch high and inside.

"The ball was already in the catcher's glove and he ducked out of the way afterwards," Batista said. "That's when you know the hitters aren't seeing the ball."

Batista said he'd been feeling his groin twinge on every third pitch in the first inning. But after he sat down between innings and went back out for the second, he felt it on every pitch.

"They told me after that, it's a good thing I pulled myself out, or the muscle would have torn right off the bone," said Batista, known for exaggerating for emphasis.

It's been a while since Batista has walked so many hitters in so short a time. He figures the last came back in 1993 while he was pitching at Class AA Harrisburg in the Montreal Expos organization.

Batista said he walked five batters in 1-1/3 innings. The next day, he was approached by veteran Dominican pitcher Mario Brito, who told Batista he wanted to play catch.

"He crouched down like a catcher and told me to close my eyes and throw him the ball," Batista said. "I told him, 'What, are you crazy? I just walked five guys in an inning.' But he said, 'Just do it.' "

Batista closed his eyes and did as he was told. Some of his pitches went a foot or two outside. Some were high. But all of them landed in Brito's glove.

"He told me, 'Now you know what you're capable of doing with your eyes closed,' " Batista said. "Then he said, 'Imagine what you can do with your eyes open. You just have to focus.'

"I was a different pitcher after that."

Taken to task

Mariners manager John McLaren is running out of patience when it comes to his hitters producing. McLaren met with his players behind closed doors after batting practice on Saturday and let them know it was time to step things up.

Struggling designated hitter Jose Vidro was on the bench Saturday night, replaced by pinch-hitter Greg Norton.

"I want to keep Norton in the mix," he said. "I've talked to Jose Vidro about it. We need to get some guys going. Like I said, we're a month into the season now and if we've got to pinch-hit for people we're going to pinch-hit for people. We've gone far enough. We've given everyone an opportunity. This game is about winning. It's not about me being everybody's best friend. It's me doing best for the Seattle Mariners and for the ballclub."

Vidro entered Saturday hitting just .195 with a .552 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in 87 at-bats. Norton had three hits in his first eight at-bats.

The Mariners entered the night with four regulars out of nine batting .200 or lower and had the third-worst team batting average and on-base percentage in the league.

"It's just an awareness type deal," McLaren said. "We need to dot our i's and cross our t's. We're letting opportunities slip. Early in the season, late in the season, you don't let opportunities slip by that we're letting slip by. That's about as basic as I can put it. We're letting some opportunities slip by and we just have to do a better job in a lot of phases of the game."

Corcoran optioned

Erik Bedard and Roy Corcoran were good friends during spring training and the early part of this season, often having dinner together or playing video games. But Bedard coming off the disabled list on Saturday was not a good turn of fortune for Corcoran, who was optioned to Class AAA Tacoma before the game to clear a roster spot for his buddy.

Corcoran had an impressive 1.69 earned-run average in eight relief outings with the Mariners.

Johjima takes break

Kenji Johjima got a night off, one night after being hit in the arm by a pitch.

But McLaren said he used Jamie Burke on Saturday more so that Felix Hernandez could be matched up with Johjima behind the plate on today. The pair have done quite well when teamed this season.

Note

• The Mariners entered Saturday with an 0-9 record in games in which they've trailed by two or more runs at any point. In two of those games, the Mariners came back to tie or take the lead but still lost.

For the record

Streak: W1

Home: 7-6

Road: 5-7

vs. AL West: 8-5

vs. L.A.: 3-3

vs. Oakland: 3-1

vs. Texas: 2-1

vs. AL East: 3-7

vs. AL Central: 1-1

vs. NL: 0-0

vs. LHP: 2-5

vs. RHP: 10-8

Day: 3-4

Night: 9-9

One-run: 1-7

Extra innings: 0-0

Home attendance

Saturday's crowd: 37,563

Season total: 351,060

Biggest crowd: 46,334 (March 31)

Smallest crowd: 16,727 (April 24)

Average (13 dates): 27,005

2007 average (13 dates): 26,626