Notebook | M's cling to belief they can win

The Mariners have closed the doors to the clubhouse for team meetings, and they have cleared the benches for a brawl with the Rangers.

They have talked about a sense of urgency and they talked about not pressing too much. They have scrapped, they have screamed and still they have struggled.

So on Friday — after the Mariners had lost for the 12th time in 15 games this month — manager John McLaren tried something else.

"I just walked through the clubhouse and I said, 'Guys, you can't play any harder than you're playing,' " McLaren said. " 'It's just not happening. You've just got to keep believing in yourself and your teammates and it's going to happen.' "

After two months and 44 games, this Mariners season can be summed up with a Journey chorus: don't stop believing. Seattle is left relying on that faith that things will get better even as it searches for the bottom of this slump in which the Mariners have gone more than three weeks without winning back-to-back games.

The challenge for the players is not to let the weight of what has transpired sink any possibility this season could be salvaged.

"You wake up the next morning, it's a brand-new day," backup catcher Jamie Burke said before Saturday's game. "There hasn't been a win or a loss yet. We try to go about, every day is a new day, no matter what happened the day before."

Seattle was 11 games under .500 after Friday's loss, when the Mariners trailed by three runs before their first at-bat. But McLaren said the losing skid hasn't buried his belief that this team can correct its course.

"If we can just get back to doing what our baseball cards say, we're going to be fine," McLaren said. "I can't put it any simpler than that."

And the manager remains confident that his team can do that. Even now, more than one-quarter of the way through a season that is skidding toward the ditch.

Catching a trend

Kenji Johjima moved up to fifth in the order, but as the designated hitter. Jamie Burke started at catcher for the fourth time in pitcher Erik Bedard's past five starts for the Mariners. Johjima started at catcher in Bedard's start against Texas on Monday, when he allowed six earned runs in the first two innings. In his first six starts this season, Bedard's earned-run average is 8.18 in games in which Johjima caught and 1.31 in games which Burke caught.

No. 3 a charm for Lopez?

Jose Lopez and Adrian Beltre flipped spots in the batting order. Lopez batted third for the Mariners for the first time this season and Beltre moved to the No. 2 spot. Lopez's seven-game hitting streak ended Friday night against the Padres when Lopez went hitless in four at-bats.

"Same thing," Lopez said. "Same pitches, same at-bat, same approach and same concentration. I have the same concentration every at-bat."

Beltre had not batted second in the order this season until Saturday night.

NOTES

• The Mariners' starting rotation will be reset this week after it was juggled because of two off days last week. Felix Hernandez will start today's finale of a three-game series with San Diego. Carlos Silva, Jarrod Washburn and Miguel Batista are scheduled to start in that order for the Mariners' three-game series in Detroit. Washburn missed his turn in the rotation last week because of the off days.

• Ichiro's seventh-inning single Friday snapped an 0-for-16 drought. It was tied for his fourth-longest hitless streak with the Mariners.

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com

For the record

Streak: W1

Home: 10-13

Road: 7-14

vs. AL West: 10-11

vs. L.A.: 3-3

vs. Oakland: 3-2

vs. Texas: 4-6

vs. AL East: 3-10

vs. AL Central: 3-5

vs. NL: 1-1

vs. LHP: 3-8

vs. RHP: 14-19

Day: 5-7

Night: 12-20

One-run: 2-9

Extra innings: 1-2

Home attendance

Saturday's crowd: 32,290

Season total: 614,686

Biggest crowd: 46,334 (March 31)

Smallest crowd: 15,818 (May 6)

Average (23 dates): 26,725

2007 average (23 dates): 29,390