Putz's new motion a setback

SAN DIEGO — One reason Mariners closer J.J. Putz won't be back before the All-Star break is a setback suffered last week in Atlanta due largely to miscommunication.

Putz apparently attempted to play catch June 21, but had been told something by the training staff about getting "better extension" on his throws. Not really sure of what that meant, he began snapping off throws with a different, twisting-type motion that wound up causing soreness in the arm.

"I was out there trying to snap it and it got sore again," he said before Saturday's game.

No one knows for certain whether Putz would have made it back any sooner had he started throwing regularly after that Atlanta attempt.

Putz instead wound up sitting out another week. He finally did play catch again here Saturday, before his team took on the San Diego Padres, and admitted afterward he had misconstrued what he had originally been told and should not have been trying to throw differently the first time around.

All the team apparently wanted was for him to get some natural arm extension by throwing the way he always has.

It wasn't until a few days ago that Putz finally stopped feeling pain in the elbow. It's largely the same as when he first hurt it against Toronto 17 days ago, except that "after three or four days, the tingling in my fingers went away."

Putz described the pain as "pretty much the same from the day I hurt it. It was just an achy ... throbbing sensation."

For now, he's throwing with a natural motion from a distance of about 60 feet. That could continue for another week until Putz goes on to a regular throwing program, with structured long-toss and bullpen sessions.

Mariners manager Jim Riggleman said Putz likely won't be the closer for a while.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," he said. "When he's ready to face hitters, whether it's in rehab or whatever, it's probably not going to be in the ninth inning."

Riggleman mentioned Putz possibly even starting — in the minors — if he goes the rehab route.

He won't be taking the closer role back from Brandon Morrow until he shows he can go consecutive outings and beyond that. Riggleman said a lot will depend on Morrow as well and whether he shows he can close games three or even four nights in a row once given the opportunity.

Morrow's at-bat a scream

Morrow didn't quite know what he was going to do when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the ninth inning of Friday's game against the San Diego Padres.

Morrow had just seen Adrian Beltre drive in a key insurance run for a 5-2 lead, which took some of the hitting weight off his shoulders. But Morrow was well aware that, having retired the final batter of the eighth and needing to work the bottom of the ninth to close the game, he couldn't be expending much energy with the bat against Padres reliever Carlos Guevara.

The Mariners had already told Morrow he didn't have to swing if he didn't want to.

"I definitely wasn't going to swing at the first pitch," he said. "I haven't seen a live pitch since high school. Then, he kept throwing sliders, so I thought I'd swing."

Morrow shortened up on his swing against Guevara and sent a screaming line drive to right.

"I thought I almost had a hit," he said. "I hit it farther than I thought."

But the ball was caught.

For the record

Streak: W2

Home: 15-24

Road: 15-26

vs. AL West: 10-14

vs. L.A.: 3-6

vs. Oakland: 3-2

vs. Texas: 4-6

vs. AL East: 8-17

vs. AL Cent.: 4-10

vs. NL: 8-9

vs. LHP: 8-13

vs. RHP: 22-37

Day: 8-17

Night: 22-33

One-run: 8-15

Extra innings: 2-2

The three men stranded by Morrow helped Seattle set a dubious team record of 18 runners left on base.

Morrow completed the multi-inning save with a 1-2-3 ninth. That gave the Seattle bullpen 20 consecutive retired batters.

Notes

• Felix Hernandez will not make his scheduled Tuesday start against the Toronto Blue Jays. Mariners manager Riggleman had thought Hernandez could go Tuesday, but the team has decided to be cautious and pushed him further back. No starter has been named for Tuesday, and the team has yet to determine when Hernandez will pitch.

• The team is still toying with what to do with Miguel Batista, whose back was feeling better Saturday. Both Riggleman and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre spoke with Batista after batting practice Friday and let him know that he has to advise the team sooner if he feels a medical problem is hampering his performance.

• One rare scene from Friday's game was Willie Bloomquist getting walked intentionally to load the bases so that Jarrod Washburn would have to bat with two out. Bloomquist's previous intentional walk had come more than five years earlier, also in San Diego back on June 20, 2003. Bloomquist has only two intentional walks in 1,292 career plate appearances.

• The Mariners had a surprise pregame visitor to their dugout as former second baseman Bret Boone arrived with his young son. Boone lives in the area and has time on his hands, having retired a second time earlier this season after an aborted comeback attempt with the Washington Nationals.