Mariners Notebook | Ichiro's hit parade ends slump

SAN DIEGO — A half-season "slump" by Ichiro may finally have been laid to waste by the barrel of his bat.

That barrel got good wood on all five singles notched by the 34-year-old leadoff man in Sunday's rout of the San Diego Padres. It was the seventh five-hit game of Ichiro's major-league career and his first since early last season.

The hit barrage helped Ichiro push his batting average from .286 up to .297 as the Mariners reached the halfway point in their 162-game schedule. That still lags below his .333 career batting average heading into the season, while his on-base plus slugging percentage of .730 is also well below his career norm of .816.

But Ichiro feels things might be turning around.

"I felt today, that ... keeping myself in good balance was very important," Ichiro said. "That was something that was very key to today's game, to my performance."

By "good balance" he meant not dwelling on past failures.

"This is more towards the mental game," he said. "I had no hits yesterday, 0 for 4. And I come out today with a 5 for 5. If you [media] guys ask me if I had a technical or mechanical difference in my swing, I didn't have a mechanical difference. But the important thing is to keep myself in-between, out of the two games that I had. Because it makes a big difference as a result, when you look at the numbers.

"But obviously, it's not."

Ichiro is 16 for 51 (.314) since former manager John McLaren decided to move him back to right field. Before the five-hit outburst, Ichiro had hit just .234 since the move.

Riggleman liked what he saw out of Ichiro, more for the quality of the hits than the quantity.

"All five of those hits, the barrel of the bat was on the ball real good every time," he said. "I was really glad to see that. Ichiro is what he is. He's done some things that nobody in the history of the game has ever done."

Clement "not here to catch every third day"

Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima did not catch the final two games of the Padres series, despite Sunday being a day game after a night affair. Instead, rookie Jeff Clement caught both games and hit his second home run of the season in the ninth inning of Sunday's contest.

Riggleman was asked before the game whether Johjima, signed to a three-year, $24 million contract extension in April, is still the team's No. 1 catcher.

"I don't even know why I would even want to answer that," he said. "I don't want to insult anybody by saying somebody's No. 1 or No. 2. They're both catchers and they're both going to catch a lot. It'll play out. Hopefully, time will tell us if one of them establishes himself as a clear-cut guy who the organization is going to commit to for the future as a No. 1."

Riggleman added that Clement is not up here to sit on the bench.

"When we get back in the American League, hopefully we can keep getting both of them their at-bats," Riggleman said. "Clement will get some at-bats at DH. Joh will catch, and then Joh will DH every now and then. But Clement is not here to catch every third day or something. He's here to get some significant time and see what we've got with him."

Reliever to start Tuesday

The Mariners will go with a plethora of bullpen arms in Tuesday's game since Felix Hernandez isn't ready to make his previously scheduled start. Hernandez has yet to be cleared to throw a bullpen session by the team's medical staff, though it's hoped he might be able to do so today.

Hernandez sprained the ankle of his planting leg while covering home plate last Monday against the New York Mets.

With Miguel Batista still shelved because of a lower back issue, the team doesn't have another available starter it can use. The team also does not want to be forced to make a roster move by calling up a minor-league starter.

Riggleman will instead start the game with either Ryan Rowland-Smith or Roy Corcoran. He'll then throw in some more middle relievers as the game progresses, hoping that at least one of them can go a little longer than the others and spare the entire bullpen from being taxed.

Keeping the bullpen fresh moving forward is a big concern with the heavy-hitting Detroit Tigers due in town on Thursday.

"[Ryan] Rowland-Smith would be a candidate," Riggleman said of relievers he envisions using Tuesday. "[Roy] Corcoran, [Sean] Green, [Mark] Lowe. It may not really even matter which one starts. It's just going to be a combination of the guys."

Notes

• Seattle used this 6-3 trip to bolster its final interleague record to 9-9. That's the same mark the team had last year.

• The three-game sweep by the Mariners was their first since last September in Oakland. All three Seattle starting pitchers recorded wins in the Padres series, despite having each not recorded a victory in more than a month. Erik Bedard's last win had been on May 28, while Jarrod Washburn's came May 5 and Carlos Silva's had been on April 17.

For the record

Streak: W3

Home: 15-24

Road: 16-26

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: 9-9

vs. LHP: 8-13

vs. RHP: 23-37

Day: 9-17

Night: 22-33

One-run: 8-15

Extra innings: 2-2