Notebook | Jamie Burke hit by e-mail, text messages after mound appearance

OAKLAND, Calif. — A flurry of phone calls and text messages greeted Jamie Burke the day after his pitching performance on Sunday afternoon.

So many, in fact, that the Mariners backup catcher didn't bother answering them.

"They were saying how neat it was to see me out on the mound," Burke said.

"I'm not trying to sound rude at all. ... It just gets old when you have 30 phone calls and 20 text messages. You can't start answering all of them."

Burke wasn't sure what to make of all the hoopla surrounding his one-inning stint, in which he gave up the winning run to the Detroit Tigers in the 15th inning.

He heard he made ESPN's "SportsCenter" Sunday night, but he didn't watch the segment. Asked how he felt about having his name etched in baseball pitching statistics, he quipped: "I'm 0-1. It's a loss."

Burke later said he was thrilled to have taken the mound.

"It's an exciting moment for me," he said. "It's what I wanted. I know it's a bit of a joke, me going out there, but it's the competitive edge. It's what you want to do."

Burke's fellow catching teammate, Jeff Clement, can appreciate what Burke did.

Clement used to be the catcher and closer for his high-school team in Marshalltown, Iowa. He'd strip off the catching gear in the late innings, take the mound and often throw harder — in the mid-to-high 80s — than most of the other pitchers in the game before him.

That's quite different than what Burke had to go through taking the mound for the first time as a major-leaguer.

"I did it in high school," Clement said. "I'm sure a lot of guys here pitched in high school. He did it in a major-league game. There's no comparison."

Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre said the key to Burke's success was his ability to "throw the ball over the plate and not embarrass himself."

Stottlemyre said the best position player he has ever seen pitch in a game was teammate Rocky Colavito, while they played for the New York Yankees in 1968. Colavito, an outfielder, came in to pitch in the first game of an Aug. 25 doubleheader that year and wound up tossing 2-2/3 scoreless innings.

"The thing is, that Tigers lineup he faced went on to the World Series," Stottlemyre said. "What's neat is that if you look him up, he's probably the only pitcher you'll ever see with a career record of 1-0, with a 0.00 ERA."

A familiar face

Manager Jim Riggleman was playing the part of teacher taking on student when he looked across the diamond at his counterpart in the opposing dugout Monday night. Oakland A's manager Bob Geren played for Riggleman in 1993, when he was managing the San Diego Padres.

Riggleman also had Geren, a catcher, in some Class A and AA stints in the St. Louis Cardinals' system.

"He was a real pro," he said. "In 1985, we had him and Tom Pagnozzi, and Pagnozzi went to the big leagues. And he caught every game for about three weeks. Every game, doubleheaders. Every game, every inning. Because we didn't have another catcher. We had an emergency catcher if anything happened, but we didn't have another catcher for the roster. He said, 'I can catch every game, every inning, don't worry about it.'

"He did, and we got in the playoffs doing that."

Back in 1993, the Padres needed a catcher when Mike Scioscia got hurt. Geren, who had been with the Yankees from 1988 through 1991, telephoned his old boss and was given a tryout.

Riggleman signed him on.

"I'll tell you what," Riggleman said. "He could catch and throw."

Bouncing back

Riggleman said the reason he didn't go with R.A. Dickey in that 15-inning loss Sunday had little to do with the state of Seattle's health-hampered starting rotation. Instead, he said, it was because Dickey had thrown 102 pitches the previous day.

Dickey is known for having a "rubber arm" because of his use of the knuckleball. But there is apparently only so far Riggleman will stretch that arm.

"If that situation was up there in September and we were two games out of first, he'd have been in there," Riggleman said. "And I wouldn't have felt good about it, but he would have been in there.

"But with where we are right now, I think we would have looked back on it and said, 'Why'd we do that?' "

Notes

• Felix Hernandez is now scheduled to start Friday night's game in Kansas City, his first game since spraining his ankle against the New York Mets on June 23. Miguel Batista will pitch Wednesday's game against the Oakland A's, his first start since the same series at Shea Stadium in which Hernandez was injured.

• Arthur Rhodes said his arm felt fine a day after he was unable to be used because he felt discomfort after sleeping on it in a strange position.

• Mariners closer J.J. Putz could go on a rehabilitation assignment during the All-Star break. If all goes well, Putz could be back throwing within a week after the break ends.

For the record

Streak: L2

Home: 19-27

Road: 16-27

vs. AL West: 10-15

vs. L.A.: 3-6

vs. Oakland: 3-3

vs. Texas: 4-6

vs. AL East: 11-18

vs. AL Cent.: 5-12

vs. NL: 9-9

vs. LHP: 9-15

vs. RHP: 26-39

Day: 10-18

Night: 25-36

One-run: 10-17

Extra innings: 2-3