The Mariners are out on the field for batting practice at the moment. Erik Bedard was warming up a lot earlier than that, throwing a 54-pitch simulated game before most of his teammates even had their uniforms on. He's been judged ready to go next Tuesday, then in the finale of the Texas series before the All-Star break.

"He looked as good as I've seen him,'' manager Don Wakamatsu said.

What exactly was he basing that on?

Well, let's hear him explain it.

"Command, action on a pitch,'' Wakamatsu said. "Break on his curveballs, change-up.''

The Mariners could use another front-line starter to take some heat off this bullpen.

It's a big reason the Mariners activated Shawn Kelley for tonight's game. Wakamatsu plans to ease him back into action with an inning or two here and there. The big thing will be for the team to get Sean White back in his normal late role after that arm fatigue sidelined him last weekend and then likely caused him to get lit up in New York.

Wakamatsu will be looking to get White into key situations. Kelley? Not so much to start. Certainly not the seventh or eighth inning, Wakamatsu said.

Kelley says he's ready to go and had little trouble throwing all of his pitches in his minor league rehabilitation assignment. That stint went quicker than most anticipated and Kelley is anxious to get back with a bullpen he feels is one of the game's best.

"It's pretty exciting,'' he said. "I've been keeping close tabs on them.''

Kelley has also altered his pre-game routine somewhat to avoid a repeat of that oblique tear that sidelined him nearly two months.

"Some things like the medicine ball to kind of loosen up,'' he said. "A little bit of hot tub before the day's work.''

Wakamatsu said there was also a need to get Mike Carp back to Class AAA where he could play every day. He was impressed by what Carp showed when he was up here, but also spoke to him about the need to improve his defense at first base and also to enhance his versatility a little.

For one thing, the team plans to have him play left field a little more often at AAA.

The lineups:

MARINERS

RF Ichiro
1B Russell Branyan
2B Jose Lopez
DH Ken Griffey Jr.
CF Franklin Gutierrez
LF Ryan Langerhans
3B Chris Woodward
C Rob Johnson
SS Ronny Cedeno

RHP Felix Hernandez

RED SOX

RF J.D. Drew
2B Dustin Pedroia
3B Kevin Youkillis
DH David Ortiz
LF Jason Bay
1B Mark Kotsay
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
SS Nick Green
C George Kottaras

RHP Tim Wakefield