Larry Stone has the story of why Erik Bedard's bullpen session, originally scheduled for tomorrow, has been called off. Read about it on his Hot Stone League blog.

Just chatted briefly with Milton Bradley, who managed not to get ejected from yesterday's game after being run out of his previous two for what could charitably be described as dubious reasoning by the umpires involved.

Bradley took a called third strike in yesterday's game -- from a major league umpire compared to Class AAA guys the previous two contests -- and calmly walked away without uttering a word. I asked him this morning whether he felt he had to change anything about his game, be on his best behavior, so to speak, given what's happened so far.

"I'm not going to change,'' he said. "The way I look at it is, these were two minor league umpires, I'm not going to see them again during the season, I don't know why they did what they did, but let's move on. I don't want to get into it because then it would become a negative story. If anything is said about that, it's going to be a story because I said it.''

No argument there. We've questioned Bradley's thinking in this space before for going on too many times already this spring about his past experiences in Chicago. But this time, with the ejections, things are a little different. Bradley seems to be trying to make a fresh start here in Seattle, hasn't given any more Chicago-related interviews since the first two and, to be honest, I didn't think the first ejection last week was warranted when he didn't say a word to the umpire. If you watched last week's Geoff Baker Live! (show resumes tonight at 7 p.m. Pacific time) you heard me respond to a question about Bradley and his ejections. Or, you can watch for the first time right now, by viewing a clip of that part of the show by clicking the link I've provided.

As for the second ejection, where I'm told he shouted the word "terrible!'' as he headed back to the dugout after a called third strike, well, I've seen guys tossed for saying even a tiny amount of stuff before. Did the umpire have a quick trigger in that case? Absolutely. But it wasn't unprecedented.

Still, it's not as if Bradley was out of control this past week. He is just being kept on a very short leash by some folks. Shorter than most players are as they try to hone their playing skills leading up to the start of the season.

"I mean, I'm not changing,'' Bradley said. "I've gotten this far being me, it's been 31 years, and nothing changes about me, ever.''

Bradley said he's getting along fine with his new teamamtes and feels comfortable handling left field on a regular basis.

"Everything is the same,'' he said. "I've been playing forever. I started out as a catcher in Little League, I've been a middle infielder, I've played outfield here. I can play wherever. Nothing's new. It's all the same stuff.''

And he says the more he can avoid the media spotlight, the better. He's working on it. Getting thrown out of consecutive games clearly doesn't help that cause but he's trying not to add any fuel to that fire as he prepares to start the season for a Mariners team that desperately needs his bat in the middle of the order.

As of today, Bradley could be the opening day cleanup hitter, with Casey Kotchman batting third. We'll see. Bradley could also get the bulk of playing time in left field. The self-described "five-tool player" says he's ready for that challenge.

Now, he just has to stay in the game long enough to make it happen. He's working on it, hoping others will allow him to do the same.