In the video above, you can see Cliff Lee throwing off the top of a mound for the first time since suffering that abdominal strain three weeks ago. Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said that the team is targetting April 14 as a date for Lee to throw a simulated game.

First, Lee will throw 25 pitches in a bullpen session on Friday. After that, he'll throw a 40-pitch session. The team would then try to get that simulated game in and probably at least one or two others before sending Lee out on a minor league rehabilitation assignment. The goal is to have him throw 70 to 80 pitches by the time he's ready to be activated.

Of course, then the team has his five-game suspension to worry about. I still doubt he sees a major league mound in April.

As you can see in the video, this wasn't a light catch session. Lee was bringing it pretty good. He also threw eight pitches from in front of the mound prior to getting on top of it.

"It was pretty close to max effort,'' Lee said. "But I feel good.''

Lee said he's just going to slowly ease back into pitching. The team is a little concerned he might try to come back too quickly and is closely monitoring his progress.

"We've got to make sure he doesn't get ahead of himself,'' general manager Jack Zduriencik said. "Because he's a very competitive guy.''

April 14 could be a busy time for Lee. It's right around then that he's supposed to have a hearing on the appeal of his five-game suspension for throwing at the head of Chris Snyder in a spring training game against the Diamondbacks.

The Mariners would definitely like to know whether his suspension will be reduced, eliminated or upheld ahead of time so they can plot his recovery couse effectively and target the proper date for his return.

Think it's a coincidence that hearing keeps getting rescheduled? I don't. I'm just guessing, but I'm thinking MLB was none-to-happy to learn that the M's were contemplating starting Lee off on the 25-man roster this week so he could serve the suspension. By postponing the hearing -- meaning Lee can't be "suspended" unless he dropped the appeal process -- they eliminated that possibility for the M's.

By continuing to leave the hearing date up in the air, MLB reduces the chance the M's might try to bring Lee back "early" off the DL so he could just sit out games he wouldn't be healthy enough to pitch in any event. Again, that's just me guessing. But how hard is it to co-ordinate a hearing? I manage to do Mitch in the Morning, produce a live webcast, fill blog posts, work out, have breakfast and lunch, respond to (some) email, take care of personal business (I'm leasing a new car) all before leaving for the ballpark. Surely, the good folk at MLB could get a hearing done quicker than this if they put their minds to it? Stay tuned.

That's Erik Bedard in the photo above, throwing his own, 40-pitch bullpen session moments ago as I typed this. Bedard is technically ahead of Lee at this stage, but that doens't mean he'll return sooner. Lee is still going to come back weeks before Bedard if all goes well. The M's are going to take Bedard's progess very slowly from here so as not to risk a setback.

Shot some video below. It's using a zoom lens from up in the pressbox, so I apologize in advance for the jerkiness of the camera. Best I could do.

By the way, expect to see Mike Sweeney in as the DH tomorrow against lefty Brett Anderson. There's a righty in there tonight, so Sweeney, once again, is on the bench.

The lineups:

MARINERS

Ichiro RF
Chone Figgins 2B
Casey Kotchman 1B
Milton Bradley LF
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
Jose Lopez 3B
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Rob Johnson C
Jack Wilson SS

Ryan Rowland-Smith LHP

OAKLAND

Rajai Davis CF
Mark Ellis 2B
Ryan Sweeney RF
Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B
Kurt Suzuki C
Daric Barton 1B
Jake Fox DH
Travis Buck LF
Cliff Pennington SS

RHP Justin Duchscherer

Oh, and if you missed today's Geoff Baker Live! here's the replay. Once again, the show kicked out with 15 minutes to go. So, we've got the first part in the video up top. And the second part down below.