UPDATE 11:18 A.M.: First pitch now 11:45 a.m..

Don't be fooled by the file photo above. It's actually raining pretty hard in Chicago this morning and we may not start this game on time. The Mariners are determined to play it, not wanting a five-game series in August when they'll be in the midst of a nearly three-week stretch of consecutive games. So, this could take a while.

Those of you watching yesterday's game may have noticed Ian Snell warming up in the bullpen at one point. Snell wound up throwing a bullpen session because it was his side day. But there's a reason he was doing that throwing in the bullpen during the game. The Mariners were thinking of bringing Snell in as a long reliever if they needed one.

I talked to Snell about his situation this morning and he says he's as in the dark about it as anyone else.

"They haven't told me a thing,'' he said. "I have no idea what their plans are for me.''

That seemed a little odd to me, given the team's "belief system" approach and their practice of letting players know they have room to fail before they'll lose their day-to-day jobs. I'd figured that somebody would want to call Snell into a room and let him know he still had a few weeks to get his game together. Such a conversation might help him stop pressing.

But then again, you do such a thing if you really intend to keep starting him a few more weeks. If you don't, then what? You warm him up in the bullpen, maybe.

Snell is anxious to pitch. He's done so in a game only once since taking a loss in Texas two weeks ago today. The team has him skedded to start on Tuesday in Kansas City and it might be the last one he makes for a while.

Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu was speaking this morning about how a confidence boost can help players. He pointed to Jose Lopez and his two hits yesterday after that grand slam on Friday.

So, I asked him where he thought Snell's confidence was at.

"I think, obviously, one of the signs of being in the bullpen last night is, he might be one of those guys who goes to the bullpen,'' Wakamatsu said. "But he's been in the big leagues long enough. He's one of those guys who's going to have to continue to pitch well. I think he's made great improvements since we got him. The rest is trying to reassure him that no matter where he pitches, he could help this ballclub win.''

Wakamatsu has avoided tipping his hand too obviously in recent days. After all, he still needs to get that start out of Snell in Kansas City. Wakamatsu all but said yesterday that Doug Fister would be staying in the rotation.

Today, he reiterated that: "Look at Fister yesterday. I don't know if you could pitch any better than that.''

And so, that leaves Jason Vargas as the only other candidate. Vargas may be the strongest starter of any outside Felix Hernandez these days, combining an ability to go deep with big strikeout numbers that don't require him to get a whole lot of help from his fielders. He's been every bit as good as Fister of late and, combining that with Snell being ready in the bullpen yesterday, it just seems like the team has pretty much made up its mind at this stage.

So, we'll see.

Mark Lowe was unavailable yesterday and will be again tody. He's had more of that back stiffness that was bothering him earlier this month.

Milton Bradley is going to do some running this morning to test that calf muscle out, but is not in the lineup again today. Given the wet field, that's not a bad idea. Jack Wilson is going to be available on an emergency basis only today, but should be ready to start in Kansas City tomorrow night.

I spoke to Eric Byrnes about that missed catch yesterday after he'd climbed the wall and positioned himself perfectly to rob Alexei Ramirez of a home run. Byrnes did indeed prevent the homer, deflecting the ball with his glove and having it bounce off the top of the fence and back on to the field for a two-run double.

But Byrnes feels he should have made the catch. That's two days in a row he's just missed making a spectacular play. He knows he did all he could to snag that Alex Rios liner off Brandon League on Friday. But yesterday was different.

"I thought I should have been able to make that catch,'' he said.

Had he done so, they'd be showing it all over the country. He's gone up for balls before and snagged would-be homers.

"But I've never climbed the wall like that to do it,'' he said.

By the way, I know some of you have written in asking for updates on Chris Jakubauskas, the former Mariners pitcher who was drilled on the side of the head in Houston yesterday by a line drive just 12 pitches in to his first start for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He was kept in a hospital overnight for observation. Shawn Kelley told me today that his fiancee spoke to Jakubauskas's fiancee last night and that the injured pitcher was still having some blurred vision but it was expected to subside. That's all I know for now.

The lineups:

RF Ichiro
2B Chone Figgins
CF Franklin Gutierrez
3B Jose Lopez
DH Mike Sweeney
1B Casey Kotchman
LF Eric Byrnes
C Adam Moore
SS Matt Tuiasosopo

LHP Jason Vargas

WHITE SOX

LF Juan Pierre
SS Gordon Beckham
DH Andruw Jones
1B Paul Konerko
C A.J. Pierzynski
RF Carlos Quentin
CF Alex Rios
3B Mark Teahen
SS Alexei Ramirez

LHP John Danks