Mariners
Notebook: Mariners trade Aurilia to Padres

By José Miguel Romero
Seattle Times staff reporter

Rich Aurilia

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Rich Aurilia has found a new place to play.

The former Mariners shortstop, effectively released by the club on July 10 to make room for the return of outfielder Raul Ibanez from the disabled list, was traded to the San Diego Padres yesterday for a player to be named.

The Mariners had 10 days after designating Aurilia for assignment to either release, trade or send Aurilia to the minor leagues. The trade means Seattle also could be sending money to San Diego to help pay the remainder of Aurilia's $3.15 million salary, for which he signed a one-year contract in January.

Aurilia played for the San Francisco Giants last season and returns to the hotly contested National League West Division.

If the Mariners and Padres do not agree on a player to complete the trade, the Mariners will receive an undisclosed amount of cash.

"He knows that division well, and we wish him the best," Mariners manager Bob Melvin said. "He can help San Diego. We knew there would be some interest out there."

Aurilia appeared in 73 games with the Mariners this season, hitting .241 with 13 doubles, four home runs and 28 runs batted in.

Keeping it light

Mariners closer Eddie Guardado is as intense as they come in games, but he balances his serious side with plenty of clubhouse and pregame pranks.

Guardado claimed another young victim yesterday, smashing a shaving-cream pie in rookie pitcher Travis Blackley's face while Blackley was doing a television interview on the field. Twenty-four hours earlier, Guardado was on the pitcher's mound pumping his fist and screaming as center fielder Hiram Bocachica took a home run away from Cleveland's Casey Blake in the bottom of the ninth inning of Sunday's game.
 
The catch helped preserve a save for Guardado, who is arguably the most emotional of all the Mariners.

"I'm not going to play this game forever," Guardado said. "You've got to be excited to come to a major-league ballpark and a clubhouse and go out there and perform at a major-league level. It could be a lot worse. You have to appreciate what you have."

Guardado said he and his family love the area and their house in the woods near Issaquah. But while his contract includes a mutual option that could result in him staying in Seattle next season or becoming a free agent, Guardado said he hasn't thought about what he will do.

For now, he is having fun despite the Mariners' losing record.

"Everybody has their own different thing they bring to the table or on the field," Guardado said. "Some guys show more. Some guys are more enthusiastic. I let my feelings out."

Bocachica's big catch

Bocachica and his teammates were still talking about Sunday's ninth-inning heroics, Bocachica pausing in the clubhouse to watch an ESPN highlight of him leaping over the center-field wall to make the play.

"It was one of those plays where you think it only happens once in your career," Bocachica said. "I didn't think the ball was going out."

Bocachica said he has never made such a play at any level of baseball, but his background in volleyball and basketball helped. He plans to get Mariners video coordinator Carl Hamilton to make a copy of the catch for him on tape, so Bocachica can give it to his mother.

Bocachica got the start in center field last night, mainly because left fielder Raul Ibanez was unavailable because of flu-like symptoms. Melvin also said he felt it was important to get Bocachica at-bats.

Salute to Hispanics II

The Mariners are planning another salute to Hispanics in baseball for Sept. 15, a year after they held such an event for the first time at Safeco Field.

No specific details of the event have been released.

"It's good because the support of the Latino community at games feels good," said catcher Miguel Olivo, who couldn't recall being a part of such a tribute when he played in Chicago for the White Sox.

Notes

• Melvin spent the 1993 season playing for the Red Sox, and remembers the experience well. "It's a soap opera every day there," he said. "It's a place where you don't want to read the papers."

• Jennifer Devine, a singles sculls competitor who will row for the United States at the Summer Olympics, threw out the first pitch. Devine, a Portland native who competes for Seattle's Pocock Rowing Center, is a five-time U.S. national-team member and soon-to-be two-time Olympian.

• Fans attending the Mariners-Oakland game tomorrow are invited to donate used wireless phones and accessories to benefit domestic-violence survivors through the Verizon Wireless HopeLine program. Drop boxes will be located outside the ballpark's four entrances from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.