M's Notes: Injured shoulder not Guardado's problem

What seems to be forgotten in Eddie Guardado's recent assortment of troubles is that the Seattle closer is pitching with a torn rotator cuff.

The injury shut Everyday Eddie down late in the 2004 season, although he came back to pitch with it last season.

Now, after losing two leads and two games in three straight substandard performances over eight days, he emphasizes that he feels fine. But he recently admitted his shoulder bothers him at times.

"My arm gets sore, but it's nothing I can't deal with," Guardado said. "It's nothing that Rick or Newby [trainers Rick Griffin and Tom Newberg] can't work out or ultrasound doesn't fix.

"If it was hurting like when it first happened in 2004, then I'd know it. Your body tells you when you're just sore or you're hurting.

"When I first did it, my arm had never been hurt before. I didn't know what it was supposed to feel like, but I knew I was hurt. When I say sore sometimes now, it's nothing like that was back then."

The effects of a torn rotator cuff can be subtle.

"There can be a recovery of a sort from this type of injury," Dr. Larry Pedegana, Seattle's former medical director, said in 2004. "But in time, there is significant chance of a loss of velocity and control. Where you have to be careful is that it can be so gradual you may not notice at first. But the odds of it occurring are significant."

Guardado still hits 87-89 mph with his fastball, and, against the Chicago White Sox on Monday night, he touched 90 mph with one pitch before allowing the game-tying homer to Brian Anderson.

However, there has been some deterioration in Guardado's normally fine command.

Before the winning homer he allowed to Mark Loretta in Boston, Guardado fell behind 2-0, and Anderson's homer came on a 1-2 fastball to the hitter's strength. But the most obvious command issues were the four walks to force in Texas' winning run last Thursday.

"I feel fine. I feel like I felt last year. In my mind, it's just something I'm going through right now," Guardado said Sunday. "The other day in Boston, I came out like my old self, felt great. Then I missed with a couple of pitches and made a bad pitch.

"Then here at home I couldn't find the plate. But I truly believe it's just coincidence."

After the Anderson homer in a game the Mariners pulled out in the 11th inning, Guardado repeated his belief that his shoulder is fine.

"No one has talked to me about the disabled list," he said. "If I really felt I needed it, I'd go. I don't want to do anything to hurt the team or myself."

After Guardado's last two letdowns, manager Mike Hargrove has underscored that the veteran is still his closer.

The other issue that may hang over the pitcher is that he pitched in just six spring exhibitions, only half of them Cactus League games.

Guardado followed the same routine he had in 2005, when he was nursing a hamstring injury. In 2005, he had 10 saves in April and wound up with 36 saves.

"Do I second-guess myself about not pitching much in spring training? No, not really," the reliever said. "Hargrove and I talked about it when I first got to Arizona this spring, how to go about it. I told him that taking it easy until near the end of camp worked good for me last year, and it was my suggestion to do it again."

Guardado said he worked hard.

"But I wanted to wait a bit and get strong, with my shoulder not up to par. Grover [Hargrove] said, 'You're a pro. You know how to get ready.' So anyway, I don't feel like that has anything to do with what I've been going through, either.

"For me, it's just one of those times you struggle," he said. "Everyone does in baseball. I did last August and September. It's just a bad stretch. Am I frustrated? Yes. Am I hurt? No."

Foul fielding

While the Mariners' .989 fielding mark before Tuesday's game was still third in the league, they have had a rough homestand in the field. They've made six errors and had four passed balls in the homestand's first eight games, allowing four unearned runs. In the first 14 games of the year, they had just three errors and allowed two unearned runs.

"It's not a stretch we're happy with," Hargrove said. "But we've been in one of those stretches where it seems a lot of bad things happen, when they all come back to bite you in the butt — hard."

Seattle's six passed balls are second most in the league behind the Boston Red Sox, and Boston's are all when knuckleballer Tim Wakefield pitches.

Johjima returns

Kenji Johjima was back in the lineup Tuesday, and Hargrove was asked if the catcher's left thumb was better since that was the purported rationale given Monday for his second straight day off.

"Yeah," Hargrove said, with a smile since the thumb largely had been a non-factor all along. "I wanted to give him two days off. It had nothing to do with anything else. We want to keep him strong longer, deeper into the season. If the thumb was bothering him, then we gave him a chance to get better."