M's Notebook | Sherrill struggling with mechanics

PEORIA, Ariz. — A dejected George Sherrill trudged off the field, headed for the Mariners' clubhouse and plunked himself down on a stool by his locker.

"How did it go out there?" teammate Jarrod Washburn asked the lefty reliever.

"Awful, man, awful," was the reply.

Few would disagree after Sherrill allowed a three-run homer to Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Steve Garrabrants in the seventh inning of what still resulted in an 8-5 win for the Mariners on Monday. Sherrill, who also gave up a double and a walk that inning, has allowed 15 baserunners in five innings this spring.

"Mechanically, everything's just off," said Sherrill, who plans to spend the next couple of days reviewing video footage of his effort. "It seems like, if that's fixed, everything should start coming around."

Sherrill insists he is building up arm strength and that a recent bout with elbow discomfort isn't a factor in his results. He had been slowly improving in recent outings, but took an obvious step back in this one.

"The longer he was out there, he started coming up in the zone, he fell behind hitters and that's when he got into trouble," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. "That's pretty much what we've seen all spring from George. I know that ... George has better. But we need to see that."

Hargrove has reason for concern, because Sherrill was tabbed to be his No. 1 bullpen lefty this season. There is also a developing situation in Class A reliever Brandon Morrow, who tossed another scoreless 1-1/3 innings while striking out a pair of Arizona hitters and has allowed no runs while striking out eight this spring.

Morrow entered with two out and a runner on third in the fifth and got D-Backs first baseman Conor Jackson to pop out. He then tossed a scoreless sixth, allowing just a walk.

"You like to see how a kid is going to react to that," Hargrove said. "It didn't faze him at all."

Hargrove agreed with a suggestion that Morrow, 22, is making a case for himself to make the team.

"He hasn't done anything to hurt that," Hargrove said.

There are growing concerns about the bullpen, given the uncertain status of closer J.J. Putz (elbow). Putz is to play catch today. Lefty reliever Arthur Rhodes is scheduled to pitch an inning today after being bumped back a day.

"His elbow's a little tight," Hargrove said.

With Sherrill also dealing with elbow stiffness and Chris Reitsma coming off elbow surgery, the Rhodes situation bears watching.

The spring stats of the seven potential relievers in Seattle's opening-day bullpen — Putz, Reitsma, Sherrill, Rhodes, Julio Mateo, Jon Huber and Jake Woods — show a 6.25 earned-run average and 46 hits and 10 walks given up in 36 innings. Opponents have a .363 on-base percentage against those seven relievers and are slugging .552.

Washburn ready

Mariners starter Washburn didn't make it all the way through five innings as hoped Monday, but he did get to throw 10 pitches more than he had been scheduled for. It took just four innings for Washburn to reach his pitch limit of 75, but he was given 10 more and notched two more outs in the fifth before leaving.

Washburn yielded just a run on four hits while walking two. He said he could have gone deeper, and he can't wait for spring training to end.

"I felt like I was ready a month ago," he said. "I told you guys before, I'm not a big fan of spring training. I like playing games that matter. So I'm ready to go and the sooner it gets here, the better."

Taking their lumps

The Mariners didn't fare so well in their other game in Mesa, Ariz., where a lineup that included just one regular, Adrian Beltre, got pounded by the Cubs, 16-4.

"It was ugly. We centered the ball too much," said bench coach John McLaren, who managed the split squad and saw his pitchers give up 24 hits.

Starter Ryan Feierabend, who came into the game with a 0.00 ERA in seven innings over three appearances, allowed eight runs on nine hits in two innings.

"He couldn't find his rhythm," McLaren said. "But Ryan learned a lot today."

The bright spot for Seattle was a three-run homer by Beltre.

Mariner pitcher Renee Cortez left the game after one inning with a strained right groin.

Notes

• Jose Guillen played right field for just the third time this spring, in the game in Peoria. He hit his second homer on a leadoff blast in the second inning and later collected another RBI on a groundout.

• Richie Sexson collected just his third hit all spring when the official scorer reversed an initial error call after his third-inning chopper eluded 3B Chad Tracy. The reversal came after a telephone call to the scorer — presumably from the Seattle dugout — and Sexson later added another single on a broken-bat shot to right, resulting in his second RBI of the game. Sexson is 4 for 34 (.118).

Staff reporter Larry Stone contributed to this report.

Monday's box scores

MARINERS 8, DIAMONDBACKS 5

Arizona						Seattle (Ss)
	AB	R	H	BI			AB	R	H	BI
Hudson 2b	2	0	1	0		Ichiro cf	4	0	2	0
Callaspo ph-2b	1	1	0	0		Jones pr-cf	1	1	0	0
Drew ss	2	0	0	0		Betancourt ss	3	3	2	0
Barden ph-3b	2	1	1	0		Lopez 2b	1	0	0	0
Byrnes rf	3	0	0	0		Vidro dh	3	0	2	1
Garrbrnts ph-rf	2	1	1	3		Domingz pr-dh	0	0	0	0
Jackson dh	4	0	1	0		Ibanez lf	3	1	2	0
Sadler ph-dh	1	0	0	0		BJohnson lf	1	0	0	0
Clark 1b	3	0	1	0		Sexson 1b	4	1	2	2
Carter ph-1b	2	0	0	0		Burke pr-1b	0	0	0	0
Tracy 3b	3	1	1	0		Guillen rf	4	1	1	2
Ojeda ph-ss	1	0	0	0		Johjima c	3	1	2	1
Hairston lf	2	0	1	1		Tuiasosopo 3b	3	0	1	1
Krynzel cf	1	0	0	0		ROrdonz 2b-ss	4	0	1	0
Hammock c	2	0	0	0		Washburn p	0	0	0	0
Montero ph-c	2	1	1	0		Morrow p	0	0	0	0
Young cf	3	0	0	0		Sherrill p	0	0	0	0
Brown lf	1	0	1	1		Mateo p	0	0	0	0
Valverde p	0	0	0	0		Reitsma p	0	0	0	0
Owings p	0	0	0	0
Totals	37	5	9	5		Totals	34	8	15	7

Arizona	000 100 310	—	5
Seattle (ss)	114 002 00x	—	8

E — Byrnes, Sexson. DP — Arizona 3. LOB — Arizona 9, Seattle 8. 2B — Tracy, Hairston, Hudson, Barden, Jackson, Montero, Vidro, Johjima, Ibanez. HR — Garrabrants, Guillen.

Diamondbacks	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
	Davis, L		4	10	6	6	4	2

	Valverde		1	0	0	0	1	1

	Owings		3	5	2	2	1	1

Mariners	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
	Washburn, W		4 2/3	4	1	1	2	2

	Morrow		1 1/3	0	0	0	1	2

	Sherrill		1	3	3	3	1	0

	Mateo		1	2	1	1	0	1

	Reitsma, S		1	0	0	0	0	0

T — 2:42. A.

CUBS 16, MARINERS 4

Seattle (Ss)						Chicago (N) (Ss)
	AB	R	H	BI			AB	R	H	BI
Bloomquist 2b	4	1	1	0		Soriano cf	3	2	2	1
Minaker 2b	1	0	0	0		CWalker pr-cf	2	1	0	0
Reed cf	4	2	1	0		Theriot 2b	5	2	4	3
JWomack cf	0	0	0	0		Johnston pr-2b	1	1	0	0
Beltre 3b	2	1	1	3		Lee 1b	5	2	4	3
Monzon 3b	1	0	0	0		Hffpauir pr-1b	1	0	1	1
Broussard 1b	4	0	1	0		ARamirez 3b	4	2	2	2
Baek p	0	0	0	0		McGehee 3b	2	0	2	0
Morse rf-1b	4	0	2	1		Barrett c	4	2	2	4
Torcato lf	4	0	0	0		Hill c	2	0	0	0
RRivera c	3	0	2	0		Floyd lf	3	2	2	0
Lehr p	0	0	0	0		Colvin pr-lf	2	0	0	0
Saunders ph-rf	1	0	0	0		Coats rf	4	0	1	0
Dawkins ss	4	0	1	0		Izturis ss	3	2	1	0
Feierabend p	1	0	0	0		Rojas ss	2	0	2	0
Cortez p	0	0	0	0		WMiller p	2	0	1	1
Small p	0	0	0	0		Howry p	1	0	0	0
Oliveros ph-c	2	0	0	0		Zambrano ph	1	0	0	0
						Cotts p	0	0	0	0
						Robinson ph	1	0	0	0
						Walrond p	0	0	0	0
						Wuertz p	0	0	0	0
Totals	35	4	9	4		Totals	48	16	24	15

Seattle (ss)	103 000 000	—	4
Chicago (N) (ss)	533 301 01x	—	16

E — Bloomquist, Monzon, Floyd, Theriot. DP — Chicago (N) 1. LOB — Seattle 6, Chicago (N) 11. 2B — Broussard, Morse, Theriot 2, Lee. 3B — Theriot. HR — Beltre, Soriano, ARamirez, Barrett 2. S — Cortez.

Mariners	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
	Feierabend, L		2	9	8	8	1	1

	Cortez		1	3	3	3	0	1

	Small		2	6	3	3	2	1

	Lehr		2	4	1	1	0	4

	Baek		1	2	1	0	0	1

Cubs	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
	WMiller, W		3 1/3	6	4	3	0	2

	Howry		1 2/3	1	0	0	0	1

	Cotts		2	1	0	0	0	2

	Walrond		1	1	0	0	0	1

	Wuertz		1	0	0	0	0	2

HBP — by WMiller (Beltre). T — 2:51. A.