Notebook | Mariners eager for Ibanez's return

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Overeager left fielder Raul Ibanez hopes to return to the lineup tonight for a Mariners club desperately needing help with runners in scoring position. This time, he promises, he'll be healthy enough to play.

Ibanez leads the team with a .387 batting average with runners in scoring position, having collected a club-high 21 runs batted in as well. In their last six games prior to Tuesday, five played without Ibanez in the starting lineup, the Mariners went 7 for 47 (.149) with runners in scoring position and posted a 1-5 record.

The sore back that has sidelined Ibanez was made even worse when he rushed himself back in to the lineup last Friday — against the advice of team trainers — after taking Thursday's game off.

"I'm not real good at listening," Ibanez said with a somewhat sheepish look. "I'm not real good at following directions."

Ibanez has little choice now but to follow them. He took batting practice on Tuesday and should return tonight. The Mariners went 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position Tuesday, but one of the hits was a two-run, tying single by Richie Sexson in the fifth.

Mariners manager Mike Hargrove held a closed-door, pregame meeting with Sexson, Adrian Beltre, Jose Guillen, Ibanez and Willie Bloomquist. One of the items discussed was hitting with runners in scoring position.

"The frustrating thing about us hitting with runners in scoring position," Hargrove said, "is that there have been times we've hit the ball hard, but right at somebody ... but there have also been times we've gotten in good hitter's counts and then tried to make something happen that really just wasn't there."

Hargrove agreed the absence of Ibanez has created a huge hole in the lineup at precisely the wrong time.

"He's the guy that for the last two years has been kind of the linchpin of our offensive lineup," Hargrove said. "I don't know how you replace 33 home runs and 123 RBIs. It's made a big difference, sure."

Weaver update

Embattled pitcher Jeff Weaver threw 50 pitches off flat ground in a bullpen session and hopes to be back in the team's plans shortly. Weaver was placed on the disabled list with what the team says in tendinitis in his right shoulder.

He went 0-6 with a 14.32 earned-run average in his first six starts after signing a one-year, $8.3 million free-agent contract this past winter.

Though Weaver is eligible to come off the DL on Friday, pitching coach Rafael Chaves says "several more" bullpen sessions need to be thrown before the pitcher is activated.

Game over?

Mariners outfielder Jason Ellison had to keep a straight face in the ninth after catching a blast by pinch-hitter Greg Norton to end the game. The ball hit a cable suspended high above the field and should have been declared a ground-ruled double.

"It was going to be a bomb," Ellison said of what would have been a 400-foot homer had the cable not gotten in the way. "I just adjusted and caught it. I hadn't even thought of it [coming back], and then I thought 'Hey, I'd better get back there.' "

Ellison also appeared to trap the ball off the fence, but admitted only to it hitting the cable. The Devil Rays protested vehemently as the Mariners headed to the field to congratulate each other, but the call was not overturned.

Notes

• Brandon Morrow extended his scoreless innings streak to 13-1/3 after notching five outs in relief of Jarrod Washburn. The streak is a team high and covers Morrow's last 11 outings.

• Ichiro extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single to left field in the third inning. The Mariners leadoff man also scored a key seventh-inning insurance run from first base on a Jose Vidro double to right-center that a fan interfered with. The ruling on the field was that Ichiro was running hard enough that he would have scored even if Tampa had played the ball.

For the record

Streak: W1

Home: 12-11

Road: 8-10

vs. AL West: 8-7

vs. L.A.: 1-5

vs. Oakland: 4-1

vs. Texas: 3-1

vs. AL East: 6-5

vs. AL Central: 5-7

vs. NL: 1-2

vs. LHP: 7-3

vs. RHP: 13-18

Day: 7-7

Night: 13-14

One-run: 4-5

Extra innings: 0-0