M's Notebook | Guillen gets into it with umpire in 6th

CHICAGO — First, the fans got on his case. Then, the plate umpire gave Jose Guillen all kinds of verbal abuse.

Guillen raced home to score a go-ahead run for the Mariners in the sixth inning of Thursday afternoon's 5-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs. As he crossed the plate, he saw umpire Tim McClelland standing in his path and put up his hands to avoid a collision.

The two bumped momentarily, but not hard enough for either to fall. Guillen continued jogging toward the visitors' dugout until McClelland shouted something at him.

"He said, 'You pushed me!' " Guillen said. "I didn't intentionally push him ... my head was down, I kept running hard. I put my head up and he was right there."

Guillen turned and headed toward the umpire. The two jawed at each other face-to-face for a moment as coaches tried to get between them.

"He just kept saying, 'You pushed me!' " Guillen said.

McClelland also waved his finger at Guillen as he spoke, which seemed to infuriate the Mariners' outfielder.

"I'm not going to go there and try to push an umpire," Guillen said. "What do you think? I'm going to try to run him over?"

Mariners manager Mike Hargrove couldn't believe what he was seeing as he tried to pull Guillen away.

"It was more Tim [McClelland] than anything else," Hargrove said.

McClelland declined to comment. He had an attendant in the umpires' room tell reporters: "It was nothing."

Guillen has gained a reputation around baseball as somewhat of a troublemaker, largely after he was thrown off the Angels back in 2004. Other than brief flare-ups with past and current Angels, though, his past three seasons have been virtually problem-free.

He did get into it with the fans here on Tuesday night when he faked tossing them a ball. But television replays of Thursday's bumping with McClelland seem to support his version of events.

"He can think whatever he wants to think," Guillen said. "He's one of the veterans in this game. He's a pretty good one. But that's the last thing I intended to do. How old is he? Sixty-something? I'm thirty? I don't think I would do that."

Players meet over Mateo

Relief pitcher Julio Mateo, demoted to the minors after being charged with assaulting his wife last month, has a court appearance scheduled today in New York City. But Mariners players have already begun their deliberations over what to do about a former teammate putting up good numbers in Class AAA and who could help a badly depleted bullpen.

Players have held meetings in recent days — apparently at the request of team management — to figure out whether they'll accept Mateo back on the team. Several players came forward with their views on the matter, some favoring Mateo's reinstatement, others arguing strongly against it.

Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi agreed that Mateo has looked fine in Class AAA, going 1-1 with a 2.45 earned-run average in eight outings with Tacoma.

"He isn't going to have any problems down there," Bavasi said. "We know he can pitch."

But that doesn't necessarily mean Mateo is about to be promoted.

"Don't know," Bavasi said, slowly shaking his head and looking off in the distance.

Regardless of what the players decide, Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln will make the final call.

Feierabend in, Woods out

Ryan Feierabend boarded a plane in Portland on Wednesday night — as the Mariners played the Cubs — and flew to Chicago, just in case the team needed him for Thursday afternoon's contest.

He wasn't needed after all, because starter Miguel Batista went seven innings in the Mariners' 3-2 loss, and Jake Woods was the only reliever to have to pitch — going one frame. The Mariners told Feierabend on Thursday he wasn't going to be activated, and it looked like he might simply turn around and fly back to rejoin Class AAA Tacoma.

"I really don't know what's going to happen," he admitted after Thursday's game.

But that changed moments later when the Mariners optioned Woods back to Tacoma. Feierabend is expected to be added to the roster before tonight's game in Houston.

Woods appeared devastated by the news.

"There's not much else to say," he said, voice trembling as he walked out of the visitors' clubhouse.

For the record

Streak: L2

Home: 17-13

Road: 18-15

vs. AL West: 12-10

vs. L.A.: 2-7

vs. Oakland: 4-1

vs. Texas: 6-2

vs. AL East: 9-7

vs. AL Central: 9-7

vs. NL: 5-4

vs. LHP: 13-4

vs. RHP: 22-24

Day: 10-10

Night: 25-18

One-run: 10-9

Extra innings: 2-0