M's Notebook | Ibanez taking his leg injury in stride

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Standing pressed against a wall is one way Raul Ibanez hopes to keep his legs from falling apart on him.

The Mariners left fielder has played his position only sporadically since straining his right hamstring 11 days ago. Ibanez is still dealing with lingering pain from that injury and trying to ease stress on his leg by taking short, choppy strides when he runs.

"I'm trying to be more efficient with my strides," he said. "I have to make sure I stay short and compact. Hitting, running, fielding, throwing, all of that stuff — it's all coordination. It's getting your muscles firing in the right sequence."

One of the ways Ibanez trains himself to run more efficiently is with "wall drills," in which he leans against a wall with his palms extended. Ibanez then pushes into the ground hard with one foot until the force becomes so great his other foot automatically rises off the floor.

"We have a tendency when we run to want to pull [the feet] to run," he said. "You want to pull your legs. And it's the opposite. You should be pushing."

Learning to push off his feet has helped Ibanez keep his strides shorter. He was no gazelle to begin with and figures the longer strides are what caused his injury in the first place.

"I have a tendency to overstride," he said. "And when I overstride, that's when I tend to pull hamstrings."

Ibanez played through a similar injury in 2004, but the pain was so great that he couldn't bend to tie his shoes. It's not as bad this time around, but the Seattle coaching staff is taking few chances with him.

He was been penciled in to start Wednesday night in left field at Kansas City. But when it began raining pregame, he was quickly switched to designated hitter so he wouldn't risk aggravating his injury on the wet grass.

That'll show him

Mariners manager John McLaren feels getting smacked around for 10 runs in 1-1/3 innings on Tuesday night taught starter Ryan Feierabend a valuable lesson. Feierabend apparently grew so frustrated with how he was falling behind hitters that he abandoned his game plan at times.

"Instead of setting up his pitches like he did before with his changeup, I think he was just trying to throw the ball over the plate," McLaren said. "And as we know, location is everything to a pitcher and he didn't have his good location. And Kansas City feasted off it."

The pitches Feierabend left over the plate — hoping for the best — got crushed with regularity. McLaren wanted to make sure Feierabend wasn't suffering from a loss of confidence, not pleased with the body language he saw out on the mound.

"I think my confidence was definitely down a bit," Feierabend agreed. "I made a couple of quality pitches that got hit. For the most part, when you're getting hit around like that, your confidence isn't always going to be there."

McLaren spoke at length with Feierabend on Wednesday and came away convinced confidence isn't an issue. Mariners pitching coach Rafael Chaves also spoke at length with Feierabend, who will start Sunday in Oakland.

Feierabend needs a strong outing to remain in the starting rotation. Horacio Ramirez pitches a rehabilitation assignment for Class AAA Tacoma today and McLaren said the team will re-evaluate his status after that outing.

It will be the second rehab outing for Ramirez, who was to have three when first sent out under the regime of manager Mike Hargrove.

Even if Ramirez does make three rehab starts, it would still leave him ready to rejoin the Mariners after the All-Star break.

Bruised but unbowed

Injured catcher Kenji Johjima was feeling a lot better on Wednesday, one day after the back of his right hand was bruised by a Feierabend pitch that deflected off Kansas City batter Mark Teahen. Johjima even told manager McLaren he'd be ready to play Wednesday night, but the Mariners told him to sit until at least tonight.

The catcher had a metal plate with four screws surgically implanted in the hand after he broke it on a foul tip seven years ago — missing four months of playing time.

There had been some thought that Johjima was spared some pain this time because the plate absorbed much of the ball's impact.

Johjima insisted that wasn't the case.

"It was very painful," Johjima said. "And when I had my surgery back in Japan, my doctor told me that if I got hit there again it could end my baseball career.

"So, I was very worried about what had happened because this [hand] is one of my weak points."

Notes

• Jose Vidro got a second consecutive start at first base in place of the injured Richie Sexson, who is feeling better and could play tonight.

• Mark Lowe apparently got his fastballs up in the 90-92 mph range during his rehab outing for Tacoma on Tuesday night. McLaren said he thinks Lowe is still holding back, fearful of completely unleashing his pitches as he works back from a surgically repaired elbow.

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com.

Read his daily blog at www.seattletimes.com/Mariners

For the record

Streak: W1

Home: 27-15

Road: 19-20

vs. AL West: 12-10

vs. L.A.: 2-7

vs. Oakland: 4-1

vs. Texas: 6-2

vs. AL East: 15-7

vs. AL Central: 10-9

vs. NL: 9-9

vs. LHP: 15-7

vs. RHP: 31-28

Day: 13-11

Night: 33-24

One-run: 14-10

Extra innings: 3-1