M's Notebook | Suspension makes Tigers let out roar

Tigers catcher Ivan Rodriguez doesn't figure to be in the Detroit lineup for today's game against the Mariners.

But that will be by choice of Tigers manager Jim Leyland and not because of Major League Baseball's decision Saturday to suspend Rodriguez for a game for his actions in Thursday's loss to the Mariners at Safeco Field.

"When I take a day off, it will be because my manager gives me a day off," said a defiant Rodriguez. The catcher said he planned to appeal the one-day suspension that was levied after an argument in which MLB officials said he made contact with umpire Mike Winters. Rodriguez was arguing that he had been interfered with by Seattle batter Yuniesky Betancourt while trying to throw out Adrian Beltre on a steal attempt at second.

Rodriguez said he might have barely brushed Winters and that he didn't think the incident warranted being thrown out of Thursday's game — which he was — let alone being suspended for an additional game.

"What happened the other day wasn't right," he said.

Leyland was even more adamant that MLB officials had made the wrong call.

Leyland said MLB officials need to "use some common sense" and realize that arguments are going to happen. "If they want to take that away, then let them go to [expletive] Sunday school," he said.

Leyland said Winters had acknowledged any contact was inadvertent and said he thinks MLB is too quick to automatically levy suspensions — Tigers outfield Gary Sheffield recently served a two-game suspension after he allegedly tossed a bat handle in the direction of an umpire.

"I'm tired of this," Leyland said. "This is the second suspension we've had and neither one was called for, in my opinion."

Some wondered if Rodriguez's suspension was really all that severe given the fact that catchers routinely take a day off every week or so, although it's worth noting that Detroit would not be able to call up another catcher to take his place on the roster for the day.

Leyland acknowledged that Rodriguez will almost certainly take his regular day off today.

But Leyland said simply letting Rodriguez serve his suspension on what would be a normal day off "would be morally wrong. If you do that, you're saying 'I accept the penalty in good grace.' And I don't."

Mariners manager John McLaren said he thinks MLB vice president Bob Watson, who is in charge of levying out such penalties, is simply trying to "be strict but very fair and very consistent. It's just like in the NBA, you've got tough rules. All he's trying to do is keep things in order."

Sexson struggling again

Overshadowed by Seattle's winning ways of late has been yet another downturn in fortunes for Mariners first baseman Richie Sexson.

Sexson went 0 for 4 in Friday night's 6-3 loss to Detroit to drop his average to .200 after it had been as high as .213 on June 26. Sexson entered Saturday night's game in a 0-for-16 slump, 5 for 40 overall, and hasn't hit a home run since June 26. He was 1 for 3 Saturday, with three runs scored.

When Sexson had some similar struggles earlier in the season, former manager Mike Hargrove gave him two days off and dropped him in the batting order.

McLaren, however, said Sexson will remain in the lineup for now, and said some of Sexson's current problems can be traced to a thumb injury suffered while playing first base in Kansas City last week.

"The whole Oakland series [which followed the K.C. trip] we were thinking that we maybe would have to [put him on the disabled list] coming into the second half of the season," McLaren said. "But the second day in Oakland, he said he was ready to go. It might have been a mistake playing him, but we watched him take [batting practice] and he likes to play the game."

McLaren said he wasn't concerned about Sexson playing with some pain as long as he wasn't changing his swing to compensate, which he said Sexson hasn't been doing.

"We know what he is capable of and I feel confident that at the end of the year, his numbers are going to be what they always have been," McLaren said. "As long as he stays in a good mental state, he will be out there. We know Richie is a streaky guy."

Woods up, Feierabend down — for now

In yet another change to the pitching staff as injured players get healthy, the Mariners sent Ryan Feierabend to Tacoma and called up Jake Woods to take his place.

The move was made to open up a spot in the starting rotation for Horacio Ramirez, who has been on the DL since May 9 but will start Monday.

McLaren said Feierabend was sent down so he can remain on a regular starting routine with the plan that he will be called back up to the Mariners to start one game in a doubleheader at Texas on July 24.

"This gives him a chance to stay sharp and get ready [for Texas]," McLaren said of Feierabend, who is 1-3 in six starts for the Mariners.

Woods will fill a long relief role for now, though his stay could be brief with another move needing to be made to clear room for Ramirez.

Notes

• McLaren said starter Cha Seung Baek, on the DL since June 22 with right shoulder inflammation, isn't progressing as well as hoped. "He's coming along slow, to tell you the truth," McLaren said of Baek, who is rehabbing in Peoria, Ariz. "He hasn't thrown that much. I'm not saying it's a big concern, but it's something that we are monitoring closely, hoping he will start coming around so he can start throwing. He hasn't thrown off the mound yet so he's got a ways to go."

• Ichiro is 1 for 12 in the first three games of this homestand, and McLaren said the All-Star Game, along with signing a new contract, might have taken a toll. "I would think the last four, five days have been very tiring for him," McLaren said.

• McLaren was asked if he thought his ascension to manager had anything to do with Ichiro agreeing to his new deal and answered a quick "no" saying he thought it was foremost a "family decision" for Ichiro. "I knew it would work out," he said. "I felt good about it. But it wasn't anything we ever talked about."

For the record

Streak: W1

Home: 29-16

Road: 22-21

vs. AL West: 15-11

vs. L.A.: 2-7

vs. Oakland: 7-2

vs. Texas: 6-2

vs. AL East: 15-7

vs. AL Cent.: 12-10

vs. NL: 9-9

vs. LHP: 17-7

vs. RHP: 34-30

Day: 15-11

Night: 36-26

One-run: 15-11

Extra innings: 3-1

Home attendance

Saturday's crowd: 38,202

Season total: 1,384,768

Biggest crowd: 46,340 (June 22)

Smallest crowd: 16,555 (May 2)

Average (45 dates): 31,622

2006 average (45 dates): 27,878