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Geoff Baker covers the Mariners for The Seattle Times. He provides daily coverage of the team throughout spring training, and during the season.

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April 2, 2008 6:50 PM

Game thread, 4/2, Texas vs. Mariners

Posted by Larry Stone

Here are the lineups:

Texas

Ian Kinsler 2B

Michael Young SS

Josh Hamilton CF

Hank Blalock 3B

Milton Bradley DH

Frank Catalonotto LF

David Murphy RF

Gerald Laird C

Ben Broussard 1B

Jason Jennings P

Seattle Mariners

Ichiro CF

Jose Lopez 2B

LF Raul Ibanez

Richie Sexson 1B

Adrian Beltre 3B

Brad Wilkerson RF

Jose Vidro DH

Kenji Johjima C

Yuniesky Betancourt SS

Carlos Silva P

The big mystery today will be who gets the ball in the ninth if the Mariners have a lead. I'm going to guess Sean Green, because O'Flaherty and Lowe have both worked twice already, and it would probably be unwise to go three days in a row this early. Lowe said he told Mel Stottlemyre he could go -- he threw just nine total pitches in those games -- but Stottlemyre told him it was too early to push it.

So that leaves Green or a darkhorse, Miguel Batista. Batista saved 31 games for Toronto in 2005, and tonight is his day to throw in the bullpen anyway. When McLaren was asked about the possibility of using Batista, he laughed and said, "You know what? We have the staff. We're ready.''

I took that to mean it's not out of the realm of possibility.

I'm not sure why Corcoran got the call rather than R.A. Dickey. Never got a chance to ask McLaren.

I'll probably be light on in-game updates again tonight. I've got to write up the Putz story for the newspaper and then start working on the game story. Don't worry, Geoff returns on Friday for the road trip.

Have fun, and keep the light on for me.

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