Notebook: Nageotte on DL with back spasms
A short and painful outing by first-game starter Clint Nageotte prompted the Mariners to make a player move between yesterday's doubleheader against the Royals.
The Mariners were already worried about their bullpen being overworked heading into the doubleheader. Then, when Nageotte developed spasms in his lower right back and had to leave after three innings, the club triggered its contingency plan. Right-hander Cha Seung Baek was hustled up from Class AAA Tacoma and was available to pitch the second game.
"We didn't know we'd have to DL Clint," Mariners manager Bob Melvin said. "We had thought about what we might have to do in the second game but ... "
Nageotte, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list to make room for Baek, may have strained his back on the final play of the second inning. He stretched high to reach a one-hopper from Desi Relaford.
When he went back out to the mound in the third, Nageotte's body language indicated to the staff that something was wrong.
"You could see him kind of have a funny hop after some pitches," Melvin added. "His back is out of line pretty good there. He said it has happened before."
With two outs and two strikes on Aaron Guiel, assistant trainer Tom Newberg, Melvin and pitching coach Bryan Price visited him. After talking it over he was allowed to finish off Guiel — on a ground out to second — but did not return in the fourth.
It was at that point, the club knew it would be a game that would tax the bullpen. And, indeed, four relievers followed him. So Baek, who was on call, drove up I-5 and was in the clubhouse before the start of the second game.
Slow starts
For the first seven games of this homestand, the Mariners have trailed significantly in every one.
They were behind 9-0 (never scoring) last Monday against Tampa Bay, then trailed 4-0 in each of the next five games. They trailed 3-0 in yesterday's second game. The Mariners still won three of the past four games.
"I'd like to score four runs to start every game," Royals manager Tony Pena said after the opener. "The key is that we need to hold the lead and not let the other team score four, too."
Meche "competing"
Gil Meche, despite throwing 122 pitches in just six innings Friday, "is competing in the strike zone," Melvin said.
Melvin said one of the things the coaching staff has done is move the catcher's glove closer to the plate, "and not on the corners as much." That has given him a better framework for throwing strikes. He has had just two walks (both Friday) in his past three starts.
Meche's problem early in the season was being to fine and getting behind in the count. He was either walking too many or being forced to come in with a hitter's pitch. Melvin said Meche is more aggressive in the zone since his return from Class AAA Tacoma on July 30.
Meche, who has had two shoulder surgeries, has had four straight starts in which he has thrown more than 110 pitches, including two beyond 120.
Let's play one
Melvin, who played for seven teams in his big-league career, doesn't have any favorite memories from doubleheaders, but does remember a particularly long and grueling afternoon in the mid-1980s in Cincinnati.
"It was like 140 degrees on the turf in Cincinnati," said Melvin, who caught for San Francisco then. "After like 12 innings, I've got a rosin bag in my back pocket and I'm borderline delirious."
He said after a Reds player hit the game-winning home run, "I wanted to pick him up and carry him around the bases."
Good protection
The metal protective screen behind home plate was in play for much of the early game. Balls kept bouncing off it like a handball court.
Nageotte whacked it with a second-inning breaking pitch that never did. Catcher Dan Wilson just waved at it as it sailed way outside.
Also in the second, center fielder Hiram Bocachica, throwing to the plate on a single by Angel Berroa, unleashed a throw over everyone. It might have hit the peanut man if the screen had not been there.
Then, in the third, after Jose Lopez's double down the left-field line drove home Bocachica, Royals' left-fielder Aaron Guiel threw so far beyond home plate that it looked like he was throwing to another field.
All that wildness prompted one press-box sage to comment, "the ball's flying out of here today."
Another Ichiro mark
Ichiro stole his 30th base in the third inning of the second game.
That gave Ichiro at least 30 steals in all four of his big league seasons.
Only three other players have had at least 30-plus over the previous three seasons: Juan Pierre, Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Beltran.
Bob Sherwin: 206-464-8286 or bsherwin@seattletimes.com