GAME INFORMATION Safeco Field • PO Box 4100 • Seattle, WA 98194 • TEL: 206.346.4000 • FAX: 206.346.4000 • www.mariners.com Saturday, April 7, 2012 SEATTLE MARINERS (2-1) at OAKLAND ATHLETICS (1-2) Game #4 (2-1) Oakland Coliseum RH Felix Hernandez (0-0, 1.13) vs. RH Bartolo Colon (1-0, 1.13) Road #4 (2-1) UPCOMING PROBABLE PITCHERS…all times PDT… Day Date Opp. Time Mariners Pitcher Opposing Pitcher TV Sunday April 8 Off Day Monday April 9 @TEX 5:05 pm RH Hector Noesi (2-2 4.47 in ‘11 w/NYY) vs. RH Yu Darvish (MLB Debut) ROOT Tuesday April 10 @TEX 5:05 pm RH Blake Beavan (5-6, 4.27 in ‘11) vs. RH Neftali Feliz (2-3, 2.74 in ‘11) ROOT Wednesday April 11 @TEX 5:05 pm RH Kevin Millwood (4-3, 3.98 in ‘11 w/COL) vs. RH Colby Lewis (1-0, 3.00) ROOT Thursday April 12 @TEX 11:05 am LH Jason Vargas (1-0, 2.31) vs. LH Derek Holland (pitches today) ROOT All games broadcast on 710 ESPN Seattle & Mariners Radio Network TONIGHT’S TILT…the Mariners (2-1) close out Opening Weekend with the second of a two-game HITS LEADER VS. OAKLAND Since the A’s moved to Oakland in set (1-0) vs. the A’s…Seattle will travel to Texas for a four-game series with the Rangers following 1968, no player has recorded more tonight’s game and take a rare Sunday off…the Mariners and A’s split a pair of games to open the hits against the Green & Gold than 2012 season March 28-29 at the Tokyo Dome as part of the Gloops Japan Opening Series 2012… Ichiro…in 204 games vs. Oakland, Ichiro is a career .329 hitter (284x864): tonight’s game will be televised on ROOT Sports in high definition & broadcast live on 710 ESPN Most Hits vs. Oakland (since ‘68): Seattle & Mariners Radio Network. 1. Ichiro ....................................284 SPRING TRAINING ODDS AND ENDS…the Mariners finished with a 16-9-1 record (.635), the 12th 2. Rod Carew ............................282 3. George Brett .........................271 winning spring in club history…3rd-best spring winning percentage in club history (21-9/.700 in 4. Michael Young ......................253 1994, 18-10-1/.638 in 2004)…see more on spring training on pages 9-10 of the game notes. 5. Garret Anderson ...................248 • Seattle led all MLB teams with a .297 spring batting average (269x907, 2B – 55, 3B – 11, HR – 28). AN EARLY HAPPY BIRTHDAY • Munenori Kawasaki won spring batting title, leading both the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues with a Tonight’s starting pitcher Felix .455 batting average (20x44, 2B, 3B, 13 RBI). Hernandez will celebrate his 26th • 7 players hit over .300 in Cactus League play (Kawasaki - .455, Ichiro - .415, Smoak - .378, Liddi - birthday tomorrow…pretty amazing .370, Seager - .360, Saunders - .356, Montero - .326). to think that Felix will have made 207 starts before turning 26. • What Jet Lag? - in the four games featuring the regular players after returning from Japan, the Mari- ners combined to bat .353 while averaging over 7 runs and 10 hits per game. THE ROSTER The Mariners had to trim the 28-man SEATTLE VS. ATHLETICS…tonight is the fourth (2-1) of 19 games between the Mariners and A’s roster for Opening Day in Japan to 25 in 2012…will open home schedule against A’s on April 13-15…the Mariners went 10-9 against the players earlier this week…LHP Charlie Furbush, RHP Shawn Kelley and OF A’s last season, including 4-5 at Oakland Coliseum…Seattle is 55-43 vs. Oakland since 2007… Carlos Peguero were optioned to Mariners trail the all-time series 219-293, including a 93-163 mark at Oakland Coliseum. AAA…the current roster includes 12 pitchers, 3 catchers, 7 infielders and ROOKIE DH…Jesus Montero has started all three of the Mariners games at designated hitter… 3 outfielders… 3 players are also on he became the first rookie in club history to start at DH on Opening Day, and the first in the Majors the DL (Mike Carp, Franklin Gutierrez, Adam Moore)…the youngest player since Ken Harvey for Kansas City in 2003…the club record for starts by a rookie at DH is 52 by Juan on the roster is RHP Erasmo Ramirez Bernhardt in 1977. (5/2/90) at 21 years, 10 months+…the oldest is OF Ichiro Suzuki (10/22/73) IN AN OAKLAND STATE OF MIND…Felix Hernandez is 5-2 with a 2.97 ERA (25 ER, 75.2 IP) in at 38 years, 5 months+…12 of the 25 11 career starts at Oakland Coliseum…last year alone he posted a 1.59 ERA (3 ER, 17.0 IP) and a players have less than one year of 0.53 WHIP (walks+hits per IP) in 2 starts…he has recorded a quality start in 8 of his 11 outings here. MLB service time. ROAD WARRIORS…18 of the Mariners first 27 games of the 2012 season will be played on the ROOKIES ON PARADE The Mariners current roster features 7 road (and 28 of first 43)…Seattle will play 8 road games before playing a game at Safeco Field. rookies: RHP Steve Delabar, RHP Hisashi Iwakuma, LHP Lucas OPENING DAY WINNING STREAK…with the 3-1 win over the A’s on Opening Day March 28 Luetge, RHP Erasmo Ramirez, C/ in Tokyo, the Mariners have won 6 consecutive season openers (a club record), tied with the DH Jesus Montero, INF Alex Liddi Diamondbacks for the longest active Opening Day winning streak in the Majors. & INF Munenori Kawasaki…last season the Mariners used 18 rookies, DOWN ON THE FARM…the Mariners four full-season minor league affiliates opened the 2012 and had a club-record 12 players season Thursday, and have combined to go 5-3 so far (went 3-1 yesterday)…AA Jackson is 2-0 make their MLB debut. after beating Birmingham 3-2 last night…LHP James Paxton struck out 10 and allowed only 2 hits OPENING DAY IN SEATTLE in 5.2 shutout innings…High Desert 2B Stefen Romero is off to a hot start batting .778 (7x9) with 4 The Mariners will play their home opener on Friday, April 13 (Friday the 13th) runs scored, 2 doubles, one home run and 3 RBI…be sure to check out the Mariners official Minor hosting the A’s at Safeco Field (7:10 League Report via MarinersMedia.com or the Mariners Blog (marinersblog.mlblogs.com). pm)…Seattle is 21-14 all-time in the first home game of the season. NOW BATTING 3RD…Ichiro will be the Mariners #3 hitter this season, a role that will be new to TICKET INFORMATION him…he has played in 1,752 games with the Mariners, making 1,736 starts (including 3 games this Single game tickets for the 2012 Seattle season), and batted leadoff in 1,720 of those games…has made 16 starts batting 3rd in his Major Mariners season are on sale NOW… League carer, last (prior to this season) being June 23, 2004 at Texas…although we don’t have tickets are available without a service charge at the Safeco Field Box Office accurate records, we have been told Ichiro batted 3rd more than leadoff during his 9-year career and at Seattle Mariners Team Stores… with Orix in Japan…when he started batting 3rd on Opening Day vs. the A’s, it snapped a string Opening Day tickets are available of 1,203 consecutive starts batting leadoff…that was the longest streak of a player batting leadoff and good seats tickets remain for every Mariners home game: dating back to 1974, with the previous long being Kenny Lofton (1,078). www.mariners.com/tickets WHAT A LONG, STRANGE TRIP IT HAS BEEN…the Mariners opened spring training a week ON THE AIR before every other MLB team, with pitchers and catchers reporting to Peoria, AZ on Feb. 11…the Mariners will again use a rotation of Mariners will not return to Seattle until the home opener on April 13, and will have played 26 spring announcers this season, all former partners of HOF announcer Dave training games, 2 exhibition games in Tokyo and 8 regular season games (including 2 in Japan). Niehaus…Rick Rizzs, Dave Sims and Mike Blowers will work nearly KING FELIX…Felix Hernandez made his 5th career Opening Day start for Seattle on March 28 all the games, while Ron Fairly, Ken in Tokyo (also 2007 vs. A’s, 2009 vs. Twins, 2010 at A’s, 2011 at A’s)…he joins Randy Johnson (6 - Levine, Ken Wilson, Dave Valle, Dave 1992,1993,1994,1995,1996, 1998) as the only pitcher in franchise history to make 5 or more Opening Henderson, Jay Buhner and Dan Wilson will mix in…Rizzs and Ron Day starts…Felix’s 3 career Opening Day wins are the most in Mariners history (R. Johnson - 2)… Fairly will be in the radio booth for in his 5 career Opening Day starts, Felix is 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA (7 ER, 39.2 IP) with 33 strikeouts. this road trip, with Sims and Blowers calling the action on TV. EASTER EGG HUNT…the Mariners will take Easter off tomorrow in Texas, and will be rooting for MARINERS BLOG Seattle native and O’Dea High School grad Fred Couples in the Masters…Seattle is 11-7 all-time You can follow all the Mariners news on Easter during the regular season, and 4-6-1 during spring training play.