Mariners notebook: Kyle Seager and teammates happy to be done with Indians, Rays

HOUSTON – I chatted with Kyle Seager for my radio pregame show today and I got a little laugh at how he summed up the experience of facing the string of pitchers the Mariners have faced the last two weeks.

“What’s good about facing (Corey) Kluber and the Indians and even Tampa is we don’t have to face them again,” he said. “We got through it – not that it’s going to get any easier – but you don’t have to worry about those guys.”

After facing a ridiculous representation of the top strikeout pitchers in the AL the last two weeks, which included back-to-back matchups vs. Chris Archer and Corey Kluber not once but twice, they get a break, albeit not a huge one. They will face Houston’s Brett Oberholtzer, Collin McHugh and Lance McCullers, then San Francisco’s Tim Hudson and Tim Lincecum over the next five games. After that, it’s another marquee matchup with Felix Hernandez most likely to go against Madison Bumgarner next Wednesday at Safeco Field.

Tonight it is Oberholtzer on the hill for the Astros, who gave the Mariners all sorts of trouble last year, allowing just two earned runs in his two starts against them. Lloyd McClendon will go with his right-handed lineup against the lefty.

Lineup!

Jackson 8
Trumbo 9
Cano 4
Cruz DH
Seager 5
Weeks 7
Morrison 3
Zunino 2
Bloomquist 6

Felix

Notes

• The Astros have had problems of their own recently. The last time the Mariners faced them, Houston was 18-7 and held a seven-game lead over the rest of the division. Today they sit at 34-27 and that lead has been cut to 2.5 games. How has this happened? Some key injuries aside, their struggles look very familiar. They are hitting an AL-worst .233 on the season and have averaged just 2.7 runs per game the past two weeks. With runners in scoring position they are hitting just .223.

• McClendon likes what he has seen from Fernando Rodney in his two outings since taking a break from closing, but he is not ready to put him back out there in the ninth.

“We will use him where we think it fits best,” McClendon said. “He’s still working on things every day. It’s coming. It’s not quite there yet.

• Hisashi Iwakuma threw a bullpen yesterday in Seattle and all went well. He will throw a 45-50 pitch sim game in Everett on Monday and if he checks out of that could make his first rehab start next Saturday, most likely with Tacoma.

• No news to report on James Paxton as he has still not been cleared to throw. He is scheduled to see a hand specialist again when the team returns to Seattle.