Tuesday lineup and notes…

By Shannon Drayer

A little twist in the lineup today…Casper Wells is back in the lineup today, as are the rest of the outfielders as Ichiro will be the DH.

Ichiro Suzuki (L) DH
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Kyle Seager (L) 3B
Jesus Montero C
Justin Smoak (S) 1B
Michael Saunders (L) LF
Casper Wells RF
Dustin Ackley (L) 2B
Brendan Ryan SS

Eric Wedge getting Wells’ right handed bat into the lineup against the lefty Travis Blackley but also getting a chance to see Wells in right field, the position he actually has played the most games at (mostly with Detroit) in the big leagues. A converted pitcher there is little doubt he has the arm for right.

One outfielder on the mend is Mike Carp who told me he was able to take 25 swings today and his hoping to get out into batting practice or early hitting on the field in the next few days. No word yet on when he will be allowed to throw.

I caught up with Miguel Olivo before the game for Beyond the Baselines to ask about the plan he had for Erasmo Ramirez last night. It was the first time he caught Ramirez this year and said that it was his goal to pitch him a bit backwards because he thought too many hitters were looking for first pitch fastball in his previous starts.

“We throw a lot of changeups yesterday and kept the hitters off balance,” he said. “You cannot pitch just fastball, fastball. You need to think everybody is swinging at first pitch fastball and that is when you get killed. You need to throw your breaking ball for a strike and then we go after that and see what their plan is.”

Erasmo said that the two of them got together before the game and talked about the plan. When he got into the game he shook him just once. Olivo said this was a good thing.

“I think that is the main thing I told him. I don’t want you thinking nothing on the mound. I want you to be who you are because you are a good pitcher, just throw the ball and don’t think of it.”

It was an almost winning combination last night.

Finally, we still do not have confirmation that Jamie Moyer will be pitching Thursday in Tacoma but all indications are he will be the 51’s starter. The Rainiers were smoked out (?) today in Colorado Springs. Because of smoak and ash from the nearby forest fires the game was postponed. According to Mike Curto’s twitter (@CurtoWorld) the Rainiers will stick with Hultzen as scheduled on Thursday.