Notebook: Why Willie Bloomquist; meet the Mariners’ top pick

Pitching matchups don’t get much better than what we will see at Safeco Field Wednesday night. Felix Hernandez vs. Madison Bumgarner. King vs. Ace. Felix vs. World Series Champion. While fans may appreciate it, it should be a tough night for hitters on both sides.

Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon is going with righties where he can in his lineup. For the season lefties are hitting just .195 off Bumgarner with a .486 OPS, and he hasn’t seen many of them. In his 13 starts there have been just 45 plate appearances by lefties. The Mariners will send four to the plate tonight.

Willie Bloomquist, who is 6 for 16 lifetime against Bumgarner, is in the lineup. We often see his name pop up in the order against some of the tougher pitchers in the league and perhaps sometimes are surprised that he has numbers against them. I asked Mike Blowers on the pregame roundtable on radio what gives Bloomquist the ability to have success against some of the pitchers of this caliber.

“I think for the most part because Willie doesn’t try to do too much,” he said. “I think that is a big key when you are facing the upper-echelon pitchers. I think if you go up there and decide today, I am going to try to hit a home run, you are playing right into their hands. For Willie, his game is up the middle the other way, not to try to do too much, get on base as much as you possibly can, and I think that style of hitter will typically have better success than maybe the big boppers in your lineup. I wasn’t surprised to see Willie in the lineup.”

Blowers went on to point out that with Bloomquist’s experience against Bumgarner, he can have an impact on others in the lineup as well during the game as he can talk about what he is seeing and perhaps set an example with how he goes about his at-bats.

Lineup!

Austin Jackson, CF
Robinson Cano, 2B
Nelson Cruz, RF
Kyle Seager, 3B
Mark Trumbo, DH
Logan Morrison, 1B
Willie Bloomquist, LF
Brad Miller, SS
Mike Zunino, C

Felix Hernandez, RHP

Rodney showing improvement

Fernando Rodney has not allowed a run in his last three outings. McClendon said he is pleased with what he has seen both on and off the field from him.

“He’s had a lot of ground balls, a lot of strikes,” McClendon said. “Adding and subtracting from the fastball, slowing down, letting the arm catch up. He’s close.”

One of Rodney’s problems was he had been overthrowing. While it is great to see 96-97 on the radar gun, poorly located 96-97 is not good.

“I think it is somewhat of an adjustment,” he said of the changes with the fastball Rodney has been asked to make. “I think the biggest thing is having the player understand and buy in to that he needs to make those adjustments. He’s a very talented individual, obviously – look at the saves he’s accumulated over the years – but he’s been willing to make the change. I think that’s big. And he’s been a really good teammate through all of this.”

We could soon see him in the ninth, but not on a full-time basis.

“We’ll see how things go,” McClendon said. “Obviously Carson (Smith) has done a nice job. The biggest thing with Carson is the ability to go back-to-back, three out of five. I would say probably on days where Smith cannot go you might see Rodney or a combination of Rodney and somebody else.”

Notes

• On the road trip McClendon said that James Paxton should soon be cleared to start throwing soon, but the brakes have been put on as he is still experiencing soreness in his strained middle finger. He is scheduled to see a hand specialist again this week.

• Three of the Mariners’ draft picks are at Safeco Field Wednesday. I interviewed No. 1 pick Nick Neidert for the pregame show and that audio can be heard here. Second- and third-round picks Andrew Moore and Braden Bishop were here as well.

• In addition to the draft picks, the Everett AquaSox were at the park. With them was last year’s top pick, Alex Jackson, who was shut down in late May with shoulder troubles. He’s a full go now with Everett as it opens its season tomorrow.

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