A sneak peek at the 2015 Mariners? Thursday’s lineup full of regulars

PEORIA, Ariz. – Wednesday’s opening game against the Padres featured a couple of players that were battling for positions this year and a number of players that could be called upon during the season. Game 2 has a lineup that the skipper might want to pack away for future use, oh say, for April 6. This has the look of “The Lineup”, but Lloyd McClendon wasn’t going there.

“I don’t really have the full group in there,” he said. “I have some of them, but …”

Really?

Mariners win Cactus-League opener, lose prospect Ji-Man Choi

“I’ve got Weeks, Ruggiano, Bloomquist, somebody’s got to play, what the hell!” he said. “There’s no rhyme or reason to it.”

If he pulled that lineup out of a hat he might want to skip out on fielding drills today and go buy a lottery ticket.

“We’re better! were better,” he exclaimed when pressed on the issue. “We’ve got quality players, we’ve got depth. You look at tomorrow’s lineup and there will be no rhyme to that one. Maybe some reason, but no rhyme.”

McClendon did point out that the team is on the road for three straight days with a split squad on Saturday. Teams don’t usually travel all of their veterans and there will be plenty of off days early as players build up. This is one of his better opportunities to get the full squad – or perhaps full nine, we should say – out on the field together.

Lineup!

Austin Jackson, CF
Seth Smith, RF
Robinson Cano, 2B
Nelson Cruz, DH
Kyle Seager, 3B
Logan Morrison, 1B
Dustin Ackley, LF
Mike Zunino, C
Brad Miller, SS

Roenis Elias, SP

Notes

• Yoervis Medina, Joe Saunders, Danny Farquhar, Charlie Furbush, Lucas Luetge, Justin Germano and Stephen Landazuri are all scheduled to get work as well today.

• Ji-Man Choi, who fractured his leg in the opener, is scheduled to have surgery later today. He is expected to be out 4 to 6 months.

• Felix Hernandez’s first Cactus-League start still has not been announced and it is not a concern for the skipper at the time. “Is he here?” McClendon asked. “I haven’t seen him in three days. Does he look okay?”

• McClendon has been watching Fernando Rodney and likes what he sees in his bullpen sessions. McClendon believes Rodney is ahead of where he was this time last year in spring training.

• Miss “The Cactus League Report” last night? Fear not, we have a podcast. McClendon and Seager were guests while Charlie Furbush and Tom Wilhelmsen took over the show.

• The game today will start at 12:05 PST and can be heard on 710 ESPN Seattle. Yours truly will be joining Rick Rizzs for the second and third inning.

• The start time for the game on March 12 has been changed. It will now begin at noon.

• Single-game tickets go on sale Saturday, March 7 at 10 a.m. Tickets will be available without a service charge at the Safeco Field box office and Mariners team stores. They will also be available at Mariners.com, Ticketmaster ticket centers and by phone at 1-888-SEA-HITS.

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