Mariner Matters | 3.24

Adrian resting sore shoulder...

Seattle third baseman Adrian Beltre has sat out a fifth consecutive game while resting a sore left shoulder but Mariners' manager Don Wakamatsu says the move is only precautionary.

"It's nothing serious but we'd rather take it now than later," Wakamatsu said Tuesday. "Our whole goal with him is to be where he feels good and doesn't have any aches or pains prior to the season."

Beltre underwent thumb and shoulder surgeries last September and missed the final two weeks of the season. The Mariners have closely monitored his workouts in spring training and kept him on a regimented schedule.

Jose learning the little things can be big...

For all the bigger things that happened to him, like being named to the WBC all-tournament team on Tuesday, or leading all regulars on his star-studded Venezuelan squad with a .417 batting average and 1.398 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, he'll remember something else even more. It's the way even the most feared home-run hitters on that squad were willing to put big hits aside and give up outs in order to do the little things needed to win.

"In that situation, when you're playing for your country, you play as a team," he said. "You do the little things. That's what we do in Venezuela, we do the little things, like when it's 1-0, 2-0, or 2-1, the little things to win the game. It doesn't matter what. I try to do that all the time, but this was different. This team had a lot of guys with 100 RBI and they were doing it."

Lopez was already doing plenty of this for the Mariners last season, leading the team in sacrifice flies and getting bunts down when he had to. But seeing bigger names, like Bobby Abreu, Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Guillen and Melvin Mora do it on a world stage is something bound to leave a lasting impression that Lopez can relay to other young Mariners.

There are quiet hopes, within the organization, that the WBC served as a coming-out party of sorts for a second baseman who seems ready to take his power game to a new level. And with it are more hopes that a player once the subject of good-natured locker-room teasing not long ago will emerge as one of the future leaders of this younger Mariners corps.

Gutierrez part of the manufacturing...

The key here is Gutierrez, who one scout this week called an enigma. There is no question he is among the elite defensively, but offensively, he is lacking, and maddeningly so. He sees a ton of pitches but he doesn't reach base. Wak has had him batting leadoff in Ichiro's absence in order for him to learn the intricacies of the position where he will never will play in Seattle. He is fast, so why not bunt him more if the bat is not going to come around as some thought it would earlier in his career? It is one way he can help manufacture runs.

He has been given a good look higher in the order and according to Wak has been hot and cold. The important thing is however, when I spoke to him this morning it sounded to me like he has bought into the system. When I asked him about doing the little things versus swinging for the fences, something we have seen other young Mariners try to do he answered,

"That's not part of my game. When you come up to the big leagues you should know what your job is going to be. You have to figure it out, that the only thing important up here is to get on base, try to see some pitches and have good at bats because if you get on base you are going to score a lot of runs and that is how your team is going to win games."

As for his teammates, Wak said it is coming along.

"Everybody is buying into how we can possibly manufacture some runs. It is our job to get guys to look at options on how we can get some runs across. It's part of giving these guys weapons, making them more complete players."

The players are doing this on their own for the most part right now.