Kelley gets stitches...Bedard wins pool

Shawn Kelley ('07, '08), ladies and gentleman. Shawn Kelley!

Minutes before the Seattle Mariners stretched Wednesday, reliever Mark Lowe was on all fours, lifting his legs behind him, getting loose. Teammate Shawn Kelley bent down to grab one of Lowe’s feet – just as Lowe kicked out.

Kelley got a spike in the chin, stayed on his feet, but was bloodied.

“I couldn’t tell where it was, but my whole jaw hurt and I felt blood,” Kelley said. “I thought, ‘I might look pretty bad.’ ”

Mark Lowe ('05), ladies and gentlemen. Mark Lowe!

Did I say something about a pool?

After the workout, veterans Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee and Erik Bedard were among the first in the clubhouse, each of them anxious to look at Kelley’s bloodied goatee.

“How many stitches?” asked Felix.

“Six,” said Kelley.

Bedard threw up a fist and yelled, “Yes!”

He had six stitches in the pool. Lee was off – he had 13. Hernandez had gone with four.

Lowe-down

Sorry about that headline. It's early. And it's a story about Mark Lowe ('05).

Lowe said he hasn’t noticed his name in any of the speculation this offseason, although it did surface briefly during rumors of a proposed deal between the Mariners and Tigers.

“I don’t want to go anywhere,” Lowe said. “I love what we’ve got going on and what we’ve got as a team. And I’m home grown. From the day I was drafted in 2004, I’ve spent my whole career with them. I feel comfortable here. Trades are the nature of the beast and we can’t think about it. If you get traded, you get traded. But I don’t want to go anywhere.”

Lowe pitched a career-high 80 innings this year, going 2-7 with a 3.26 ERA and three saves in a team-high 75 appearances. It was a season that put to rest any concern about the health of his right arm after major surgery in 2006 to repair a cartilage defect. The surgery was so comprehensive that doctors originally feared Lowe might not pitch again.

It starts out with stuff about the internet.

About Lowe...

Mark Lowe ('05) is the subject of this profile piece in the Seattle Times today.

Dealing with diabetes on the mound has been a learning process Mark Lowe feels he finally has under control. Lowe began taking insulin shots...

Lowe began taking insulin shots several times daily earlier this year when he was unable to fully control the weight loss and energy crashes he experienced from Type 2 adult onset diabetes. The pitcher now says he feels a lot better and is able to fully compete. He wants to share his experiences with others, especially young children, who may also be struggling with the condition.

And Lowe is in a position to do just that. He has been nominated by his teammates as the Mariners' finalist for the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award, given annually by the players association to the player whose on- and off-field performance inspires others to high level of achievement.

"I think it's always an honor to give back to the community," Lowe said. "That's just the way I was raised."

Go read it all.

Then, maybe go here to vote for Lowe?

Another challenge

Mark Lowe ('05) is battling to be the closer for the Mariners. He is also battling something else.

Battling for the closer's job with the Mariners was already enough to take up most of Mark Lowe's time. But the reliever has also been preoccupied with something far more serious as training camp progresses.

It was a year ago that, after a spring training blood test, Lowe was first told he had Type 2 adult onset diabetes. He spent the last year trying to control his blood-sugar levels through proper diet, but rapid weight loss and occasional fatigue have since led him to reconsider.

"It got me good this past offseason," Lowe said. "I lost like 12, 13 or 14 pounds from it."

Pills he began taking a month ago failed to keep his blood sugar completely in line, so Lowe met with his doctor recently and it was decided he'll now supplement his treatment with a daily insulin shot. Lowe insists that some of his poor results this spring are unrelated to his condition. As if to back that up, he took the mound Friday and turned in one of his best performances.

Go read it all.

10% of the game is 90% Mental

Or something like that. Which make sense when talking about the current Seattle Mariner pitcher who will be trying to take over the closer spot in the bullpen.

In this corner!

One of the biggest games going in Mariners spring training is taking place inside relief pitchers' heads.

More specifically, the pitchers are vying for a closer's role left vacant in December by the trade of J.J. Putz. Competition for the job should be fierce, and the winner will likely be whoever gets his mental game as sharp as the "stuff" he throws.

Miguel Batista — published author, Spanish-language blogger and full-time closer — believes he has the mindset to unseat odds-on favorite Mark Lowe. Some critics feel that Batista, who turned 38 on Thursday, bottomed out as a starting pitcher last year and that the only thing keeping him around as a reliever is a $9 million guaranteed salary.

But Batista insists there are two things wrong with that thinking — two broken bones in his back that he says derailed his 2008 season before he even got out of spring training.

And in this corner! From the 2005 Timber Rattlers!

For Lowe — as well as closer candidates Tyler Walker, David Aardsma and Roy Corcoran — the mental side of pitching has presented different challenges. Late in 2006 Lowe underwent career-threatening microfracture surgery. A doctor poked small holes in the bone in his elbow, drawing blood to stimulate tissue growth that could replace missing cartilage.

Such surgery takes months, even years, to recover from. Lowe spent most of 2007 learning how to uncork pitches without fearing his arm would explode. Last year, his first full season back in the majors, he began getting his fastball back up to the mid- to high-90s.

But Lowe now does more than simply throw his fastball and slider as hard as he can, something he did when breaking into the majors in 2006 before the surgery. Instead, he worked on developing a change-up to keep hitters off balance on days his slider deserted him.

"I think in the past it's been a case of knowing what my body could handle coming off the surgery," said Lowe, who the Mariners appeared to be leaning toward heading into camp. "Knowing I could handle a lot of work. Going through last year and throwing a lot, it's not even a question any more.

Lowe is focused on the mental side, too.

"Baseball's one of those games where you play 162 games and one bad outing's not going to kill you," he said. "Even two, three in a row, you can still redeem yourself down the road. It's nothing to get caught up in."

Not get caught up in? That may be the best advice...ever. Now try and follow it.

Two ex-Rattlers and a pie

I read about this a few days ago, but just got around to tracking it down.

JJ Putz ('00) is notorious for the shaving cream pie to teammates during interviews. After his first save off the disabled list earlier this week, he was nervous.

He should have been more paranoid.




That is Mark Lowe playing the role of Kato to JJ's Inspector Clouseau at the end.

Thanks to Bleeding Blue and Teal for the video.

#2 reliever

Jason Churchill of Prospect Insider (among other things) has this post that is mainly about Mark Lowe ('05).

Since Rafael Soriano was give away for FREE to the Atlanta Braves last winter, there has been some question as to which of the remaining relievers was second only to closer J.J. Putz.

In brief conversations last season, some believed it was since-traded left-hander George Sherrill. Others thought it was rookie right-hander Brandon Morrow, at least at times, and there were stints in which right-hander Sean Green was that guy, too.

If you’re wondering who might get the nod in 2008, wonder no more.

Barring a lack of luck and a kick in the rear from karma itself, right-hander Mark Lowe is the easy choice to set up Putz and cover high-leverage situations in the seventh and eighth innings.

Jason picks out some big names to compare Lowe to stuff-wise (RR: is that a word?)

There are only four other pitchers in the division with stuff that is equal to or better than Lowe’s; A healthy Rich Harden in Oakland, Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez, though a 100 percent healthy Lowe isn’t far off at all, Felix Hernandez and Putz.

Sounds good to me.

State of the Seattle Bullpen

Geoff Baker has some bullpen news from Arizona. Mark Lowe ('05) gets some pub.

A fuzzy bullpen picture began to clear up even before the first Mariners workout of the day.

That's when right-handed reliever Chris Reitsma and southpaw Arthur Rhodes were called into some early morning meetings and told they had no chance of making the team. The picture became even more clear by the ninth inning of an 8-5 win by the Mariners over the Kansas City Royals later in the afternoon.

It was in that final frame that relief pitcher Mark Lowe, making a comeback from elbow surgery just like Reitsma and Rhodes, fired consecutive pitches at 95 mph and then another at 96 mph to finish off the game's final hitter on a pop fly to right. For Lowe, who retired three straight hitters after surrendering a leadoff double, the return to mid-90s velocity and the ability to control it has almost certainly landed him a spot on this team.

"That's kind of the whole idea of spring training," Lowe said. "You want to work your way up and then kind of ease into the season if you can."

Also in the story, down a bit, is this, um bit.

The Mariners were treated to an advance look at 18-year-old shortstop prospect Carlos Triunfel, who replaced Yuniesky Betancourt in the sixth inning and made a dazzling defensive play right off the bat. The inning's first batter, Mark Teahen, hit a ball that seemed headed into center field.

But it struck the second base bag and popped in the air. Triunfel had been ranging to his left, snagged the ball and made a cannon throw to first base while off balance to nab Teahen.

One other note: Ryan Feierabend was optioned down to AAA.

Lowe on the mend

Mark Lowe ('05) has been battling his way back to health and just passed an important marker. He pitched in a game on consecutive days for the first time since his surgery. Ryan Divish of the Tacoma News-Tribune is there.

It wasn’t his best performance as a professional, but Mark Lowe thinks he proved he’s ready to return to a full-time spot with the Seattle Mariners.

The hard-throwing right-handed reliever pitched on consecutive days for the first time in more than a year. And while his performance on Monday was a bit shaky at first, it might be enough to secure his job in the bullpen.

Lowe, who pitched a one-hit scoreless inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday, allowed one run on three hits in one inning against the White Sox on Monday.

Lowe was unhappy with the run against the Sox, but was happy with his velocity.

A positive sign on Lowe’s road to recovery from elbow surgery was that the velocity on his fastball ranged from 90 to 93 mph, basically the same as Sunday. Throwing back-to-back days was big for him and the coaching staff as they try to put together the bullpen.

“It’s been something that I’ve been wanting to do,” Lowe said. “I haven’t done it in a year and half. It was August of ’06 the last time I went back-to-back.”