It is Saturday afternoon at the old ballpark (the third-oldest in the Major Leagues) and I feel fortunate to have driven back and forth from my hotel headquarters and not been 1) rear-ended or 2) stopped by a policeman for not coming to a  complete stop at a stop sign.

It has been a tough driving weekend for my esteemed colleagues Larry LaRue and Larry Stone. I have reached the conclusion that they are 1) good writers and 2) lousy drivers.

Early batting practice just ended and Bruce Hines has left the mound. He seemed to be overpowering Wladimir Balentien, who might have been working on something which caused a few too many balls from leaving the batting cage. Either that or Hines has some good stuff.

Stoney is a long-time Dodgers fanatic and life-long fan of Sandy Koufax. So I just took a picture of him (Larry, not Sandy) in front of one of the paintings outside the press box. Stoney reciprocated by taking my photo with Duke Snider, my all-time hero, next to my dad.

By the way, my fellow scribe talked (begged?) his way out of getting a ticket and my other esteemed colleague is feelilng better after the rear-ender. His new nickname is “nails” as in — he’s as tough as nails.

Not really, but don’t tell him.

The clubhouse beckons, so better get back to work. I think Junior wants to give me an exclusive interview.

Tough day for Stoney, the best baseball scribe at the Seattle Times — by far. He stopped Griffey at mid-sentence in the clubhouse. Junior was pontificating about which outfield alignment he prefers when, he stopped, looked at Stoney and said: “Is your shirt turned inside-out?”

Yes it was.  

And now for the Mariners starting lineup:

1. Ichiro, RF

2. Russell Branyan, 1B

3. Adrian Beltre, 3B

4. Ken Griffey Jr., LF

5. Jose Lopez, 2B

6. Franklin Gutierrez, CF

7. Rob Johnson, C

8. Ronny Cedeno, SS

9. Felix Hernandez

— Jim Street