The news out of Chicago today that Sweet Lou Piniella would be retiring as the Cubs manager at the end of the season caused a lot of flashbacks at Safeco Field.

Of all the managers I have covered -- 20 at last  count -- in the past 40 years, Dick Williams (Athletics, 1971-73) and Lou (1993-98) rank at the top as 1 and 1A.

They got the most out of their players and accountability ranked first with both skippers. Play the game the right way or it was the highway, no questions asked.

I had a brief chat with Jay Buhner, who was in clubhouse manager Ted Walsh's office on Tuesday afternoon during pre-game batting practice. Buhner talked about his 10 years with Lou.

"He was the greatest manager I ever played for, hands down. There was accountability and that's the one thing I loved about him. He immediately, from the first day he stepped in here, completely turned the atmosphere, approach and mentality around. He changed it and it was well-needed."

A no-nonsense kind of guy (just ask Rob Dibble), Piniella expected his players to loathe losing as much as he did. He had a good time winning.

"He made it a fun place to come every day," Buhner said. "Anytime you are coming to a place day in and day out, even though it is a job, and you have fun you don't think a bout the grind. He made it fun. He had a unique way, even when he was ticked off and was snapping, he had a way of loosening the team up. That was the beauty. He was good at judging character and knew which guys needed a kick in the butt and he wasn't afraid to do that. He knew the guys that needed a pat on the butt and he wasn't afraid to do that either. He turned the clubhouse over to a collective group of veterans to police it and he just worried about putting up the lineup and managing the game and he did a pretty damn good job doing it."

Some of the most enjoyable road trips were those that stopped in New York. Lou was loved by Yankee fans and the love was reciprocated. The only thing better than playing the Yankees was beating them. Oh, he loved to do that.

The Mariners and Yankees had some great series in New York and Seattle during the 1990s -- especially after the unforgetable 1995 AL Division Series.

From a reporter's standpoint, Lou was a gem to cover. He had a plethora of stories about his playing days with the Yankees, many of them about the late George Steinbrenner. I could spend hours at a time listening to those stories and even though he told them numerous times to numerous people, the stories were always the same. Fun and funny is one way to describe him.

And his on the field antics were priceless, as you well know.

"The great thing about Lou was he didn't hold a grudge," Buhner said. "I mean, you could go toe-to-toe with him and the next day he would come in and give you a hug. That was legit. Now, he was a little tougher on pitchers and catchers. I don't know if it holds true with the, but in my experiences with him, it was nothing but a pretty awesome experience."

I had one of those experiences with him, and he was not exactly "Sweet Lou".

The Mariners were struggling in 1998 and there were grumblings around town that he could be dismissed as the skipper. So I called team president Chuck Armstrong and he gave me a profound "no way" Lou would be canned. I wrote about it and the next day Lou came up to me and in an expletive-filled blast suggested that if I wanted to write about his job I should talk to him."

A few hours later, after that night's game in San Francisco, we had a brief meeting, hashed things out and both a friendship and working relationship picked up where it had been beforehand.

The man most responsible for bringing Lou to Seattle, then-GM Woody Woodward, was at Safeco and recalled the beginning.

"I brought him here because I knew he was a winner," Woody said. " And you know what? I think he proved me right. Hes always been a winner. As a player, a hitting instructor, a manager, its always been part of his nature to want to win. He came out here and made believers I think out of the northwest."

"Lou and I had been good friends for years with the Yankees, and after being out here a while I told him, I said, 'Lou, all we have to do is put a winner together. We have a good ownership group, and the northwest is going to respond. His comeback at that time was, 'Are you sure? All the experts back east kept telling him baseball will never make it in the northwest.' And how wrong were they, and are they? This place, you put a winner on the field, they'll come out bigtime and they proved it. Thank goodness, that was maybe the one time Lou listened to me. He bought into it, and he was such a big part of taking a very good group of players and producing a winning team out here, no doubt about it."

-- Jim Street

A perfect "10".

That's one way to describe right fielder Ichiro Suzuki, who was selected to the American League All-Star team for the 10th consecutive season. He joins Ken Griffey Jr. as the only players in franchise history to be named to 10 Midsummer Classics.

After leading his outfield colleagues throughout the fan-balloting process through this past Monday, Ichiro ended up finishing second to the Rangers' Josh Hamilton, who had an all-World June, batting .454.

The Mariners also will be represented at the All-Star Game at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on July 13 by left-hander Cliff Lee -- unless he gets traded before then.

Lee missed the first month of the season, but has been the best pitcher in the AL since his return. His five walks all season are beyond comprehension.

But not selected was right-hander Felix Hernandez, who is definitely deserving, but his 6-5 record obviously worked against him -- but not as much as the lousy run support he has received.

Felix told me a couple of days ago that he was hopeful of making the team, but realized that his record was a strike against him.

Meanwhile, this is Lee's second selection. He represented the Indians in 2008, his Cy Young Award season.

"I'm very proud of both Cliff and Ichiro," manager Don Wakamatsu said. "I think they are both deserving and will do a tremendous job representing the Mariners and the American League.

"Both guys work very hard, every day, on preparing to be successful. It is great to see that recognized from the fans and their peers.

"At the same time, I'm disappointed for Felix. I think he's pitched great, and if we'd given him a little better run support it might have been a different story. I know there are lots of deserving players, but I had hoped he would make it with Cliff and Ichi."

-- Jim Street

The lineup for tonight's game includes first baseman Casey Kotchman, the first time he has started a game since June 23.

Ichiro is back in right field after spending last night's game as the designated hitter and Michael Saunders moved up a notch, going from ninth to eighth for the second game of the three-game series against the Tigers.

Russell Branyan, who brought a seven-game hitting streak with him from the Indians, has extended it to 11 games, the longest of his career. He is not in tonight's lineup.

-- Jim Street

The Mariners have some unusual ways of working out on the field before batting practice, chasing frisbees and nerf footballs.

But the activity of choice today is soccer.

On a beautiful Friday afternoon at Comerica Park, the Wilsons -- Josh and Jack -- Ryan Langerhans, Brian Sweeney and Ryan Rowland-Smith are getting their kicks in under the supervision of "performance specialist" Allen Wirtala.

I'm not quite sure how this helps field a grounder and snag a line drive, but they seem to having a good time.

In other tidbits to get the holiday weekend going, there is an American Mensa convention going on in nearby Dearborn and some of the attendees are staying at the same hotel as me. I asked one of them if he knew when the Mariners could be trading either Cliff Lee, Jose Lopez or both.

He looked at me like I was crazy.

It does seem rather odd to me that some of the smartest people in America could have a convention anywhere in the country -- and choose Detroit?

It's time to head down to the clubhouse to check up on Erik Bedard's status, among other things.

Lineups to come.

And here it is:

1. Ichiro, DH
2. Chone Figgins, 2B
3. Russell Branyan, 1B
4. Milton Brantley, RF
5. Jose Lopez, 3B
6. Franklin Gutierrez, CF
7. Jack Wilson, SS
8. Rob Johnson, C
9. Michael Saunders, LF
RHP Doug Fister

-- Jim Street

This just in from the Mariners:

Catcher Eleizier Alfonzo, designated for assignment yesterday to make room on the roster for Josh Bard, has cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A Tacoma.

Meanwhile, there's no news on the Cliff Lee Watch.

-- Jim Street

The second stop on a three-city road trip gets off to an impressive start tonight at new Yankee Stadium, just one of the several ballparks left-hander Cliff Lee is being rumored to wind up before the July 31 Trade Deadline.

In fact, the inquisitive person sitting next to me on the flight from Seattle to New York yesterday noticed my MLB.com bag tag, asked me what I did for the company and after explaining that I covered the Mariners she asked: "Are the Mariners going to trade Lee to the Yankees?"

As I explained, that same question is being asked in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Arlington, Philadelphia and just about everywhere else on the MLB landscape that has a playoff contender.

It still appears that Lee will be dealt somewhere and perhaps sooner than later, so each time he starts a game for the Mariners, it might be his last in a Seattle uniform.

Tonight is one of those games and I have been wondering just who the Phillies sent to the Indians last season when they acquired Lee.

The answer: Minor Leaguers Lou Marson, a catcher, right-hand pitcher Carlos Carrasco and infielder Jason Donald, the only player currenly on the Indians' 25-man roster and batting .254 with a .292 OBP.

The thing that stands out the most to me during Lee's first (and probably only) season with the Mariners is the way he throws strikes -- all the time. Four walks in 86 2/3 innings? Most pitchers could not throw that many strikes playing catch.

His spotless control will be put to a stern test tonight as the Yankees have a powerful, and patient, offense and have coaxed 308 walks from opposing pitchers.

Speaking to stern tests, the Mariners will face right-hander Phil Hughes in the series opener and, for the first time since last August 28, when a back injury ended his season prematurely.

It will be interesting, going forward, to see exactly how Branyan's return has on the remainder of the lineup, which has been, as you know, run production-challenged the entire season.

We'll get back to you later with the starting lineup.

-- Jim Stree

It has been a long time since anyone mentioned Jeff Cirillo's name.

But another of the players the Mariners sent to the Padres along with Cirrilo in that deal seven years ago is back.

Right-handed pitcher Brian Sweeney, now 36 years and two days old, was promoted from Triple-A Tacoma today to replace right-hander Ian Snell, who was designated for assignment.

Snell, who famously said he was not "Superman" after one of his recent starts, should become a free agent in 10 days -- the amount of time the Mariners have to trade, release or send him to the Minor Leagues.

None of that is not going to happen.

Snell figures to clear waivers and perhaps sign for the pro-rated minimum with another organization while the Mariners are obligated to pay Snell the remainder of the $4.25 million owed this season. The contract he signed with the Pirates included two option seasons, for $6.75 million in 2011 and $9.25 million in '12.

More on that move later.

We also have heard that catcher Adam Moore apparently injured a hamstring in last night's game for Triple-A Tacoma.

More on that later as well.

-- Jim Street

The season-long one-two punch at the top of the lineup has changed.

For the first time this season, second baseman Chone Figgins is not batting behind Ichiro Suzuki in the lineup, but basically in front of him as the ninth-place hitter.

That is just one of the lineup changes manager Don Wakamatsu made for tonight's series opener against the Rangers. He moved designated hitter Milton Bradley into the No.2 spot and inserted first baseman Mike Carp, promoted from Triple-A Tacoma earlier in the day to replace Mike Sweeney (lower back inflammation) on the roster.

Figgins went 8-for-24 during the just-completed homestand and had a six-game hitting streak from May 28-June 2. He is batting .294 over his last 19 games, improving his batting average from .182 to .220.

With that in mind, Figgins seemed surprised with his part of lineup change.

Reminded that he has been hitting well lately, Figgins said, "Apparently not."

Wakamatsu explained the move during his pre-game media session.

"It's just a way to see if we can generate more offense that way," he said. "What we are looking at is that we've went down the road with him in that (No. 2) position and we're not getting enough run production as a team.  We're just looking at any we can. It's not a knock on Figgy. He's a guy that went through some struggles and has worked extremely hard lately. It's not just pointing a finger at him. It's looking if we can more production out of the whole lineup."

Figgins said this is the first time since the 2007 season that he batted ninth. Asked what the biggest difference between ninth and second, he said, "I'm going to be swinging, you can bet on that."

Here is tonight's lineup:

1. Ichiro, RF
2. Milton Bradley, DH
3. Franklin Gutierrez, CF
4. Jose Lopez, 3B
5. Mike Carp, 1B
6. Josh Wilson, SS
7. Michael Saunders, LF
8. Rob Johnson, C
9. Chone Figgins, 2B
LHP Cliff Lee

-- Jim Street

A fatigued right shoulder will prevent right-hander Doug Fister from facing the Angels on tomorrow.

That was among the medical news delivered by manager Don Wakamatsu earlier today.

"With a young pitcher going deep into ballgames as he has," Wakamatsu said, "you kind of anticipate that at some point he'd get a dead arm or some fatigue and it just happens to be now.

"He's a competitor and a tough kid and if it was up to him, he'd like to continue to start. But the dialogue has been good. We both understand this is probably the right thing to do at this point."

Left-hander Ryan Rowland-Smith will replace Fister in tomorrow's 1:05 p.m. game.

Fister, one of the biggest surprises in the Major Leagues this season, the 6-foot-8 Fresno State product has a 2.45 ERA, second-lowest in the AL.

Fister is expected to miss one start and if all goes well, he could pitch one of the four games against the Rangers in Arlington next week.

Here is tonight's lineup:

1. Ichiro, RF
2. Chone Figgins, 2B
3. Franklin Gutierrez, CF
4. Jose Lopez, 3B
5. Milton Bradley, DH
6. Josh Wilson, SS
7. Matt Tuiasosopo, 1B
8. Eleizer Alfonzo, C
9. Ryan Langerhans, LF
RHP Ian Snell

-- Jim Street

A game plan put in place for Milton Bradley prior to the Mariners' last road trip appears to be reaching its final stages.

Bradley is in uniform and taking early batting practice as we speak and we are waiting for a release from the organization on the situation.

General manager Jack Zduriencik said two weeks ag;o that Bradley's status would be re-evaluated when the team returned from their recent road trip to Baltimore, St. Petersburg and Oakland, which takes us to today. I would be surprised if Bradley is not activated and in the lineup for tonight's series opener against the Blue Jays.

For one thing, the team needs another veteran bat in the lineup and, let's face it, the offense is better off overall with the switch-hitting Bradley in the middle. A Bradley that is sound mind and body, that is.

-- Jim Street