SEA@YOM: Mariners use trip to prepare for season
TOKYO -- To arrive at their Thursday night starts against each other in the
Tokyo Dome in the second game of Major League Baseball's 2012 regular season,
Jason Vargas and Bartolo Colon had to travel a long way.
And we're not just talking about the 12-hour flight, the crossing of the
Pacific and the beguiling time zone change.
Vargas, the Mariners left-hander, battled injuries for years and didn't find
a regular niche in the big leagues until proving himself as a viable starter in
Seattle. And Colon, the 38-year-old Oakland A's righty, is a former Cy Young
Award winner whose career was just about finished until new medical technology
revived his shoulder and turned him into a force on the mound once again.
Now the two are key parts of their rotations as their teams try to regain
footholds in the tough American League West. Both are experienced and mature
enough to assume leadership roles on young rosters. Both had moments of
brilliance in 2011. And both are ready to take the ball on Thursday night for
the 6:04 p.m. Japan time start, which equates to 5:04 a.m. ET and 2:04 a.m. PT.
For Vargas, who went 10-13 with a 4.25 ERA in 2011 and established
career-high totals in innings (201), strikeouts (131) and shutouts (three), the
week leading up to his first start of 2012 has been eventful. The Mariners
started Spring Training a week early, played a full Cactus League schedule, and
then arrived in Tokyo amid all the fanfare for Opening Series Japan.
"We've been looking forward to this for a while," Vargas said. "We're
definitely excited to open up the season early and get things going sooner than
normal. Being here in Tokyo has been a real honor for us. We've had a great time
and we're looking forward to getting this thing going."
Vargas said preparing for the A's hasn't been different from any other team,
so he'll take that attitude to the mound Thursday night.
"Every hitter in every lineup is going to be dangerous at this level," Vargas
said. "So preparation for each lineup, especially this Oakland lineup, they've
got some new faces and guys that are doing good things. So there's no one person
to prepare for especially, just for the whole lineup."
As for dealing with jet lag and slightly altered daily routines, Vargas said
it hasn't been too much of a challenge.
"Obviously to fly over here and cross the international dateline is
definitely different," he said. "Waking up early those first couple days and
trying to keep yourself busy until it came time to work out and get things done.
I think the only thing that has really changed is not being able to get into the
stadium as early as we normally would, just because of a lot of things going on.
So it's just keeping yourself occupied and trying not to think too much."
Colon has to be feeling the same way, having won 151 games in a sterling
career, and that confidence to trust his stuff and go after hitters can go a
long way toward mentoring a staff.
"To be pitching at the level he is at this age, he's been doing something
right," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "A lot of our guys can learn some things
from a guy who has been able to maintain and further his career at an age where
most guys are not pitching."
Colon didn't pitch at all in 2010, but after undergoing a rare stem-cell
procedure, his shoulder was rejuvenated and he resurfaced as a key member of the
Yankees' rotation in 2011. He finished the season 8-10 with a 4.00 ERA and 135
strikeouts in 164 1/3 innings and earned a one-year, $2 million deal from the
A's.
Now he's Oakland's No. 2 starter, and he's being counted on for leadership
and, most important, a good outing on Thursday to give his team an early lift.
"I think if anyone is capable of going out there and giving us what we need
[Thursday]," Melvin said, "it's a veteran like him."
Colon said he's ecstatic just to have that chance.
"I'm so happy and excited at the same time," he said through interpreter
Ariel Prieto. "I'm thankful to Oakland for giving me the opportunity to start
the second game here."
Mariners: Really a road team?Seattle is technically the road team
here, but the fact that the Mariners have three Japanese players -- right
fielder Ichiro Suzuki, relief pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma and infielder Munenori
Kawasaki -- has given them a nice welcome from the fans in Tokyo Dome.
"I think it's definitely to our advantage having three players that have had
a lot of success over here and a big following," Vargas said. "I know a lot of
our games are televised over here, so we're very recognizable and a lot of
people have high expectations for us coming over here. We'll be wearing the gray
uniforms, so we'll be the visiting team. But we'll be playing this like any
other game and hopefully the fans will accept us and be right behind us."
• After spending the first 11 years of his Major League career as Seattle's
primary leadoff man, Ichiro is in the three-hole this year. Including Opening
Day on Wednesday, Ichiro has played in 1,750 games with the Mariners, making
1,733 starts, and batted leadoff in 1,720 of those games. He has made 14 starts
batting third in his big league career. The last such start prior to Opening Day
came June 23, 2004, at Texas.
Athletics: The Dome is homeTokyo Dome is the third ballpark in
which the A's have been the "home" team since moving to Oakland in 1968. They
played the Boston Red Sox here and split two games. The only player on Oakland's
current roster that was on the A's Opening Day roster in Japan in 2008 was Kurt
Suzuki. Oakland outfielder Coco Crisp played against the A's with the Red Sox in
2008. The other ballpark the A's have called home is Cashman Field in Las Vegas.
Oakland played six games there to start the 1996 season when the Coliseum was
undergoing renovations.
• The A's have six rookies on their Opening Series roster (Andrew Carignan,
Ryan Cook, Collin Cowgill, Josh Donaldson, Graham Godfrey and Anthony Recker).
The sextet comprises the most A's rookies on an Opening Day roster since such
information became available in 1992. The previous high was five in 2009.
Worth noting • Vargas is 3-4 with a 3.97 ERA in nine career
appearances (seven starts) against Oakland. Last year, Vargas went 1-3 with a
3.86 ERA in five starts against the A's.
• Colon is 14-11 with a 4.13 ERA in 29 career appearances against Seattle.
Among active pitchers, only John Lackey has more career victories against the
Mariners (15). The 11 losses match his most against any team (Boston).
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