Mariners Face Lincecum on Opening Day of Cactus League
The Mariners new lineup will get a real test on the opening day of the Cactus League Wednesday, March 3, with Tim Lincecum on the mound for at least the first couple innings. Don Wakamatsu appears to be using the early games to figure out who will be the fifth starter in the M's rotation, with Doug Fister facing off against Lincecum, followed by Kanekoa Texeira, Ricky Orta, David Pauley, Mike Koplove, Jesús Colomé and Chris Seddon. If you're headed to Peoria for some spring training action (as I will be later today), don't expect to see Felix Hernandez taking the mound for the first few days. The remainder of the schedule includes Jason Vargas starting Thursday, Luke French on Friday, Ian Snell starts Saturday, with Ryan Rowland-Smith taking the mound on Sunday.
The Cactus League opening day lineup is expected to be:
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Chone Figgins 2B
Milton Bradley LF
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
José López 3B
Casey Kotchman 1B
Eric Byrnes CF
Adam Moore C
Jack Wilson SS
It's likely the opening day lineup against Oakland in April will look very similar, with the possible exception of Rob Johnson starting at catcher and the positions of Lopez and Figgins flipped on the field. Expect photos from the game posted here tomorrow.
