Hi guys. I'm in a bind and I'm hoping you might be able to help out. I'm trying to find the audio from the radio feed for the Mariners 2009 season opener in Minnesota. Unfortunately, MLB.com only has the Minnesota call and I need the Seattle announcers for radio archiving purposes. I work at the flagship radio station and can't locate any archives from that date (4/6/09) so I'm hoping maybe one of you guys out there might have the radio broadcast on your hands for some reason. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

According to King 5:

KING 5 Sports has learned from sources close to the Mariners that A's bench coach Don Wakamatsu is the front runner to be the next manager of the Mariners. The only thing left is approval from the owners in Japan, and that could come shortly.

Wakamatsu was Oakland's bench coach in 2008. Prior to that, he spent 5 years with the Rangers as bench coach and third base coach.

He also worked in the Angels' minor league organization and was a minor league manager.

He is well-acquainted with the American League West.

From my source in Tacoma, here's Morrow's line from today's early 11:30am start.

He reached his pitch count of 35 after going:

1.2IP 1H (double) 0R 0BB 1K

Hopefully next time he can be a little more economical with his pitches, but when a guy doesn't give up any runs (and no walks), you can't complain too much.

Not bad for a first outing. Let's hope he can get to 4 innings next time.

Jimenez called up from Tacoma per Dave Niehaus on the postgame show.

Jeff's note: not really a surprise. Felix's DL stint will presumably be retroactive to 6/24, which would set him up to return in Oakland on 7/9. There's no reason to take any chances right now, and Jimenez is coming up in time to throw a handful of innings tomorrow, as Lowe - who was on the docket to throw extended relief along with RRS and Corcoran - had to go tonight. Wouldn't be shocked to see that turn into a rotating roster spot for a little while.

It sucks that we'll be without Felix for another week and a half, but it's far better to let him heal than it is to push him when it isn't the least bit necessary. He'll back before you can say "holy crap this team is so God damn boring without Felix", and everything will be peaches.

Just heard it on KOMO. Shannon Drayer said that the tandem is on their way up with Wilkerson and Norton :( DFA'd. I get letting go of Wilk, but Norton? Good bench player, let go of Cairo. Anyway, it's official now. The clock is ticking early :( But at least help is on the way.

Good lord, 75 words are hard to come up with. Hmm, so how bout them Rays? Yeah, they are run well.

Per Shannon Drayer. http://www.komoradio.com/marinersradio/shannon/16901931.html

I don't know if this is wise, but we've got no shot without him.                                                                                                                                                                

Just heard it on KOMO Radio!! WOO!!!!!!!!!!!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

My emotion in the game thread today got the best of me and I basically said McLaren would be better off dead.

While he shouldn't be the skipper of a Major (or Minor) League team because he has no clue what he is doing, should not lose his life because of it, nor would I be one to cause it.

So I would like to officially say to to John McLaren, "I'm sorry I said you shouldn't be alive... but you still are a dumb motherfucker." That is all.

Ryan Rowland-Smith is taking his place back on the big club. This news per KJR's sports update. The supposed ailment... right elbow tendonitis.

According to Hargrove on today's pre-game interview (it will air around 11:45 on the radio pre-game show) Felix has been pushed back to start on May 9th in Detroit.

So if you were in New York looking to catch the game, sorry to disappoint you and whatever you do, stay away from the May 5th game that features everyone's favorite Jeff Weaver.

At least they are erring on the side of caution. Hargrove stresses that the bullpen went fine, but throwing the changeup causes a little bit of a problem, but Felix says his arm was fine after the session.

Flexor pronator. Same thing JJ had. He will miss 5 days for sure before he will start throwing. This is coming straight from the team physician in a press conference. So best case scenario is he only misses one start, but I'm sure they'll be safe and keep him out 2. Great news though!

Your prayers worked. Maybe God only dislikes Seattle, he doesn't hate it.

Felix is the Opening Day starter for the M's. Let the fun begin! This info is per the Mariners Post-game show on KOMO 1000 News.

300 character fact:

On this day in history:
625 - Battle of Uhud takes place between Muslims and Pagans in Arabia.

752 - Stephen is elected Pope. He died three days later, before being ordained bishop, and is not considered a legitimate pope.

and

1174 - Jocelin, abbot of Melrose, is elected bishop of Glasgow.

Yeah, that same Fairly who's supposed to be retired is on KOMO 1000 News today.

300 character fact:

On this date in history (March 16th):

597 BC - Babylonians capture Jerusalem, replace Jehoiachin with Zedekiah as king.

and

1802 - The United States Military Academy West Point is established.

If anyone wants to go, please e-mail me at mhardin@fisherradio.com. To sweeten the deal, they are excellent seats, right behind home plate, Section 133, Row 21. No one can cover for me at work and since the tickets were free to me, I'm feeling generous and would want only a true hardcore Mariners fan taking the seats instead of a friend of mine who has nothing better to do. I'll take the first person who can go. It's a 6:05 start against Detroit.

He just gave up a gopher ball to Marcus Giles. He also nixed the ugle red goatee, which make him look 19 years old. Just a little FYI for anyone who cares about Spiroid. Now he just gave up a double. Not the best of days, but one Philly fans will get to know well.

I'd come up with a 300 character fact, but I'm too lazy.

Apparently, Meche has been rejuvenated now that he has orthodics in his humongous shoes. Here's the link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=2337838

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Mad Eye Moody, Snape... Man coming up with 300 "characters" is tough... Malfoy, Ginny, Hedwig... ok that should cover it.

If Sele is allowed to pitch in another game for the Seattle Mariners, Bill Bavasi and Mike Hargrove both need to fired. That guy is the most worthless pitcher in baseball! It's amazing the guy even recorded 9 outs tonight! If Sele makes his next scheduled start I will have lost all faith in Bill Bavasi and the Mariners brass. Our best AAA pitcher (excluding Felix and Campillo, since they are rehabbing) is better than Sele any day. Unless some moron like Bowden wants to trade for him, he needs to be DFA'd before his next appearance. And trade Hasegawa now before all his value is gone too, for a bucket of balls if you must!

I was at the game last night and here's the things I took away from it.

1. Damian Moss had an Aaron Sele vs. the Yankees type outing. We had a 2-0 lead while he was in (until the 5th when he gave up a run) and it never felt safe. He managed to get out of bases loaded jams twice. I doubt he's ever pitched in a game that has lasted less than 2 1/2 hours because of how long he takes between pitches too.
2. Chris Snelling is ready for the big leagues now! He was a hitting machine, and all of his hits were hard. One would have been a homerun if it was 2 feet higher (opposite field no less).
3. George Sherrill is just dominant in AAA, there is no reason he should be down there and not on the M's.
4. Shin-soo Choo is one tough cookie. It looked like he hurt his knee pretty bad when he got caught in a rundown by running into the 3rd baseman scrambling back to the bag. He was down a long time (it was scary), but then he gets up and jogs back to the bench and stays in the rest of the game! Now that's a gamer!
5. Rickie Weeks of Nashville is ready for the big leagues. Not only is he hitting well, but he has a good eye at the plate. His fellow high draft pick Prince Fielder however, isn't close yet, even though he did hit a hard double.

Jose Mesa picked up his 300th save last night. This is a guy who really only had 4 or 5 solid seasons and a bunch of mediocre ones and notches 300 saves with more yet to come I'm sure. Before I became wise from checking out blog sites, I used to think Lee Smith and other closers who racked up a boatload of saves should be in the Hall of Fame. After seeing Mesa notch his 300th save, I no longer put any merit into the stat of save. I mean honestly, any decent pitcher can get 3 outs to end a game.