Borders aging well

MIAMI -- John Boles, the Mariners' assistant general manager, came by veteran catcher Pat Borders' locker after the amateur draft on Tuesday to offer an apology for the Mariners taking a catcher -- Southern California's Jeff Clement -- in the first round.
Borders, 42, accepted the light-hearted apology with a laugh. And he shot back, "In three or four years, when he's ready [for the Major Leagues], I'll be ready to go. Or maybe cut it down to one or two games a week."

In a game where only the most skilled survive, Borders is nearly as amazed as others not only that he's still in the Major Leagues but is the Mariners' No. 1 catcher. From his mid-30s on, he started wondering when someone would tap him on the shoulder and tell him it's over.

"With all the new players coming up, I figured something would happen one of those years," he said. "When you get to be a certain age, every year they look at you like you're going to get an injury. They think you could break down at any time. But so far, I've been pretty injury-free."

Borders credits part of his longevity to the fact he works out in moderation now, no longer punishing himself trying to be faster, stronger than the next guy.

"I worked as hard as anybody until I was 34," he said. "Then I began to realize that I required more rest than anything else. I try to keep that in mind now, and I think it's helped keep me healthy."

He once played at 220 pounds. Now he's content to compete at between 195 and 200 pounds.

He also is wiser. He recalls a horrendous home plate collision in the early 1990s with the Dodgers' Kirk Gibson, a former football player at Michigan State. Replays showed that Borders, feeling the machismo of youth, actually moved toward Gibson, initiating the contact.

"You always lose in those situations," he said. "You could run that play over 100 times and you're still going to come out a loser."

Manager Mike Hargrove treasures Borders' value in working with the Mariners' pitchers, saying it's "hardly an accident" that the staff has fared well, particularly in recent weeks.

A case in point was Wednesday night against the Florida Marlins. When Gil Meche began to struggle, Borders came out to the mound and calmed him down, Hargrove said.

"That's how invaluable he is," the manager said. "And that's why your catchers hang on who are really good at handling staffs."

Along the way, Borders and fellow 42-year-old Jamie Moyers are paving the way for more in the 40-and-over set. On May 25, Moyer and Borders formed the first starting battery in Major League history to each be at least 42.

Ichiro fights slump: With just four hits in his last 24 at-bats, Ichiro Suzuki is trying to figure how to return to the form that helped him set the Major League one-season hit record last season at 262.

"There's things that you know you're doing wrong and there's things you don't know you're doing wrong," Ichiro said through interpreter Allen Turner. "Hitting is such a thing where even if you look the same two different times, you can be going through completely different things. So it's really a hard thing to pinpoint."

What's not hard to identify is that hitting a round ball with a round bat remains one of sports' biggest challenges.

Said Ichiro, "It's been five years since I came here and it's been 12 years since I started playing professional baseball and I think to myself, 'It doesn't get any easier.' "

Nearby, solving Ichiro's hitting travails seem to be no mystery to second baseman Bret Boone.

"When he starts hitting fly balls, he makes more outs than usual," Boone said. "When he hits the ball on the ground, he has a 50-50 chance of getting on base."

Ichiro said his confidence is not shaken, and it's not necessarily because he produced 262 hits last season.

"I've been in situations where I struggled," he said. "The fact I have confidence in my game -- I have confidence in my abilities -- that's why I know I can get out of it. It's not the fact that I can look back on the numbers I've put up. It's the fact I have confidence in myself right now."

Ichiro said he doesn't feel any more pressure to produce now because of the standard he set last season. And he said he doesn't sense the public has higher expectations for him.

"I don't really know what magazines I'm on or what people are writing about. I just don't get that information. I don't hear about it. So it's hard to say what they're expecting, because I really don't know."

Either way, he didn't seem too tense about his present hitting woes. He joked that something seemingly absurd like eating too much jello or putting too much wassabi in his food might explain the problem.

Quick hits: Wilson Valdez, who was the Mariners' Opening Day shortstop but who was designated for assignment on May 31 after hitting .198 in 42 games, was dealt to the Padres on Thursday for two Triple-A pitchers -- Mike Bumstead and R.D. Spiehs. ... Utility infielder Pokey Reese is slowly taking steps toward returning to the Mariners after arthroscopic surgery on his right (throwing) shoulder in early May. Thursday marked the five-week mark after surgery for Reese. He's with the club in Miami mainly working on his arm strength. He expects to take batting practice for the first time since surgery before the Mariners' game Friday at the Washington Nationals. That's the day he turns 32.

On deck: Joel Pineiro (2-3, 6.55 ERA) will open the Mariners' three-game series with the Nationals on Friday against fellow right-hander Tomo Ohka (2-1, 2.70). Ohka has been in Nationals manager Frank Robinson's doghouse since refusing to give Robinson the ball when Robinson came out to replace him in his last start.