Sele thriving in Interleague Play

SEATTLE -- Right-hander Aaron Sele has spent his entire Major League career in the American League, compiling a 137-97 record for the Mariners, Red Sox, Rangers and Angels.
Imagine how much better that record would be if he had pitched full-time in the National League.

When Sele beat the Phillies on Wednesday night at Safeco Field, he improved his Interleague record to 18-7 and tied future Hall of Fame right-hander Greg Maddux for the most Interleague wins.

He is 3-0 against the NL this season, beating the Padres at Safeco Field on May 22 and Marlins on June 9, and has one more start remaining, probably next Saturday at PETCO Park in San Diego.

Sele has logged 22 innings against NL teams this season -- and surrendered one run.

"National League guys are aggressive and they hit off the fastball," Sele explained. "When you make mistakes, you pay for it. But if you move the ball around a little bit and sink the ball a little bit, a lot of times you get ground balls."

But allowing one run to score in 22 innings?

"There's no explanation for it," he said. "It's just the way things have worked out. I've made some good pitches at times and pitched some good games, and haven't pitched some good games, but guys have scored some runs for me."

Actually, Sele has pitched superbly since May 10 against basically every team he's faced, regardless of league. His second tour of duty with the Mariners -- he pitched for Seattle in 2001-02 and had a 32-15 record -- hit a low point that May day when the Yankees touched him for eight hits and seven runs (six earned) in 2 2/3 innings, dropping his record to 2-4 and raising his ERA to 6.31.

But things turned around five days later when he started against the Yankees again and held the Bronx Bombers to one run over six innings. Five of his last six starts have been as good, if not better, than that the second one against the Yanks and Sele now has the lowest ERA among Seattle starters at 3.79.

Mariners pitching coach Bryan Price believes Sele's success against NL teams is something built up over the years.

"When you have success against a certain team or certain situation, it helps your confidence tremendously," Price said. "But the only way to be successful is to throw good pitches and Aaron has done that in his last six starts."

It just happens that three of those starts came in Interleague games.

Beltre showing improvement: Third baseman Adrian Beltre, sidelined since last Sunday with a strained left hamstring, could return to the lineup as soon at Saturday night against the Mets.

"The plan is to work him out [Friday] with some running drills and see how he is," manager Mike Hargrove said. "Hopefully, by Saturday or Sunday, he will be ready to go."

Adrian Beltre / 3B
Born: 04/07/79
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 220 lbs
Bats: R / Throws: R

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Beltre participated in pregame batting practice for the second time Thursday night and hit several balls over the fence in left and left-center.

Hargrove said it might be an option to use Beltre as a pinch-hitter.

"I haven't talked to our trainers about that," Hargrove said. "I think he could pinch-hit, but couldn't run very hard or fast."

Meanwhile, journeyman backup Dave Hansen has played well subbing at third base, going 1-for-3 with two RBIs in the Mariners' 3-1 victory Tuesday night, and walking twice and scoring a run in Wednesday night's 5-1 win.

"He has made all the plays so far, and there's nothing not to like," Hargrove said. "The plays he has had so far have been pretty routine."

Except for one in the ninth inning Wednesday night, when he went far to his left to snare a grounder hit by David Bell and made a strong throw to first base for the first out of the inning.

The Keystone state: Going into Thursday night's series finale against the Phillies, the Mariners were perfect against teams from Pennsylvania. Seattle swept the Pirates in a three-game series at PNC Park last season, swept the Phillies at The Vet in 2003 and won the first two games against the Phillies in this series.

Up next: The Mariners welcome the Mets to Safeco Field for the first time Friday night, and it will be a special return for Mets right fielder Mike Cameron. He replaced Ken Griffey Jr. as the team's center fielder before the 2000 season and became one of the most popular players on a team that reached the playoffs two consecutive seasons. Left-hander Jamie Moyer gets the starting nod for Seattle.

Source: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/