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Oh, Dear! Johnson’s Unhappy Again

From Wire Reports

Randy Johnson says he is unhappy again and wants out. His Seattle Mariners bosses say they remain convinced he will play for the team this season.

“I’m not having any fun and I want to be traded,” the Mariners’ ace left-handed pitcher said Friday. “It’s hard for me to be here, and I don’t want to be here. It is affecting my performance, and that has been apparent in my last two outings.”

Johnson, the Mariners’ projected opening-night starter March 31 against the Cleveland Indians at the Kingdome, surrendered nine runs in back-to-back Cactus League starts against the Milwaukee Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks.

He began the spring by pitching five consecutive scoreless innings and appeared content with the probability of starting the regular season with the Mariners. But Johnson said Friday his hard feelings for the organization are “starting to boil.”

“I don’t know what’s changed,” he said. “Maybe it’s because it’s getting later into spring training and I’m still here. There was so much hype about me being traded that I was more prepared to be traded than to be here.

“Sometimes, I don’t even feel like coming to the ballpark.”

A’s rally in ninth

Miguel Tejada and Ernie Young hit two-run doubles as the Oakland Athletics rallied for five runs in the ninth to beat the Mariners 11-7 Saturday at Peoria, Ariz.

Mark Bellhorn added a run-scoring double in the rally. The A’s tagged Seattle closer Heathcliff Slocumb for four doubles and drew two walks in the ninth. Bellhorn finished with four hits, including three doubles.

Dan Wilson drove in four runs for Seattle with a two-run triple in the second and a two-run single in the sixth. However, the catcher also committed two of the Mariners’ four errors.

Heads-up fielder

Barring injury, Glenallen Hill will become the 53rd Seattle left-fielder to play alongside Ken Griffey Jr. since 1989. Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus provides this tongue-in-cheek scouting report. “He’s a Catch-22 outfielder,” Niehaus said. “You hit him 100 fly balls, he’ll catch 22.”