First impressions are good ones for new manager

SURPRISE, Ariz. – All winter, the Seattle Mariners talked about how their new-and-improved lineup looked on paper. Now, Mike Hargrove has seen it on the field. His first impressions?

“I’ve seen a combination of speed and power, and we’ve scored enough runs down here to win a lot of games,” Hargrove said Saturday. “Ichiro is on base a lot, we’ve got hitters in the lineup to move him over and hitters behind them to drive him in. The trick is to make it all happen starting April 4.”

Another key is cleanup hitter Richie Sexson.

“Your No. 4 hitter can legitimize your lineup,” Hargrove said, “and I think Richie can do that for us.”

Still, he added, the Mariners’ offense begins with their leadoff hitter, and Hargrove is clearly impressed by Ichiro.

“He knows himself – I’ve never run across a more disciplined player,” Hargrove said, “and that allows his natural abilities to take off.

“He doesn’t allow himself to look too far ahead. He stays within himself at all times. He knows the game. The other day in a spring training game, he gave himself up to move a runner along.

“Ichiro gets it.”

Pinéiro makes strides in win

Joel Pinéiro continued to make his way back toward the Seattle rotation with three scoreless innings.

“We’re no longer thinking about Joel as injured, we’re no longer being cautious, we’re just getting him back into shape,” pitching coach Bryan Price said.

Sidelined by shoulder stiffness much of the camp, Pinéiro will likely make three more starts – Thursday in a minor league camp game, April 5 in another camp game and perhaps April 10 for Triple-A Tacoma.

On Saturday, Pinéiro was credited with his first spring win when the Mariners beat the Royals 8-3

Jeremy Reed went 4 for 4 with two RBI and Raul Ibañez continued a marvelous spring with three more RBIs, giving him 18 in as many games.

M’s reassign players

The Tacoma Rainiers continued to take shape, with the Mariners reassigning three players – pitcher Cha-Seung Baek, infielder Jose Lopez and outfielder Jamal Strong – to their Triple-A team.

That cut the number of players in camp to 39 from the original 61. Among those 39 players is a handful unable to play: outfielder Chris Snelling, infielder Bucky Jacobsen, catcher Ryan Christianson and pitchers Scott Atchison, Rafael Soriano and Travis Blackley.

For the final 25-man roster, then, there are 33 healthy candidates.

Short hops

Bucky Jacobsen, who’s been carrying a bat around the past two weeks to remind himself he used to hit, got to use it. For the first time in weeks, he tested his surgically repaired right knee by hitting off a batting tee. Jacobsen took 30 swings. … Gil Meche started a minor league game and worked five innings, allowed three hits and a run. Bobby Madritsch will start another minor league game today. …Today, Eddie Guardado is scheduled to pitch his first Cactus League inning of the spring. The last time he faced major league batters was last summer.