Johjima takes injuries in stride

PHOENIX – Kenji Johjima is not about to turn on his chosen profession, but he admits he has thoughts about catching that are not always positive.

“I wouldn’t want my child doing this for a living,” Johjima said Tuesday, before he re-entered the lineup of the Seattle Mariners.

Small wonder. On Saturday night in San Diego, Johjima took a foul ball off the top of his left knee and thigh, and though the impact didn’t knock him out of that game, it kept him from playing on Sunday – and made for an uncomfortable off-day Monday.

Tuesday? He was back in Mike Hargrove’s lineup.

“I’ll have no problem playing tonight,” Johjima said after emerging from the Mariners training room. “I don’t talk about the pain.”

Despite all the gear he and all catchers wear, Johjima said such injuries happen “once or twice” a season – and he has had worse. Plenty of times.

“No matter how much protection you wear, you can’t protect yourself everywhere,” Johjima said. “That’s why I’ve fractured myself three or four times already.”

Pointing at spots on his lower leg, his right hand and his nose, Johjima shrugged.

“It’s not always the direct hits that hurt the most,” he said.

Short hops

Quite a few Mariners players and coaches spent time greeting Arizona manager Bob Melvin and pitching coach Bryan Price. Both men are in good spirits despite a stretch of games in which the Diamondbacks lost 17 of 20 games. …Since May 1, Ichiro Suzuki has hit .394. Only once this month has he gone hitless.