Muscle strain sidelines Meche

PEORIA, Ariz. – Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Gil Meche has a strained oblique muscle on his left side and will miss his scheduled spring training start today.

“It’s not a major injury, but in a baseball player, particularly a pitcher … you’ve got to be very cautious and very conservative,” trainer Rick Griffin said Sunday.

“We’re not going to let him pick a ball up for three days,” Griffin said. “We’re not going to take any chances with this because of the nature of the injury.”

The 27-year-old Meche, projected as Seattle’s No. 4 starter, will be re-evaluated by team doctors after three days, Griffin said.

“It doesn’t hurt, but it’s a soreness,” Meche said.

The right-hander was injured during an intrasquad game last Tuesday while throwing a pitch to Matt Lawton. Meche worked a scoreless inning.

Meche has been on the disabled list four times during his professional career, missing the entire 2001 season while recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right rotator cuff. But he said he’s never had a problem with an oblique before.

He said he tried to pitch in the bullpen Saturday, but cut the session short.

“It’s at the point where you don’t want to go out there and push it,” he said. “Right now, it’s not that big of a deal, but if I go out there and try to pitch and something winds up tearing or ripping, it could wind up being a pretty big situation.”