"The first mound visit between Mariners ace Felix Hernandez and his new manager is taking time to get right.

Mariners field boss Eric Wedge has made it clear to Hernandez that since he pitched the previous night, he can't throw again in that day's game and has to head back to the dugout. Hernandez gets the message, but for some reason, he's styled his hair like an Elvis wannabe and insists on calling himself "Larry."

"And, cut!" shouts director Ron Gross. "Felix, remember — pregnant pause. You've got to take that pregnant pause."

Hernandez nods his approval, having gotten used to the corrections and retakes that are part of filming the biggest of a series of annual Mariners television commercials. Life on the set isn't always as fun as the finished product, but when you're the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, whose commercial will be the most carefully scrutinized of the lot, you learn to roll with the punches.

Likewise, the Mariners have been forced to absorb some blows in marketing a team that lost 101 games last season after telling fans to "Believe Big." Now, the creators of that catchy-yet-ill-fated slogan are trying to win back fans.

"Did we go out on a limb last year? Absolutely," Mariners vice president of marketing Kevin Martinez said of the slogan, mocked once the team fell from contention in May. "Sure, we did. There were a few people who looked at us beforehand like, 'Um, are you sure you want to do this?' And I said 'Yeah, absolutely.' Because you know what? I believed big. I believed in the team and I really thought 2010 was going to be our year. So, I went with it."