"This long game is finally done, with the Mariners emerging as 12-6 victors over their division rivals. Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said afterwards that Mike Sweeney, hit on the wrist by a seventh-inning pitch, should be OK.

"Sweeney's fine,'' Wakamatsu said. "It tore a little bit of his skin, but it's more of a surface bruise than anything deep or bone-wise.''

I spoke to Wakamatsu one-on-one afterwards and he confirmed that the switch of Jose Lopez to third base and Chone Figgins to second is final and will be what fans see out there on Opening Day.

"We were going to announce it officially, but yeah, that's the way we're going,'' he said.

Wakamatsu added that the plan to give Lopez a brief look at second once again and Figgins at third base was scratched.

"I talked with (GM) Jack (Zduriencik) the other day about taking a look at it,'' Wakamatsu said. "But the way it's going right now, I could see us going the same way in any case.''

Wakamatsu also confirmed that Lopez and Figgins had both told him they weren't enthused about the idea of even a temporary swtich back. They are both working hard at breaking into their new full-time spots and don't want anything to interfere with that."