The Mariners have designated former Padre Wascar Serrano for assignment. I always have trouble trying to figure out what exactly that means. Thanks to the Internet, I found this handy explanation of the term.

Alex Arias has already been released, so if Seattle loses Serrano, they will have given up Brett Tomko, Tom Lampkin, and Vazquez to get Davis. Now the Mariners are looking for another starting pitcher. I like Ben Davis an awful lot and still think he’s going to be a very good big-league catcher in the near future, but I wonder if Pat Gillick and company wish they had Tomko right about now.

Ben Howard was sent back to Mobile, where he’ll get to work regularly as a starter. He leaves the Padres leading the team in walks despite making only three appearances. Howard’s velocity was down, and his command shaky; not a good combination. He’ll be fine in the long run; give him time.

Right-hander Andy Shibilo has been recalled to take Howard’s place. Shibilo is one of my wife’s favorite players. Even though you have nothing to do with it, it’s always kind of neat to see a guy you’ve been following in the minors finally make it to the Show.

Also, and this hasn’t been officially announced yet, Dennis Tankersley will be called up to start in place of Kevin Jarvis tomorrow. Tank gets the nod over Jake Peavy because he’s on the 40-man roster and tomorrow is his day to start anyway. Here’s what he’s done so far at Mobile:

                                           Qmax
Date      Opp    IP  H  R ER BB SO HR PQS  S  C
04/05/02  @WTe  5.0  5  1  1  1  2  0   3  4  3
04/10/02  @Hvl  5.0  2  1  0  3  8  0   4  2  4
04/16/02  WTe   3.7  7  6  6  4  3  0   0  6  7
04/21/02  @Orl  7.0  6  1  1  1  6  0   5  3  2
04/26/02  Hvl   6.0  3  2  1  2  8  1   5  2  3
05/05/02  @Cng  4.0  4  0  0  3  3  0   0  4  5

Thanks to a rain delay, he faced only one batter in his most recent start, so I didn’t bother including that one. Complete logs for all Padre minor-leaguers for the month of April are available at the Ducksnorts Yahoo! Groups site if you’re interested.

Finally, my friend Theron passed this along: voteexpostwins.0catch.com. Some guy is trying to get folks to vote for all Expos and Twins for the All-Star Game. Cool, huh?