4 Seattle Mariners

PITCHER	PVR				WHIP	ERA
LH Jamie Moyer	99	13		102	1.39	4.28
RH Joel Pi�eiro	178		11	107	1.48	5.62
LH Jarrod Washburn [New acquisition]	136			94	1.33	3.20
RH Gil Meche	160	10		83	1.57	5.09
RH Felix Hernandez	13			77	1.00	2.67

It was early in spring camp when rookie catcher Kenji Johjima, who signed a three-year, $16.5 million deal with the Mariners in November after 11 seasons in his native Japan, encountered his first serious trouble because of the language barrier. Seattle first baseman Richie Sexson motioned toward manager Mike Hargrove and told Johjima, who understands a little English, "Hey, Jo. Go tell Grover, 'F--- off.' He likes it."

Johjima (pronounced jo-JEE-muh), the dutiful rookie, marched up behind Hargrove, tapped the manager on the shoulder and, with a wide, proud smile, blurted, "F--- off!" After a moment of alarm, Hargrove broke out in laughter, realizing that the English lessons Johjima was getting were not limited to the thrice-weekly formal ones with a college tutor.

Johjima laughed too, after teammates clued him in on the joke. If nothing else the ebullient Johjima, 29, is a constant source of energy and good cheer around the Mariners. His new teammates have given him a nickname (Jo Mama), tricked him with a shock-emitting cigarette lighter and tied the laces of his spikes together before he put them on.

More important, any worries Seattle might have had about a Japanese-speaking catcher running their pitching staff quickly went sayonara. Johjima arrived with a deep vocabulary of important baseball terms and has proved to be a quick, eager student of English. Though the team provides him with a translator, Johjima summons help only when necessary. "I want to learn myself," he says through the translator. "I'm doing the best I can, so I don't use him as much as possible."

Lefthander Jarrod Washburn and Johjima huddled on their own one day after Washburn threw batting practice with Johjima behind the plate. "When I want to [throw] outside," Washburn told Johjima, "especially with a man on second base, set up in the middle, then move to the outside."

"Go late?" Johjima asked.

"Yes, go late," Washburn replied.

"Yes, good," Johjima said, nodding.

Oddly enough, few Mariners yap as much on the field as their new English student. The 6-foot, 198-pound Johjima is an athletic catcher who loves to bark encouragement to his teammates. On his first day in camp, while warming up pitchers, Johjima showed off his English after almost every pitch, usually shouting, "Good!" "Nice!" or "Attaboy!"

"I felt like I was throwing to my dad," says pitcher Jamie Moyer. "It's great. I tried to see how many times I could get him to say it in a row. Time will tell, but I don't really think there will be a communication issue."