At 23 and just called up from Class AAA Tacoma, where he was 7-1, Feierabend threw seven effective innings Wednesday, the second-longest start of his big-league career. He's in the mix for 2009 as well.

Asked if having Rowland-Smith, whose last two starts have seen him go seven innings, and Morrow, who is making the conversion from reliever to starter at Tacoma, in the mix adds pressure, Feierabend just shook his head.

"That's not pressure; those two guys are good pitchers," the left-hander said. "There is competition between the three of us, but next year in spring training we'll see what happens. We can worry about that then.

"The three of us want to establish ourselves as starters. I need to show I can pitch at this level, just like they can."

Wednesday's start wasn't a win, because the bullpen let a 4-3 lead slip away. But with the game tied at 3, Feierabend threw three shutout innings from the fifth through the seventh to give the Mariners a chance to come back.

"Ryan gave us a great chance to win," manager Jim Riggleman said. "What I particularly liked was that after he got in trouble, he was able to come back with three consecutive scoreless innings."