Jack McKeon knows is he is in Seattle Friday through Sunday to play three "home" games against the Mariners. Why or how it happened doesn't interest him.
And even if you tried, good luck trying to explain about U2 - the band whose concert at Sun Life Stadium forced the Marlins to travel 3,360 miles to play home games.
"I don't know about U2, Jiffy Lube or anything," McKeon said. "I don't even know what these guys do. I'm not into that. That's for these Twitter guys."
The last time McKeon, 80, managed a team that played in Seattle was 1978 after McKeon had taken over for Bobby Winkles in Oakland 40 games into the season.
Friday night, the Marlins will face defending Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez as they try to right a skid in which they've lost 18 of their last 20 games. The Marlins technically will be the home team even though they'll be playing at Safeco Field.
"Amazing," said infielder Jose Lopez, who played his first seven seasons in Seattle.
About 11 months ago, when baseball released its schedule, the Marlins and Mariners were set to play three games at Sun Life Stadium beginning Friday night . Sometime in August promotion company Live Nation informed the stadium it would need five days for to set up for the Wednesday, June 29 concert, which is a makeup from the July 9, 2010, concert that was postponed after Bono, U2's frontman, had back surgery. Last year's scheduled concert forced the Marlins to play 13 consecutive road games.
The Marlins asked the league if they could juggle this year's schedule to avoid losing the home date. But the ripple affect of such a move, especially during interleague play, made it nearly impossible. The decision was made to move the series but allow the Marlins to be the home team.
"I don't think it's anything different except for the fact you bat last, which sometimes is an advantage," McKeon said.
Catcher John Buck was with the Blue Jays last season when they were forced to play home games in Philadelphia because of the G20 Summit - a meeting dealing with global financial and economic issues - in Toronto.
"Once you get playing it's no different, but late in the game when your closer is getting ready to close out the game it was weird," Buck said. "The energy was on the other side (in the bottom of ninth). Normally they are cheering for the punch out. And then you hear, 'o,' after you get the save."
Marlins closer Leo Nunez may get that opportunity this series. The Marlins will wear their white pants and black shirts. Pitchers will bat, according to National League rules, and the designated hitter, used solely in the American League, will not be used. The Marlins still will use the visitors' clubhouse and take early batting practice, as visiting teams do.
The Marlins and Mariners negotiated an agreement in which money from the gate will cover the Marlins' costs. The Marlins, though, will lose the money they would have made from a weekend crowd, usually spiked by a Saturday night concert, and the small percentage they make on concessions.
The Mariners not only have the advantage of playing in front of their crowd but the club is expected to make a profit after their expenses of opening the stadium. Seattle averages 22,381 at home, compared to the 16,976 Florida draws.
The Marlins' original six-day road trip will be expanded to 10 days - with an off day Monday - before going to Oakland and Texas. The trip is part of a stretch in which 16 of 19 games are on the road.
"It just seems like the travel and the schedule is getting rougher and rougher every year anyway," veteran infielder Wes Helms said. "Now we only got to come home for three days and then go back on the road. A nine-game road trip instead of a six-game road trip means a lot, especially for us guys who have families."
Plus, the switched schedule would have been easier on the Marlins if the games had been at Tampa Bay, Atlanta or another NL East city. Instead they must travel to the farthest stadium in the major leagues from South Florida.
"We got to make one of the longest flights in the entire country to play home games," Helms said.
The Marlins will feel at home in one sense. Like Sun Life Stadium, Safeco is known as a pitchers' park. The venue is among the hardest to hit a home run: an average of only 1.33 homers per game have been hit there, tied for third-fewest in the American League. Sun Life Stadium sees 1.60 balls leave the park each game, eighth-most in the 16-team National League.
"It's a big ballpark. The ball does not carry," said Lopez, who played for the Mariners from 2004-10 and was signed by the Marlins June 9 after being released by the Rockies.
Teammates likely will ask Lopez to help them scout the other AL West teams during the stretch. And they'll ask him about Hernandez (7-6, 3.34 ERA), his best friend.
"I never faced him but I know the ball moves a lot," Lopez said.
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