MARINERS Garcia returns from surgery on eardrums

The pitcher said the condition didn't affect his play.
PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) -- In recent years, Freddy Garcia's friends often asked him why the televisions and radios in his home were so loud.
Turns out Seattle's big right-hander has played the last two seasons with ruptured eardrums. Both were corrected by surgery last winter.
"My friends would say, 'Hey, you've got a problem with your ears. You'd better go check it out. That's your balance,' " Garcia said. "I wasn't listening to them. I said I'd go, but I never did."
The condition existed for almost two years, the result of a stuffy head cold and a sneeze by Garcia at an unfortunate moment -- during the descent of the team's flight somewhere over Texas.
Did the condition affect Garcia on the mound? The pitcher says no way.
"I was talking with a doctor and I asked if it would affect my balance. He said no," Garcia said.
Seattle manager Bob Melvin believes otherwise.
"He'll say it didn't affect him, but it's tough enough going out to pitch a big league game," Melvin said. "The talent level, there's such a fine line that any little thing could send you either way."
Ups and downs
Mariners pitching coach Bryan Price doesn't know. He was as puzzled as any fan after seeing Garcia win the AL's pitcher of the month award in June, then collapse in July but rediscover his dominance at the end of the season.
"All I care to say is that to Freddy's credit, he never made it an issue," Price said. "He never said, 'I see two home plates' or 'I have trouble maintaining my balance and staying under control.' He never put it to that."
At his best, Garcia is among the finest and most reliable pitchers in baseball. Just look at his average of 220 innings during the past three seasons and his career numbers: 72-43 and a 3.97 ERA.
Yet, after being named to the All-Star team for the second time in 2002, he slumped in the second half of that season. Then last year, he endured a wild ride of extreme highs and lows.
Hot and cold
Garcia went 6-0 with a 2.12 ERA from May 27 to June 29, then slumped into an 0-6 run with a 10.03 ERA in seven games from July 4 to Aug. 7. It was the longest losing streak of his career.
He regrouped in September, finishing with a 1.95 ERA in five starts that produced only one win. For the season, he was 12-14 with a 4.51 ERA.
Garcia feels his concentration slipped last season, and he was penalized with flat pitches that turned into home runs and big innings. Until last year, his mistakes would turn into foul balls or groundouts.
Garcia almost didn't make it back to Seattle this season.
His name came up regularly in trade talks going back to last season's All-Star break, and he almost didn't sign his tender from the Mariners on Dec. 20 as he waited to see what would happen. Eventually, team officials decided the best pitcher they could have pursued on the free agent market would have been Garcia. So they tendered him, keeping his arm for one more season while sending Garcia into a contract year.