DETROIT – Bill Hall knew he wasn’t having much of a season in Milwaukee, but when the Brewers designated him for assignment the day after he’d hit a home run, he understood that his days with them were over.

“I should have singled, instead,” he said, laughing in the Seattle clubhouse. “Coming to Seattle, where we’re six games out of the wild card race, that’s a new chapter for me. I want to play like a kid again. That’s what I used to do; that’s what I want to get back to.”

Oddly enough, that shouldn’t be hard with the Mariners – between Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Sweeney and a weird assortment of relievers, this team can be like a gaggle of kids off the field.

“Stay away from Junior,” manager Don Wakamatsu warned Hall.

Too late, of course. Griffey rode with Hall on the team bus from the hotel to the ballpark.

“We talked on the bus this morning. I wanted to be like Ken Griffey Jr.,” Hall said. “He was The Kid. I wanted to be like that.”

After hitting 35 home runs in 2006, Hall was on his way – a right-handed hitter capable of playing shortstop, third base or center field.

What happened? He signed a huge, multiyear contract with Milwaukee, and suddenly he had something to live up to that was beyond anything he’d ever dealt with.

“I wanted to improve every season I played, but after I hit 35 home runs, I put a lot of pressure on myself,” said Hall. “Nobody likes not to succeed. I tried to hit 10 home runs a game.”

Hall wasn’t in the lineup Thursday, less than 24 hours after he’d learned of his trade to Seattle, but he was told by Wakamatsu that he’d get at least one start in Cleveland against a left-handed pitcher.

How much will Hall play, especially with third baseman Adrian Beltre and shortstop Jack Wilson on the Mariners?

“A lot depends on his bat,” Wakamatsu said. “We want to let (hitting coach) Alan Cockrell get his hands on him. We want to see him play. The good news is, he’s had success before. You know it’s in there, because he’s done it.

“We’ll do what we’ve done with a lot of players this year: change their mental approach. With Hall, we’ll talk about pitch selection, about getting in position to hit.”

To make room for Hall on the 25-man roster, the Mariners optioned left-hander Garrett Olson to Tacoma.

“We’d like him to start, get stretched out and come back to us in September,” Wakamatsu said.

The 25-year-old Olson, the lone lefty in a seven-man bullpen, appeared in 13 games as a reliever. He also started 11 games this year with Seattle.

On tap

Seattle opens its series in Cleveland today with a 4:05 p.m. PDT game to be televised on FSN. Probable starting pitchers: Luke French (2-3, 3.74) for the Mariners vs. David Huff (7-6, 6.55).

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