BOSTON (AP) – The Seattle Mariners already had four games canceled by bad weather, but Seattle manager Mike Hargrove wasn’t upset that Thursday’s game with Boston was postponed, even though his team has played just two of its last seven scheduled games.

Seattle was headed for Texas on Friday and Boston’s weather was a miserable mix of rain and sleet.

“We’re better off not having played today,” he said. “We’ll deal with it as we go along.”

Seattle third basemen Adrian Beltre said it’s tough hitting in cold weather, but fielding is worse because “you can’t feel your fingers.”

“When it’s cold you feel like you can’t throw the ball, so the ball will go somewhere I don’t want it to,” he said.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona said the early season cold is miserable for everyone.

“It’s just whoever handles it better is going to win,” he said.

Thursday’s game was rescheduled for May 3 at 7:05 p.m.

Hernandez still the talk of the town

A couple hours wasn’t enough to get Felix Hernandez’s near no-hitter off Red Sox manager Terry Francona’s mind. Francona on Thursday marveled over the 21-year-old’s mound presence and “slider from hell” after Hernandez held Boston to just one hit on Wednesday night.

“All spring, everybody you talked to, you kept hearing (Hernandez’s) name,” Francona said. “They kept saying, he’s getting it, he’s understanding. His body language, his demeanor on the mound, everything was kind of coming together. He looks good. He looks real good.”

Hernandez said his family watched the game in Venezuela, and his mother told him, “Good job,” when he spoke to her on the phone.

Hernandez said he didn’t deviate from his normal game plan of getting ahead of hitters and throwing first-pitch strikes.

“I tried to stay more focused last night,” he said. “I’m more mature this season and I have more confidence in all my pitches. I’ve also lost 20 pounds and I feel more comfortable. I’m eating smaller meals and I’m eating better.”

Red Sox outfielder J.D. Drew, who got the only hit off Hernandez, sounded ready to put it all behind him.

“When you face a guy like that, you tip your cap and you go into the next day really trying to forget about what happened,” he said.

Matsuzaka put on hold

Thursday’s postponement means Daisuke Matsuzaka won’t pitch Boston’s annual game on the morning of the Boston Marathon on Monday. Red Sox manager Terry Francona decided to bump Thursday’s starter, Tim Wakefield, to Friday against the Los Angeles Angels, and move Friday’s scheduled starter, Julian Tavarez, to Monday.

Matsuzaka will pitch again against Toronto on Tuesday.

Russell remembers

Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell was at Fenway Park before Thursday’s postponed game for a scheduled tribute to the late Red Auerbach and the Celtics’ 16 championship teams. He recalled that he was a pall bearer at Jackie Robinson’s funeral.

Russell said he was at first astonished by the request and asked Robinson’s widow, Rachel, why she had asked him. She replied, “You were his favorite athlete.”

Russell said he wondered how someone like Robinson could have come to admire him, “because he was a hero to all of us.”