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Seager thriving on Safeco Field home cooking

SEATTLE -- Kyle Seager said he was feeling closer to full health on Monday after returning to the lineup Sunday from the flu bug that has also hit several teammates in the last two weeks. That's good news for the Mariners. But the even better news might be the healthy numbers Seager has put up while hitting at Safeco Field so far this year.

Seager says he has always felt good in his home park, yet he has always put up much better numbers on the road until this season. In Seager's first three years in the Majors, he hit .289 with 38 home runs on the road compared to .228 with 13 home runs at home.

But while it's early, Seager has flipped those numbers completely in 2014 with a .279 average and six home runs in 13 games at Safeco vs. .218 with no home runs in 21 away games.

Even coming back from a two-day layoff with the flu during which he dropped six pounds, Seager hit his sixth home run in his past six home games in Sunday's 9-7 loss to the Royals.

"I'm definitely not going to give them back, that's for sure," Seager said with a smile prior to Monday's series opener with the Rays. "Homers are weird. Sometimes you get five in a week, then you'll go three weeks without any. So it's just one of those things where I got on that little streak here, so it worked out well."

And while he's always downplayed his road-home splits -- saying that's just baseball -- the 26-year-old third baseman acknowledges it's nice getting good early results at the home park.

"Absolutely," he said. "Anytime you do it is good. But I've always been comfortable here. It's a beautiful park and I feel like I've always seen the ball well. It obviously gets big out there in the gaps, especially, but if you can aim more toward the lines it flies better."

As for the flu bug that first bit Mike Zunino and then Felix Hernandez before catching Seager on Friday? He acknowledged he was still a bit tired Sunday, but is close to 100 percent again now.

"Maybe I was a little bit sluggish, but I felt fine," he said. "Especially during the game I was ready to go. It always makes it seems like you feel better [when you hit a home run]. But I felt better and the trainers took care of me and Julie had to put up with me when I got home. So it all worked out. We got through it."

Greg Johns is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregJohnsMLB as well as his Mariners Musings blog.
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