Game 122, Mariners at Angels
RHP Felix Hernandez v RHP Jered Weaver in a battle of young stud pitchers. 7:05, FSN.
This is it, right? Felix is the pitcher who turns this thing around for us, puts an end to this insanity.
Jered Weaver: 285 batters faced. 214 outs made, 58k, 19 BB, 50 H, 2 HR, 2 HBP
Felix Hernandez: 575 batters faced. 426 outs made, 130 K, 51 BB, 143 H, 17 HR, 6 HBP
Jered Weaver: 20% of batters struck out, 7% walked
Felix: 23% of batters struck out, 9% walked
Tonight’s non-sensical lineup of stupidity:
CF-R Willie “The Ignitor” Bloomquist
2b-R Lopez
3B-R Beltre
LF-L Ibanez
1B-R Sexson
DH-L Broussard
C-R Johjima
SS-R Betancourt
RF-R Chris Motherfucking Snelling
The phrase “Snakes on a Plane” has been used on Internet forums to indicate that a given topic is nonsensical. With creative uses of capital letters, bold or italic text, and punctuation the title has been manipulated to reflect surprise, horror, or absurdity, among other things. The meme is often interspersed with images of Samuel L. Jackson reprising his role as Mace Windu and quoting lines recalling his roles from both the Star Wars series and Pulp Fiction. The slang form “SoaP” is used in place of “Shit happens” or “Oh well, what’cha gonna do?”
With that, I present:
Game 120, Mariners at A’s
RHP Gil Meche (good Meche or bad Meche?) vs RHP Dan Haren. 7:05.
Win! For the love of Edgar, even the Devil Rays win a game against a divisional opponent once in a while! Win! Win! ARRRGHHHH!!!
Game 118, Mariners at Athletics
7:05, another divisional matchup. Oooooh boy.
LHP Washburn v LHP Zito.
Game 117, Mariners at Rangers
5:05, radio only, because why would anyone want to watch an evening game featuring Felix Hernandez against Kevin Millwood? Errrghhhh.
RF-L Ichiro
SS-R Betancourt
3B-R Beltre
LF-L Ibanez
1B-R Sexson
DH-L Broussard
C-R Johjima
2B-R Willie “The Ignitor” Bloomquist
CF-R Jones
Texas responds with
CF-B Mathews
SS-R Young
LF-R Lee
1B-B Teixeira
3B-L Blalock
RF-R DeRosa
DH-L Stairs
2B-R Kinsler
C-R Barajas
So let’s play the “swap ’em or not” game: which of the Texas guys would you trade for their Mariner equivalent, contract included? And it’s not Kinsler-Bloomquist, consider Kinsler-Lopez for the sake of having to think at all.
Game 116, Mariners at Rangers
5:05. LHP Moyer vs RHP Volquez. See Dave’s comment for the scoop.
DH-L Ichiro!
2B-R Lopez
3B-R Beltre
LF-L Ibanez
1B-R Sexson
C-R Johjima
SS-R Betancourt
RF-R Willy “The Ignitor” Bloomquist
CF-R Jones
So the bench is DH/1B-L Broussard, DH/1B-R Perez, C-R Rivera, 1B/3B/LF/PH-L Dobbs
Here’s a question for you, good readers. Imagine you’re the manager of the M’s, and Ichiro’s been dragging lately. You’d like to keep him in the lineup, but not have him run around in the heat, so you’ve decided to DH him for a day. What’s the best lineup you can field given the existing Mariner roster as it exists today (no calling up Tacoma players)?
Game 115, Mariners at Rangers
Meche v Wells. Not David Wells, the other one. Not Kip Wells either. No, wait, it is Kip Wells. 5:35, KSTW-11. Lineup’s standard. Mllleaaah.
Game 114, Mariners at Rangers
Joel Pineiro v Adam Eaton.
Wow, game time sure snuck up on me today.
Game 111, Devil Rays at Mariners
There’s only one way the team can compete now. They must win and win and win. They must put together a long stretch of sustained success against every team they face, taking game and then series off divisional rivals and also-rans alike.
7:05, RHP Tim Corcoran versus LHP Jamie Moyer.
Game 110, ’27 Yankees at ’62 Mets
RHP Joe Blanton vs. RHP Gil Meche, 1:05pm. FSN.
I’m guessing traffic is pretty fun right now for those on the way to the game.
Game 108, Athletics at Mariners
LHP Barry Zito v LHP Jarrod Washburn
I’m always leary when the talking heads on ESPN1-4 describe any particular game as a must-win. It’s along season, and there are many games to play. These three games at home against the A’s aren’t must-win games. But they’re certainly close. A sweep of the A’s would put the M’s a game back in the divisional standings and into the thick of it. A sweep at the hand of the A’s would put the M’s six games back of the A’s with two other teams between them and the season running out. 1-2 would be almost as bad: every day that goes by without making up ground is a day the team falls behind.
Win, team, win.
Or, you could always play Bloomquist in center.