Seattle: 18-27
Tigers: 17-27

GAMES

Game 1: Carlos Silva vs Justin Verlander
Game 2: Jarrod Washburn* vs Kenny Rogers*
Game 3: Miguel Batista vs Jeremy Bonderman

Not sure what's going on with Miguel and Jarrod and their rotation slots. The probable pitcher listing has Miguel in game two and game three TBA and since there is an offday Monday the M's could turn to Bedard on game three. But do they have a reason to skip Washburn? No, I mean a reason the Mariners would actually employ? Sucking doesn't cut it with this group.

Justin Verlander was never as good as most people thought after his 18-win season last year and Jeremy Bonderman has been nutters for a few years now. All in all, these match ups look a lot more scary than they actually are.

Likely Starters:
C Ivan Rodriguez
1 Miguel Cabrera
2 Placido Polanco
3 Carlos Guillen
S Edgar Renteria
L Matthew Joyce
C Curtis Granderson
R Magglio Ordonez
D Gary Sheffield

The Tigers problems haven't been in scoring runs. This is a legitimately scary lineup, even Matthew Joyce (who?) is raking the ball. Seeing the slate of pitchers we have going against them, there is good reason to enjoy that winning streak now before this series begins.

CONTEXT

For Jeff Clement/Jeremy Reed/Jose Vidro related hilarity look toward Jeff's post on the matter. The only part that I'll add is something that came to me this morning; that if the Mariners were actually a little smarter and went with Raul at DH and Reed in LF for the foreseeable future, that either sets the stage quite well for the 2009 offseason or sets us up for utter ruin.

Raul at DH is good, he's worth keeping around in that role, worth extending even, though not for more than two years. Reed would be a solid 4th outfielder who might not kill you as a starter, Willie makes a good bench player as the pinch-runner, backup middle infielder and 5th outfielder. Raul takes up the 6th outfield spot. That leaves backup catcher, backup corner infielder and backup masher as spots to fill. Not difficult to do.

That basically leaves just signing Teixeira (and poking around for a LFer better than Reed) as the only move you have to make next winter (leaving aside the sign Felix, Bedard, Beltre issues) to end up with a solid offensive and defensive team. Problem is, Raul is now firmly entrenched at DH, so...Clement? The brilliant offseason sees us either deal off Johjima or dump Burke and go with a 50/50 split in time behind the dish between Clement and Joh. The catastrophic scenario sees Bavasi trade Clement for Griffey, wherein one (or god forbid more) of {Griffey, Ibanez} is plying trade in the field.

WOOOO! Two-game winning streak! Off-Day! House season finale! This calls for lots of beer!

THIS SERIES BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

Expedition Stout
Bells Brewing. Kalamazoo, MI

Pure black pour with a brown head. The aroma has notes of sour and sweet. The flavor is very complex with elements of smoke, cocoa and coffee as to be expected from an imperial stout.

Raspberry Eisbock
Kuhnhenn Brewing. Warren, MI

Oh ho ho, not just one sponsor for this series. This is our only trip to Detroit, so you're getting the full bevy of a state that is very much underrated in terms of beer production. Raspberries, chocolate and caramel in this delicious fruit beer that's a bit more of a dessert than a beer you'd want to have many of in a row.

Breakfast Stout
Founders Brewing. Grand Rapids, MI

That's right, a beer for each game of the series. If you like coffee taste in your beer, similar to a Kona Porter, than you'll love this. The name is spot on here, if you are going to have beer before noon, this is a perfect one.