Series Preview: Seattle Mariners @ New York Yankees

Seattle: 18-30
Yankees: 22-25

GAMES

Game 1: Erik Bedard* vs Andy Pettitte*
Game 2: Felix Hernandez vs Chien-Ming Wang
Game 3: Carlos Silva vs Mike Mussina

Bedard is coming off his nicest start of the year last time around, but that was at home and against the Padres. This test is going to be a bit tougher. Can you imagine the pickle the Yankees would be in if Pettitte had indeed decided to retire? Boy, that'd be a hoot. Instead he goes on being slightly above average.

Felix is all over the place, but he's never looked vintage Felix in 2008. Even the first two starts which yielded great results, were not normal great Felix since even then his strikeouts were down and he was allowing far more balls into the air. It starts with getting that ball back on the ground Felix. And it finishes with THROWING LESS PREDICTABLE FASTBALLS. Meanwhile, Wang's groundball rate is in steady decline but along with that his strikeout numbers are steadily improving. I'm not sure why he's making the tradeoff, but given the infield defense behind him maybe it's no surprise.

This should be a fun one. Who wants to watch Silva get his slop slapped around New York while Mike Mussina baffles our hitters yet again with his ability to throw a spheroid object approximately 55 feet without having it hit the ground? No? Good news for you. James Shields takes on Daniel Cabrera at the same time in Tampa. Tune in to watch what a real lineup does against pitchers that cannot throw strikes.

Likely Starters:
C Jose Molina/Chad Moeller
1 Shelley Duncan/Jason Giambi
2 Robinson Cano
3 Alex Rodriguez
S Derek Jeter
L Johnny Damon
C Melky Cabrera
R Bobby Abreu
D Hideki Matsui

We got manhandled by this very lineup a little under three weeks ago and now they've replaced Morgan Ensberg with a healthy A-Rod. Strasburg is about to be three games closer to ours. The Yankees haven't been scoring runs, but that's not much of an issue of their overall offensive talent and more to do with that .237 average with runners in scoring position. How do you spell regression? Well, I spell it M-A-R-I-N-E-R-S--P-I-T-C-H-I-N-G.

CONTEXT

The era of good feelings stemming from the series with San Diego just got bitch-slapped by the recession in Detroit. The Mariners offense continues to make mediocre and control-free pitchers look good by having no patience and not being able to capitalize when they do luck into seeing a mistake pitch. The Mariner defense continues to blow, though it should be noted that Jeremy Reed has awesome range and put it on display yesterday. More of him in leftfield please. The rotation, a strength in April, has been downright dismal in May and it hasn't been bad luck. Line drives and walks galore for these sad sacks.

Total combined out pitches amongst Carlos Silva, Jarrod Washburn and Miguel Batista: Zero. These three have to possess control or command in order to be passable. If they get both, they can be solid starters. Lately, they have neither and since they're not facing our offense that means they're going to get destroyed.

THIS SERIES BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

Double White Ale
Southampton Publick House. Southampton, NY

A heavier version of much-reproduced Belgian white ale there is a bit more to the taste than the usual orange, coriander and allspice. You get a little bit more wheat/yeast in this one.