It sucks to come home from dinner to a loss, and this season is beginning to feel a lot like the transition year we didn't want to call it at 15-10. Helping to alleviate the disappointment, though, was the performance of Jason Vargas, whose outing you will find quickly summarized below:

73 pitches, 59% strikes
6 grounders
6 flyballs
4 line drives
86.8mph fastball
82.9mph slider
77.7mph change
72.8mph curve

Against Righties

57 pitches, 56% strikes
4 swinging strikes
26 fastballs
21 changeups
3 curves
7 sliders

Against Lefties

16 pitches, 69% strikes
2 swinging strikes
5 fastballs
1 changeup
0 curves
11 sliders

Not a spectacular outing by any means, but given the miserable conditions, Vargas did a solid job. He only threw 42% fastballs, too, making him look like something in the Ted Lilly mold. His approach against lefties, meanwhile, was Justin Thomas-esque.

Though the Mariners got lit up in the end, Vargas had nothing to do with it, as he blew away all of my pregame expectations. It'll be interesting to see how well his slop works in future starts. Vargas was a bit of a forgotten piece in the JJ trade, but he might yet turn into a capable back-of-the-rotation starter, and though we hardly need that trade to look any better for us, I'm a little bit greedy.