Seattle: 70-64
Oakland: 59-74

SUMMARY

It is rather amusing how much better Oakland rates out than us. Their run differential (-40) is better than ours (-52) for crying out loud and we're 10.5 games ahead of them. And their bullpen is awesome.

It is also curious how we come away with winning a series against Anaheim and dropping about eight runs in total value; thanks, offense!

GAMES

Game 1: Ian Snell vs. Brett Tomko
Game 2: Ryan Rowland-Smith* vs. Vin Mazzaro
Game 3: Lucas French* vs. Brett Anderson*
Game 4: Doug Fister vs. Gio Gonzalez*

Brett Tomko? Shouldn't he be playing for San Diego again by now? It is kind of hard to evaluate pitchers that travel around all the time and move in and out of the rotation and get shipped down to Triple-A and recalled back and so on and so forth.

Mazzaro, Anderson and Gonzalez are the three starters we faced last time around here in Seattle. A series we swept, each game by two runs with incrementing totals 3-1, 4-2 and then 5-3. I am not sure what to write about them that would be new or interesting.

Instead, here is one thing I would be looking for from each of our starting pitchers as they take a turn at one of the worst offenses in baseball:

Snell - For the love of whatever deity or deities that you pray to, pray for some control.
Rowland Smith - Keep doing what you've been doing, handsome.
French - Be more like 2009 Mariner Jarrod Washburn and less like 2009 Tiger Jarrod Washburn
Fister - Keep missing bats

The As are a team that loves to swing at strikes and loves to not swing at not strikes. This could be a good test for Doug Fister and his fledgling adjective of 'deceptive'.