Seattle Mariners to Battle Minnesota Twins Over Future Players

Mariners current draft spot: 4th

The Twins have lost nine in a row and are one of the few teams legitimately worse than the Mariners this season. The two clubs took almost opposite roads to the same destination as while the Mariners ended April and May at 28-26, the Twins were an appalling 17-36. Over the next two months the Mariners finally collapsed, including the epic 17-game losing streak and went... 17-36. Meanwhile, the Twins finally righted the ship and went 33-22. The Mariners hit the All Star Break at 43-48, the Twins at 41-48. And since then the Twins are 18-45. All that under the gaze of the American League's second highest attendance mark this season. Ouch.

Tue 20 Sep 17:10
JASON VARGAS*	LIAM HENDRIKS

Liam Hendriks? Amazingly, not from Northern Europe (directly), but from Perth Australia and signed as a free agent by the Twins back in 2007. He's your typical Twins pitcher, so that frees me up from writing anything else about him. Jason Vargas on the other hand, gets to face a rather impotent line up that includes people named things like Plouffe, Parmelee, Valencia and Dinkelman. Oh, and Rene Rivera. Yeah! Rene Rivera!

There's rain in the forecast for both tonight and tomorrow in Minnesota however. I hope they have to play a triple-header on Thursday.

Wed 21 Sep 17:10
MICHAEL PINEDA	KEVIN SLOWEY

This is Michael Pineda's farewell start for the 2011 season. I thought having him break camp with the team was a mistake mostly for service time reasons and partly because I thought he needed more development work on his change up. I still think I am right on both counts as a couple April weeks without Pineda in Seattle would not, I believe, have changed much of anything and Pineda's change up still appears to need work. What the Mariners seemed to grasp was just how good Pineda's primary offerings are. He was at times dominant, rarely wild and often unhittable for stretches. It's been a joy to watch and I hope I get to see Pineda continue to grow as a Mariner pitcher. 

Thu 22 Sep 10:10
BLAKE BEAVAN	ANTHONY SWARZAK

Here is a video representation of Blake Beavan trying to succeed in the Major Leagues while never missing a bat. If Anthony Swarzak sounds familiar to you, why? The Twins drafted him in 2004 a few spots before Dustin Pedroia went to the Red Sox. Wouldn't Pedroia be at least 100% less annoying as a Twin than as a Red Sox? Is that just my anti-Boston, pro-Minnesota bias?

Anyways, in a battle between these two pinatas, every batter who swings and misses for strike three should have to drop and do push ups right there on television, assuming again that some networks are still contractually obligated to film and broadcast these games and will not take the opportunity to just dub over stock footage and see how many complaints they get (few? many? how many viewers would just think it's a rain delay or something?)