Mariners Begin Final Road Visit of 2011

Mariners current draft spot: 4th

This game doesn't actually have much in the way of playoff implications. The Angels may wish for the Mariners to somehow sweep out the Rangers, but even that wouldn't do much. The Angels are five back with just six to play. What they actually have a not minuscule shot at is the wild card. Thanks to the stumbling Red Sox and Rays, the Angels are closer to that entry way, three games back.

Fri 23 Sep 17:05
ANTHONY VASQUEZ*	MATT HARRISON*

Great; Anthony Vasquez against the Rangers, in Texas. That should alleviate his gopheritis real fast. At some point, Vasquez has to start getting strikeouts, right? On an ordered list by contact rate, Vasquez sits between Jason Marquis (13% strikeout rate) and Doug Davis (16%). Vasquez's strikeout rate is currently 9%. Only four pitchers with at least as many pitches thrown as Vasquez have a lower strikeout rate. Blake Beavan has a higher strikeout rate. You cannot let this stand, Anthony. Strike some fellas out and stop giving up home runs. 

Sat 24 Sep 14:10
FELIX HERNANDEZ	ALEXI OGANDO

And here begins the final start for the pitchers. Which, if you're savvy, means that you've just now realized that Anthony Vasquez will make the final start of the season for the Mariners should they hold to their schedule. I don't think any one thing sums up the 2011 Mariner season adequately, but Anthony Vasquez making the final start strikes me as a fitting end.

It's hard to gush too much about Felix. The three-year stretch that's he put together is simply amazing. Three strikeouts for every free pass paired with low home run rates over 240 innings a year is like something out of an earlier era of baseball. That's he still so young is mind boggling. I hope I retire before you do, Felix and that when you do you're still wearing a Mariner jersey. And that said jersey is not teal.

Sun 25 Sep 12:05
CHARLIE FURBUSH*	DEREK HOLLAND*

Is Charlie Furbush ahead of Blake Beavan on the starting pitcher depth chart for next year? Felix, Michael Pineda and Jason Vargas are in, but after that it's murkier and while if the team had to roll with five it's likely that Vasquez would be dropped, but I'm of the opinion that the front office will bring in somebody over the winter to bloat up the middle of the rotation. So I'm wondering who lands the fifth spot and I wonder that because I have little to say about Charlie Furbush.

The end of the season is much like the beginning of the season. Back then, I didn't want to stake too much on anything because the samples are so small and we don't know what, if any, changes players actually made over the winter. At the end of the season, but before the season's actually over, it doesn't seem to matter much. You've all seen Charlie Furbush pitch a couple times now and this is his last start. You don't need me to speculate on what we might see, and with the team out of the race it just seems so inconsequential. We'll get to analyzing and comparing once the season's actually over for good.