Come next Friday the Seattle Mariners will start the regular season, again, against the Oakland Athletics, again, in Oakland, "again". It will be another two-game set and will likely feature the same four starting pitchers as the series did in Japan, furthering our collective sense of déjà vu. The Mariners are swapping the order of the two however so that Jason Vargas will get the start on Friday night and Felix Hernandez will go on Saturday.

A consequence of that is that for the four game set in Texas, the rotation will go Hector Noesi (against Yu Darvish), Blake Beavan (against Neftali Feliz), Kevin Millwood (against To Be Announced) and Jason Vargas (against our apathy). In a happy coincidence(?), that leaves Felix to start on Friday the 13th (foreshadowing!) in 2012's home opener. Versus the Athletics.

Again.