Rios RF Ichiro CF Zaun C Vidro DH Wells CF Guillen RF Glaus 3B Sexson 1B Thomas DH Broussard LF Stairs 1B Johjima C Hill 2B Beltre 3B Lind LF Betancourt SS McDonald SS Ballgame 2B ---------- ----------
Halladay (9-2, 4.25) Batista (7-6, 4.85)
In case you thought we were the only team who makes up non-existent injuries, the Red Sox just called up Jacoby Ellsbury and put Joel Pineiro on the DL with a "sore ankle" even though he's perfectly fine. It's not just us. What we need now is to find a way to get Adam Jones in the everyday lineup. You can't DL Ibanez; he's Mr. Mariner. You can't DL Guillen; he'll kill a guy. I'm thinking Vidro to the DL with gastroenteritis. Bavasi gets his boy on the roster, Hargrove doesn't have to bench a veteran, and Vidro gets to stop exerting himself for two weeks. Everybody wins.
The matchup looks like trouble, but the M's are batting .295 against groundball pitchers, and for a guy who supposedly coasts until he's in trouble, Halladay's been all kinds of ugly with men on base. Of course, the Blue Jays have pounded guys like Batista all season long, but Safeco's a bad environment for the most extreme flyball lineup in the AL. There's hope.
LET'S GO MARINERS!!