First Pitch: 7:05pm PDT
Roberts 2B Ichiro CF Payton LF Lopez 2B Markakis RF Guillen RF Tejada SS Ibanez LF Millar 1B Johjima C Huff DH Vidro DH Mora 3B Broussard 1B Hernandez C Betancourt SS Patterson CF Ballgame 3B ---------- ----------
Burres (3-2, 3.08) Baek (3-2, 4.93)
A couple things:
- I know absolutely nothing about Brian Burres, but he seems to walk a lot of people, meaning this could be a nightmare for our lineup.
- The Mariners have the fifth-best FIP in the American League, which makes them look pretty damn good when you match it with an offense on pace to score 846 runs. The only problem is...
- ...the defense, which THT has at -14 on grounders and -7 on fly balls. Third-worst in the AL, sixth-worst overall. Things'll get better when Betancourt stops trying to hyperextend Sexson's ligaments with errant throws, but still, this team has not been good in the field.
- If Safeco reduces runs by 7%, then this is a park-neutral 876-run offense over a full season. That's incredibly good, and 75-100 runs better than most people were projecting. It won't keep hitting .307 with RISP all year long, but then Richie Sexson won't keep being an unmitigated disaster, either, so that should balance out.
LET'S GO MARINERS!!