Ichiro CF DeJesus CF Vidro 1B German 2B Ibanez DH Teahen RF Guillen RF Brown LF Johjima C Gordon 3B Beltre 3B Butler DH Betancourt SS LaRue C Lopez 2B Gload 1B Bloomquist LF Pena SS ---------- ----------
Feierabend (1-2, 6.46) de la Rosa (5-9, 5.38)
de la Rosa's fallen off the map a bit over the last few months and hasn't thrown a bunch of strikes, which means we could be majorly boned. Luckily enough for us, Ryan Feierabend is a "pitcher", which happens to be the Royal offense's only weakness. If this game's scoreless after seven or eight innings, people are going to call it a pitcher's duel, but I guarantee you it won't be the pitchers who're responsible for the zeros.
I'll be paying attention from Petco, where I finally get to watch a baseball game without a particular rooting interest. I might give Miguel Olivo a hearty boo, though, because holy crap that guy was as bad a player as I've ever seen. Even since "reviving" his career in Florida, he's still put up a 169/15 K/BB ratio over the past year and a half, and six of those walks were intentional. He's like Regan MacNeal to hitting coaches' Father Merrin, only he speaks Spanish instead of channeling the voice of the Devil.
And uh LET'S GO MARINERS!!