Seattle: 13-19
Rangers:13-19
GAMES
Game 1: Jarrod Washburn* vs Kevin Millwood
Game 2: Miguel Batista vs Sidney Ponson
Game 3: Erik Bedard* vs Vicente Padilla
Game 4: Felix Hernandez vs A.J. Murray *
I'd like to be able to point out how we have a good matchup in each of these four games, with the first being the worst in terms for us, but Washburn at home isn't nearly as bad as Washburn in Texas. I'd like to be able to do that and, coming off a series win against the downtrodden Yankees, point to a good chance to go 3-1 (or better) in this series to re-establish a .500 record and gain a ton of momentum heading into a soft part of the schedule.
Instead, I now fully look forward to experiencing a new worst moment in Mariner fandom when Sidney Ponson comes in and shuts us down for 7 innings on Tuesday.
Likely Starters:
C Gerald Laird/Jarrod Saltalamacchia^
1 Chris Shelton
2 Ian Kinsler/German Duran
3 Ramon Vazquez
S Michael Young
L Brandon Boggs^
C Josh Hamilton*
R David Murphy*
D Milton Bradley^
Filling out this lineup based on the Rangers last few games, there were a couple people originally filled in as "? Lastname" because I had no idea who they were. And since I'm not Joe Morgan in terms of keeping tabs on baseball, that's a pretty bad sign. Boggs is a replacement for Marlon Byrd, though you might end up seeing Milton Bradley take the field and Laird and Saltalamacchia both in the lineup at DH and C respectively (what a concept).
Milton Bradley: .333/.427/.516
Ben Broussard: Benched
Josh Hamilton: Destroyer of Our Dreams
CONTEXT
I don't have much to say here. The Mariners did everything possible to make me look like a fool for trying to look on the bright side of this offense. Regardless, everything looks ugly right now and the urge to come up with some sort of psychological cliche like take it one game at a time, focus on the small things, etc is going to be hard to overcome and it's all pretty much bunk for us to speculate on since we don't have close access to these players. We cannot know if they're loafing, or pressing, or sick, or whatever. We can speculate about what sorts of moves the management should make in order to put the best team possible out on the field, but that's about the end of our analytical projecting rope.
The talent is there. Someone just needs to figure out a way for it display itself.
THIS SERIES BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
K-C≡N
You figure it out.