Seattle: 21-36
Angels: 34-24
GAMES
Game 1: Jarrod Washburn vs Ervin Santana
Game 2: Erik Bedard* vs Joe Saunders*
Game 3: Carlos Silva vs Jered Weaver
Game one is a total mismatch in Anaheim's favor as Ervin Santana has recovered from whatever mental disease he had last year concerning pitching on the road and is now fairly proficient at it. Meanwhile Jarrod Washburn sucks. Erik Bedard in game two gives us an advantage as Joe Saunders hopefully gets to continue his regression act, doubly hopeful by means of Adrian Beltre progressing away from bad luck. Finally the third matchup should be even except Carlos Silva has a defense that's putrid behind him and for his own sake has been worse in 2008 than in 2007. Jered Weaver is by no means a slouch but he is what he is and that is not is what he showed in 2006.
Likely Starters:
C Mike Napoli/Jeff Mathis
1 Casey Kotchman*
2 Sean Rodriguez/Howie Kendrick
3 Brandon Wood
S Maicer Izturis^
L Gary Matthews Jr.^
C Little Bitch
R Vladimir Guerrero
D Garret Anderson*
Howie Kendrick is scheduled to play unless he injures his finger sleeping. Brandon Wood versus Erik Bedard should be hilarious to watch but may just end up being hilariously sad (for him). Brandon Wood against Washburn or Silva will most likely just end bad (for us). I hope the next time Torii Hunter reaches over the wall to snag a homerun I'm waiting for his arm with a chainsaw.
CONTEXT
One way or another, pray for this series to end in a sweep. If by some dark magic we actually sweep the Angels, then we get to live without the final nail for a little while longer which is a good thing to most people. However if we do drop this series and even moreso if by a sweep, then you'd have to be beyond delusional to think they still had any chance this season. A sweep means 15.5 games back roughly meaning to surmount that the Mariners would need to gain a game on the Angels every week for the rest of the season. Not going to happen. Not with this team.
THIS SERIES BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Scotch Ale
Boundary Bay Brewing. Bellingham, WA
It's nothing out of the world, but it's a solid beer, it's local and after all, we're all connected in that respect aren't we?