The Mariners and the Diamondbacks face off at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, which is the full proper name of the place where the Diamondbacks play. Let's hope the Mariners' sticks do some talking! But only the right kind of talking.
Example A - right
Mariners' Sticks: thump thump!
Example B - wrong
Mariners' Sticks: We're sleepy
Mariners' Sticks: :naps:
It's a 12:10pm start. Your lineups, featuring a certain adorable little jockey batting leadoff:
| Ichiro, DH | Ballgame, 2B | |
| Figgins, 3B | Abreu, SS | |
| Gross, LF | Upton, RF | |
| Smoak, 1B | Miranda, 1B | |
| Saunders, CF | Blum, 3B | |
| Ryan, SS | Nady, DH | |
| Chavez, RF | Roberts, LF | |
| Bard, C | Pollock, CF | |
| Rodriguez, 2B | Blanco, C | |
| Pineda, SP | Heilman, SP |
Obviously, the big focus is going to be on Michael Pineda, who should get two innings under his belt today. I'll caution you not to make too much of two innings on the second of March, but we'd all rather him be impressive than unimpressive. After Pineda, we'll see some combination of Manny Delcarmen, Cesar Jimenez, Justin Miller, Jamey Wright, Yusmeiro Petit, Chris Smith, Edward Paredes, Jose Flores, and/or Yoervis Medina, while the Diamondbacks will counter with a bunch of pitchers I've either never heard of or don't care about.
Here's your Gameday link. Again, the game won't be on Mariners radio, although you'll be able to listen to the Diamondbacks' broadcast if you have a subscription. I don't know what the Diamondbacks broadcast is like but they probably talk about snakes a lot.
I like how the Mariners give Ichiro a break by having him DH. A day off for Ichiro is filling Jack Cust's full-time job.
Finally, look for things to be heated in the early going as Aaron Heilman opposes his former employer. Heilman was a Mariner just long enough for him to make an appearance at Fanfest, confusing the hell out of M's fans who don't follow transactions very closely. "Who was that guy? Was he a prospect? Is he stuck in Tacoma?"