2/25: Spring Training Open Game Thread

Yesterday afternoon, the Seattle Mariners held onto their marbles, defeating the San Diego Padres by some score. I'm curious about the marbles, and whether they have team logos on them. Are they assorted marbles, representing every team in baseball? Is the number of marbles divisible by 30? Do good teams have more logo marbles than bad teams? Is it the other way around? Am I talking way too much about marbles because I'm unaware of when the joke died a day or two ago? It is a blessing and a burden to have almost complete editorial control over an entire website. The worst part is I'm probably not yet done talking about marbles. But I'll quit for today, or at least I'll quit for right now because there's a baseball game coming up. At stake: the marbles! Oh crap I did it again

Details:

• MARINERS
• AGAINST ANGELS
• IN PEORIA (MARINERS AT HOME)
• 12:05pm Pacific
• Gameday link
• audio streamed online

The Mariners' starting lineup:

Dustin Ackley, 2B
Casper Wells, CF
Jason Bay, LF
Kendrys Morales, DH
Jesus Montero, C
Justin Smoak, 1B
Eric Thames, RF
Alex Liddi, 3B
Brendan Ryan, SS

Admit it: how many of you forgot that Eric Thames was still Mariners property? It seems like his dream is becoming an approximation of Wily Mo Pena, which means his dream is becoming an approximation of popular in Japan. Meanwhile, I just wrote a little bit about Casper Wells at FanGraphs, specifically about how he'd be a sensible trade target for the Yankees with Curtis Granderson hurt. I don't know if he's available, and that probably depends on Jason Bay, but right now Jason Bay is feeling good and it seems like he and Wells are fighting for the same roster spot, with Wells being out of options. Other players said to be feeling good at this point in the spring: all of them. Everything is positive. Either people are exaggerating or the Mariners are the greatest baseball team in the league and the 2013 standings projections are way off.

Starting and leading off for the Angels will be Mike Trout, plus the handful of frozen turkeys he added to his frame over the winter. Some people gain weight in the thighs, and some people gain weight in the midsection, but it seems like Mike Trout gains weight in the neck. Mike Trout's dress shirts are wider in the collar than they are in the chest, and he has to special order his ties from an industrial manufacturer of freight-train cables. If you've ever thought of poisoning Mike Trout from afar with a blow dart, you'll have to aim for the stomach, or maybe the femoral artery, because that neck is basically three feet of solid flesh Kevlar. Also, don't try to poison Mike Trout. For legal reasons I have to discourage said behavior in a public arena.

Starting on the hill for the Mariners will be Jeremy Bonderman, and I also forget that he's technically in the mix in the rotation competition. He's in the mix in the way that the Mariners won't rule anyone out this early in the spring, but I'm honestly curious to see how he looks since it's been so god damned long since he pitched off a mound in a competitive game. There's a chance Bonderman might be back to what he was in 2008. Also in 2008 Jeremy Bonderman wasn't good. Let's just go into this open-minded.

After Bonderman could be Brandon Maurer and Andrew Carraway and Anthony Fernandez and D.J. Mitchell and Logan Bawcom and Chance Ruffin and Brian Moran and Danny Farquhar and Carson Smith and Bobby LaFromboise. Maurer's going to be one to watch, as his stock is on the rise, but an issue with prospects whose stock is on the rise is that people can over-compensate and think of them too highly. Maurer is still not an elite pitching prospect, and he's got a ways to go, but he's a sleeper like Erasmo Ramirez used to be a sleeper. Ruffin is still in the organization and who knew? Who knew that? Chance Ruffin probably knew that, but I don't know Chance Ruffin personally, so I'm not comfortable making assumptions. Sometimes, minor-league reliever prospects can arrive in a hurry. Sometimes, minor-league reliever prospects can fall off the radar in an identical hurry. Relievers are more fickle than women. Am I right, men? This is the part where you wish I'd go back to making jokes about marbles.