This week, the Mariners played the Boston Red Sox and lost the series 1 game to 3, even though they racked up about four hundred hits and a bunch of dingers. Tonight, the Mariners take on the Los Angeles Angels, and if they win, they take the series, even if they totally drop the ball on Sunday and get no-hit. Math!
Felix takes the mound for his last start before the All-Star game, and looks to take on an Angels team that has played quite a bit better than they did in the early days of this 2013 campaign. Josh Hamilton has looked a little more like the Josh Hamilton that everyone was clamoring to sign last offseason, and Mike Trout is playing even better than he did in his heavily-lauded rookie season, which is stupid. But, they are coming off a 3-8 loss to this very same Mariners ballclub that made them look a little silly last night, 7th inning notwithstanding.
Nick Franklin is finally back in the lineup after hurting his knee in Cincinnati, and with Brad Miller shifting back to SS, the Mariners lineup tonight looks ostensibly like the very lineup that they could put out next year, pending a few free agency and contract decisions to be made this winter. If the offensive numbers of the past week continue, that's a very exciting thing to think about.
Mariners:
Angels:
P. Jered Weaver (R)