7/3: Open game thread

Felix is on the mound tonight looking to give the Mariners back-to-back wins, and set up Iwakuma to go for the sweep. I feel like this has happened a lot, and the Mariners have yet to pull off a sweep. Doing so here would be impressive for 2013 Mariners 2.0, but also damn near impossible.

It will be very interesting to see if the Mariners continue to be fooled by the weather and the presence of all the young guys, believing—like last night—that this is still Spring Training. Another offensive explosion, or at least nine innings of competence, would go a long ay as the Ballpark in Arlington has not been kind to Felix; he's running a .304 batting average against and a 4.88 ERA in the land of lame fedora giveaways over the past three years.

In lineup news, it'll be Raul and Jason Bay in the corners of the outfield and Dustin Ackley in center. 2013: about as 'True to the Blue' as it gets. Also, remember when we used to throw fits about Raul starting against lefties (it's Derek Holland tonight)? He has a 134 wRC+ against lefties and a 136 wRC+ against righties. And ISO? Yeesh: .344 vs lefties and .294 vs righties. I know we're past throwing fits about Raul in general, but yeah, wow.

Lineups

Seattle Mariners

Felix Hernandez, KING
1. Jason Bay (R) RF
2. Nick Franklin (S) 2B
3. Raul Ibanez (L) LF
4. Kendrys Morales (S) DH
5. Kyle Seager (L) 3B
6. Justin Smoak (S) 1B
7. Dustin Ackley (L) CF
8. Mike Zunino (R) C
9. Brad Miller (L) SS

Texas Rangers

Derek Holland, LHP
1. Ian Kinsler (R) 2B
2. Elvis Andrus (R) SS
3. Nelson Cruz (R) RF
4. Adrian Beltre (R) 3B
5. A.J. Pierzynski (L) C
6. Lance Berkman (S) DH
7. Mitch Moreland (L) 1B
8. David Murphy (L) LF
9. Leonys Martin (L) CF

Crack a beer and enjoy the mid-week Friday (if you have this week's actual Friday off, I am envious). I'll have your recap later and hope to swing by the comments below, where I will not talk about Mariners ownership at all.

Sunshine, lollipops.