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Well hello there, and happy Independence Day to you. Thank you for bearing with me this week, as I've had family in town all week. Huge thanks to the staff for all their hard work to keep this rickety old jalopy chugging smoothly while I was largely unavailable.
The Mariners, fresh off their best homestand of the year, now have a six of their next ten games against the Houston Astros, who had the Mariners June in April, but are 36-22 since then.One of the things the Mariners haven't been able to do, even before the Month of Much Regret, was string together a long winning streak. Their longest winning streak is four games.
Well, with Wade Miley on the hill in the satanic pinball table that is Minute Maid Park there is an excellent possibility that the Mariners will still not have a five game win streak this year. Miley's acquisition has been, arguably, the biggest disappointment of Jerry Dipoto's offseason. His FIP is more than a full run higher than last year, despite nearly static strikeout and walk rates from 2015.
It's important to acknowledge that the Mariners never anticipated on Wade Miley being a star. He was acquired to be a 1.5-3 fWAR starters almost certain to provide 200 innings to a rotation that, at the time, had yet to re-sign Hisashi Iwakuma, and didn't know that James Paxton was going to sell his everlasting soul for a one-hundred mile an hour fastball. He will probably not reach 200 innings or even 1.5 fWAR at this point, but he can still be a competent, inning-munching left-handed starter, one which allows one of baseball's better offenses a chance to win the game themselves.
I don't really EXPECT that to happen today, because the Astros have a bushel of terrifying right-handed hitters, and Lance McCullers is a tough starter. But it's baseball, and anything can happen. The Mariners ripping off nine of ten, or eight in a row or some such could really make June's atrocities a distant memory, and put this team back in the playoff hunt headed into the All-Star Break.
Win, ya confusing, hot and cold goobers.
Game info
- Mariners @ Astros, 11:10 AM PDT, Minute Maid Park
- TV: ROOT, Radio: 710 ESPN, Online: MLB.TV