Mariners Game #41 Preview, 5/15/23: Seattle at Boston

For all its history, John and I strenuously disagree about the actual aesthetic pleasure of watching a game at Fenway Park. John loves the high-scoring unpredictability that the idiosyncratic dimensions of the ballpark can bring and feeling like a game isn’t over until the last out, and claims it’s one of the best places to watch two teams you aren’t invested in play a game; I think the Green Monster should be put on trial at the Hague for its crimes. Different strokes, folks, etc., but it is an inescapable fact that the Mariners—a team which, unfortunately, we are invested in—have not played well in Boston, historically. That burden might go double for this year’s team, propped up by excellent pitching but burdened by a sluggish offense that currently doesn’t seem well-equipped to take advantage of Fenway’s various batter loopholes, while the pitching seems primed to be punished by the ballpark and Boston’s strong-everywhere-but-the-AL-East lineup. Anyway, here’s unWonderwall.

Lineups:

Devers and Verdugo are familiar faces, and I remember Jarren Duran and Tristan Casas from their days as top prospects, but I confess to not knowing much about the rest of this Boston lineup. Thankfully, there’s a series preview for that, and I suggest you peruse it prior to today’s game.

Sidearmer Tanner Houck is a starter now after Boston decided his dominance against righties was worth counterbalancing his historically poor performance against lefties, so the onus will fall on Seattle’s lefty-heavy lineup to get things cracking today. Make the Pesky Pole your kingdom, Jarred!

Today’s game info:

Today’s game starts at 4:10 PT, so there’s a good chance it’ll run into Game 7 for the Kraken. If you’re going to a Kraken watch party make sure your phone is charged up to follow along on Gameday or ask very nicely if there’s a small TV where you could put on ROOT Sports NW, where Aaron Goldsmith and Dan Wilson will have the call (the Kraken game is televised nationally on ESPN). If you’re restricted to radio-only, the game will still be on 710 AM Seattle Sports with Rick Rizzs and Dave Sims. If you want to listen to the Kraken while watching the game, perhaps because you’re like me and playoff hockey gives you the vapors and sends you to the nearest fainting couch, you can find them on 93.3 KJR. And don’t forget to check out all the Kraken game coverage by our good friends over at Davy Jones’ Locker Room.

Today in Mariners history:

• 1985: Back-to-back 6^th-inning home runs by Gorman Thomas and Alvin Davis helped lead the Mariners to a 7-1 win over the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park. Please, please, please let history repeat itself today. In this modern-day interpretation, the roles of Gorman Thomas and Alvin Davis would be filled by Jarred Kelenic and Eugenio Suárez, respectively, and I think that would be beautiful.
• 2015: Nelson Cruz hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 9th to give the Mariners a 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox. I would also take this as an outcome, again with Jarred playing the role of Nelson Cruz.