RealGM

Carlos Carrasco (0-1, 9.45) vs. Jason Vargas (0-0, 1.35)
Justin Masterson (1-0, 1.29) vs. Doug Fister (0-1, 3.18)
Josh Tomlin (1-0, 1.29) vs. Erik Bedard (0-1, 5.40)

We've never faced Carrasco. Masteron is 2-0 in 3 career starts against us, with a 1.16 era. Tomlin beat us in Safeco last year, giving up 3 runs in 6 innings. That was a damn decent afternoon for last year's bunch.

Apparently we will be playing this series [and several more after this one] without Adam Moore who, apparently, tore the meniscus in his right knee. Damn. I assume they will call up Bard, who is decent enough as a backup catcher, but I wanted this to be the year where Moore was able to prove himself.

TTown wrote:Carlos Carrasco (0-1, 9.45) vs. Jason Vargas (0-0, 1.35)
Justin Masterson (1-0, 1.29) vs. Doug Fister (0-1, 3.18)
Josh Tomlin (1-0, 1.29) vs. Erik Bedard (0-1, 5.40)

We've never faced Carrasco. Masteron is 2-0 in 3 career starts against us, with a 1.16 era. Tomlin beat us in Safeco last year, giving up 3 runs in 6 innings. That was a damn decent afternoon for last year's bunch.

As far as I can tell all three of those pitchers are right handed. So far our OPS is .721 v. right handers this year, .432 v. lefties. It's early, but that's a huge split.

Here's hoping we manage a sweep and head into the series against Toronto with a winning record.

Am I remembering things wrong, or could we have had Clay Buccholz for Adam Moore?

And that's an insane split. We've had the unfortunate luck of facing a gauntlet of lefties so far (Anderson, Gonzalez, Holland, Wilson) and the righties we've faced have just been flat good (Cahill, Ogando).

As silly as this may sound, I think this homestand is important for the team and the fans. I DON'T want the 3rd game of the season to represent the last time this team played above .500 for the rest of the year.

We were obviously a sub .500 type team going into the year, perhaps somewhat steeply so. I think it could really continue to damage the fan base and the economics of the team, however, if this team starts solidifying its sub .500 status before we even hit the first of May. Our schedule is beneficial to us early on, so I think we better play .500 ball for as long as we can hold out here.

It's also probably also important to show some results if Jack Z wants to keep his job. He's been able to add some good young talent...I suppose I'd like to see him have a chance to see those young guys fail or succeed.

Well, that was an abortion of a home opener.

Sweezo wrote:It's also probably also important to show some results if Jack Z wants to keep his job. He's been able to add some good young talent...I suppose I'd like to see him have a chance to see those young guys fail or succeed.

Z may well be doing a good job. He certainly did his first year here. We simply wouldn't know for a few more years. He was boxed-in on the Griffey thing. He's had a payroll that's not given him much wiggle room to work with. He didn't lose much in trading for Lee, and, hopefully, got a few good players in return. He resigned Felix. He got Gut. He got Vargas (not so good tonight). He got Aardsma. He unloaded Betancourt. He somewhat laterally dumped Silva. It remains to be seen how guys like Ackley, Franklin, Poythress, etc... will turn out.

The team sucked when he got here, and the farm system needed a major reconstruction. It seems to me that Z would be the fall-guy for an ownership/upper management that has proved to be lacking in so many different ways.

We suck. We absolutely suck. 2-1 loss to the Indians? Bring up Ackley now. Bring up anyone else who might be able to hit the ball. We can't do worse than we are now.

Saunders blows. Smoak is a disappointment. Figgens is trash.

Want more?

And now we're down 6-1 in the final game. This has been a neat series.

If I had to make such a bet, I'd say we will never play above .500 the rest of the season, rather than that we do. That's pretty depressing considering we're only 9 games into the season. The Mariners' organization is setting themselves up for some pretty poor attendance figures this year, it seems to me.

If the season goes as bad as it seems like it's going to, you might seriously have to consider trading Felix to the highest bidder, get a small boatload of great prospects for him. Our hitting is so abysmal that it doesn't make much of a difference having Felix. At least not for a few more years, and by that time his contract will be nearing the end.

I can't believe I'm saying this, as I love Felix. But really, for the first time it's looking like something we might have to consider.

Why do we have to consider trading Felix? He is signed and young, what would be the point in trading him. We will have money after this year to spend and we will have Ackley and Smoak starting to play. If anything we need to talk about trading Ichiro. His salary handcuffs us and he isn't getting any younger... but that will never happen.