"April Baseball, October Intensity"

The promo's for this Mariners/Angels series on MLB.com seemed a little cheesy. October intensity in April? C'mon...

Tonight's game, game one of a three game set, certainly lived up to the promo's slogan . What an exciting game! Felix Hernandez emphatically striking out Vladimir Guerrero three times. Raul Ibanez with a pair of absolute blasts into the right field seats. An amazing defensive play in which Adrian Beltre makes a diving stab, tags out Garret Anderson before weilding and nailing Macier Izturis at first base for the double play. Exciting hussle doubles by Jose Lopez and Vladimir Guerrero. A fantastic defensive play by Angels shortstop Erick Aybar in which he robbed Yuni Betancourt of an RBI single deep up the middle by flipping the ball to second for the force. A very exciting game, and I'm glad I was able to watch it.

There was certainly a "playoff atmosphere" that engulfed this ballgame. There was a level of excitement and energy that we had yet to see from most of the players. These two teams know they need to beat each other, so hopefully the rest of the games will be as exciting as this one. Stay tuned!

Series Preview: M's vs. Angels 4/11-4/13

The Los Angeles Angels roll into town as Seattle's primary competition for the AL West crown in the first of many important battles.

Probable Starters:
4/11 - Felix Hernandez vs. Jered Weaver
4/12 - Carlos Silva vs. Jon Garland
4/13 - Erik Bedard vs. Joe Saunders

Jon's Keys to the Series:

Keep up the good starts: Seattle's starting rotation as a whole has been doing very well this season. This is going to have to keep up as the Angels have a very potent lineup featuring the likes of Chone Figgins, Torii Hunter, Casey Kotchman and Mariner killers Vladimir Guerrero and Garret Anderson. If the Mariner starters put up anything but their best efforts this lineup could really make them pay.

Take advantage of absent aces: Seattle has their two best pitchers throwing in this series while the Angels have their two best pitchers on the disabled list. Jered Weaver is the best pitcher that the Angels are throwing out there, so Seattle should definitely take advantage of Jon Garland and Joe Saunders. Garland and Saunders have had some very good starts already this season and Saunders hasn't given up a run, but both appear to be pitching above their capabilities. Seattle needs to take advantage of Los Angeles' missing aces and expose their starters for what they are.

No free passes: Walks are never a good thing to give out, especially to this lineup. Seattle pitchers cannot afford to walk guys like Figgins and Gary Matthews at the top of the lineup or their guys in the bottom third. If these guys are let on for free the big boppers in the middle of the order will undoubtedly make Seattle's pitchers pay. A solo home run hurts a lot less than one of the three run variety, so it's important to make these guys earn their way onto the basepaths.

Time for Wilkerson to wake up: Brad Wilkerson has been struggling mightily since joining the Mariners, but he could use this series to help get his season started. Wilkerson smashed six homers against the Halos last season, his most against any single franchise. He has especially done well against Garland and Saunders over the course of his career.

These games are important: Yes, it's only April, but these games count just as much as the ones in September. It's important to get off to a good start against the Angels as they're likely going to be Seattle's top competitor in the AL West this season. I think the AL West race could realistically come down to who wins the season series between these two teams.

This is going to be an exciting series and I can't wait to see how Felix does in his third start. Last year he hurt himself on his third start and it threw off his season, hopefully he can get through this one without a hitch and continue dominating. Go M's!

Series Preview: M's vs. Rangers, 3/31-4/2

The Texas Rangers come to Safeco Field for Seattle's home opener.

Projected Starters:

3/31 - Erik Bedard vs. Kevin Millwood

4/01 - Felix Hernandez vs. Vicente Padilla

4/02 - Carlos Silva vs. Jason Jennings

Keys to the Series:

Scoring off the starters: Millwood, Padilla and Jennings have all had flashes of brilliance at some point in their careers, but they have struggled in recent years and it is important for Seattle to score on them early in the games. Texas' bullpen is much more talented than their rotation, featuring former Japanese closer Kazuo Fukumori, one of the best setup men in the league in Joaquin Benoit, former Seattle closer "Everyday" Eddie Guardado, a young up-and-coming closer in C.J. Wilson and some capable arms in middle relief.

Neutralizing Texas' offense: While Bedard and Hernadez are one of the top 1-2 punches in the league, shutting down Texas' starting lineup is no easy task. 1-5 they'll be starting Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Josh Hamilton, Milton Bradley and Hank Blalock, a combination that will surely be one of the more productive 1-5s in the game by the end of the season. Hamilton, Bradley and Blalock are all 30 home run threats if they stay healthy, while Young is usually among the league leaders in hits and Kinsler is quickly becoming one of the best offensive second basemen in the league.

Saving the bullpen: Seattle's decision to go six in the bullpen rather than seven, paired with their decision to send rubber-armed reliever R.A. Dickey to AAA makes it more important than ever for Seattle's starters to go deep into the ballgames. Last season the bullpen was overworked early in the year causing most our relievers to fade during the final months. Ideally Seattle should want Bedard, Hernandez and Silva to get through six innings in their first starts of the season.

Getting off on the right foot: It's the first series of the year, and it's important for our players to get their seasons started on a positive note. Bedard and Ichiro Suzuki will look to rebound from a tough Spring Training, while Richie Sexson and Jose Lopez will look to rebound from awful 2007 campaigns. Raul Ibanez got off to a rough start last year before rebounding in the second half. If he can get off to a good start it will be a big help to the offense. Health early in the season will be important as well. Bedard has been somewhat injury prone throughout his career, Sexson was battling bursitis during Spring Training, Mark Lowe is coming off a major arm injury. Seattle has one of the top training staffs in all of baseball and injuries are rarely an issue. Let's keep it that way.

It's Opening Day! There are few regular season games as exciting as this one and I hope you can all watch it. Go Mariners!

Escobar Finished?

Well, Seattle needed help to win the division and got it when the Angels' dueling aces John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar were said to miss the first month or so. Now, according to the LA Times, Escobar could be done for the year and could even call it a career. His shoulder injury, now diagnosed as a tear, could require surgery. The decision on whether or not to have surgery will not be made for a couple more weeks, but either way Seattle benefits.

Please, no cheering in the comment section. I do not like to see anyone get hurt, especially this seriously, even if it benefits the Mariners. Escobar sounded awfully discouraged in his quotes:

"I'm concerned, I don't know what's going to happen, I don't even know if I'll be able to pitch again."

"I'm still young. I'll be 32 in two weeks, but retirement is getting into my head, because it's hard to rehab. I want to be out there playing, and I've done everything I can do to be healthy."

"This could be the end of my career. They're not sure if I'd be able to come back after surgery."

I believe that Escobar will attempt to rehab, and is just considering retirement after learning that his 2008 season is all but lost. It's gotta be depressing, and I don't blame him for having doubts. The article mentions Mark Mulder and Bartolo Colon as two other pitchers attempting to rehab from the same injury, and we all know how that's going.

This certainly helps the Mariners as their rotation is now clearly better than the rival Angels'. I wish the best of luck to Escobar, but Seattle better capitalize on this opportunity.

Infield Singles: Bullpen, Sexson, Bench +

• The bullpen is still a bit of a mess. While all the same names are still being discussed-- J.J. Putz, Brandon Morrow, Sean Green, Mark Lowe, Eric O'Flaherty, Ryan Rowland-Smith, R.A. Dickey and, to a slightly lesser extent, Cha Seung Baek, Arthur Rhodes and Chris Reitsma-- health concerns keep manager John McLaren from putting a final bullpen together. Reitsma appears to be the farthest along health wise of the three "rehab pitchers," but hasn't been nearly as effective as Lowe or Rhodes. At least there are no serious injuries. Seattle may have to rough it for the first couple of weeks, but should have their best relievers available to them by mid-April.
• Richie Sexson's shoulder pain has been attributed to bursitis. The team is saying that Richie just slept on his should arm and that it's no big deal, but bursitis can easily turn into one of those nagging injuries that just won't go away. Sexson had the worst year of his career last season due to multiple nagging injuries, so it's very important for Sexson to get healthy and start 2008 off on the right foot. He is currently day to day but playing, though I wish he'd completely shut it down for a few days.
• More bad news out of Angels camp, setup man Scot Shields suffered a forearm strain and could miss the start of the season, along with fellow pitchers John Lackey, Kelvim Escobar and Chris Bootcheck. Shields says he'll be ready for the opener, but it's not looking up for him. His awful spring control may be a result of this injury. Whether he's pitching poorly or not pitching at all, it's good news for Seattle.
• The bench, like the bullpen, is no closer to being finalized as Opening Day approaches. It's becoming more apparent that none of the candidates really offer what Seattle needs. Greg Norton's bat is really heating up, but he is useless on the field, and the same can be said about Mike Morse. Charlton Jimerson would give the bench tremendous speed, but he still has a massive hole in his swing. Jeremy Reed offers decent defense and nothing else. It will be interesting to see how this shapes up.
• Speaking of the bench, Reed Johnson has just been released from the Toronto Blue Jays and is a much better all around fit for Seattle's bench than the current options. A Johnson acquisition has already been endorsed in several places around the Mariner blogosphere, and I gotta say that I wouldn't mind it either. The only bummer would be to see Morse and Jimerson walk. Neither have much of a future with the team but, as a fan, I really like watching both of them play. Bill Bavasi has a knack for bringing in last minute players, so this could be a realistic possibility.
• Almost forgot to post this, but John McLaren may have had a slip of the tongue the other day. "Unless there’s something going on with one of these guys - Dickey, the Rule 5 guy, if we’ve got a deal going for one of our guys who’s out of options. That may push us back, but I’d like to be set when we hit that plane. I don’t know that we can do that, but that would be my goal," he was quoted yesterday. It seems apparent that Seattle is trying to work a deal for either Cha Seung Baek, Mike Morse and/or Charlton Jimerson. We already mentioned the rumored Baek-for-Durham trade the other day. Mike Morse's strong spring may have upped his value as well, so he might bring something worthwhile in.

Sources: Stuff and Story, Bullpen picture still murky, Shields' arm now a concern for Angels, Shields out, Sexson has bursitis, Fourth Outfielder, Nothing's certain yet...... the morning update, March 22

Fallen Angels

Most would agree that the Angels had a slight edge over the Mariners coming into Spring Training, but that didn't mean that they had the AL West locked up. The Angels' Achilles heal is their age and durability, and most of us figured the injury bug would get them at some point this year.

We didn't even have to wait until the regular season.

Angels ace John Lackey will miss the first month or more of the season, including his start against Seattle on March 11th. Lackey won 19 games last year, including 4 against the Mariners. Lackey held a 0.58 ERA in 31 innings against Seattle last season.

Kelvim Escobar, the Angels' second best starter, probably won't even be on a throwing program by the time Seattle plays L.A. for the first time. He'll likely be out until mid-to-late May, missing two starts against the Mariners.

Reliever Chris Bootcheck has an injured oblique and could miss the first couple weeks of the season.

Vladimir Guerrero is still struggling with elbow tendinitis that forced him to DH towards the end of last season.

Gary Matthews is also having trouble completely recovering from knee tendinitis he was suffering from during the 2007 post season.

Lackey and Escobar are obviously the ones to focus on. Without their top two starters, the Angels are looking at a rotation that includes five of these six starting candidates:

Jon Garland (10-13, 4.23 ERA with White Sox)

Jered Weaver (13-7, 3.91 in 28 starts)

Joe Saunders (5.11 ERA in 14 AAA starts, 4.44 ERA in 18 MLB starts)

Ervin Santana (5.76 ERA in 150 innings)

Dustin Mosely (4.40 ERA in 92 innings, mostly relief)

Nick Adenhart (3.65 ERA in 163 innings for AA)

The Angels had a great rotation when Saunders and Santana were duking it out for the fifth spot, but now they'll serve as the team's 3rd and 4th starters. The 3-4-5 starters should get at least 6-8 starts a piece in Lackey and Escobar's absence. The Halos will be facing off against the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers; plus two three-game series against Seattle in the month of April.

Besides the six games against the Angels and two games versus Cleveland, Seattle won't be facing any contenders within the first month, with the Rays being their stiffest competition. If Seattle can jump out to an early division lead, they could become the team to beat as Los Angeles plays catchup.

We needed some help to win the division, hopefully we can capitalize.