Interleague play at Altitude
May 18 – 20
When will it be over? The Seattle Mariners find all sorts of ways to lose games on this devastating road trip, now Seattle goes to Denver to open interleague play.
Pitching match ups:
Game 41: RHP – Kevin Millwood vs. RHP – Alex White
Game 1: Matchup | Preview (TV: 8:40 p.m. ET, ROOT Sports)
Despite his troubles so far this season, Millwood is a good choice to lead the Mariners into interleague play. Millwood spent 9 year in the National League and had a substantially higher winning percentage, strike out rate, gave up fewer home runs and had a lower ERA. Things that make you go hmmmm.
- Current line: 1-4 / 5.09 ERA / 19 BB / 28 SO / 1.60 WHIP
- 6 of the current Colorado Rockies have faced Kevin Millwood before and have a combined .305 average against him.
Alex White is a former team mate of Dustin Ackley and Kyle Seager who hopes to spoil the reunion. White was a first round draft pick (15th overall) by the Indians before being traded to the Rockies for Ubaldo Jimenez.
- Although White is 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA he held a 2.38 ERA in his 3 season in the Minors.
- This will be White’s 3rd start of the season.
Game 42: LHP – Jason Vargas vs. LHP – Christian Friedrich
The M’s southpaw starter had been very strong this season, yet played along well with the Mariners team slump attitude in his last start. Jason Vargas is a good batter and perhaps his excitement to swing the stick will help shake him back to form.
- Right handed batters are hitting just .197 of Vargas this season
- Current Line: 4-3 / 3.28 ERA / 16 BB / 41 SO / 1.04 WHIP
I’m glad that Christian Friedrich doesn’t play for the M’s, I would undoubtedly spell his name wrong all the time. Lets just call him Freddy. This 24 year old lefty, was also a 1st round draft pick in 2008, and is off to a strong start for the Rockies this season and could be trouble for the M’s offense.
- In his first 13 innings Freddy has 17 strike outs.
- Freddy struggled in the minors last season with a 6-10 record and a ERA of 5.00.
Game 43: RHP – Blake Beavan vs. RHP – Jamie Moyer?
Beavan’s injury may have been more of a concern than originally thought as he didn’t pitch well in his last outing against the BoSox. Blake Beavan has been good with control this season on a whole, so we will just chalk it up to bad luck, that’s the Seattle way.
- Beaven’s current line 1-4 / 4.58 ERA / 6 BB / 18 SO / 1.29 WHIP
- Can Beaven bat? Guess we will find out.
At the time I am writing this the Rockies have not announced the starter for this match up. It would be cool to see Moyer again and dream of 2001. That’s the Seattle way: cheer for former players more than the current ones.
Mariners vs Rockies Series Predictions
Game 1:
It seems that the Mariners are trying to lose. Maybe there is someone awesome in the draft they are hoping get. One point of proof of this strategy is keeping Kevin Millwood.
The best hope is that the M's take advantage of the long ball that is common in Denver.
He seems like Kevin Deadwood.
The only reason he is on the team is that the big three aren’t ready for the Majors just yet.
I’m running out of faith.
Prediction: Loss (Mariners 1 – Rockies 117 ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit 115 sounds about right)
Game 2:
I actually think that Vargas can pull this one back up, the problem is going to be run support. The M’s are hitting just .093 with runners in scoring position. Vargas hardly gets run support as it is.
The best hope is that the M’s take advantage of the long ball that is common in Denver.
Prediction: Win (Mariners 4 – Rockies 3)
Game 3:
If the Rockies don’t put up a pitcher we should be fine.
Prediction: Win (Mariners 6 – Rockies 4)
Obviously I’m a bit jaded today with the fact that I’m a lifelong M’s fan and once again this team is letting me down. I’m going to go jump off a bridge now.
More News
Mariners 2B Dustin Ackley is riding a 13-game hitting streak. He is 16-for-50 during the streak.
Three Rockies players have enjoyed seeing Millwood in their careers.
Todd Helton is 11-for-34 (.324) with two home runs against him, Michael Cuddyer is 12-for-28 (.429) with two homers and Jason Giambi is 8-for-19 with three homers.
Mariners LH Lucas Luetge set a Mariners record Thursday by making his 15th consecutive appearance to begin his major league career without allowing an earned run.
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