Reds at Mariners June 18th-20th Series Preview

[Igoe4Mariners]

When the Reds (37-30) and Mariners (25-41) last met on the baseball diamond in 2007, Ken Griffey Jr. was making his first return trip to Safeco Field in Seattle as a member of the Cincinatti Reds. He wowed the crowd by hitting two homers in one game off of then Seattle pitcher, Miguel Batista. He also made a nice diving catch in left field to bring back great memories. The Mariners went on to win two out of three in that series in a season in which they dominated interleague play.
This season seems like a different story for Seattle however. They have lost all three interleague series so far this season and head into battle with the Reds with a 3-6 record against the NL. The Mariners haven't won a series in over two weeks of baseball and they fall further and further out of the AL West every day. They are thirteen games behind the Rangers heading into the Reds series.
The Reds are tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for first place as of Friday morning and don't look to be ready to give up anytime soon. They have given the Cardinals and the rest of the NL Central all they can handle and don't look to be giving up anytime soon. They have a great offense led by sluggers Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Brandon Phillips, and Scott Rolen. They are near the top of the NL in home runs and have had solid pitching to go along with their offense as well. Former Mariner reliever Arthur Rhodes is having one of his best years ever as a Major Leaguer with a sub-1.00 ERA. He seems to get better with age and it will be a joy watching him pitch back in Safeco.

Pitching Matchups:
Johnny Cueto, RHP (6-1, 4.50) vs. Cliff Lee, LHP (4-3, 2.88)
Sam LeCure, RHP (1-3, 3.75) vs. Felix Hernandez, RHP (4-5, 3.61)
Aaron Harang, RHP (5-6, 5.44) vs. Ryan Rowland-Smith, LHP (0-6, 6.63)

[Igoe4Mariners]

The Mariners offense was their usual lackluster self in game one of the Reds series only managing 6 hits and 1 run over the entire game. However, that was plenty for Cliff Lee, who once again dominated his competition by pounding the strike zone early and often. Lee went the distance for the second time in his last three games and continues to raise his trading stock every time he takes the hill. The guy truly is a pleasure to watch pitch when he is on your team because he just knows how to pitch. He can locate whatever pitch he wants wherever he wants it and it's amazing to watch.

[Igoe4Mariners]

Mariners take game two 5-1. Felix Hernandez threw the second straight complete game by Mariners pitchers as he went the distance by allowing only one run. Ichiro homered to start the scoring for the M's and Saunders cranked an absolute 3-run bomb off the Hit-it-Here Cafe to end the scoring. The Mariners go for the sweep tomorrow with "The Hyphen" on the mound.

[Igoe4Mariners]

Ryan Rowland-Smith picks up his first win of the year as the Mariners hold the Reds to just one run over a three game series. Mariners sweep the series and take on the Cubs starting Tuesday after an off-day on Monday.

[clarknova]

Here's where the typical Seattle sports team effect kicks in- Our starting pitching will win games that our offense is desperately trying to lose. They'll do it enough to make us just mediocre enough to bump us out of the top 10 draft picks in 2011. Good thing I'm not cynical!
I actually just hope we get to see some young players later in the summer. Players that aren't Mike Crap. I'd like to see Saunders play regularly in left. I'd like to see Pineda work out of the pen in late August/September.
I'd rather have them win than lose, even if it means a middle of the round pick in the draft. I still want to go to some games.