Igoe4Mariners
06-21-2010, 09:52 PM
The Mariners (28-41) and Cubs (31-38) are set to square off at Safeco Field for the first time since 2002 starting on Tuesday night. The Seattle market has been playing up the highly-anticipated series for quite some time with the return of Sweet Lou back to his place of glory. It should be a great series, and will feature some great pitching matchups including Ryan Dempster and Carlos Silva of the Cubs, and Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee of the Mariners.
For the Cubs, it has been quite the disappointing season. They got off to a slow start this year and just can't seem to climb back to the .500 mark. Their offense has been bad with aging veterans not getting the job done like they used to and injuries playing a key role. Third baseman Aramis Ramirez, who has been a cog in the Cubs lineup for the past couple of years is hitting under .200 this far into the season and is currently out with an injury. First baseman Derek Lee, who either bats third or cleanup most nights is also in the low .200's although he has been turning it around the last few series. The Cubs as a whole have gotten pretty decent pitching this year behind Ryan Dempster, Randy Wells, and Carlos Silva. Silva, who was traded to Seattle for Milton Bradley during the winter, has had a phenomenal turn around in his career and will attempt to get a little revenge against his former club on Thursday.
The Mariners are coming off a clean sweep of the Cincinnati Reds at home where they held them to just one run over three games. The Mariners, however, only scored seven runs themselves over three games which just goes to show how poor their offense is. They managed to win two of those games 1-0 and if not for a 2 out, 3-run homer in the second game, would have only walked away with four runs in three games. As has been the story with Seattle all year, the Mariners have gotten amazing starting pitching, but have seemed to throw it away with their poor excuse for an offense or some type of bullpen collapse. Hopefully Felix and Cliff can go multiple innings once again in games two and three of this series so the bullpen won't have to see too much time. The Mariners are currently riding a four game interleague winning streak and would love to keep that going against Lou Pinellia's Cubs.
Pitching Matchups
Ryan Dempster, RHP (5-5, 3.67) vs. Jason Vargas, LHP (5-2, 2.88)
Randy Wells, RHP (3-5, 4.92 ) vs. Cliff Lee, LHP (5-3, 2.55)
Carlos Silva, RHP (8-2, 3.01) vs. Felix Hernandez, RHP (5-5, 3.39)
For the Cubs, it has been quite the disappointing season. They got off to a slow start this year and just can't seem to climb back to the .500 mark. Their offense has been bad with aging veterans not getting the job done like they used to and injuries playing a key role. Third baseman Aramis Ramirez, who has been a cog in the Cubs lineup for the past couple of years is hitting under .200 this far into the season and is currently out with an injury. First baseman Derek Lee, who either bats third or cleanup most nights is also in the low .200's although he has been turning it around the last few series. The Cubs as a whole have gotten pretty decent pitching this year behind Ryan Dempster, Randy Wells, and Carlos Silva. Silva, who was traded to Seattle for Milton Bradley during the winter, has had a phenomenal turn around in his career and will attempt to get a little revenge against his former club on Thursday.
The Mariners are coming off a clean sweep of the Cincinnati Reds at home where they held them to just one run over three games. The Mariners, however, only scored seven runs themselves over three games which just goes to show how poor their offense is. They managed to win two of those games 1-0 and if not for a 2 out, 3-run homer in the second game, would have only walked away with four runs in three games. As has been the story with Seattle all year, the Mariners have gotten amazing starting pitching, but have seemed to throw it away with their poor excuse for an offense or some type of bullpen collapse. Hopefully Felix and Cliff can go multiple innings once again in games two and three of this series so the bullpen won't have to see too much time. The Mariners are currently riding a four game interleague winning streak and would love to keep that going against Lou Pinellia's Cubs.
Pitching Matchups
Ryan Dempster, RHP (5-5, 3.67) vs. Jason Vargas, LHP (5-2, 2.88)
Randy Wells, RHP (3-5, 4.92 ) vs. Cliff Lee, LHP (5-3, 2.55)
Carlos Silva, RHP (8-2, 3.01) vs. Felix Hernandez, RHP (5-5, 3.39)