Igoe4Mariners
06-24-2010, 08:46 PM
The Mariners (30-42) and Brewers (32-40) meet up in Milwaukee for an interleague series with two teams struggling on opposite sides of the spectrum. Like many Mariner fans already know, Seattle has struggled to score runs all season long. The Brewers however, have not had any trouble scoring runs, but their pitching has been less than stellar.
Milwaukee enters this three-game set with a four-game winning streak in their hands. They are coming off a clean sweep in which they dominated the Twins in impressive fashion. They might be turning to the corner from their slow start this season and in large part due to their middle of the order sluggers. Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun started off the season underperforming badly, and while they still haven't reacher their career norms, they are starting to get back on track the last few weeks. Meanwhile, Corey Hart and Casey McGehee have been pleasant surprises for the Brew Crew this season. Hart leads the NL in home runs and McGehee has had a spectacular second season in the Majors. If they could just get more consistent pitching from their starting staff and bullpen, they could make some noise in the NL Central before the season is up.
Seattle, winners of six of their last seven games, are coming off a six game homestand where the opposing teams only scored five total runs in those games. Stellar starting pitching has been the key for the Mariners supposed turn-around and if they want to continue it, the bats will have to come to life at some point as well. The team can't keep asking the pitchers to go out and keep doing what they're currently doing night in and night out while hardly backing them up with any runs. Seattle is about to start a brutal road trip with series at the Brewers, Yankees, and Tigers before returning home in early July. They will need to do something they haven't done well all season if they won't to keep their current momentum going: win games on the road. The good news for the Mariners this week is the return of Doug Fister. Fister was one of the AL's top pitchers before hitting the DL with arm fatigue and it will be interesting to see if he can pick up where he left off. The Mariners are also planning on getting Erik Bedard back by the next homestand (most likely July 6th) where he will make his first start of the 2010 season.
Pitching Matchups:
Ryan Rowland-Smith, LHP (1-6, 5.98) vs. Dave Bush, RHP (2-5, 4.67)
Doug Fister, RHP (3-3, 2.45) vs. Randy Wolf, LHP (5-6, 4.79)
Jason Vargas, LHP (6-2, 2.66) vs. Chris Narveson, LHP (6-4, 5.76)
The Brewers do not have a very good rotation and I think we will take advantage of it in this series. We get their worst three staters and although we don't have our two aces going in this series, I still think the matchups favor us. I would predict a sweep, but I think that is being too bold. I'm going to say we win games two and three to take the set. What do you guys think?
Milwaukee enters this three-game set with a four-game winning streak in their hands. They are coming off a clean sweep in which they dominated the Twins in impressive fashion. They might be turning to the corner from their slow start this season and in large part due to their middle of the order sluggers. Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun started off the season underperforming badly, and while they still haven't reacher their career norms, they are starting to get back on track the last few weeks. Meanwhile, Corey Hart and Casey McGehee have been pleasant surprises for the Brew Crew this season. Hart leads the NL in home runs and McGehee has had a spectacular second season in the Majors. If they could just get more consistent pitching from their starting staff and bullpen, they could make some noise in the NL Central before the season is up.
Seattle, winners of six of their last seven games, are coming off a six game homestand where the opposing teams only scored five total runs in those games. Stellar starting pitching has been the key for the Mariners supposed turn-around and if they want to continue it, the bats will have to come to life at some point as well. The team can't keep asking the pitchers to go out and keep doing what they're currently doing night in and night out while hardly backing them up with any runs. Seattle is about to start a brutal road trip with series at the Brewers, Yankees, and Tigers before returning home in early July. They will need to do something they haven't done well all season if they won't to keep their current momentum going: win games on the road. The good news for the Mariners this week is the return of Doug Fister. Fister was one of the AL's top pitchers before hitting the DL with arm fatigue and it will be interesting to see if he can pick up where he left off. The Mariners are also planning on getting Erik Bedard back by the next homestand (most likely July 6th) where he will make his first start of the 2010 season.
Pitching Matchups:
Ryan Rowland-Smith, LHP (1-6, 5.98) vs. Dave Bush, RHP (2-5, 4.67)
Doug Fister, RHP (3-3, 2.45) vs. Randy Wolf, LHP (5-6, 4.79)
Jason Vargas, LHP (6-2, 2.66) vs. Chris Narveson, LHP (6-4, 5.76)
The Brewers do not have a very good rotation and I think we will take advantage of it in this series. We get their worst three staters and although we don't have our two aces going in this series, I still think the matchups favor us. I would predict a sweep, but I think that is being too bold. I'm going to say we win games two and three to take the set. What do you guys think?