Series Preview: Rangers at Mariners

You know what sucks about this series? I’ll tell you what. Should the Mariners somehow win any of the games, it’ll help the Angels. Playing spoiler is fun and all that, but not when helps the rotten Angels.

In this preview:

• Graphical Explorations
• Pitching Matchups
• Brendan Ryan, Two-Hole Hitter

• Graphical Explorations

Furtherst homer hit by each team against each other at Safeco Field this season:

It’s funny because the Mariners don’t hit homers! Okay, so it’s depressing. I’m just saying, it’d be nice if Justin Smoak were healthy and punished the Rangers this weekend. Unfortunately, I bet we see Adam Kennedy at first at least once.

• Pitching Matchups

Tonight, the Mariners show off the Dave Niehaus statue that will be inside the ballpark. It’s the first statue for any Mariners employee, unfortunately being created far too soon. In other unfortunate news, Blake Beavan has to face the Rangers lineup while hoping his offense can take down C.J. Wilson.

Tomorrow late afternoon, The Most Uninteresting Man in the World (AKA Anthony Vasquez) will be agreeing that the Safeco fences need to be moved. Out. I should start being nice to Vasquez since it appears we’re stuck with him for the rest of the month.

On Sunday, it’s the 2011 finale of the King’s Court. This has been awesome all year. I’ve made a fool of myself multiple times out there. The only difference between that and the rest of the rest of the time is that I’m at Safeco, not at home or work.

• Brendan Ryan, Two-Hole Hitter

I’m starting to feel like I’m being a bit too rough abiut the Ryan in the two-hole, thing. But, as the lineup comes out for tonight, and there he is again, I can’t help but wonder what it must be like inside Eric Wedge’s head.

He preaches aggressiveness. He gets upset about the players trying too much. He says the guys can’t keep doing the same things and expect different results. He runs Brendan Ryan out in the two-hole again.

Should the Mariners have a legit lineup next year, or sometime this century, Wedge (or whatever manager) will be less under a microscope. And in the grand scheme of things, who cares, right? But if you’re going to bark about the players not making the same mistakes, you may want to follow suit.