Seattle Mariners Series Preview: vs Houston Astros

Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

I’m not sure I even want to talk about this weekend. If I never see that stupid dolphin sculpture in Marlins Park again, it will be too soon. The Mariners are in the midst of a six game losing skid, and we went from cautiously optimistic about the season, to comfortable in our mediocrity once more. That series against the Marlins should have been a series win at least, but getting swept was downright embarrassing. The M’s had a chance to make up some ground on the rest of the AL-West this weekend, but instead fell a long way back after Oakland swept Houston.

The Mariners are back home now for a series against those same Houston Astros. I don’t think I need to say that this would be a good time for a few wins.

Matchups

Game one: Dallas Keuchel (1-1 3.50 ERA ) vs. Felix Hernandez (3-0, 1.91 ERA)

Obviously we’re giving the edge to Felix here, he’s been red-hot in all his starts so far, and if it wasn’t for some shoddy fielding and an untimely hook by the management, we’d see Felix with 4 wins already. There’s been plenty written about it already, but guys are already saying that Felix’s stuff looks the best it ever has. Keuchel has gone back to back starts going at least 6 innings and yielding 2 or fewer runs, so a key to Mariners’ success is going to be running up his pitch count and getting him out quickly. This should be a low-scoring affair.

Game two: Scott Feldman (2-1 1.69 ERA) vs. Erasmo Ramirez (1-2 7.50 ERA)

Erasmo has been disappointing so far this season, culminating in last week’s 2 inning fiasco in Arlington where he yielded 5 earned runs. His stuff has not been up to snuff lately and this should offer a good chance to get back in the groove. He’s going to have a tough challenge facing Scott Feldman though. Feldman has been one of the most reliable starters in Houston so far this year, having gone 6+ innings in each of his four starts and inducing 11+ ground ball outs in his last three.

Game three: Jarred Cosart (1-2 7.36 ERA) vs. Chris Young (0-0 3.27 ERA)

Chris Young has been surprisingly good for the Mariners this season, after coming in to fill for some injured guys, he’s definitely earned a spot in the rotation. The rest of the M’s have let him down for run support and he’s still looking for his first win of the season. Cosart on the other hand, is in search of some redemption. His last start was Friday in Oakland, where he only recorded one out, but gave up 7 runs on 3 hits, including four walks. Prior to that abomination, Cosart had been decent in his sophomore season.

Notes

Monday night’s game is of course a King’s Court game, so get down to Safeco Field and don an ugly yellow t-shirt and support your king!

Some pressure might be coming off of the starting rotation soon, as injured starter Hisashi Iwakuma has finally been cleared to start a rehab assignment. He is currently slated to start on Tuesday in Tacoma. If all goes well then we should be seeing him before May.

I’m sure you don’t need reminding of it, but the Mariners haven’t been faring well with play reviews recently. Two overturned calls this weekend in Miami went against the M’s and I’ve officially decided I don’t like video replays.

There are a lot of questions about what is going to happen with Nick Franklin now that he’s been recalled to the big club. We saw him at second and DH this weekend in Miami, and things are steal really unclear about what’s happening. Stay tuned to SodoMojo this afternoon as our newest author Justin Freund hops on the Nick-Franklin-Rumor-mill.

In more optimistic news, Dustin Ackley‘s beard is gaining momentum in the ‘facial hair of the year’ challenge. Moreover, he is actually converting beard points into batting average points. Ackley has been pretty impressive so far this season, and we should look to him to keep it up if the M’s want to turn things around.

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