Seattle Mariners: What To Watch For This Weekend

2- A Weekend of Great Pitching

That matchup on Saturday could have everyone’s pulse racing. It could be a low-scoring affair and it could be a 12-10 shootout. Gotta love baseball.

In Game 3, Happy Felix Day. Felix Hernandez (4-1, 3.03) goes against Ricky Nolasco (2-3, 5.51). Corey Hart and John Buck both love to face Nolasco – each hitting over .400 against him over the past five seasons. Felix is looking for his 5th win on the season, following a game in which he was ejected for the first time in his career. Speaking of Felix….

3- Happy Felix Day

Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

On Sunday, Felix Hernandez takes the hill against the Minnesota Twins. Like I mentioned earlier, Felix was ejected from his last start for barking at the home plate umpire as he was already being removed from the game. The ejection was simply for show at that point.

It will be interesting to see how Felix bounces back from that performance. He allowed four runs – all in the 7th inning – after six scoreless prior.

What I am watching for is to see if there is any leftover angst from that outing. Or if the King will use that frustration and channel it into a solid outing for himself. Felix has been up and down this season, starting out 3-0 and looking really good doing it.

He then “fell apart” for Felix-standards, going winless in five starts, picking up his first loss of the season and not striking out nearly as many as he was.

In the month of May, opponents are hitting .320 against Felix and he has an ERA of 4.50. He’s not going to pitch a no-hitter every time he goes out there, but it would be nice to see dominant Felix for a nice long stretch again.