SERIES PREVIEW: Seattle Mariners (56-57) @ Texas Rangers (57-68)

by user ASwaff

Business First: Kip Wells, who was scratched from his scheduled start on Monday due to inflammation in his right shoulder, has quickly recovered and is already scheduled to pitch in this series. He will go right back into the fourth spot in the rotation behind Adam Eaton.

Releiver Frank Francisco has been assigned to Class A Spokane to get some innings. The Rangers official website said that Francisco is still not expected to pitch for the Texas Rangers this season. In other minor league rehab news, Kameron Loe finally found some succeess at Triple A Oklahoma, albeit in a short appearance. He pitched two scoreless innings on Tuesday, allowing one hit and recording one strikeout.

The Lowdown: The Rangers are coming off a very big win against the [Oakland Athletics] to cap an otherwise mediocre road trip. They went 5-5, at one point losing four in a row. With the .500 road trip, Texas returns home still one game under .500, and tied with their present opponent for last place in the A.L. West (5.5 games behind the Oakland Athletics and 2.5 behind the LAA Angels). With a 26-30 record, the Rangers are among the worst teams in baseball at home. And the second half of the season hasn’t shown promise for a turnaround. Since the All-Star break, Texas is 1-5 in Arlington.

The Seattle Mariners are coming off a three-game series sweep of the mighty Tampa Bay Devil Rays. But, even with those three straight wins, the Mariners are 4-4 to start the month of August. The Mariners are 26-30 on the road this season, and the Rangers have won four out the six games the two teams have played against each other.

Players to Watch:

Mark Teixeira - I can only imagine the collective sigh of relief the Rangers must be breathing about Teixeira’s recent performance. After hitting just 8 homeruns during the first three months of the season, Tex has collected 9 since the All-Star break. He had his best month of the season in July batting .316, and is currently batting .333 in August. His offensive numbers are the best they’ve been since the middle of June, and he comes into this series with a streak of 30 consecutive games of reaching base safely. Hopefully his momentum will help improve his hitting against Mariners pitchers, which have held him to a .250 average this year.

Mariners Outfielders - For a lineup that’s not terribly strong, the Mariners have really done a number on Rangers pitching. Especially their outfielders. Ichiro Suzuki, Raul Ibanez and Willie Bloomquist have combined for a .368 average against the Rangers, with two homeruns, 14 runs, 12 RBI and three stolen bases. If you add Jeremy Reed into the mix, who is currently not playing due to injury, Seattle outfielders are batting .373 against the Rangers.

Gary Matthews - Seattle’s pitchers have done a very good job keeping a great Texas lineup in check, with the exception of a couple of players. Matthews is one of them. In six games against the Mariners this season, Matthews is batting .400 (10-25) with two homeruns, six RBI, three runs and a stolen base. He also seems to be making a habit out of robbing homeruns, so always keep an eye out for that.

Michael Young - He is the second player that has really performed against a Mariners rotation that has really underachieved this season. He is batting .391 against the Mariners, with two RBI, five runs, a homerun and a stolen base. He has just one strikeout in 25 at-bats, and has a .481 on-base percentage, thanks to four walks. Perhaps this series will help him break out of his recent slide. The thing to watch out for, as one reader pointed out earlier this week, is those GDPs. Young has grounded into four double plays in six games against the Mariners.

Probables:

Thursday, August 10, 7:05 CST

TEX: RHP Adam Eaton (1-2, 5.23)
SEA: RHP Joel Pineiro (7-9, 5.78)

The funny thing about Eaton’s numbers is that he only has one real start this season. His first start of the season, he was just off the 60-day DL, and was clearly still trying to find his control. He had three good innings, only to fall apart in the fourth (he lasted 3.2 and gave up three runs). In his last outing, he opened the flood gates for the Angels by allowing a first inning homerun, then got ejected for throwing at a batter (not hitting a batter, just throwing at him). He last just two thirds of an inning. The one game he’s had where he lasted past the fourth, he shut out the Twins for six innings to record the win. So, if Eaton can just last beyond the fourth inning, he should be okay.

Like Eaton, Pineiro has had control issues this season (although Pineiro’s have been much more sustained). He has allowed 45 walks and hit 9 batters in 127.2 innings. Pineiro put together three solid starts at the end of July, but fell apart again in his first start of August, lasting just 2.2 innings against Oakland after allowing four runs on eights hits and three walks.

Pineiro has one start against Texas this year - a no-decision in which he allowed three earned runs in 5.1 innings. Eaton has three career starts against Seattle, with a 1-2 record and a 4.50 ERA.

Friday, August 11, 7:35 CST

TEX: RHP Kip Wells (2-5, 6.10)
SEA: RHP Gil Meche (9-6, 4.35)

The Rangers will get to see just how healthy Wells is in this start, and they can ill-afford to have another pitcher missing in action. He was solid in his first start as a Ranger, picking up the win against the Twins by scattering seven hits over five innings to hold them to one run. In his last four starts, Wells is 2-1 with a 1.82 ERA.

Gil Meche was phenomenal in June, but has since returned to normal (or perhaps a little worse than). He has gone four starts without a win, and has a 5.87 ERA since going 3-0 with a 1.60 ERA in June. He started one game against the Rangers in May and got battered for six runs 5.1 innings. He allowed nine hits, five walks and two homeruns.

Saturday, August 12, 7:05 CST

TEX: RHP Edinson Volquez (0-1, 7.20)
SEA: LHP Jamie Moyer (6-10, 4.28)

Moyer has really struggled for run support this year. He has started six games this year in which the Mariners have been shut out, and has five quality starts that have gone for losses. But, run support hasn’t been his only issue of late. He has won just one game in hist last seven starts, a span in which he has posted an ERA of 6.17. It very well may be that one of baseball’s oldest pitchers is pooping out as the season wears on.

Volquez, whose first name somehow changed during the offseason, hasn’t been able to adjust to the Major Leagues. He keeps posting solid numbers at Triple A, but is so far 0-5 with a 12.23 ERA in seven Major League appearances. The best thing that can be said about his is that the four runs he allowed in his last start gives him a significant improvement over the 14.21 ERA he posted last season.

Sunday, August 13, 7:05 CST

TEX: RHP Kevin Millwood (10-8, 4.74)
SEA: RHP Felix Hernandez (10-9, 4.29)

Millwood is 3-1 with 3.69 ERA in five career starts against the Mariners. He’ll be looking for a little of that magic to break his recent spell of totally sucking. He is 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA in his last four starts, which may be in large part due to the fact that he’s walked 11 batters in his last 19 innings pitched. Not giving in to batters was a big strong point for him early in the season; he only walked 12 batters in April and May combined. He’ll need to find that groove again if he’s going to stand a chance of a win in Arlington, where he’s 3-6 with a 6.28 ERA this season.

Felix Hernandez really hasn’t been performing as expected this season, after drawing comparisons to Dwight Gooden at the end of last season. Don’t rest on him just yet, though. He’s still got amazing stuff, and has shown flashes of his last-year self of late. After going 4-6 with a 5.78 ERA in April and May, he has since gone 6-3 with a 3.04 ERA. And, he is 2-1 with a 2.20 ERA in his last five starts. In two starts against the Rangers this year, he is 1-1 with an 8.10 ERA.

• FOR MORE RANGERS NEWS AND OPINIONS, VISIT BASEBALL TIME IN ARLINGTON

Date

Thu 08/10/06, 1:18 pm EST