Around the Majors
In this regular feature, I will follow each MLB team in turn for a game throughout the season. For this first week, we are in Seattle.
The Game: New York Yankees @ Seattle Mariners.
Pitchers (probable as of 28th May)
New York: CC Sabathia.
Sabathia has been solid without being brilliant this season so far. In 11 starts he has pitched 76.2 innings showing that he is going deep into games. His ERA of 3.17 is just below his career mark of 3.54. He is 5-3 but this figure hides a couple of late blown leads. Nonetheless he is showing signs of reaching his very best, with a complete game against Toronto in his last start.
Seattle. Jason Vargas.
Vargas is 3-2 coming into this game with an ERA of 3.86. As of yet, he hasn’t been going overly deep into games, throwing on average a six innings a start. Vargas was roughed up in his last start against the Twins. The Mariners will be looking at him to get back to the standard he set in the three starts he made prior to that game.
This is game three of the series. The Mariners took game one with a stirring come from behind victory. AJ Burnett could only last 5 innings and it was 3-2 coming into the sixth. However, the Mariners got on top of Luis Ayala for two runs and took a 4-3 lead from which the Yankees could not return. Brandon League earned his 12th save of the campaign.
Game 2 saw Ivan Nova up against Felix Hernandez, but it was Mariano Rivera taking a loss as closer, as the Mariners won 5-4 in a 12 inning game. So Seattle go in to this one looking to sweep the Yankees.
The Mariners, after their win in game two went above .500 on the year at 26-25 leaving them 0.5 games behind the Rangers in what is shaping up to be the tightest divisional race in MLB this year (the Angels are just one game back).
The Yankees are 27-23 and in 2nd place in the AL East one game behind Boston, which is disappointing em considering the contrasting starts had be the Yankees and Boston.
Watch out for:
Alex Rodriguez and the Seattle fans.
A-Rod is particularly hated by the Seattle fans after his acrimonious departure from the team. Watch out for him getting a ‘warm’ reception.
Ichiro Suzuki.
Ichiro is leading the Mariners for hits yet again with 59 – 18 more than next man Justin Smoak. His average of .277 is the second highest (behind Adam Kennedy) in what is shaping up to be a relatively modest hitting team.
Content courtesy of CharlesJS
