Series Thread: M’s at Indians 4/29-5/1
by Jon Shields ~ April 28th, 2008
Probable Starters:
4/29 - Carlos Silva vs. Fausto Carmona
4/30 - Jarrod Washburn vs. Cliff Lee (Game 2 discussion starts after comment 21)
5/01 - Miguel Batista vs. Paul Byrd
All game at 4:05 pm PST.
The last time Seattle went to Cleveland in April they were snowed out in four consecutive matchups which threw a major wrench into the scheduling for the rest of the season that certainly didn’t help Seattle’s chances at AL West glory.
Fortunately, this time around it probably won’t be cold enough for snow as the forecast is currently calling for high temperatures of 49, 55 and 60 degrees, though showers appear likely for all three days. Hopefully Seattle won’t be required to make up any games in Cleveland this season like they did last year, though I wouldn’t mind more off-the-wall quotes from Ichiro. Last season when Seattle was required to use an off day before a series at Wrigley Field to make up a game in Cleveland Ichiro was quoted (through an interpreter), “To tell the truth, I’m not excited to go to Cleveland, but we have to. If I ever saw myself saying I’m excited going to Cleveland, I’d punch myself in the face, because I’m lying.”
Seattle’s oft-anemic bats aren’t going to have an easy time in Cleveland. Carmona finished fourth in last year’s Cy Young balloting while Lee is currently the best pitcher in all of baseball after posting a microscopic 0.28 ERA, 0.41 WHIP (walks/hits per inning) and 29 strikeouts over his first 31.2 innings.
While Lee may be simply unhittable right now, Carmona certainly isn’t. His 2.89 ERA is deceptive, as his WHIP is current sitting at 1.714. For a guy who isn’t allowing very many runs, that is a surprising number. Seattle hurlers Erik Bedard, Felix Hernandez and Carlos Silva al have ERAs in the 2’s as well, but sport 1.245, 1.231 and 1.171 WHIPs. This shows that Carmona has been more lucky than good during the young 2008 season, so he is certainly hittable.
Carmona hasn’t been sharp in his two appearances (1 GS) against Seattle over the course of his career, surrendering 7 runs on 10 hits over 8 innings. Lee and Byrd are much more successful, however, posting a combined record of 11-4 over 19 games (18 GS), with ERAs of 3.38 and 3.83 against the Mariners. On the Seattle side, all of the scheduled starters have had trouble with Cleveland’s potent lineups, especially Silva and Batista.
M’s to watch:
4/29 - Carlos Silva (has been roughed up by Cleveland’s big bats in the past, including Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore and especially Victor Martinez)
4/30 - Against Lee: Ichiro (.360) and Jose Lopez (.364 with one homer)
5/01 - Against Byrd: Raul Ibanez (hitting .565 and slugging .957, including 2 homers), Jose Lopez (.308/.357/.846 with 2 home runs), Jose Vidro (.571/.600/1.143 with 2 homers and 2 doubles
Mariner Killer Prediction: Victor Martinez, C - As I mentioned above, Martinez has destroyed Silva over the course of his career, hitting .452/.500/1.032 with 4 HR and 13 RBI in 31 at bats. He is hitting .368 off of Washburn as well. With a .336 batting average in 36 career games against Seattle and a 10-game hitting streak coming into the series, Martinez seems poised to be this series’ Mariner killer.
28 Responses to Series Thread: M’s at Indians 4/29-5/1
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1 April 29th, 2008 at 10:53 am
“If I ever saw myself saying I’m excited going to Cleveland, I’d punch myself in the face, because I’m lying.” — Ichiro Suzuki
This continues to make me laugh…
2 April 29th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Let’s see how many people show up in here for today’s game…
3 April 29th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
another inning of that spectacular mariners hitting…
4 April 29th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
I’m so sick of Kenji grounding into double plays every chance he’s got.
5 April 29th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
u guys think Ichiro is excited to be back in cleveland?
6 April 29th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
ahh Dustin beat me to it
7 April 29th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
^best quote ever.
8 April 29th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
w00t vidro
9 April 29th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
richie.is.worthless.
10 April 29th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Bryan Lahair….
11 April 29th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
I think Vidro’s swinging harder than normal, trying to prove he has power in an attempt to save his job. Usually he’s very balanced in his swings, but in that at bat he threw his balance off both times trying to boost his power a bit. RBI double into the corner, I’ll take it.
12 April 29th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
LaHair can’t hit lefties. A LaHair/Sexson platoon would be interesting though.
13 April 29th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Ibanez isn’t great against lefties either…lahair would be a good platoon though.
14 April 29th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
LaHair isn’t anything special. Think Ben Broussard.
15 April 29th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Wilkerson feeling the pressure.. 2/2
16 April 29th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Every time there is a runner on first he GIDP
17 April 29th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
WILKERSON proving that white man CAN jump! (sort of)
I bet this game is huge for his confidence.
18 April 29th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
wilkerson found the roids raul has stashed away.
19 April 29th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
ugh.. no ‘roids talk in here. soo sick of that.
watch Silva leave wit ha 2-1 lead and the bullpen blow it and the offense fail to rally. It’s like every game is pre-scripted.
20 April 29th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
deja vu. seattle is reading from the same script as sunday’s game.. word for word.
21 April 29th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Offense shows some clutch ability. This will be a big win.
22 April 30th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
I’m going to be stuck in an appointment from about 4-5:30. Bummer.
23 April 30th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Wlad=manbeast
24 April 30th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Nice DP.. I missed most of the game but caught the Wlad homer on radio at least.
Hopefully he can be big for us.
25 April 30th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
The 4 o’clock start times kill me. I don’t get off work until 5 and don’t get home until about 6 with traffic…
26 April 30th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Yeah it’s been pretty dead this series… until we get a lot more users we’re probably only going to have an active thread on West Coast series
27 May 1st, 2008 at 7:18 pm
What a crazy game. 1-1, top of the 11th. I’m glad this Series Thread thing is working out…
28 May 1st, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Lets hope JJ can bounce back and become his normal self again soon…Right now it’s looking like it’s harder to win with a shitty bullpen and stellar starting rotation than it was last year with a shitty starting rotation and a stellar starting rotation….Of course it’d help if we didn’t have a shitty offense to go along with a shitty bullpen this year…