As awful as yesterday’s game was—the torture only exacerbated by it being a brutally long game—there’s reason for optimism today. The Mariners are 5-3 in games after getting walked off. Maybe that doesn’t strike you as a sterling record, but it compares quite favorably to how other teams have fared after being walked off by the Mariners: 3-8 (as in, the Mariners have won 8). In addition, those five Mariner wins after getting walked off have included some of the best games of the year, including Hancock’s
7 innings and 8 Ks in Houston, Laz’s debut, and Saturday’s historic 19-1 win.
The Mariners attempt to bounce back today will require overcoming Reid Detmers, who, despite being an Angel, is having a phenomenal year. He’s in the top 20 in WAR, whether you’re going by FanGraphs, Baseball Reference, or Baseball Prospectus. He’s basically keeping all the gains he made from last year’s temporary conversion to a releiver. His wipeout pitch is his slider, which breaks so much that it’s practically an 86-mph curveball, except that he’s got a legit curve too that drops an impossible 68 inches. He’s one of the many recent positive developments for Anahiem that are, like, not ideal.
Lineups
- Kade Day! Be sure to read Kate’s profile of him from earlier today.
- Michael Arroyo gets rewarded for his multi-hit day Saturday and three walks yesterday with another start this evening.
- Kade Day and Cole In The Graphic Day on the same day. It’s like it’s my birthday.
Still with the Mike Trout.
Game Info
First pitch: 6:38 PDT
TV: Mariners TV
Radio: Old Reliable
Fun Fact
The Roberto Clemente Award nominees were announced today. Anaheim’s is shortstop Zach Neto. Combined with the A’s Zack Gelof, this is the first time I could find with multiple nominees names Zach/Zack. Seeing how mad people get about my self-indulgent inclusion of this as a fun fact is really just my way of deterimining how many people actually read the previews.
The Mariners’ nominee is Julio.
