Game #19: Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Angels

Washburn v. Santana.  Will the M’s, who are somehow ranked fourth in the league in runs scored, finally be able to give some run support to hard luck Jarrod Washburn, against an Angels pitching staff that’s ninth in the league in runs allowed?

The Torii Hunter Show

I had an inkling that Torii Hunter’s signing a big off-season contract and being inserted into the Los Angeles Angels’ line-up could result into an MVP-type season for Hunter.  The form he showed last night- that of one of the greatly talented ballplayer who was all but ignored in the Twin Cities- justifies my belief that Hunter will end this season as one of the top players in the league.  All he did was knock three doubles- including a bases-clearing one in the first inning- and rob Richie Sexson of a potential go-ahead home run for the final out in the ninth.  That’s all.

The M’s were very much in this one, despite coming out on the losing side of a 5-4 score.  R. A. Dickey wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected him to be.  Despite his first inning troubles, Dickey allowed just two more runs to the Angels over the next five innings in his first major league start in two years.  But once again, Joe Saunders very much dominated the M’s line-up, every batter not named Sexson, that is.  Saunders held the Mariners in check, allowing six hits in eight innings.  Still, despite picking up the win in his second consecutive victory, Saunders leaves his second consecutive start against the Mariners with a higher ERA (2.15) than when he entered the game (1.27).

All due to Sexson, who was, as Angie Metnik described in the post-game show on FSN, “locked in.”  Despite Saunders’ mastery of the M’s line-up so far this season, Sexson handles Saunders just fine, now hitting .444 in nine career at-bats against the Angels’ right hander, with three of those hits going yard.  Sexson is typically a slow starter, and this season is no different as he is hitting just .237 through the season’s first two weeks.  Regardless, that’s nearly 100 points higher than the .145 average Sexson was sitting on at the end of April last year, and the fact that Sexson’s career splits lead to a forty-point batting average increase and an eighty-point increase in OPS in the second half is encouraging.  So is the fact that despite his low average, Sexson is making the most of his at-bats with runners on, tied for third in the league in RBIs (behind both Raul Ibanez and Jose Lopez) while ranking second in walks, with thirteen in both categories.

There are still many M’s fans who decry Sexson’s presence in the line-up and can’t wait until he leaves town, but a 1.081 OPS with runners on speaks for itself.  Just wait until  Sexson picks up 30 points on his BABIP to reach the .300 level he had in 2005 and 2006 with the M’s.  That would bode will for the M’s chances to contend.

Today’s pitching match-up pits the Angels’ Ervin Santana taking the hill against former Angels ace Jarrod Washburn.  Santana was a promising young pitcher who had won 28 games in his first two years in the Angels’ rotation.  But horrid home-road splits did in Santana’s season last year- 6-4 record with a 3.27 ERA at home, 1-10 record and 8.38 on the road.  It doesn’t help the M’s any that today’s game is in Anaheim.  Still, it should be pointed out that the last time the M’s faced Santana, they had him knocked out of the game after scoring five runs on just 23 pitches tossed, in a game the Angels’ eventually won by a 10-6 score, due to the curse of Jeff Weaver.  Raul Ibanez should continue his hot hitting, as he has a career .462 average in 13 at-bats, while both Sexson and Brad Wilkerson has slugged three home runs off the right hander.  Jose Lopez, however, has struggled against Santana, hitting just .133 with five strikeouts in 15 at-bats.

Although Jarrod Washburn’s record is 1-2, it could easily be 2-1 or even 3-0 as he’s allowed no more than six hits in three runs in either of his starts- with a 12:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio- so far this year.  Against his old ball club, Jarrod has won four of six decisions, and although Vladimir Guerrero has hit Washburn pretty well, with a .348 average and 1.114 OPS in 23 at-bas, Washburn has shut down Hunter effectively, holding Hunter to a .176 average in 34 at-bats.  And the last time he faced the Halos, Washburn tossed seven innings of five-hit, no-run ball in a 6-0 victory, over Joe Saunders no less.

I’m cautiously optimistic about this one.  I’m picking the Mariners to come out on top of Santana and the Angels by a 6-4 score, as a weekend of intense rivalry baseball continues in SoCal….