Nine runs in three games against the Angels

With six being knocked in on three home runs by Richie Sexson.  What’s Richie even doing wearing a Mariners uniform?  He needs to be run out of town.  That’s a good idea!  I mean, not so much….

After dropping two of three from the Angels, the Mariners have a travel day to return to the friendly confines of the Safe for a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles, looking to return the favor of the O’s four-game sweep from a couple weeks back.  If the M’s had managed to split that four-game series, they would be currently locked in a three-team tie for first-place rather than staring up from a two-game deficit at the Angels and the A’s.

The M’s have their pitching schedule in their favor, with Felix’s turn in the rotation coming round tomorrow night.  It will be hard for Felix to improve on his five-hit, eight scoreless innings that he tossed against the O’s back on April 6th.  Perhaps Felix can toss a shutout for his second complete game in a row, or perhaps limit Baltimore to three hits or fewer in eight scoreless innings?  Of course, Felix will have to get some run support from the Mariners’ bats if he wants to pull out a win.  And while he was being shorted in his first two starts, the M’s have compiled 12 runs in his last two.

And scoring runs shouldn’t be that difficult against Orioles’ starter Adam Loewen, who despite allowing  three runs in six innings in his last start only managed to lower his ERA from 7.45 to 6.32.  Plus the M’s roughed him up for four runs in four innings back at Camden on April 5, in a game the orioles eventually came out on top of.

I’m calling the M’s to come out on top tomorrow, by a 7-1 score.  Yes, if the Orioles are able to get to Felix and knock him out early, that presents a problem.  But only if McLaren has realized that he needs to stop being cute with how he manages his relievers, and puts the Ryan Rowland-Smith, and his veins of ice water, into the high-pressure situations in which he has delivered admirably.