Braves series re-cap, now it’s on to Shea

As expected, the M’s took one of three from the Braves, taking advantage of their best chance on Friday to walk away with a win.

Of course, Friday’s win had more to do with Brave starter Jorge Campillo’s sudden loss of control than anything provided by Mr. Bedard, who was forced out with back spasms after three innings and 36 pitches. Seriously, is Erik Bedard the personification of Mr. Glass? What’s next, a hyperextended toe? To be fair, maybe back spasms are contagious, and Erik caught them from Brandon Morrow.

Now it appears that Mr. Glass will miss his start in the series against the Mets, with Miguel Batista starting in Bedard’s stead. Which is great, because there is nothing quite like rewarding Batista, who blew a potential second win of the series by not getting anybody out in the ninth inning of a 5-4 loss than by handing Miguel a fill-in start in the rotation. You know, just so the Mets can pound the tar out of Miguel’s offerings and put the M’s in a 7-0 hole by the second inning. SIgh….

Seriously, there is no reason for Batista to be on the M’s roster. None. He is as washed up as last night’s dishes. Rich Dorman just spun 7 2/3 innings of two-hit, eight-strikeout ball for Tacoma against the Portland Beavers. Certainly Dorman wouldn’t be able to make a start this weekend in Queens. But it’s time to jettison Batista to open up roster space for a career minor leaguer he would be looking to leave a positive mark other than allowing teams to jump out to an early lead, or letting late-inning leads slip away.

Anyway, here are the pitching match-up between Jim Riggleman’s Mariners and Jerry Manuel’s Mets:

Felix Hernandez (6-5, 2.87, 7.9 K/ 9 IP) vs. Johann Santana (7-5, 3.04, 8.2 K/ 9 IP)

R. A. Dickey (1-3, 5.77, 6.3 K/ 9 IP) vs. Oliver Perez (5-4, 5.06, 7.5 K/ 9 IP)

Miguel Batista (as of right now) (3-9, 6.26, 5.6 K/ 9 IP) vs. John Maine (7-5, 3.78, 7.8 K/ 9 IP)

A bunch of things have to break just right for the M’s to have a chance at being competitive in any of these three games. First, the M’s offense is going to have to stand up to the challenge of the Mets’ trio of hard throwers. Felix has a four-game winning streak in his last four starts on the line, but for that to continue uninterrupted tonight the M’s batters will have to pile up runs against Johann. Its not as if it can’t be done- Ichiro and Raul Ibanez have combined for 24 hits in 63 at-bats for a .381 average, with two triples and a home run. Johann may have struck out Richie Sexson nine times in 20 at-bats, but three of Sexson’s five career hits off Johann have gone for extra bases. However, the 7-1 lifetime record Johann has compiled against Seattle, means that the Mariners have their work cut out for them tonight.

As for the other two games, if the M’s are able to batter Oliver Perez around and if R.A. Dickey’s knuckleball is working- and those are two big ifs- they have a shot at winning tomorrow night’s game. As for Wednesday’s, I don’t even know why they’re bothering to play the game.

Tonight’s game will be a doozy of a pitching match-up between the two Venezuelans, with both Felix and Johann rising to the challenge. However, expect Felix’s winning streak to come to an end, as the game will be decided in the later innings by the teams’ respective bullpens. Look for yet another one-run loss, with the Mets topping the M’s by a 5-4 score.