Series preview - @ Seattle

Note: The stats next to the pitchers are as follows (IP,SO/BB,WHIP,VORP)

Game 1

Monday August 4th @ 9:10pm (FSN)

G. Perkins (96.3, 50/25, 1.43, 12.6)
vs
M. Batista (91, 57/59, 1.89, -19.7)

Miguel Batista has been really awful this year coming out of the bullpen, now he's in the starting rotation. This kind of inspired roster manipulation exemplifies the 2008 Seattle Mariners and has helped make them, against all expectations, one of the worst teams in MLB. To be fair, Batista has been good since moving into the rotation, but it's only been two starts so far.

Perkins, on the other hand, has gotten banged around a little in his last two starts. He's thrown almost 120 innings combined (major and minor) this year, the most he threw in a minor league year was 134 back in 2005. He could be hitting a wall, or he could have just had two not-so-good starts back-to-back, either way he shouldn't have too much trouble with an anemic Mariners offense.

Game 2

Tuesday August 5th @ 9:10pm (FSN)

S. Baker (102, 89/21, 1.12, 23.1)
vs
R.A. Dickey (81.7, 45/36, 1.51, 9.4)

Dickey is a knuckleballer and as such you never really know if he's going to be 'on' or not. His last start was good, the two before that, not so much. Regardless, even when he has a good game it's not that good, he doesn't strike out many and walks more than he should.

Baker's last two games haven't been great, but they haven't been bad either, he's only really had one bad start all year. But he walked three batters in each of the last two games, before that the most he'd walked in a game all year was two. On the surface July looks like it was a good month for Baker, but he posted a .238 BABIP, which is bound to regress.

Game 3

Wednesday August 6th @ 3:40pm (FSN)

N. Blackburn (134, 70/20, 1.26, 19.6)
vs
J. Washburn (122.7, 69/38, 1.48, 6.2)

The subject of all sorts of trade rumors leading up to the deadline, Jarrod Washburn ended up staying put. He's having worse of a year than what has become a pretty typical Jarrod Washburn year, which is average. His last great year was his contract year, a phenomenon the Mariners have some experience with.

Nick Blackburn had two almost identical starts in a row against Jeremy Sowers of the Indians, both times going seven innings allowing one run and issuing one walk. Five out of his last six starts have been quality starts; the other was against the Yankees. Like Baker though his BABIP dropped off a cliff in July, lower than Bakers at .228.