Felix Looking Good

The King is still on his throne these days. The Texas Rangers were not able to beat him on Friday as the Mariners and Felix won 2-1. Felix pitched seven and a third innings for the Mariners giving up six hits and striking out three. Not his normal strike outs for a game however he allowed a lot of grounders by Ranger hitters and did not walk a batter. The Mariners bullpen finished off with lefty specialist Marc Rzepczynski getting two left handed hitters in the eighth inning and Edwin Diaz closing out the ninth inning. Diaz was back to being dominating though he did give up one hit.

The Rangers were not accustomed to seeing Felix throwing a lot of fastballs like he did in this game. Usually Felix has thrown a lot of change-ups in the past. Now the Mariners want him throwing more fastballs. He is showing that can be effective for him especially if the fast ball is moving a lot when he spots it. So far he seems to be doing a good job with his pitches. As long as he is successful this is what we will see out of Felix.

Saturday night the Mariners will have James Paxton taking the mound. He has now switch places with Iwakuma so two right handers go back to back or two lefties. Paxton started the season pitching after Iwakuma and before Miranda who is a lefty like him. Paxton throwing as hard as he does this should make Iwakuma more effective because he doesn’t throw the ball hard as Paxton. In his last outing Paxton faced a lot of right handers. We will have to see if the Rangers will do the same. The Mariners have a great chance in winning if Paxton pitches the same way he has in his first two outings. He has been domineering so far and could be a Cy Young candidate. Felix continues his pitching maybe he and Paxton can fight for the award. That would be sweet wouldn’t it?

If the Mariners can take Saturday’s game to the Rangers and win that will give them their first series win of the season and go for a sweep with Iwakuma on the mound on Easter Sunday.

Now we have to see if the Mariners bats can come back alive. We know that in Felix’s history he hasn’t gotten a lot of support for runs. The importance is that the top of the lineup starts hitting. The Mariners are hoping that shortstop Jean Segura who was doing an excellent job before getting hurt will be back next Friday. In the meantime Taylor Motter will be the shortstop. Go M’s.