Mariners In Oakland

The Seattle Mariners take on the A's in Oakland in a three game series. The Mariners have done well against the A's of late however the A's are having a good season so far though they are in fourth place in the American League West. They have a record of 25-22 and have won seven in the last ten games. Also two and half games behind the Mariners so it will be important that the Mariners win two out of the three games in Oakland if possible.  The Mariners are two games behind the Houston Astros so important to stay in the same spot. 

Mike Leake takes the mound Tuesday night with a record of 4-3 however he has an era of 6.00. It will be important that he pitches well and keeps the ball down against the A's. The A's have a powerful lineup that love to hit home runs. If Leake can limit the home runs and not walk batters than the Mariners should be in good shape. Marco Gonzales will pitch Wednesday night and Felix Hernandez will go Thursday afternoon before the Mariners return home to play the Minnesota Twins over the weekend.  It is important that Felix can get back to pitching well. He has had problem starting games off and the Mariners were fortunate to win his last outing though he didn't get the win.

The Mariners will need the top of the order to get going early in the games. Dee Gordon has been slowed down by injury however important that he can get on base and Jean Segura has been hitting the ball well. Mitch Haniger now is in the third spot with the suspension to Cano. He was the main reason that the Mariners won Sunday's game with a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning with Segura on base  to take it into overtime and finally win in the eleventh inning. We hope that Nelson Cruz can be back in the lineup Tuesday Night. Without Cano it is very important that Cruz stay healthy and play much as possible. It does seem the players are able to hit well without both in the lineup though it may not happen until late in the game. I expect that Mike Zunino will catch the two night games and David Freitas will go on the day game Thursday. It may depend whether the Mariners staff feels that Zunino should catch Felix or not. 

It will be interesting to see if Dipoto will make a trade soon or wait until closer to the all-star break in July. I am sure other teams are contacting him about trades especially the teams that are low in the standings and have little chance going to the playoffs. The Mariners should go after getting a pitcher whether for the rotation or the bullpen.  The bullpen right now maybe the more critical spot though they did pitch well on Sunday. It would be nice to pick up another starter since Paxton is the only reliable pitcher at this point though Wade LeBlanc has been pitching well along with Marco Gonzales. It would be nice if both LeBlanc and Gonzales could pitch a little further into the games. LeBlanc has been building up his arm strength and pitched into the sixth inning in his last out. Gonzales has done good going through five innings however has had trouble in the sixth inning so be nice if he can do better than and let the bullpen come in the seventh inning. The Mariners need better pitching out of Nick Vincent and Juan Nicasio in the seventh and eighth innings or go more with Chase Bradford, Dan Altavilla and James Pazos.  Anyway I hope that the Mariners can win at least seven out of their next ten games since they play the Oakland A's followed by the Minnesota Twins and the Texas Rangers heading into June. Go M's.