No Soup For Yu: Rangers Series Preview Part 2

By Patrick

It would be a great night for an Italian Job

Last night, the Mariners played Soup Nazi, as they destroyed Yu Darvish's start early and often. Ichiro jumped all over him in the first three innings, and the M's sent the rookie packing after four innings. It was an incredible offensive performance for the Mariners, even though they only had five hits. They drew seven walks, and went on to smack the Rangers 6-1.

Felix Hernandez also bounced back from an atrocious start in Cleveland last night. He went eight innings, surrendering just one run and striking out seven. He recorded most of his strikeouts in the second half of his start too, which suggests he got better as he went along. That is comforting. It's great to be King. He actually hadn't beaten the Rangers since 2010 until last night, after going 0-4 with an ERA over five last year. So that makes last night even more important for him.

How do the Mariners follow up such a great overall performance? Well, we'll see. Hector Noesi and Matt Harrison go tonight. Any time Noesi pitches, you never really know what to expect. Let's try and set some expectations anyway.

May 22: "Jason Vargas" (2-4, 5.61) vs. Matt Harrison (4-3, 5.21)

Looking at just those numbers, you would think that the key difference between Harrison and Noesi is run support. That is a difference for sure. The Rangers offense could be the best in baseball and the Mariner offense struggles to score consistent runs. Digging a bit deeper, Harrison has struggled in his last three or four starts mostly, whereas Noesi has been hit-and-miss, sucking some nights, pitching exceptionally other nights, and having decidedly Blake Beavan-esque nights other times. Noesi still is a crapshoot at this point in his career, which sucks since fans want predictability. Moreover, Harrison has a 6-1 record with a 2.67 ERA in his career against the Mariners. Crap, he's one of those guys. By that I mean completely average pitchers that seem to feast on the Mariners. Bruce Chen does this. Phil Humber does as well. Matt Harrison would make that list. So that doesn't help the Mariners' confidence. But if Noesi does his job, the Mariners should give him at least three runs to play with, and that could mean a close win, or a close game that Brandon League blows.

Players to watch:

Alex Liddi: Michael Saunders has occupied the two-hole for the last few games and done admirably. Unfortunately, Matt Harrison is left-handed. So Saunders will remain in the lineup, but move down to seven in the order. This means that a right-handed hitter will have to hit in the second spot, and Eric Wedge decided that that hitter is Alex Liddi. Curious. Liddi doesn't play much. He plays more than Chone Figgins, but isn't a regular. Yet he will occupy the most trying spot in the Mariners lineup tonight. That's something to keep an eye on. If he succeeds, the Mariners should win the game. Pretty simple.

Josh Hamilton: Scary dude, this Hamilton fellow. Tons of tats, massive drug problems, and MVP-like numbers. Not to be fucked with. He took Noesi deep in Hector's debut down in Texas way back in April. If Noesi struggles with his control and walks Kinsler and Andrus in front of Hamilton like he did last time these two faced off, it will be a long night. Felix also made Josh looks silly on his birthday last night, so you know he'll want to just rip Noesi apart tonight, hopefully not literally. I'm worried about Hamilton. I should be. He's quite good at hitting.

Prediction:

Rangers 7, M's 3: Hector Noesi will struggle. As obvious as it sounds, he has excelled against bad lineups like Oakland and Minnesota and struggled against solid lineups like the Rangers. He does have the pressure turned off though, since the M's have won all of the games since he pitched last. Wow. If the Mariners win today, they will have swept an entire trip through their rotation. That would be mind-blowing. But with what sample sizes we have, Noesi has sucked in one start against Texas and Harrison has killed the M's in a bunch of starts. Let's hope that doesn't happen again, but it's the safe bet here. Go M's.