Praying for Runs, Part 1

By Patrick

"I'm Larry"

Here comes the annual Peoria Complex rivalry again. The Mariners have to love this game. The Padres have been so bad over the past few years, worse than almost every team the American League offers. This year is no exception. Their leading batter who qualifies for the rankings is Will Venable, who's hitting .277. Sure, the Mariners aren't any better, but it's fun to make fun of other teams who have our problems. That's a Mariner mentality.

And don't the Padres have a Mariner mentality? They hit in a pitchers' park, they don't hit well, and they historically have had great pitching. This year however, after they dealt ace Mat Latos, their pitching has fallen off, with Cory Luebke posting the highest ERA on the squad. Oh, and their record is worse than ours significantly, so that's comforting. Let's see what I can dig up here.

June 12: The King (4-4, 3.42) vs. Clayton Richard (2-7, 4.58)

Ouch. Clayton Richard has been in struggle city in 2012, and much like one of Anthony's hangovers, it has hit him hard. That's good! The Mariners oppose a down-on-his-luck pitcher who really doesn't deserve to start in the majors right when they need to get the bats going. However, he's a lefty. Damn it. That's not ideal. Oh well. He's nothing special, and he's not a phenom, so he doesn't necessarily inspire much fear. The thing I'll be watching for tonight is how Felix Hernandez approaches his return to the mound against a minor league lineup. No, he's not making a rehab start in Tacoma. The Padres suck that much. If Felix loses tonight, he should go on the DL. Mark it down. He also needs to fix his velocity, and he said he found something on film that might have messed him up. Whatever. Good for you dude. Let's beat the Padres tonight, OK?

Players to Watch:

Carlos Quentin: Quentin, a notorious Mariner killer, has evidently made his way to the hitting black hole that is Petco Park. Sucks for you, bro. Unfortunately, we still have to play him today, and for the rest of the series. I guess Quentin had an injury for most of the season so far, since he's only played 10 games. But he's hitting .429 with five home runs in that stretch. So he's scary and hot. Kind of like Charlize Theron in Prometheus. Go see it.

Chone Figgins: Figgins is hitting eighth today. That's a new wrinkle in the lineup. Wedge repeatedly tried him at the top of the order to virtually no success, so I guess Figgins will take all the time he can get at this point. With Mike Carp still struggling mightily, Figgins still seems relevant in left field. You wonder why we named our crazy blog after that position. The Mariners can't find ANYONE to play there. And we can't find anyone that thinks the Mariners are good. Commonalities are fun.

Prediction:

Mariners 7, Padres 0: Felix needs a shutout tonight. He needs to restore the diehard fan's confidence in him. His back problems and his velocity drop have worried us, but a loss to the Padres, or any sort of struggles will really concern us. As I wrote earlier, he should go to the DL if he can't dominate the Padres. Watch out for Carlos Quentin, and Felix should do just fine. Go M's.