The Sports Xchange
MLB Team Report – Seattle Mariners – INSIDE PITCH
No one can seem to explain the amazing disparity between Mariners lefty Joe Saunders at home (2-0, 0.81 ERA) and Saunders on the road (0-3, 12.51), and the man himself is only willing to talk about half of the equation.
After yet another sparkling performance at Safeco Field on Monday night, Saunders was not interested in discussing his career success there.
“Notoriously, I’m better on the road, so I’ve got to figure that out,” Saunders said after pitching a complete game in the Mariners’ 6-2 home win over Baltimore on Monday.
With his next start scheduled to take place in Toronto on Sunday, Saunders doesn’t have much time to solve the mystery. He’s given up 20 hits and 15 runs in his last two road starts, and the only excuse Saunders could offer this week was when he divulged for the first time that he’d been battling a quad injury.
By Monday night, Saunders said his bill of health was clean, and the numbers he put up against his former team (nine innings, four hits, two earned runs) served as proof. But that performance might have had as much to do with the venue as it did Saunders’ quads.
With a career ERA of 4.18, Saunders has been inexplicably effective at Safeco Field over the years – both as a visiting pitcher and, most recently, as a Mariner. His win Monday night improved his career record at Safeco to 8-0, with a 1.75 ERA to show for it.
Manager Eric Wedge had little to offer Monday night when asked to explain the discrepancy in home vs. road ERA, and Saunders doesn’t much care for the topic because he believes his home success should be translating to games away from Safeco.
Saunders will get his fourth chance to make an impression on the road this Saturday, and the Mariners are hoping the veteran lefty doesn’t leave his best stuff back in Seattle.
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MLB Team Report – Seattle Mariners – NOTES, QUOTES
RECORD: 13-17
STREAK: Won one
PAST 10 GAMES: 6-4
NEXT: Mariners (Felix Hernandez, 3-2, 1.90) at Blue Jays (Josh Johnson, 0-1, 6.86)
PLAYER NOTES:
–RHP Blake Beavan is hoping to work his way back into a starting role, although he’ll have to do it at Triple-A Tacoma. Beavan was sent down Wednesday after two rough outings in the bullpen, and manager Eric Wedge said part of the reason for the demotion was the unnecessary presence of two long relievers — Beavan and RHP Hector Noesi — in the bullpen. Beavan was in the rotation to open the season but started just two games and had an 8.27 ERA in seven games when he was sent down Wednesday.
–LHP Lucas Luetge, called up from Triple-A Tacoma on Wednesday, adds another southpaw to the bullpen. Oliver Perez (0.79 ERA) and Charlie Furbush (4.50) have had success, but Luetge got the call in part because the Mariners already had two right-handed long relievers in Hector Noesi and Blake Beavan. Adding another lefty gives Seattle more options in the late innings of close games.
–RHP Hisashi Iwakuma, who was originally listed as Sunday’s starter to give him another day between starts, is now back in his original spot and is scheduled to start Saturday’s game at Toronto. Iwakuma has been battling a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand, but he’ll already get six days between starts because the Mariners have a travel day Thursday. The decision to move Iwakuma back up seems like a good sign in terms of the status of Iwakuma’s blister.
–RF Michael Morse hit his third home run in four games Wednesday. He has hit in six consecutive games, with a .368 batting average (7 of 19), three home runs and four RBI.
–C Jesus Montero had his first career triple during the second inning of Wednesday’s game, and the heavy-footed catcher may have gotten a break from the outfield wall — not to mention the official scorekeeper. Montero’s towering fly ball to dead center field hit off the glove of retreating Baltimore CF Adam Jones, who then ran into the wall and stayed down on the warning track in apparent pain for several seconds. Montero made it to third because LF Nate McLouth had to run over and retrieve the ball.
–LF Jason Bay extended his hitting streak to six games with a first-inning double Wednesday. That gave Bay nine hits in his past 18 at-bats.
–RHP Felix Hernandez threw 95 pitches over eight innings the last time he was on the mound, and then he made the unprecedented move of asking out of the ninth. Hernandez told manager Eric Wedge, for what is believed to be the first time in the 27-year-old ace’s career, that closer Tom Wilhelmsen should pitch the ninth inning of an April 27 game against the Angels, with Seattle leading 3-2. Hernandez admitted that his arm was tired, and it might be a good thing for the future of both the franchise and its $175 million man that he’s willing to protect himself in a close game.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “I feel like our guys here have taken significant steps. What you’re seeing now is more the norm of what our guys are capable of.” — Manager Eric Wedge, on Seattle’s offense, which had 32 hits in the series against Baltimore.
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MLB Team Report – Seattle Mariners – ROSTER REPORT
MEDICAL WATCH:
–RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (blister on right ring finger) will make his scheduled start May 4 after initially having it pushed back to May 5.
–CF Franklin Gutierrez (torn right hamstring) went on the 15-day disabled list April 23. An MRI revealed a Grade 1 strain, and he is expected to be out until mid- to late May.
–RHP Stephen Pryor (torn right lat muscle) went on the 15-day disabled list April 15.
–RHP Josh Kinney (stress reaction in left rib area) was shut down March 10, and he hadn’t resumed throwing through late March. He went on the 60-day disabled list March 25.
ROTATION:
RHP Felix Hernandez
RHP Hisashi Iwakuma
LHP Joe Saunders
RHP Brandon Maurer
RHP Aaron Harang
BULLPEN:
RHP Tom Wilhelmsen (closer)
LHP Charlie Furbush
LHP Oliver Perez
RHP Carter Capps
RHP Yoervis Medina
RHP Hector Noesi
LHP Lucas Luetge
CATCHERS:
Jesus Montero
Kelly Shoppach
INFIELDERS:
1B Justin Smoak
2B Dustin Ackley
SS Brendan Ryan
3B Kyle Seager
DH Kendrys Morales
INF Robert Andino
OUTFIELDERS:
LF Michael Morse
CF Michael Saunders
RF Raul Ibanez
OF Jason Bay
OF Endy Chavez
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