The Yankees kick off a three-game set with the last-placed Seattle Mariners tonight, but the M’s aren’t playing like a 31-44 team lately.
They won two of their last three series in interleague play and their pitching has continued to be phenomenal to lead them to a 7-3 record in their last 10 games. In that span, their pitching staff has allowed 21 runs (I think you can do the math).
But in that stretch they haven’t faced an offense of the Yankees’ caliber. New York ranks first in OBP, second in runs and fourth in slugging percentage and batting average.
Head to Head:
They have no history yet this year, but in the previous two years the Yankees have won 13 out of 19 meetings.
Pitching Matchups:
| Date: | Mariners starters | Yankees starters |
| Tues., 7:05 p.m. | Cliff Lee (6-3, 2.39) | Phil Hughes (10-1, 3.17) |
| Wed., 7:05 p.m. | F. Hernandez (5-5, 3.28) | J. Vazquez (6-6, 5.16) |
| Thurs., 1:05 p.m. | Rowland-Smith (1-7, 6.18) | CC Sabathia (9-3, 3.49) |
Players to Watch:
Mariners: Ichiro Suzuki. The only .300 hitter on the team, and always an exciting player to watch. He is a career .327/.374/.432 hitter against the Yankees.
Yankees: Brett Gardner. Again, he’s having an excellent June and, like Ichrio, he’s got motorized wheels for legs. Keep an eye on his spot in the batting order too.
Prediction:
Thursday looks like a lock victory for the Yanks based on the pitching matchups, but tonight and tomorrow will be major challenges. It’s all a question of whether or not the Mariners can give their aces any run support. I’ll give the nod to the M’s this week: they’ll take two out of three.
