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Probables
- Thursday, 9:10pm, FSN: Kevin Correia vs. Hisashi Iwakuma
- Friday, 9:10pm, FSN: Scott Diamond vs. Felix Hernandez
- Saturday, 3:10pm, NO TV, WHAT IS THIS, RUSSIA?: Samuel Deduno vs. Aaron Harang
- Sunday, 3:10pm, FSN: Kyle Gibson vs. Erasmo Ramirez
Mariners Notes
- Manager Eric Wedge will miss this series because he had A FREAKING STROKE. They're calling it a "minor" stroke, but I don't see how that's possible.
- You probably don't think about Felix Hernandez enough. Since he plays on the West Coast, you sort of remember him as an afterthought, an "Oh yeah, that guy's pretty good too." I just want to impress upon you that this is a guy who leads the American League in both ERA and innings pitched, who is third in strikeouts and yet has the fourth-best walk rate of any starter in the league. Both Fangraphs and Baseball Reference think he's the most valuable pitcher in the AL. He is really, really good, and for the Twins to send out Scott Diamond against him seems like a cosmic joke, like Norm Cash batting against Nolan Ryan with a table leg.
- The Mariners haven't been able to hit for years, but it's worth noting that they do have a couple of guys who appear to be able to do so, this season. Third baseman Kyle Seager has 16 HR and is batting .289, which for the Mariners is like hitting .350. Plus, DH Kendrys Morales has driven in 57 runs while hitting .280, and AARP member Raul Ibanez has 24 home runs. All of this has Seattle at 10th in the AL in runs scored, an achievement for a team that finished last in the AL in batting, often comically so, every year from 2009-2012.
Twins Notes
- Aaron Hicks's .774 OPS in July is second on the Twins, behind only Joe Mauer (.871).
- SMALL SAMPLE SIZE REPORT: I so want Chris Colabello to do well. Badly, I want him to do well. But the guy has 13 strikeouts and four singles in 34 at bats, and hasn't walked once. I'm just starting to pity the guy. Meanwhile, Chris Herrmann has an OPS over 1.000, so let's get that man the key to the city.
- We can all guess who the Twins' most valuable hitter (Mauer) and pitcher (Glen Perkins) are. Did you know who's second, according to Fangraphs? I'll bet you can't guess: it's Mike Pelfrey and Pedro Florimon. That's right: a guy hitting .232 and a guy with a 5.15 ERA are perhaps the Twins' third- and fourth-best players.
- Do you think Darin Mastroianni and Wilkin Ramirez hang out at the Twins' minor-league complex, after doing their rehab? I like to think they do. Anywhere, that's where they both are, and Ramirez sounds like he's recovered from his brain injury.