Days off are long. Days off in which the Tigers are able to play and gain ground are even longer. The White Sox kick back into action tonight and, with some help from the Angels, attempt to push the lead back up over 2 games. Standing in the way of handling their end is the American League’s hottest post All-Star break team, the Seattle Mariners. The M’s have won their last 8 games yet still find themselves at the bottom of the AL West pack, and 3 games below .500. As Joe Sheehan pointed out on Twitter, a lot of their success has to do with strength of schedule. Though try telling that to the White Sox after a weekend in Kansas City.
On the bump for the Sox is the bulldog, Jake Peavy. It’s been a little while since Jake has had a start that you could call dominant. August 1 in Minnesota Jake went 8 innings, struck out 8 and gave up just a single earned run. His 3 starts since, have been of the ‘middling’ variety, and earned him an 0-2 mark over that span.
Jason Vargas, tonight’s starter for the Mariners has been pitching very well. He’s 6-1 in his last 8 starts and hasn’t allowed more than 3 runs in any of them. The trick? Seems he isn’t too fond of walking folks. It’s a pretty good recipe, we’ve seen it out of a couple pitcher’s of our own of late.
Tonight’s Lineup:
1.Wise – CF
2.Youk – 3B
3.Big Donkey – DH
4.Paulie – 1B
5.Rios – RF
6.AJ – C
7.Dayan – LF
8.Alexei – SS
9.Gordo – 2B
Beating Seattle isn’t hard in theory, and the Sox certainly haven’t had any issues with them so far this year, going 5-1 to this point. Nobody’s got many at-bats against Vargas, not enough to mean much of anything but with the exception of AJ, who is 0-6, everybody has mashed, hitting a collective .394. Of course that stat includes a 1.000 mark from Brett Myers, and if he gets a chance to defend that average then something has gone terribly wrong.
Where to Watch
Game available in Chicago on Comcast SportsNet and ROOT Sports in Seattle. 7:10 start time.