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From 7% to 9% Today, Dept.

From my cornball perspective ... the M's job is simple.  They need to get to +10 games over .500 as fast as possible.  There are a few things that make the next two weeks worth a look:

(1) They play feeble ballclubs in 8 of the next 12 games, those being the Angels (twice) and the A's.  They've dug themselves the kind of hole where 8-4, preferably 9-3 (leaving them at 78-68) over those twelve games is necessary, and possibly sufficient.

(2) They got past their #8 starter tonight, have three good pitchers and one okay one, and then To Be Announced.

(3) Dae-Ho Lee is raking, both statistically and on the green grass of AL baseball fields.

(4) Gamel and Heredia could be cool.  Okay, that's a reach, but it's a likeable reach.

(5) Yu Darvish pitches Sunday against Colin McHugh and he'll be the SP to miss the Rangers-M's four gamer.  Nice little break.  

I refuse to believe that a +22 runs team has no chance to win a series against a +22 runs team that is missing its ace.  We get Martin Perez' strikeout rate, A.J. Griffin's gopher rate and Derek Holland's everything rate.  Granted, there is a Hamels game.  But we're paying Felix $27M to win that one.

(5a) No looking past tomorrow's game in baseball. ...

(6) Edwin Diaz.

The Mariners will have to play their best, starting now.  As usual, Dr. D has convinced himself that the pennant is inevitable.

....

Friday night, they certainly played offense their best.  They didn't get 9 runs in the second inning by swinging from their wallets; they did it one painstaking 2-1 take at a time, one arduous right-field "fliner" at a time.  The 1996 Yankees in postseason mode.  

Dr. D would tell you what this had to do with Cano's reported pre-game pep talk, but yeah.  They actually clubbed DOWN and got their approach shots onto the green.

....

Ariel Miranda has VERY live stuff.  He does.  But he also has a Class A+ level pitching motion and you can COUNT on him to walk the first two batters after you go up on Texas 3-0.  His slot is currently listed as "to be announced."  If we can't get Mike Montgomery in there, what would be wrong with getting Vidal Nuno in there?  

Not complaining.  Just mildly curious as to why the man has 42 starts in 320 career innings, but only 1 "Johnny Bullpen" start for DiPoto.  Nuno has got a 8.2 strikeout, 1.6 walk rate this year and he's got an extreme fly ball rate.  You could put three CF's in there behind him or something ....

SSI is only saying that Nuno is a viable alternative to Ariel Miranda, if you're watching Miranda from between slits in your fingers.  Or not.

BABVA,

jemanji