Well last week started really well with a dramatic win off the bat of Leonys Martin and an ensuing blowout…but fell off pretty sharply losing three straight to the league-worst Twins and having the week’s hero Leonys Martin fall to the 15 day DL.

Let’s go ahead and wipe that week from memory and focus on the upcoming games this week.

Split Series Vedder Cup Battle Against San Diego

Due to Seattle’s unique geographic location, the Mariners get an interleague rival 1000 miles away, leading to some pretty fierce competition. This week, these ruthless competitors will play two in Seattle on Monday and Tuesday, and then immediately travel to San Diego for two more games on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Padres had an even worse week than the Mariners, getting swept in San Francisco, before winning just one of three in Arizona. San Diego now sits at 20-31 and they are at the bottom of the NL West. The Twins were supposed to be bad too though, and Seattle fans saw how that turned out. It should be interesting to see if the Mariners can right the ship against struggling teams.

Who’s Hot: IF Yangervis Solarte Last 7: .292, 3 HR, 7 RBI Season: .310, 3 HR, 12 RBI

Who’s Cold: 2B Alexi Amarista Last 7: .143, 0 HR, 1 RBI Season: .239, 0 HR, 4 RBI

Projected Pitching Matchups:

5/30 Sea: Karns 4-1 3.53 SD: Cashner 2-4 4.87

5/31 Sea: Iwakuma 3-4 4.33 SD: Shields 2-6 3.06

6/1 Sea: Hernandez 4-4 2.86 SD: Friedrich 1-1 1.65

6/2 Sea: Miley 5-2 4.95 SD: Rea 3-2 4.47

San Diego has a middle of the league type pitching staff ranking 15th in ERA at 3.99, but where they struggle is their batting. The Padres come in at 27th in runs, and 29th in both batting average and OBP. If that doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence it’s probably because a team I highlighted in this article last week that was supposed to have a horrific pitching staff, ended up handling the Mariners pretty easily (no names mentioned). At the very least, two of the games in this series will be on the road which seems to be an inexplicably better situation for Seattle this season.

Road Trip to the Soon-to-be-Vacated Globe Life Park

Despite being barely old enough to legally consume alcohol, Globe Life Park already has a planned replacement. Something about heat affecting the players and fan turnout. Let’s just be glad that Seattle was afforded a nice stadium with good enough forethought to allow it to stand for more than two decades. But enough about the stadiums. After the Mariner’s knife-twisting loss to Minnesota on Sunday, Texas took a half game lead over Seattle for 1st place in the AL West. They took a couple of 2-1 series wins at home against the Angels and Pirates highlighted by the return of their ace Yu Darvish. This series looks to be an exciting battle in the consistently close 2016 AL West race.

Who’s Hot: OF Nomar Mazara Last 7: .370, 3 HR, 8 RBI Season: .310, 8 HR, 21 RBI

Who’s Cold: RP Shawn Tolleson Last 7: 2/4 SV/O 19.80 ERA Season: 11/15 SV/O 10.13

Projected Pitching Matchups:

6/3 Sea: Walker 2-5 3.31 Tex: Darvish 1-0 1.80

6/4 Sea: Karns 4-1 3.53 Tex: Perez 3-4 3.12

6/5 Sea: Iwakuma 3-4 4.33 Tex: Holland 3-4 5.21

Texas is really gearing up to be a dangerous team right now. Yu Darvish is pitching for the first time since 2014, Prince Fielder is starting to come out of his early season hibernation, and Nomar Mazara is killing baseballs. We may see a massive run by Texas some time soon and Seattle needs to be very wary and right the ship quickly.

After floundering in front of large home crowds over the weekend for the third time this season, the Mariners need to pull it together. A couple of statement wins here could be a huge difference for Seattle as they head in to a tough month of June. Regardless of what starting talent is currently on the DL, the current crop of Mariners need to get it done or risk hurting the small sense of optimism the Seattle fan base has found to start this roller coaster season.

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