Baseball Picks – Seattle and Texas look for their second wins of the season

Seattle and Texas look their second wins of the season.

The Texas Rangers host a three game series with the Seattle Mariners this weekend and both teams are looking for better results. The Mariners dropped 3 of 4 to the Oakland A’s while the Rangers lost the final two of a three game set to the Blue Jays.

On the mound for the Rangers is right-hander Colby Lewis and the MLB odds makers have set Texas as -145 favorites and the comeback for the Mariners, who counter with Jason Vargas, is +125.

April 9, 2010
Seattle Mariners +1½ -155 +125
Jason Vargas – L
Texas Rangers -1½ +135 -145
Colby Lewis – R
Total 9
Location: The Ballpark in Arlington Texas
Game Time: 8:05pm
TV: FSNW

Both teams have big expectations coming into this season as they expect to be in a dogfight with the Angels for the American League West crown.

It’s easy to point out the Mariners failings against the A’s; Ichiro Suzuki is just 3 for 15 while new acquisition Milton Bradley was just 1 for 13. The Seattle Mariners won’t blow up the scoreboard with any regularity but they need Ichiro and Bradley to do their part. It’s safe to assume after nine straight 200+ hit seasons, Ichiro will get it going, but Milton Bradley is a curious case. Bradley has shown throughout his career he can be an offensive spark, hitting homers, driving in and scoring runs but with Bradley you get his volatility, his skill has allowed him to be wanted by 8 teams but the volatility forced 7 teams to dump him. It’s the Mariners turn on the Bradley-go-round.

Pitching for the Mariners is Jason Vargas, who was bounced between the rotation and the pen last year and is only getting this chance in the rotation as Cliff Lee is nursing strained abdomen. His record of 3-6 and 4.91 ERA last season were less than inspiring and he hasn’t shown enough to put our money behind.

The Texas Rangers wasted a brilliant effort by C.J. Wilson on Thursday as reliever Frank Francisco gave up three runs in the ninth inning. Even with the blown save, the Rangers have to be positive in what they’ve seen, for the better part of the decade the Rangers haven’t had any discernable pitching to keep them in a pennant race. Tonight Colby Lewis takes the mound, he is an even bigger question mark than Vargas is, this will be Lewis’ first start stateside since 2007 as he spent the past 2 season in Japan.

The Rangers have a formidable lineup but like the Mariners, they haven’t been connecting, Michael Young, Josh Hamilton and Julio Borbon had one hit between them in 30 at bats during the Jays series. Those numbers are horrible but should improve; the major factor is the loss of Ian Kinsler who has been the offensive catalyst for the Rangers over the past couple of seasons.

When picking a winner tonight is tough, you have two pitchers could get blown up by any other offense but with both teams swinging and missing beach balls it’s hard to get behind the over or the under. The Rangers have the advantage of playing at home, where the Mariners were 3-7 last season. I’ll take the Rangers at -145 because with pitching being equal, the Rangers have the better hitting if all the stars come through for both sides.

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