There have been trade whispers surrounding Jason Vargas of the Mariners, so look for him to do well in a possible audition start tonight. He may not get much help from the Seattle offense though, so go ‘under’ in Texas on Tuesday.
In what could be a lower scoring game than the double-digit total suggests in an American League West matchup Tuesday night, Jason Vargas and the Seattle Mariners (21-30 overall, 12-17 away) take on Scott Feldman and the Texas Rangers (31-18 overall, 15-9 home) as the teams play the second game of a three-game series from Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, TX at 8:05 ET.
The posted total at 5 Dimes is 10 for this contest with the current odds on the ‘under’ set at -106.
The Rangers still have the best record in the American League and they lead the division by 6½ games over the second-place Los Angeles Angels, who are coming on a bit after wallowing in last place for most of the season. Now it is the Mariners that are in last place, 11 games behind Texas.
The Rangers took the series opener in a well pitched game 4-2last night, as Matt Harrison allowed two runs in eight innings for the Rangers and Kevin Millwood allowed one run on four hits in five innings before the Seattle bullpen lost the game. Tuesday’s Seattle starter Vargas may be in an audition spot, as rumors have been swirling that he may be traded soon, as the Mariners are not contenders and he has emerged as a sold starter since joining Seattle in 2009.
Plus he is left-handed, which by default increases his trade value.
Vargas is having another solid year, going 5-4 while pitching for a last place team with a nice 3.39 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and opponents batting only .215 off of him. He also has a nice ratio of 48 strikeouts vs. 17 walks and he is coming off of his fifth Quality Start in his last six outings on Thursday, when he held the Los Angeles Angels to three runs in seven innings with six strikeouts and not a single walk in an unfortunate 3-0 loss.
Sadly, games like that have just been part of life while pitching in Seattle, as the Mariners have never had a good offense in Vargas’s time there and they are struggling again this year, ranking second to last in the American League in batting at .226, ahead of only the putrid Oakland Athletics (.211). The Mariners have now scored a grand total of 11 runs during their current five-game losing streak while batting a hideous .160 over those games.
Granted, the last time Seattle won a game it was vs. tonight’s Texas starter Feldman at home last Wednesday 5-3. However, while the Mariners have gone into a funk since that game, the Rangers have caught fire by winning four straight games as they swept the Toronto Blue Jays in a three-game series this past weekend before last night’s win. Still, Vargas has pitched well in his last three starts in Texas, allowing seven earned runs and in 19.2 innings (3.20 ERA).
Feldman allowed all five runs last week in just 4.1 innings, but he had allowed three runs or less in his previous three starts vs. the Mariners, and given the performance of the Seattle offense in the last five games, we are expecting a return to that kind of form tonight.
Now Feldman does not tend to work deeply into games, but that is not necessarily a bad thing when you consider that Texas leads all of baseball with a 2.15 bullpen ERA, and that pen has a fantastic 0.86 WHIP over 147 innings!
Therefore, look for Vargas to pitch well but get very little run support as usual, and for the ‘under’ to improve to 8-4 in all of his starts at this double-figure number on Tuesday.
The posted total at 5 Dimes is 10 for this contest with the current odds on the ‘under’ set at -106.
The Rangers still have the best record in the American League and they lead the division by 6½ games over the second-place Los Angeles Angels, who are coming on a bit after wallowing in last place for most of the season. Now it is the Mariners that are in last place, 11 games behind Texas.
The Rangers took the series opener in a well pitched game 4-2last night, as Matt Harrison allowed two runs in eight innings for the Rangers and Kevin Millwood allowed one run on four hits in five innings before the Seattle bullpen lost the game. Tuesday’s Seattle starter Vargas may be in an audition spot, as rumors have been swirling that he may be traded soon, as the Mariners are not contenders and he has emerged as a sold starter since joining Seattle in 2009.Plus he is left-handed, which by default increases his trade value.
Vargas is having another solid year, going 5-4 while pitching for a last place team with a nice 3.39 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and opponents batting only .215 off of him. He also has a nice ratio of 48 strikeouts vs. 17 walks and he is coming off of his fifth Quality Start in his last six outings on Thursday, when he held the Los Angeles Angels to three runs in seven innings with six strikeouts and not a single walk in an unfortunate 3-0 loss.
Sadly, games like that have just been part of life while pitching in Seattle, as the Mariners have never had a good offense in Vargas’s time there and they are struggling again this year, ranking second to last in the American League in batting at .226, ahead of only the putrid Oakland Athletics (.211). The Mariners have now scored a grand total of 11 runs during their current five-game losing streak while batting a hideous .160 over those games.
Granted, the last time Seattle won a game it was vs. tonight’s Texas starter Feldman at home last Wednesday 5-3. However, while the Mariners have gone into a funk since that game, the Rangers have caught fire by winning four straight games as they swept the Toronto Blue Jays in a three-game series this past weekend before last night’s win. Still, Vargas has pitched well in his last three starts in Texas, allowing seven earned runs and in 19.2 innings (3.20 ERA).
Feldman allowed all five runs last week in just 4.1 innings, but he had allowed three runs or less in his previous three starts vs. the Mariners, and given the performance of the Seattle offense in the last five games, we are expecting a return to that kind of form tonight.
Now Feldman does not tend to work deeply into games, but that is not necessarily a bad thing when you consider that Texas leads all of baseball with a 2.15 bullpen ERA, and that pen has a fantastic 0.86 WHIP over 147 innings!
Therefore, look for Vargas to pitch well but get very little run support as usual, and for the ‘under’ to improve to 8-4 in all of his starts at this double-figure number on Tuesday.
Mariners, Rangers ‘under’ 10 (-106) ---
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