If the Mariners’ upcoming schedule doesn’t kill them first, there’s a good chance it’ll make them better. Beginning Tuesday, the Mariners play 23 games in 23 days, thanks to the makeup game in Cleveland that has been scheduled for next Monday — originally an off day.
The three-game series this week againt the Angels is an opportunity for the Mariners to leap-frog the Halos into first place. And after this series, the M’s have a great chance to get on a roll, with 20 games against teams with a combined record of 122-139.
Better yet, the Mariners will have a somewhat compete pitching staff with the return tonight of Felix Hernandez. Jeff Weaver remains on the disabled list with that (wink-wink) shoulder tendinitis, but some might say that’s a good thing after he’d gone 0-6.
Hernandez returns with the Mariners having weathered his absence well. They went 11-11 while he was gone, that success mostly due to the effective pitching of Jarrod Washburn, Cha Seung Baek and Miguel Batista (despite his poor outing Saturday). The Mariners are now one game over .500, perhaps a miracle considering they’d lost four straight games after Hernandez was hurt.
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