We’ll hear from manager Eric Wedge in about an hour and a half on the whys and what-fors, but the Mariners have decided to start Blake Beavan in Sunday’s game against the Padres.
The choice — at least by us doing the speculation yesterday based on the clues laid by Wedge — was between Beava
n and Luke French, both at Class AAA Tacoma and both with enough time between starts to allow them to pitch Sunday.
The case for French was that he’s on the 40-man roster and he’s pitched in the big leagues before. The case against him was that he’s 4-6 with a 6.25 ERA in 15 starts. In his past six starts, French is 4-1. But, in those six games his ERA is 6.62.
Beavan isn’t on the 40-man, which means the Mariners must clear a spot there as well as their 25-man roster (speculation here, but can we say good-bye to Jose Yepez now?). Beavan is 5-3, 4.45 in 16 starts, his last being Tuesday in Las Vegas. That wasn’t much of an outing for Beavan — 4 innings, 12 hits and six earned runs to end a string of five straight starts of six innings or more. But, I guess, what happens in Vegas really will stay in Vegas.
This situation developed early in the week when the Mariners placed starter Erik Bedard on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained left knee.
In other news, we have a Jack Wilson sighting in tonight’s Mariners lineup. Along with Jack Cust and Chone Figgins. What is this? Turn back the clock to April? Again, we’ll wait to hear from Wedge, but it looks like second baseman Dustin Ackley’s ribs remain too sore to allow him to start. Same thing with Miguel Olivo and his sore left leg, apparently, because Josh Bard is starting.
Here’s the Mariners’ lineup tonight against Padres left-hander Cory Luebke:
Ichiro Suzuki, right field
Brendan Ryan, second base
Franklin Gutierrez, center field
Justin Smoak, first base
Greg Halman, left field
Jack Cust, DH
Josh Bard, catcher
Chone Figgins, third base
Jack Wilson, second base
Starting pitcher: Right-hander Doug Fister (3-8, 3.18)
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