After a series sweep against the Cleveland Indians, the Texas Rangers have pulled two games behind the Red Sox for the wild card lead.
Tomorrow starts a crucial nine game home stand that the Rangers need to take advantage of. With the Angels coming into town for three next week, Texas can even still think about the A.L. West crown.
The first opponent on their home stand is the Seattle Mariners. Quietly they are four games above .500 coming into tonight, and are about to pass the Tampa Bay Rays for 3rd place in the wild card standings.
Geoff Baker, Mariners blogger for The Seattle Times, was kind enough to answer our questions about the upcoming series from the Mariners view.
Three of Brandon Morrow's four losses came against the Rangers this season. How has he progressed from relief roles to the starting role and how did he do in Triple A?
Morrow has struggled at the major league level in making the transition because he has to rely on more than fastballs when he starts. He has an excellent breaking ball at times, but struggles to get it over for strikes. When he can, he really keeps the hitters off balance. That's been his key in AAA so far. He went 5-0 in August with an excellent ERA because he was changing speeds and getting the breaking ball over. Was slowed recently by a blister and forearm stiffness, which is something to watch for this weekend.
How have Mariners' fans felt about the job that Don Wakamatsu has done in his first year?
The fans love Don Wakamatsu and the patience he's shown with this group. There have been times where the team was going bad where even the most patient managers would have blown their stacks in public. But even when he is irritated, Wakamatsu does his best to remain on an even keel and the players have followed suit. One minor irritant for the fans is that Wakamatsu often stays a bit too cool for their taste when arguing an umpire's call. They would like to see him make his point more emphatically and actually get ejected from a game. His recent bullpen handling and been subject to some questions but he's got two hands tied behind his back with a staff that's running out of gas.
Talk about how the Mariners bullpen has performed this month. What can Rangers fans expect from them?
The pitchers who have carried this excellent bullpen all season are all above their career highs for appearances and innings pitched. Expect to see David Aardsma and Mark Lowe only come in for the final two innings when the Mariners are ahead. The team would like to limit Shawn Kelley to appearing only when the team is ahead as well, but can't always do so. Sean White had an MRI yesterday and his sore arm is showing signs of the fatigue the team had feared. Miguel Batista looks to have little left to offer. Chris Jakubauskas has a stiff shoulder and is unlikely to see action this weekend. Luke French has been put in long relief along with Jason Vargas to try to hold down the fort -- along with AAA callup Randy Messenger. But it will be a struggle to finish the season with this crew without blowing a few more games.
Who is the most underrated Mariners player?
I'd say the most underrated is still Franklin Gutierrez, who is the clear-cut MVP of this team both offensively and defensively. It's not even close, though some will have him third behind Russell Branyan and Ichiro. Gutierrez may be the best defensive outfielder in baseball at the moment. And he's given a near .800 OPS in center most of the year. That's Vernon Wells (a nice Arlington example for you) at 40 times less the cost.
The most overrated?
The most overrated would have to be Kenji Johjima in terms of salary versus performance. It had been Yuniesky Betancourt before he got traded. Johjima is making $8 million per season, about eight times the going rate for what he brings to the table. He is now a backup to Rob Johnson, a guy struggling to hit .200 much of the year in his own right. Johjima's bat has power, but it isn't consistent. Many of the pitchers do not like throwing to him. And now, with Adam Moore in AAA ready for the majors, the Mariners are under contract with Johjima for two more years, $16 million total.
It sounds like Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Sweeney are both interested in playing 
in 2010? What are your thoughts and fans thoughts about it?
I think there might be a spot for Sweeney, who has actually started hitting like a DH the past five weeks, is relatively pain-free right now and a positive clubhouse impact. Griffey has been excellent in the clubhouse, but has not produced on the field. He is arguably the worst regular DH in the AL, though he now platoons almost exclusively against righthanders. His knee has been acting up to the point where he can barely play more than once or twice a week. As good as the clubhouse impact has been, I can't see the justification for a club this poor offensively to use up a roster spot on a 40-year-old Griffey next season. He should take the heat off the club and announce his retirement, because he is putting the Mariners in an unfair position of looking like the bad guys here if they go in another direction. They have already promised him a job in some capacity going forward, but it should be off the field because he is adding little on it in terms of production.
For more of Geoff's work, you can visit here:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/marinersblog/
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