Texas Rangers (61-45) at Seattle Mariners (40-67)

So, the question continues to linger, how long will the boomsticks be broken? The Rangers can't put together much of an offense of late, much like I was referring to in yesterday's post.

Let us start by what has been happening in the last week. Vlad and Andrus are 6-24. They are tied for the team lead in at-bats, although is should be said that Vlad has nine RBI over the last six games and has been doing what he can to carry this team during the drought. And I do mean carry this team. Do you know in the last six games, the Rangers have 20 RBI. Vlad has nine of those. Nelson Cruz is 6-23 with 4 RBI and he is second in the knocking them in. And if that is the highlights of everything (and it is), something has to change, or this is going to get ugly. Guerrero has hit .358 with 13 homers and 44 RBIs in 50 games at Safeco; his average is the highest for any player with at least 200 at-bats at Seattle's ballpark.

Texas had won eight of 10 against the Mariners this year before Tuesday, including a three-game sweep at Seattle from April 30-May 2. But the Mariners will now have two chances for their first series victory against any opponent since they took two of three at Yankee Stadium from June 29-July 1.

C.J. Wilson comes into this one with a 3.11 ERA and a 10-5 record. He has been phenomenal this season as a starter and what I would call an Ace in the making and definitely a strong #2 guy. He has two starts this season against the Mariners, both going seven innings. He did so in Seattle on May 2nd, giving up one run for a no-decision. The other game was on June 9th, where he gave up two runs. In July, Wilson went seven innings once in six starts (a 1-0 game against the Angels where he tossed eight innings), but despite the lower amount of innings per start, he did go 4-2 (snagging a decision in each of those six starts). 

The current Mariners roster is 22-91 off Wilson with 1 HR and six RBI.

• Jose Lopez is 8-16 with 2 doubles and 1 RBI
• Franklin Gutierrez is 3-7 with a HR and 4 RBI

Now, onto Fister. Doug Fister is the starter for the Mariners and he was the other starter in the May 2nd game against Wilson. He tossed eight shutout innings. Last year, he had one outing against the Rangers and got slammed, handing out hits like cookies to kids. The Rangers knocked him for 10 hits in 4.2 innings and tagged him for only five runs. Fister only managed to walk one batter and he somehow fanned one (I am thinking swinging here), but gave up two homeruns. What is noticeable is that Fister kept the contact to just groundballs (15 to 9 flyouts), and really has done that only once since that time. I can't think that will repeat itself, especially when you consider that there are going to be three new faces this time around.

The current Ranger roster against Fister looks like this (in it's entirety).

• Nelson Cruz is1-3
• Josh Hamilton is 0-3
• Michael Young is 0-3
• Vladimir Guerrero is 1-4
• Julio Borbon is 1-6 with a RBI
• Elvis Andrus is 1-6
• David Murphy is 2-6 with a HR and RBI

Combine that all together and you get 6-31 with a HR and two RBI. Another noticeable thing is that there are no walks for any Ranger, but only three strikeouts. Phew. Still, a .194 batting/on-base percentage really does suck no matter how flowery you try to make it. And combine that with the cold baseball bats, it doesn't look good for the Rangers tonight. Maybe it is the anticipation of the auction today, maybe with this drama being over by gametime, things will settle down and get back to hitting a ball, catching a ball, throwing a ball. By the way, Cuban has the top bid right now.

Forecast: Rangers drop this one, 2-1