Sport: MLBPick Selection: A's @ M's: Seattle
I'm laying the price with SEATTLE. Yesterday's loss has caused tonight's game to become absolutely critical. The Mariners simply can't afford to keep falling further behind in the Wildcard standings. I expect them to have a significant advantage in this evening's "battle of southpaws." For starters, Oakland has hit .264 against left-handers while Seattle has hit .295 against them, averaging a healthy 5.4 runs per game. With those kind of offensive numbers, it's no surprise that Seattle has gone a highly profitable 24-10 (+16.4!) against southpaws for the season. That includes a PERFECT 10-0 mark the last 10 times that they faced a left-hander here in Seattle. Washburn gets the call and he's been excellent against Oakland this season, allowing only 11 hits and five runs in 20 innings. That's a 2.25 ERA! Not surprisingly, the Mariners won all three of those games. On the other hand, Braden has faced the Mariners once this season, here in late July. It was a forgettable experience as he allowed 7 runs (4 earned) in just four innings, en route to a 7-1 loss. Losses have been commonplace for Braden though as he is 1-7 with a terrible 6.92 ERA as a starter. Those numbers have been getting worse instead of better. In fact, over his last three starts, Braden has a 12.70 ERA and 2.293 WHIP, averaging less than four innings per start. Look for the highly motivated Mariners to hit Braden hard as they continue their dominance against left-handers and pick up this "must win" game.
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Handicappers
