This weekend the Birds face off against a bunch of dudes who apparently play for the Mariners now. They come to town riding a 4 game losing streak and even though the bats were cool last night, the Cards are 5-1 so far on the homestand. So this is a huge opportunity for the to stay hot and get some separation in the Central.

So who are these guys anyway? Kendrys Morales is probably the biggest threat in their lineup, he leads the team with a .280 avg. and has 21 homers. He comes in hot, hitting .300 with 4 bombs in the past 6 games. Also, third baseman Kyle Seager is having a decent season, hitting .274 with 22 homers and 66 RBI. But don’t forget about 41 year old vet/soul patch wearer Raul Ibanez, he’s still capable of putting one into the seats. Raul’s stats are a microcosm of the team. They are hitting .240, which is good enough for last in the AL, but are 3rd in the bigs in terms of homers.

Let’s take a look at the pitching matchups.

Game 1: Wainwright 16-9, 3.03 ERA vs. Iwakuma 12-6, 2.97 ERA
Waino will face Hisashi Iwakuma who has been a bright spot in an otherwise shit sandwich rotation. Other than King Felix of course, who the Cards will miss. Iwakuma has pitched very well this season, so Wainwright will need to continue to build off his previous solid outing.

Game 2: Wacha 3-0, 2.72 ERA vs. Paxton 1-0, 1.50 ERA
Rookie vs. Rookie. Paxton is making his second ML start and the Birds better bring their bats because not only is he a rookie, he’s *gasp* a lefty! Can we just rough up a rookie starter? I don’t care if he’s a lefty or not.

Game 3: Miller 13-9, 3.05 ERA vs. Ramierez 5-1, 4.87 ERA
I have no idea who Erasmo Ramirez is either. Let’s just get rack up some W’s.

Now let’s take a trip in the way back machine to remember the Mariners in their prime.