Series Preview: Colorado Rockies vs Seattle Mariners

Aug 4, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Seattle Mariners shortstop B. Miller (5) steals second under the tag of Colorado Rockies shortstop J. Reyes (7) in the ninth inning at Coors Field. The Mariners defeated the Rockies 10-4. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

SERIES KEYS FOR THE ROCKIES

Expanded rosters make for long games

No kidding, right? With Walt Weiss clearly interested in bringing out the bullpen again and again and again, these games go long. But they also do something good for the Rockies: they audition guys for 2016. Already in the last few weeks I’ve become more excited about Miguel Castro and Justin Miller doing things for the club in 2016, and far less excited about Jason Gurka and the (now-demoted) Tommy Kahnle. Funny how that works.

Play for nothing…

The Colorado Rockies have been out of it for quite a while, but now it’s a mathematical certainty (as well as yet another season finishing under .500). Can the Rockies motivate themselves enough to keep playing even though they (and the Mariners) are playing for absolutely nothing?

Yohan!

My boy Yohan starts Saturday night in Seattle, and it’ll actually be an interesting bounce back start for him. He had his first and only truly bad start of the year last Sunday against the Giants, so how he reacts Saturday night at Safeco Field is important. Also, the Mariners haven’t really seen him this year (Flande got a win last month after throwing an inning of relief at Coors Field), so he can probably use his relative anonymity to his favor.

Just a few more days with Kyle Kendrick

The Colorado Rockies have 22 more games left at the start of this series. That means roughly four more starts from Kyle Kendrick. And then we’re free! Yay! We’re free!

(I know, Kendrick alone is not responsible for the fact that this team sucks. But you must admit — Kendrick has been a special kind of awful this season.)

Next: Let's Meet The Seattle Mariners

Aug 5, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Seattle Mariners right fielder N. Cruz (23) reacts after scoring a run in the fourth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Let’s Meet The Mariners

The Seattle Mariners were supposed to be really good this year (certain people thought they might even make the playoffs and, say, challenge for a World Series) but like the Washington Nationals, they’ve done nothing but disappoint.

Part of that isn’t entirely their fault; the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers are both way better than anybody thought they’d be, so there is that. The AL West turns out to be a fairly strong division, all things being equal.

But even so, the Mariners had higher hopes that what they’ve been thus far able to do this season.

So with that, let’s meet ’em:

For Mariners, relevance was fun while it lasted (Seattle Times).
That’s a pretty brutal take on the Mariners’ irrelevance this year (and kind-of winning streak recently that didn’t end up going anywhere), but that gives you a pretty good idea of where M’s fans and writers are with a club that was supposed to be significantly better than sub-.500.

Where did the Mariners go wrong? (Fox Sports/JABO).
More on the Mariners, and how they should’ve been much better than what they are. A good primer if you aren’t familiar at all with Seattle and need to know why they’ve underachieved so incredibly this year.

Mariners interview Jerry Dipoto for GM job (Lookout Landing).
Rockies ties! Jerry Dipoto, who of course was a pitcher for the Colorado Rockies during his playing days, recently left his gig as general manager of the Los Angeles Angels and has taken on an advisory role with the Boston Red Sox for the time being. But, the Mariners need a new GM after firing their old one, so, here we are.

108-year old M’s fan walked unlikely path to history (SI.com).
The Mariners had a 108-year old woman throw out the first pitch recently, and she achieved baseball history in the process (guess what the record was…). For reference: she was 70 (SEVENTY!!!) when the Mariners were created in 1977. Jesus…

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