#21: Mariners In Toronto's Unfriendly Confines

GAME: Mariners (10-10, T 2 AL West, – 5.5 GB) at Blue Jays (10-8, 4th, AL East, – 1.5 GB). GAME #: 21. SERIES: 1st of 3 games. MEETING (2012): 1st. WHEN: Friday, 4:07 p.m., Rogers Center, Toronto, Canada. PROBABLE PITCHERS: RHP Blake Beavan (Seattle 1-2, 3.26) vs. LHP Ricky Romero (Toronto, 3-0, 3.29). STREAKS: Mariners W 3; Blue Jays L 2. TV: ROOT Sports, MLB TV. RADIO: KIRO 710 (Seattle), Mariners Radio Network.

The Mariners launch a four-game series Friday in Toronto, where they have not won a game since Sept. 21, 2010, when they had a lineup that included position players Jose Lopez, Ryan Langerhans, Matt Tuiasosopo and Josh Wilson, and a starting pitcher named Luke French. In fact, the Mariners haven’t won a series at the former SkyDome since 2002.

To change that dynamic, the Mariners will hand the ball to Blake Beavan, who is coming off a 4-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox. Beaven will match throws with LHP Ricky Romero, 3-0 this year and 24-11, 3.42 all-time at the Rogers Center. A closer look at the duelists:

MARINERS: RHP Blake Beavan (1-2, 3.26 ERA, 1.08 WHIP)

The 23-year-old Beavan, in his second major league season and second with the Mariners, will be making his fourth start of the season and his first against the Blue Jays.

A native of Irving, TX., the 6-7, 240-pound Beavan was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the first round (17th pick) of the 2007 amateur draft.

After pitching in the minor leagues from 2008-11, Beavan made his major league debut July 3 against the San Diego Padres. He worked 7 IP, allowed three hits, two walks and one earned run in a 3-1 Seattle victory at Safeco Field.

Beavan became a Mariner July 9, 2010, when the Rangers traded him, along with Matthew Lawson (minors), Josh Lueke and Justin Smoak to Seattle for Cliff Lee, Mark Lowe and cash.

Beavan, who had 15 starts for the Mariners in 2011,  has a career record of 6-8, 4.10 ERA and 1.086 WHIP.

• LAST START: April 21 vs. Chicago, was the losing pitcher in Philip Humber’s perfect game at Safeco Field; allowed three runs on seven hits over 6.0 innings; allowed one home run among his 101 pitches, 70 for strikes.
• LAST VS. BLUE JAYS: Aug. 17, 2011, at Safeco Field, lost to former Mariner Brandon Morrow and the Blue Jays 5-1; allowed five earned runs on six hits over 5.0 innings, including three home runs (Adam Lind, Colby Rasmus, Edwin Encarnacion).
• CAREER VS. BLUE JAYS: 0-1, 9.00 ERA in 5.0 IP; has faced 22 Toronto batters and given up three home runs.
• AT ROGERS CENTER: Has never pitched in the Rogers Center.
• LOVES TO FACE: Brett Lawrie (0-for-2, .000 BA), Eric Thames (0-for-2, .000 BA).
• HATES TO FACE: Edwin Encarnacion (1-for-1, 1.000 BA, 1 HR), Jose Bautista (1-for-2, .500 BA), Colby Rasmus (1-for-2, .500 BA, 1 HR).
• CURRENT BLUE JAYS VS. BEAVAN: 5-for-15, .333 BA, 3 HRs, 1.37 OPS.

Beavan / 2012

• April 12 (L, 0-1): Worked 6.1 innings and allowed one earned run, but couldn’t overcome the start by Texas’ Neftali Feliz, who had eight shutout innings.
• April 15 (W, 1-1): Outdueled Graham Godfrey in a 5-3 win over the Oakland Athletics;  three earned runs on six hits over 7innings; seven ground-ball outs and 16 fly-ball outs.
• April 21 (L, 1-2): Was the losing pitcher in Philip Humber’s perfect game at Safeco Field; allowed three runs on seven hits over 6.0 innings; allowed one home run among his 101 pitches, 70 for strikes.

BLUE JAYS: LHP Ricky Romero (3-0, 3.29 ERA, 1.06 WHIP)

The 27-year-old Romero, in his fourth major league season, all with Toronto, will be making his fifth start of the 2012 season and his first against the Mariners.

A native of East Los Angeles, CA., 6-0, 220-pound Romero attend Cal State-Fullerton and was selected by the Blue Jays in the first round (sixth pick) of the 2005 amateur draft.

After pitching in Arizona’s system from 2006-08, Scherzer made his major league debut April 29, 2008 in a 6-4 loss to the Houston Astros. Scherzer worked 4.1 innings but did not factor in the decision.

After pitching in the Toronto system from 2005, first with Auburn of the New York-Penn League, Romero made his major league debut April 9, 2009, earning the victory in the Blue Jays’ 6-2 win over Detroit. Romero allowed four runs on four hits over 5.0 innings.

Romero has been a fixture in the Toronto rotation ever since, going 13-9, 4.30 in 2009, 14-9, 3.73 in 2010 and 15-11, 2.92 in 2011. Romero made his first American League All-Star team last summer.

Romero has appeared just once on an American League leaderboard, that in 2010 when he led the circuit with 18 wild pitches.

Romero will bring a career record of 45-29, 3.58 into Friday’s game at the Rogers Center.

• 2012: After receiving a no-decision in his first start, April 5 at Cleveland, Romero has reeled off three consecutive victories to stand 3-0. He had his best start April 11 against Boston, when he allowed one earned run over 8.1 innings in a 3-1 victory. Romero has allowed just two home runs in 27.1 IP.
• LAST START: April 22, defeated Kansas City 5-3, allowing two runs on five hits over 8.0 IP; struck out five, walked twothrew 104 pitches, 65 for strikes.
• LAST VS. MARINERS: July 21, 2011, took a no-decision in Toronto’s 7-5 victory over the Mariners, allowing four runs on five hits in 7.1 innings in a game that featured a grand slam by Miguel Olivo and three hits by Ichiro.
• CAREER  VS. MARINERS: Has made five starts against Seattle, going 1-1, 3.67 ERA in 34.1 innings; strikes out 7.9 Mariners per 9 IP; has allowed two home runs.
• AT ROGERS CENTER: Has made 46 starts with a 24-11 record and 3.42 ERA in 297.1 innings; fans 7.8 batters per 9 pitched; has allowed 28 long balls.
• LOVES TO FACE: Chone Figgins (0-for-8, .000 BA, 4 K’s), Justin Smoak (1-for-9, .111 BA), Brendan Ryan (2-for-10, .200 BA, 2 K’s).
• HATES TO FACE: Ichiro (8-for-16, .500 BA), John Jaso (2-for-4, .500 BA, 1 HR), Jesus Montero (1-for-3, .333 BA).
• CURRENT MARINERS VS. ROMERO: 22-for-81, .272 BA, 19 K’s, .680 OPS.

AL WEST STANDINGS

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road	Last 10	Streak
Rangers	15	4	.789	—	7-3	8-1	8-2	Won 2
Athletics	10	10	.500	5.5	6-7	4-3	6-4	Won 2
Mariners	10	10	.500	5.5	3-6	6-6	6-4	Won 3
Angels	6	13	.316	9.0	4-6	2-7	3-7	Lost 4

MARINERS / STATS NOTES

• The Mariners have now won three straight after losing four in a row.
• The Mariners are 165-187 all-time against the Blue Jays, who won six of the nine games played between the teams in 2011, outscoring Seattle 66-44.
• The Mariners have not taken a season series from Toronto since 2008.
• Seattle has not swept a series in Toronto since May 11-13, 2001, and has never swept a four-game series (the series starting Friday is four games).
• The Mariners scored 21 runs and had 37 hits in their three-game sweep of the Tigers.
• The Mariners have scored 53 of their 81 runs in the first four innings, including four Thursday, three in the first on a three-run bomb by Justin Smoak.
• The Mariners have been charged with five passed balls in the past three games, four by Miguel Olivo, one by Jesus Montero.
• Ichiro is a career .315 hitter at the Rogers Center (70×222).
• Since getting “perfecto-ed” by Philip Humber last Saturday, the Mariners are hitting .300 (45×150).
• After 20 games, the Mariners rank 11th in the AL in batting average (.240), 13th in on-base percentage (.291), 13th in slugging (.365) and 13th in OPS (.656).
• Through 20 games, the Mariners are batting 42-for-171 (.246) with runners in scoring position; they went 1-for-6 Thursday (.167).
• Through 20 games, the Mariners have been out-homered 23-15.
• Through 20 games, the Mariners have left 115 men on base, their opponents 122.
  
• Through 20 games, the Mariners have scored 81 runs, their opponents 81.
• Ichiro (0-for-4 Thursday) has 759 multi-hit games, which ranks fourth among active players, and No. 1 since his debut in 2001. Ichiro’s 47 games with four or more hits leads all active players.
• Ichiro’s three-hit game Wednesday (April 25) marked the 225th of his major league career.
• With 96 career home runs, Ichiro needs four to become the 12th Mariner with 100. Breakdown: 94 as a leadoff hitter, one batting second, one batting third.
• Felix Hernandez has 16 career no-decisions while throwing 7 or more innings and allowing one or fewer runs.
• The Mariners have four bases-loaded walks (Kawasaki, Ryan, Montero, Smoak), which leads the American League and is tied (w/SD) for the MLB lead. The Mariners had 13 bases-loaded walks last season,  T2nd in the AL.
• Kyle Seager’s single in the fourth inning April 17 marked the 50,000th hit in Mariners’ history, and Brendan Ryan’s walk in the same frame scored Justin Smoak with the 25,000th run in franchise history.
• Two Mariners, Ichiro (March 28 in Tokyo vs. Oakland) and Justin Smoak (April 17 vs. Cleveland) have four-hit games in 2012.
• Jesus Montero owns Seattle’s longest hitting streak: eight games, from March 29-April 14.
• The Mariners have been shut out three times (April 10 at Texas, April 13 vs Oakland, April 21 vs. Chicago).
• Four Mariners, Hisashi Iwakuma, Munenori Kawasaki, Lucas Luetge and Erasmo Ramirez, have made their MLB debuts this season.
• The Mariners have batted around three times: April 7 at Oakland (4th inning), April 9 at Texas (1st), and April 17 vs. Cleveland (4th). Justin Smoak had two hits in the fourth vs. Cleveland, a pair of singles.
• The Mariners have three more bobblehead nights: May 25 (Dustin Ackley), June 15 (Felix Hernandez), July 28 (Dan Wilson and Randy Johnson).
• Series Records: Won 3, split 0, lost 3; Sweeps: 0; Swept: 1
• Longest Win Streak: 3 (April 24-26).
• Longest Losing Streak: 4 (April 19-22).

2012 RECORDS SET, TIED

• April 24: Catcher Miguel Olivo matched the franchise record  when he was charged with three passed balls in a 7-4 win at Detroit. Jerry Narron let three balls get by him Oct. 4, 1980, and Jeff Clement did likewise Aug. 10, 2008 (Clement was catching knuckleballer R.A. Dickey).

MARINERS WON-LOSS BREAKDOWN

Rec.	Home	Road	Day	Night	vs. RHP	vs. LHP	Hit HR	No HR
10-10	3-6	7-4	1-3	8-8	8-7	2-3	8-4	2-6

MARINERS BATTING PROFILE

Avg.	Home	Road	R	HR	OBP	SLG	OPS	RISP
.240	.195	.272	81	15	.291	.365	.656	.246

MARINERS PITCHING PROFILE

Rec.	ERA	IP	R	ER	HR	BA	OBP	SLG
10-10	3.99	178.0	81	78	23	.244	.300	.392

PROBABLE PITCHERS

Date	Day	Opp.	Probable Pitchers
4/27	Fri	at Tor	Beavan (1-2, 3.26) vs. Romero (3-0, 3.29)
4/28	Sat	at Tor	Millwood (0-1, 7.04) vs. Morrow (1-1, 3.71)
4/28	Sun	at Tor	Vargas (3-1, 3.45) vs. Alvarez (0-2, 4.10)

MARINERS 2012 SCHEDULE/RESULTS

March

Gm.#	Date	Opp.	W/L	Rec.	Win / Loss
1	3/28	at Oak	W, 3-1	1-0	W: Wilhelmsen (1-0); L: Carignan (0-1)
2	3/29	at Oak	L, 4-1	1-1	W: Colon (1-0); L: Kelley (0-1)

April

Gm. #	Date	Opp.	W/L	Rec.	Win / Loss
3	4/6	at Oak	W, 7-3	2-1	W: Vargas (1-0); L: McCarthy (0-1)
4	4/7	at Oak	W, 8-7	3-1	W: Hernandez (1-0); L: Colon (1-1)
5	4/9	at Tex	L, 11-5	3-2	W: Darvish (1-0); L: Noesi (0-1)
6	4/10	at Tex	L, 1-0	3-3	W: Feliz (1-0); L: Beavan (0-1)
7	4/11	at Tex	W, 4-3	4-3	W: Luetge (1-0); L: Nathan (0-2)
8	4/12	at Tex	L, 5-3	4-4	W: Holland (1-0); L: Vargas (1-1
9	4/13	vs Oak	L, 4-0	4-5	W: Colon (2-1); L: Hernandez (1-1)
10	4/14	vs. Oak	W, 4-0	5-5	W: Noesi (1-1); L: Milone (1-1)
11	4/15	vs. Oak	W, 5-3	6-5	W: Beavan (1-1); L: Godfrey (0-2)
12	4/17	vs. Cle	L, 9-8	6-6	W: Perez (0-1); L: Furbush (0-1)
13	4/18	vs. Cle	W, 4-1	7-6	W: Vargas (2-1); L: Lowe (2-1)
14	4/19	vs. Cle	L, 2-1	7-7	W: Tomlin (1-1); L: League (0-1)
15	4/20	vs. CWS	L, 7-3	7-8	W: Sale (2-1); L: Noesi (1-2)
16	4/21	vs. CWS	L, 4-0	7-9	W: Humber (1-0); Beavan (1-2)
17	4/22	vs. CWS	L, 7-4	7-10	W: Danks (2-2); L: Millwood (0-1)
18	4/24	at Det	W, 7-4	8-10	W: Vargas (3-1); L: Scherzer (1-2)
19	4/25	at Det	W, 9-1	9-10	W: Fernandez (2-1); L: Wilk (0-3)
20	4/26	at Det	W, 5-4	10-10	W: Furbush (1-1); L: Porcello (1-2)
21	4/27	at Tor	—	—	—
22	4/28	at Tor	—	—	—
23	4/29	at Tor	—	—	—
24	4/30	at TB	—	—	—