MLB
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Texas Rangers (Ponson) at Seattle Mariners (Batista)
 

The Rangers and Mariners continue their series tonight in Safeco Field.  The Mariners broke their losing streak last night in their return home with a 7-3 win over the Rangers.  Tonight, they’ll send cagey veteran Miguel Batista to the hill.  The right-hander owns a 4.41 ERA on the season, but I think he’s undervalued at the moment.  The Mariners starter felt a revelation a few starts back after making a few adjustments in his delivery.  He noticed the opposition was acting strangely to his stuff, while having a difficult time picking up the baseball.  I watched his outing against the Cleveland Indians last out, and could clearly see what he was talking about.  Note he allowed just one earned run in seven frames, while striking out six.  Keep in mind, Batista didn’t match-up very well against the Tribe line-up.  As I like to say, he was pitching a bit uphill.  The Mariners bullpen has the look of an improving unit as finally JJ Putz finds his bearings, while taking the pressure off everyone else.  Meanwhile, ‘Sir’ Sydney Ponson will toe the rubber for the Rangers.  Last year Ponson tried to make it with the Minnesota Twins, which turned into a failed experiment by the end of May.  The Rangers spotted Ponson at a Florida tryout and obviously has now given him an opportunity.  Intriguing as the hefty right-hander certainly seems to be taking his ‘last chance’ very seriously.  He’s been ‘crisp’ in his first two starts allowing just two combined runs in 13.1 innings, which includes a strong 9/3 SO/BB ratio.  His GB:FB ratio is always over 2:1, which is a real strong sign that his stuff is there.  In fact, I was somewhat shocked when I read some of the postgame comments surrounding ‘Sir Sid’.  Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia stated, "His stuff was nasty. His changeup was tumbling."  Kansas City Royals David Dejesus noted, "He looked totally like a different pitcher from last year, when we faced him in Minnesota. He was throwing harder and he had more command of his stuff."  Yes, it’s still tricky to get overly excited about Ponson, but he can match-up here and keep the Rangers in the game.  I’m going to take a shot with the Mariners/UNDER parlay and look for a nice payday in this game.