Boston vs. Seattle (3 game series)

So the Red Sox enter there first home series of the year at 3-3. The starting pitching has looked great but, besides that, everything else has been lacking. There have been bad baserunning, bad fielding, bad relief, and bad hitting. That's a lot of bad. I think this is a great series to turn things around. Seattle is 2-1, and has been fighting the weather in Cleveland of late. This team is not a strong team in any facet of the game. The Mariners can be beat, now lets go out there and do it.

Pitching Matchups:
Beckett (1-0, 1.80) vs. Weaver (0-0, 0.00)
Matsuzaka (1-0, 1.29) vs. Hernandez (1-0, .00)
Wakefield (0-1, 1.50) vs. Washburn (0-0. 3.00)

Projected Lineups:

Boston:
1. J. Lugo, SS
2. K.Youkillis, 1b
3. D. Ortiz, DH
4. M. Ramirez, Lf
5. J. Drew, Rf
6. M. Lowell, 3b
7. J. Varitek, C
8. C. Crisp, Cf
9. D. Pedrioa, 2b

Seattle:
1. I. Suzuki, Cf
2. A. Beltre, 3b
3. J. Vidro, DH
4. R. Ibanez, Lf
5. R. Sexson, 1b
6. J. Guillen, Rf
7. K. Johjima, C
8. Y. Betancourt, SS
9. J. Lopez, 2b

Player to Watch: I am going to watch intently when the King, Felix Hernandez, takes the mound on Wednesday. He looked amazing in his first start and many believe this will be his year. He has dominant stuff, people are just waiting for him to show consistency. He will also be in the most exciting game of the young season. It will be Dice-K's first home start and against Ichiro none the less. Look for that to be a great pitching matchup and a great game.

The Shano Collins Award: This series winner has to be Jason Varitek. He has had an extremely rough go at it so far. Right not he has an OBP of .211 and is slugging .188. These numbers are brutal, to say the least. More to the point, over the past 3 years Tek has actually hit better away from Fenway. He adds .034 to his OPS on the road verse at home. Also, he has struggled against Seattle over the last 3 years. He loses .143 from his total OPS when playing against Seattle. Look for him to struggle against this less than impressive Mariners pitching.