Seattle Mariners vs. Oakland A's Preview and Pick

Seattle Mariners (35-54) +180, 8 at Oakland A's (47-42), 10 pm Eastern Tuesday
by Zman of Predictem.com

West Coast divisional rivals meet again when the Seattle Mariners and Oakland A's play the second game of a four-game series Tuesday night at McAfee Coliseum.

Baseball Bookies are listing Oakland and All-Star pitcher Justin Duchscherer (9-5, 1.96, 0.92 WHIP) as –200 home chalk for Tuesday's game, with a total of 8, while Seattle and Carlos Silva (4-10, 5.85, 1.50 WHIP) are getting +180 as road underdogs.

Oakland took the opener of this series Monday night 4-3, breaking an eight-game home losing streak to the Mariners. Seattle rapped out 11 hits and drew five walks, but Oakland turned three double plays and threw two Ms out on the basepaths.

Seattle is 3-0-1 over its last four series, winning nine of its last 14 games, after splitting four games with the Detroit Tigers over the weekend. Oakland, meanwhile, is 0-2-1 in its last three series, after splitting four games with the White Sox in Chicago over the weekend.

So going into Tuesday's play, the A's sit in second place in the AL West, six games behind the division-leading Los Angeles Angels, while the Mariners are mired in last place, 19 games back of LA.

Seattle is 16-27 on the road this year, 20-32 as underdogs, and 40-48 vs. the run line.

Oakland is 27-22 at home this season, 27-18 as favorites, and 48-41 vs. the run line.

These two teams have split six games so far this year, with the totals going 1-4-1, as the games have averaged just 7.2 total runs per. Last year, the Mariners took 14 of 19 games from the A's, with the totals going 9-9-1, as the games averaged 9.2 total runs per.

Over his last three starts, including five-inning, five-run effort vs. Detroit last Thursday, Silva has allowed 11 ER and 28 baserunners (hits + walks) in 16 IP. Seattle is just 6-12 in Silva's starts this year, the totals 8-8.

Silva started twice against Oakland last year as a member of the Minnesota Twins, and once already this season for his new team, holding the A's to five ER and 16 BR in 21 2/3 IP. His teams won two of those three games, and two of them stayed under their totals.

Over his last three starts, including a seventh-straight outing of two ER or less last Thursday vs. the White Sox, Duchscherer has allowed four ER and 18 BR in 22 2/3 IP. Oakland is 9-5 in Duchy's starts this year, the totals 6-7.

Duchscherer, who leads the majors in ERA, has started one game vs. the Mariners this year, allowing two ER and six hits over five innings of a 5-3 Seattle victory back in April.

Offensively speaking, Seattle ranks 23rd in the majors this year in team batting at .256, 28th in team OBP at .315, 28th in team slugging at .375, and is averaging just 4.0 runs per game.

Oakland ranks 25th in batting at 250, 20th in OBP at .324, 29th in slugging at .375, and is averaging 4.4 RPG.

Over its last five games, the Seattle bullpen has allowed four ER and 20 BR in 24 innings of work.

Over its last five games, the Oakland pen has given up three ER and 11 BR in 13 2/3 IP.

On the injury front, Seattle 2B Jose Lopez is questionable for Tuesday' game with a bad wheel. On the other side, Oakland's DL still includes the names of SS Bobby Crosby, 3B Eric Chavez and DH Frank Thomas.

The totals are 39-45 in M's games this year, and their last four games have all gone under, as Seattle has scored just 11 runs over that span and given up just nine.

The totals are 33-49 in A's games this year, and their last five have all gone under, as Oakland has scored 18 runs and given up 16 in that span. And the totals are 20-26 in games played at McAfee Coliseum this year, which are averaging 7.5 total runs, 2nd-lowest among all ML ballparks.

Zman's Pick: I like the A's to beat Seattle handily tonight. Silva has been nothing more than a turd this year and he's likely to get beat up again tonight on the road.

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