Mariners @ Royals

I should open this by explaining that I have a Ryan Franklin #45 t-shirt, among my other Mariners player t-shirts that I've gotten in the last few years. For some reason, I like the underdog sort of pitcher.

Ryan Franklin has been known to be an inconsistent pitcher in the past, and I won't deny it. The one good thing about the guy that most people have agreed with, at least, is that he eats innings.

Today, he put in a brilliant showing. 8.2 innings, a shutout for the first 8, 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 1 strikeout, no home runs. He threw 83 pitches, 64 of them for strikes. That's 77% strikes. That's awesome. Gil Meche was yanked with 89 pitches on him in the 4th inning yesterday.

Our rotation is having issues, with Madritsch recently out with a ligament tear in his shoulder, and Meche being moved back a day in the rotation with a sore elbow. Pineiro apparently did well in his recent rehab assignment in Tacoma, so it's looking like this week, we'll be getting:

Monday: Franklin. W 8-2.
Tuesday: day off, for some unknown reason. Tuesday??
Wednesday: Sele - let's hope he has a decent showing.
Thursday: Moyer again, right?
Friday: Piniero
Saturday: Meche

What a lot of people are failing to notice is that Franklin's done a great service to the Mariners' bullpen. Between his 8 2/3 innings today, and the day off tomorrow, there'll be a lot of rested arms incase Sele needs them on Wednesday.

So, three cheers to Ryan Franklin. We salute you.

We also salute Beltre on his first home run of the year, and the rest of the boys for a damn fine rally in the 8th inning. Looks like everyone except Ibanez got a taste of being on base that inning, which is great. Now let's just hope that's not all the run support Ryan Franklin will be getting for the year!