Albatross.

The Mariners can pitch there's little doubt about that. Scoring runs, however, has been an issue for them. Some good news though: There was some talk of trying to get Erik Bedard into this series but they've apparently decided to hold him back until Tuesday against Baltimore.

Felix Hernandez brings his upper-nineties fastball and pretty strike out numbers to Fenway Park tonight. When he isn't striking people out, Hernandez gets plenty of ground ball outs. He gives up very, very few home runs. And he also throws around 115 per outing. Lefties do have a slightly better shot against him.

Garret Olson was the pitcher they were hoping to replace with Erik Bedard. Olson throws a high-eighties fastball, a slider, a curveball, and a change up. On May 16 he took the loss against Boston. He threw six innings and gave up five earned runs on four hits--including three homeruns (Varitek, Bailey, and Bay). He also walked four.

Brandon Morrow is making the transistion from a relief pitcher to a starter. Morrow has a mid-nineties fastball, a slider, a curveball, a changeup, and a split-fingered fastball. Too many walks, though. Lots of fly balls but not too many home runs.

With the loss of Adrian Beltre to a shoulder injury, their offense consists mostly of Ichiro Suzuki and Russell Branyon. They don't walk a lot. They don't strike out all that often. And except for Ichiro, they don't run very well--they kept running themselves out of innings against New York.

And because I can't think the word albatross without thinking of this: