Musgrove And Gilbert Should Keep Bases Clear

Mariners vs. Padres, 9:40 ET

Baseball has been extremely average for me this season. I suppose regression was due with back-to-back outstanding years. However, this year isn't over, and I'm not ready to give up. I want to really hit a groove and start getting a run going on the diamond. No sense in putting this off until tomorrow, let's get it today in a game where the Mariners take on the Padres.

The Mariners are having a bit of a disappointing season after making the playoffs last year. I do think they probably over-performed last season and they are coming back down to more about the level of their talent. They are currently sitting in fourth place within their division, and realistically, it is only June, but they are probably not going to make the playoffs. The Rangers and Astros will likely battle for the division crown, and the two wild cards are probably going to go to one of them or two of the AL East teams. The Padres are disappointing this season. There really isn't much more of a discussion to have. This team is not performing up to levels of expectations or even talent. They have four hitters that could be the best player on the majority of teams in baseball. Their pitching staff doesn't have quite the same level, but they could have three pitchers that would be staff aces on other squads as well. To be sitting four games under .500 in June is pretty sad. Sure, they can turn it around, but this team is certainly underperforming.

The pitching staff for the Mariners hasn't been anything exciting outside of Luis Castillo. Logan Gilbert, their starter for today, hasn't been bad by any means. In May he was able to post four of six starts as quality starts, and has six quality starts out of his 11 starts. He has been very good against the Padres in somewhat limited exposure to them. They have just five hits in 33 at-bats, and only two of them have been doubles. Joe Musgrove might be finding his Joe Mus-groove right now. (Pause for pity laughs here.) He has back-to-back strong starts where he allowed just one earned run in both of his six-inning starts. Before that, he had two straight starts where he allowed four earned runs. The Padres starter might be back into the consistent form he was in last year. The Mariners also haven't been very lucky against Musgrove either as they are just 8-for-39 against him, but five of those hits are extra base hits.

I've had a bad stretch of unders lately, but I'm going with another one here today. I like the under through four innings. History shows the pitchers are better than the hitters in these matchups. Gilbert has been in worse form, so maybe taking Musgrove and the Padres through five might be the right way to go. But, I will take under 4 through five innings at -115.

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