Seattle @ Boston preview
Fenway Park
Last Meeting ( Jul 25, 2010 ) Boston 2, Seattle 4
In the midst of the most inconsistent season of his nine-year career, John Lackey is hoping that some familiar faces will get him back on track.
Lackey (11-7) will draw the start on Monday when the Boston Red Sox host the Seattle Mariners in the opener of a three-game series at Fenway Park.
With the Red Sox still 5 1/2 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the wild-card chase and 6 1/2 in arrears of the pace-setting New York Yankees in the AL East, there's little margin of error for Boston entering the final six weeks of the season.
Lackey’s record is deceptive. He has pitched more like a No. 4 or 5 starter than the pitcher who was signed to a hefty five-year, $82.5 million contract in the offseason.
But, given that the Mariners have historically been one of Lackey's favorite opponents - not to mention they are one of the league's worst road teams – neither Lackey nor Boston can afford to squander this opportunity with a three-game showdown looming at Tampa Bay over the weekend.
Lackey, who spent his entire career with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim before coming east, is 12-9 with a 3.70 ERA in 26 lifetime starts against Seattle. Most of those losses, though, came in the first half of his tenure in Anaheim.
Since 2007, Lackey has practically owned the Mariners, going 6-1 with a no-decision in eight starts. During that stretch, he has three complete-game shutouts and allowed more than two runs just twice against Seattle.
Then again, the Lackey of 2010 is a different animal. He is allowing opponents to bat a career-high .291 against him, and his ERA (4.62) ranks among the worst of his career. And while he has reached double-digit wins for the eighth straight season, he receives ample run support – just a shade under six runs per game in his last 15 starts.
Frustratingly, in one of his best three-start clusters of the season, Lackey had little to show for it, coming away with one victory and a pair of no-decisions.
One of those outings may have been his finest effort of the season, when he had a no-hitter through 7 2/3 innings against Seattle on July 22.
Lackey exited the game having allowed one run on two hits in eight-plus innings, but then had to watch Boston's bullpen implode and surrender five runs in the ninth to send the game into extra innings.
The Red Sox shook off a 16-2 beating on Friday night to take the final two games of their series with the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Mariners limp into town fresh off a rain-soaked 10-0 drubbing at the hands of the Yankees. They lost the final two games of the series, getting outscored 19-5, and will be wrapping up a season-high 12-game road trip.
Seattle starter Doug Fister (4-8) hasn’t been the same since coming off the disabled list in late June. He was tagged for five runs on 10 hits in just five innings last time out against Baltimore, and prior to that he allowed just one run on seven hits in six innings against Oakland to snap a seven-game losing streak.