The King is one half of the marquee matchup of the early week.

Series of the Week – Early Edition

Los Angeles Angels at Seattle Mariners, Monday through Wednesday

Looking at the schedule even just a month ago, there would have been no reason to imagine this series being as significant as it has become. As of this writing, the Mariners trail the Angels by just four games. The Mariners will need to take at least two out of three for the series to be a success, and a sweep would have the Mariners breathing right down the Angels’ neck.

The marquee matchup of the series comes on Wednesday, as Jered Weaver (7-5, 3.68) takes on the King, Felix Hernandez (7-6, 3.85). Hernandez is finally pitching as we thought he should, with five of his last six starts have been quality starts. In those six, Hernandez has struck out 32 while walking 14. Weaver had thrown six straight quality starts before being knocked around in his last start, allowing eleven hits, one walk, and six earned runs to the Tigers in 5 1/3 innings. The Mariners might not be the best team for him to try to turn things around against either – in his one other meeting with them this year, Weaver lasted just 4 2/3 innings, and he surrendered nine hits, three walks, and five earned runs before getting the hook.

The hitter to watch for the Angels is Vladimir Guerrero. Why Vlad? While he is hitting .313 for the month of July, the power numbers have been sorely lacking. In 101 June at-bats, Guerrero drove in 26 RBI – his third straight month with at least 23 RBI. This month, however, in 83 at-bats, Guerrero has just eight. None of those RBI has come thanks to a home run, as he has not homered since June 23. Maybe the Angels do need to go out and get some hitters other than Guerrero after all.

Power problems have not been an issue for the Mariners’ hitter to watch, nor has much of anything of late. That hitter would be Adrian Beltre, who is in his best month to date this season. In 90 at-bats so far for July, Beltre is hitting .333 with 5 homers, 26 RBI, 10 runs, and 2 stolen bases. The homers have not been the only power, as he also has 11 doubles, giving him a .622 SLG for the month.

Series of the Week – Weekend Edition

Arizona Diamondbacks at San Diego Padres

The Diamondbacks control the division right now, but that lead is far from comfortable, with the Dodgers right behind them and the Padres easily within striking distance. The series is crucial for both teams, with the Diamondbacks looking to get some distance and the Padres looking to hang in. Kicking off this series for the Diamondbacks is Yusmeiro Petit. Petit came over to the Diamondbacks in a ridiculously lopsided deal for would-be closer Jorge Julio, and he has shown why he was an elite prospect two seasons ago, yet also still occasionally shows that there is work to be done. Although he has only allowed three or more runs twice in six starts and only once more than three, Petit has only two quality starts thanks to now being able to complete six innings just twice in his six starts. As the season goes on, Petit should be able to figure out how to pitch past six, and he should live up to the advanced billing he received while he was a Met. For the Padres, it is their ace, Jake Peavy. Peavy is 10-5 with a 2.41 ERA with 144 strikeouts and just 40 walks in 138 innings. Peavy at this point has to be considered one of the favorites for the Cy Young award.

The hitter to watch for the padres is Marcus Giles. Will he ever get on track? Giles hit .327 in April, then went on to hit .220 in May, .208 in June, and is hitting just .148 this month. Yep, this is so much better than having Josh Barfield. Giles needs to get on track if the Padres are going to be playoff material, and at least hit close to what he was hitting with the Braves the rest of the way. Right now, that certainly does not look possible.

Our Diamondback hitter to spotlight is Orlando Hudson. While he does have nine homers, he has actually been in a rather long drought. Sure, he did homer on the 23rd and 24th of this month, but those are his only two homers in over six weeks. His average has taken a significant dip of late as well, with just a .244 batting average over the past month. Hudson does not have any speed to make up for that, either; after a career-high of nine last year, Hudson has just three this year, and he has not even attempted a stolen base since June 10.