Turns out that whole "technically Opening Day but not really Opening Day" thing in Tokyo might be a good thing, after all.
After the Seattle Mariners and Oakland A's squared off for a two-game series in Tokyo last week that oddly counted in the regular season standings, the Mariners have decided to reset their starting rotation for the "real" Opening Day this week.*
*Editor's note: "Opening Night" is Wednesday night. "Opening Day" is Friday.
That means the Rangers will miss "King Felix" when the Mariners come to town a week from today for a four-game set in Arlington. They were originally set to see the 2010 Cy Young winner on Wednesday.
Now, the Mariners will run out Hector Noesi, former Rangers farmhand Blake Beavan, former Rangers starter Kevin Millwood and Justin Vargas, who has actually had quite a bit of success against the Rangers in the past.
As Gerry Fraley of The Dallas Morning News points out, for the Rangers, this might not be such a great thing. The Rangers have actually had a lot of success against King Felix, something most other teams haven't figured out how to do yet.
In the last two seasons, Hernandez is 2-7 with a 4.57 ERA in 10 starts against the Rangers and 25-19 with a 2.58 ERA in 57 starts against the rest of baseball.
