With his agent in town to negotiate a contract extension, Kelvim Escobar has an incentive to continue pitching well. His maddening inconsistency seems a thing of the past, as he's 4-0 with a 1.68 ERA in his last six starts, allowing more than two runs just once in that stretch. Since June 3, apart from a disastrous outing on three days' rest against the Yankees and the Jeff Conine beanball incident, when he lost concentration (and the game) in one bad inning, Kelvim's been superb. If you ignore those two blips, his ERA is 2.14 in his last 12 starts.
The Mariners couldn't solve Escobar last Thursday, when he scattered eight hits and a couple of walks over seven innings, striking out seven. He can expect some run support against Ryan Franklin, who was knocked out in the fourth inning last Wednesday after blowing a 5-0 lead. In his career against Toronto (that start and five relief appearances, totalling 14 IP) Franklin boasts a 13.50 ERA and has held the Jays to a .403 average. Josh Phelps and Bobby Kielty are both in the lineup; Catalanotto usually plays against righties, but at least for tonight, he's on the bench with Woodward, Wilson, Berg and Cash.
We apologize on behalf of the Advance Scout, a victim of technical difficulties. This is the most favourable pitching matchup of the series for Toronto; it's Meche vs. Towers tomorrow and Thursday is finesse lefty night, with Moyer and Hendrickson. Some of us are already looking forward to Doc's revenge against the A's on Friday and the scheduled Canadian debut of Rich Harden.
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