M's Acquire Parrish, Sweep Orioles

The Mariners made a small move today, acquiring LHP John Parrish (70) from the Orioles for Sebastian Boucher (52/70) and a player to be named later. To make room for Parrish in the bullpen, the M's sent Mark Lowe down to AAA. This gives the team an astounding four left-handers in the bullpen. At first I thought the move was frivolous, but Parrish's numbers are misleading. He is a better pitcher than his ERA indicates, and he should do a pretty solid job of bridging the gap to the back end of the bullpen. Plus, this gives Mark Lowe a chance to build more arm strength in AAA and get regular pitching work, because it was clear at this point that Brandon Morrow is a better set-up option. Lowe will be back up in a couple weeks anyway when the rosters expand.

On the field, Ho-Ram "earned" his first road win of the season thanks to an offense that continued to bludgeon whoever the Orioles put on the mound. Pretty much everybody in the starting lineup had a great night, and heading in to Chicago the team has to feel good. Looking at the pitching match-ups and Chicago's anemic offense, the M's should be favored to take this next series. It is remarkable that the Mariners actually lead the Wild Card right now. This team has overachieved to this point, but watching them they really believe they are as good as their record, and it seems to be impacting their performance in a positive way. I'm still waiting for the Tigers and/or Yankees to catch them because both have superior talent, but the longer the M's stick around, the better chance they have. This team is up to the challenge at hand.