I think this is a good match up for a White Sox veteran led team facing Blake Beavan who is an extreme contact pitcher. He's got good control, but he was the 2nd lowest in K/9 (3.96) among pitchers with 150+ innings pitched in 2012. This is nothing new for Beavan who has a K/9 average of just over 5 in the minors. Beavan will return to the minors most likely when others get healthy. In two starts vs. the White Sox last year he was nothing special going 11 innings giving up 18 BR and 7 ER and Paul Konerko and Alex Rios are 6-10 with a HR against him. The White Sox are also 23-10 in their last 33 vs. a RH starter at home and I expect that success against RHP to continue where they were ranked 10th in OPS last year.
The Mariners on the other hand were 24th vs. LHP in OPS and have a .159 average vs. lefties through the first few games of 2013. They'll face Jose Quintana who is similar to Beavan in that he's not going to strike a lot of guys out as he lacks an elite pitch, but I like how he looked in spring posting a 2.03 ERA compared with Beavan's 6.52 ERA in spring. Quintana despite his ERA pitched better at home, struck more guys out, walked less guys and got more ground balls. I expect him to have a better ERA at home than last year and he'll be backed by a bullpen that could be one of the best in baseball. They are a mixture of young live arms and savy veterans which is usuallya recipe for success. Mariners are just 14-39 in their last 53 games in Chicago.
