The last time Neftali Feliz toed the rubber, things went…well, ugh.
The All-Star closer returns to the mound Tuesday night against the Seattle Mariners in hopes that his switch to starter goes a little smoother.
The Texas Rangers are favored, according to Bovada’s MLB Betting Odds, by 1 1/2 runs with a 9 1/2 run total. The Rangers are actually expected to win by 1 or 2 runs, according to the site’s MLB Prop Betting page after starting the year 3-1 after putting up 16 runs over their last two games.
Feliz failed to close out Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, surrendering a 7-5 lead on a triple by David Freese. He never got a chance to redeem himself after the Cardinals dominated Game 7. All the more curious considering the former AL Rookie of The Year converted over 80-percent of his saves in 2011, with a 2.74 ERA.
“I can’t explain why things happen the way they did, but that’s what happens in life,” Feliz said on the Rangers’ official website. “You have to learn from it and go forward.”
Following a plan laid as far back as his minor league days, Feliz finally makes the transition to starter, and betting lines are setting the Mariners with a 3 1/2 runline.
Seattle’s offense has surprisingly taken off with after manager Eric Wedge reordered the lineup to showcase Ichiro Suzuki in the 3-hole. Suzuki is batting .407 so far this year, leading the Mariners to an average of nearly seven runs a game.
That kind of fire power has become common place in Texas. In fact, ther Rangers are projected for around five runs scoring 11 on the Mariners on Monday. Nelson Cruz, Josh Hamilton, Mitch Moreland and Ian Kinsler all went yard to give Japanese-sensation Yu Darvish his first major league victory.
Seattle will roll Blake Beavan out for just his 16th career start after going 5-6 in his rookie season last year.
“I’ll have a lot of people there,” said Beavan. “I can’t wait to actually pitch in Arlington for the first time. I’ll just try to keep the ball to left. Left field plays pretty good. Right field is a different story.”