Gamethread: Mariners at White Sox (suspended)

NOTE: Game resumes at 1:10pm Sunday, beginning in bottom of third, no score. Will go nine. Second game to follow, seven innings.

Come on, guys, this has gone far enough. And don’t count on Mother Nature and her storms to protect you.

Four-game sweep in Houston? OK, they’re a much better team and they have a funky home park.

Lost one in Pittsburgh? Fair enough — somebody has to let the Pirates win one sometime.

But get your keisters handed to you at home by Seattle? Yikes. Give up nine runs to the team with the worst OPS in the American League? Get shut down by a lefty? Golly gee willikers.

Sure, Seattle is better than .500, but that’s just a freak. Their pitching is average. And they went into yesterday with a minus-48 run differential (of course, that’s only minus-42 now).

It’s up to Lance Lynn to try to tame the mighty Mariners (BA .217, even after 14 hits Friday), as he makes his first start in the Age of DeSpiderTackification, which may or may not mean much. Of the Sox starters so far, rules enforcement meant a big drop in spin rates for Lucas Giolito and Dylan Cease, and no change at all for Carlos Rodón, but it was Rodón who had the shakiest control, taking 104 pitches to get through five innings.

Seattle counters with 24-year-old rookie righty Logan Gilbert, who has a 4.50 ERA but had been going pretty well until Tampa Bay touched him up for four runs in 5 ²⁄₃ last time out. Gilbert, who just got called up last month and has made six starts, throws his mid-90s four-seamer three-fifths of the time, with a slider his primary breaking ball. He has seldom been hit hard — exit velocity against him is just in the fifth percentile.

Gilbert will be facing a White Sox lineup where the Hall-of-Famer Baseball Person has Yermín Mercedes back at DH to face a righthander, after sitting him against a lefty last night. The Sox will also have an all-lefty outfield that will no doubt put terror in the heart of the rookie.

Lynn was crushed last time out by the Astros, but he always gets crushed by the Astros and seldom has any trouble with any other team. Despite being in the same division, Lynn didn’t face the Mariners last year, but handled them well before that.

Seattle actually puts up its lineup with a video, but maybe they have to, what with being the home of Microsoft and all.

Weather permitting, first pitch was set for 1:10 p.m. Central and has already pushed back to 2:15. If the current storms and the radar are any indication, weather will not permit, but this is Seattle’s only visit, so expect extra effort to get the game in, whenever that might be possible.

Usual suspects broadcasting the game, with Stoney back in the booth with Jason.