Series Preview: Cleveland Indians vs. Seattle Mariners

Give the Indians credit. After coming off of a tough weekend in Boston they needed to come out strong against the Twins. They did just that by sweeping the two-game series, and they now come back to Cleveland with a renewed swagger. Say what you want about how bad the Twins are, but the fact is the Indians went into the home stadium of a lesser opponent and took care of business. That’s something all good teams should do.

Now the Indians have the opportunity to gain some major momentum as they welcome the Seattle Mariners, the second-worst team in the American League (after the Twins), to Progressive Field for another quick two-game set. Not only that, but today’s opening game against the Mariners kicks off an eight-game, nine-day home stand in which the Tribe will also welcome the Miami Marlins and Detroit Tigers to Cleveland.

Looking out even further, after (hopefully) beating Detroit the Indians will travel to Chicago for three games with the White Sox and then return home for six more games with the Royals and Twins. For those of you not counting, that’s 14 out of their next 17 games at home, mostly against AL Central opponents. To say this is an important stretch for the Indians might be an understatement. If they play the way they are capable of playing, the Indians could build a commanding lead in the division heading into June.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For the next two days the Indians will have to contend with the Seattle Mariners (16-22), who have seen themselves fall to the bottom of the AL West standings. That’s not to say this comes as any surprise to anyone—the Mariners were never expected to compete this year—but their total lack of offensive firepower has been a bit alarming.

Over the past few years, the Mariners have tried to acquire young talent to help build a versatile lineup that can take advantage of the spaciousness of Safeco Field. On paper, they’ve done that. There’s a lot to like about Dustin Ackley, Justin Smoak, Kyle Seager, and Jesus Montero. Combine some promising young players with the veteran presence of Ichiro and a lot of people are excited for this lineup to reach its potential. Unfortunately for Seattle, the results haven’t been there, at least not yet.

That’s the part that’s been most frustrating for Seattle fans. They have Felix Hernandez, one of the most talented young arms in baseball, but he is seemingly being wasted. How long before he says, “Enough is enough. Get me out of here”? What happens when he finally becomes a free agent? These are some serious questions the Mariners need to be prepared to answer if they can’t figure out their offensive woes.

Pitching Matchups:

• Felix Hernandez (3-2, 2.29 ERA/3.07 SIERA) vs. Ubaldo Jimenez (3-3, 5.18/5.95)
• Hector Noesi (2-4, 6.32/4.84) vs. Zach McAllister (1-1, 4.15/3.13)

Game one of this quick two-game set should have been viewed as a true heavyweight match-up. Felix Hernandez vs. Ubaldo Jimenez would be must-see TV for any baseball fanatic if not for Jimenez’ inconsistency so far this season. Of course, given how good Hernandez is, it still might be. The King has been everything we’ve come to expect from him. His sickening arsenal of pitches makes him seemingly unhittable. He has close to a strikeout an inning, and he’s always dominant. Your best bet against Hernandez? Hope you get to the bullpen.

As for Jimenez, it seems like he provides a glimmer of hope in one start and then regresses back to being near unwatchable in the next. If that pattern continues then there’s a good chance he matches Hernandez pitch-for-pitch. In all seriousness though, it’s a total crapshoot which Jimenez shows up. In that situation, it’s always best to set expectations low and be pleasantly surprised when those expectations are exceeded. So with that, if Jimenez can get through six innings and keep the Indians close heading into the seventh, eighth, and ninth, it will have been a successful start.

Game two will give the Indians a look at the forgotten man in the Michael Pineda-for-Jesus Montero trade: Hector Noesi. Noesi came over from the Yankees with Montero and so far the results have been meager at best. He’s a young, raw pitcher with only seven career starts, so there’s room for growth here. He sports your basic arsenal of pitches (fastball, curveball, slider, change) and maxes out on the radar gun at around 91 MPH. He’s not a dominating pitcher (5.4 K/9), and instead relies on inducing weak contact, particularly fly balls. His 48 percent fly ball rate explains his 2.0 HR/9 rate.

The Indians will send out Zach McAllister for his third start of the season. He’s a young pitcher, so there’s no telling what to expect from him. The best the Indians can hope for is that his keeps damage to a minimum and finds a way to get through at least five innings—he’s done better than that in both of his previous outings. If he can keep things close and hand it over to the bullpen, then he provides the Indians with an excellent chance of winning. The worst-case scenario is McCallister struggling and Manny Acta having to go to the bullpen earlier than he would like.