Series preview: Mariners at Indians (July 29-July 31)

The Tribe return home to the safe haven that is Progressive Field to take on the Seattle Mariners in an important series to stay in the wild card, and division, race.

• Tuesday's game is at 7:05 PM (Iwakuma vs. Bauer)
• Wednesday's game is at 7:05 PM (Hernandez vs. Kluber)
• Thursday's game is at 7:05 PM (Young vs. McAllister)

Another AL West team, the last place Texas Rangers arrive for the weekend series once the Mariners depart. Then the Battle for Ohio will take place next Monday through Thursday, with the first two at Progressive and the last two at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.

Division Watch: White Sox at Tigers, Twins at Royals.

Team in a Box

After the Mariners took two of three in Seattle in late June from the Indians, they continued their torrid streak by sweeping the Astros. But since then, they have won just one other series, against the Athletics. Since that Houston sweep, they are just 7-13.

The Mariners team has been in a serious offensive funk since last we met. The runs/game has dropped from 4.1 to 3.8 in the past month, dropping them from ninth to fourteenth. They are still dead last in on base percentage and have dropped from tenth to fourteenth in slugging. The reason they are still in the playoff hunt is that superb pitching staff. When you score less than four runs/game, if the pitching staff is allowing fewer than that, you will win more often than not.

Projected Roster

# Includes stats with Twins

As noted before, this team is in a deep offensive funk. There have been two changes to the normal lineup. First, it appears the Justin Smoak experiment may have reached its conclusion. He was sent down to AAA Tacoma in favor of Morrison, who has actually been starting since June 1. Morrison only has a 617 OPS since then. Second, Morales was just reacquired after putting up some very pedestrian numbers since signing with Twins in June. Backup catcher John Buck was DFA'ed recently in favor of the youngster Sucre. One time hot prospect Jesus Montero has been sent down to AAA as well and Cole Gillespie got his DFA papers too.

This lineup is predicated on two guys, Cano and Seager. No one else has an OPS over 700. Seager had a 545/545/636 line in the June series and Chavez was the only other over 800. If we can limit the damage from Seager and Cano, this series can be won.

Projected Staff

Iwakuma had a very good July. In five starts, he had a 2.27 ERA, allowed 29 hits in 35.2 innings, struck out 33 and walked no one. We luckily missed him at the end of July. The Tribe did beat him up a bit last year, five runs in six innings. We weren't as fortunate to miss Hernandez. As awesome as Kluber has been this season, King Felix has been as good if not better. He leads the league in strikeouts and has only one start with more than three earned runs. He threw a one hitter in the June series. Young has been very effective in July, a 2.73 ERA in five starts, a 0.939 WHIP and a 8.5 K/9. He was excellent in the June series, only one run in five innings.

In my opinion, this bullpen is even stronger than the one we faced in Kansas City. The one positive headed into this series is that we do not face a left handed starter, and they appear to only have one effective left handed reliever, Beimel. In the eight relief innings in the June series, the only run given up was by Rodney. The Tribe only netted four hits, two walks and struck out nine times.

The best hope in this series is a split between the Iwakuma and Felix starts, with Kluber giving us the best shot and hopefully jumping out to an early lead against Young.

On the Shelf

• RF Michael Saunders [15 day DL], possible mid-August return
• IF Willie Bloomquist [15 day DL], possible mid-August return
• SP James Paxton [60 day DL], on AAA rehab
• OF Franklin Gutierrez [restricted list], out for season

Almanac

*Does not include 2014 stats

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