Indians fall to Mariners without much of a fight

Game 106: Mariners 5, Indians 2

Box Score

Tribe falls to 52-54

By my estimations, Asdrubal Cabrera will be somewhere else within the next few days. The other 24 men on the roster might be envious, because it looked like they wanted to be somewhere else tonight.

The game started off well enough when Brantley drew a walk off Hisashi Iwakuma in the 1st, something that nobody had done in Iwakuma's last 5 starts. Carlos Santana would follow with a single but nothing would happen after that in the inning and neither of them would reach base again for the evening. And so it goes, for your 2014 Cleveland Indians.

Trevor Bauer has learned to pitch with greater effectiveness this year, but for whatever reason he didn't have it tonight. And I've written a few of these where I said, "Yeah, Bauer didn't have his best stuff but he put the team in position to win." Yeah... not tonight. Trevor gave up 4 runs in the 4th, yielding doubles to Corey Hart, Dustin Ackley (and his atrocious beard) and Chris Taylor. The way the Mariners were pounding the ball, we'd probably still be playing the 4th inning if Kendrys Morales wasn't on the team. But, he is, and he grounded into a double play to kill the scoring onslaught.

The Mariners would pick back up in the next inning with a solo shot off the bat of Logan Morrison. Just like that, Bauer's night was over. A combination of Hagadone, Crockett, Carrasco and Axford would hold the Mariners scoreless the rest of the way, but it wouldn't matter. Five runs to make up against the Seattle pitching staff is about four runs too many.

The Indians would manage 2 in the 5th. Nick Swisher doubled to lead it off and eventually be driven in by a single from Yan Gomes. Chris Dickerson doubled and a ground out from Jason Kipnis drove in Gomes. Nick Swisher and Chris Dickerson probably had the best night at the plate, both managing two hits a piece. I'll probably never type that sentence again for the rest of my life.

Dickerson's play wasn't all roses, though, as he looked sloppy on a handful of plays in left. It didn't cost them the game because Bauer kept leaving balls up in the hitters' wheel-houses, but it wasn't fun to watch either. The time has come to cut bait in the Dickerson department and at least give one of the young outfielders in the system a longer look. Dickerson doesn't have a future with the club and his offense is going to creep back to normal, matching his subpar defense. Maybe you can even fool somebody into giving up a semi-decent prospect for him. Is Bavasi still around?

Speaking of Bavasi, sell Asdrubal, too. I've always liked the guy, even at his most frustrating, and a part of me would be sad to see him go, but I think tonight was a hard look in the mirror for this team. They were flat and never gave off the impression that they stood a chance. Maybe it was Iwakuma and the Seattle staff or maybe it just isn't gonna happen for this group. I'm betting on the latter.

Oh, and not that anybody asked me, but David Murphy's double was a home run. But what do I know?

Win Expectancy Chart:

Source: FanGraphs

Roll Call:

Game Thread

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