Game Ninety-Seven: Indians 6, Mariners 2

via www.fangraphs.com

Sometimes it helps the ego to play a team worse off than the Indians. I fully expect to see the Indians thrashed by the Angels (seriously, look at the matchups), but at least they're returning home from a road trip with two wins; that's two more than the last trip.

In ages past, I often remarked that even when Travis Hafner was bad, he was good. That was the case with Cliff Lee today; he wasn't hitting his spots, he allowed 11 hits, but managed to hurl a complete game, giving up just two runs. Of course, the Mariner offense helped out by swinging early and at pitches out of the strike zone, but a pathetic MLB offense is still an MLB offense.

One of the downers of today's win was Ryan Garko's at-bats. Ryan was either unsure of whether to swing, or confident at swinging at a pitch outside the zone.  He looks totally lost, and unfortunately, that isn't a new development. Hitting .241/.317/.351 at any position for any appreciable time will often result in a benching at best, and even moreso at first base. Losing four key players to major injuries is one oft-cited reason for the Indians' current predicament, but getting a 78 and 56 OPS+ from their starting first baseman and right fielder, respectively, is just as big a reason.