For the fourth time in the last seventeen days, a Cleveland Indians game has been postponed due to rain. Rain showers in Kansas City caused yesterday’s game against the Royals to be postponed. The game will be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader this Sunday. In addition to the regularly scheduled 2:10 PM game (all times throughout are Eastern Time Zone), the teams will play again at 8:10 PM.

Scott Kazmir was supposed to be the starting pitcher on Friday. He will start today’s 7:10 PM game instead. Justin Masterson will start the Sunday afternoon game, as had been previously announced. Ubaldo Jimenez was scheduled to start today, so you’d think the Indians would make him the starter for the second Sunday game, but instead he will face the Royals on Monday evening. The Indians have not yet announced who will pitch the Sunday nightcap, but Corey Kluber would be a good guess.

I’m sure there’s a solid reason for the Indians not wanting Jimenez to pitch the second game on Sunday, but I can’t help but feel that they don’t want to change the rotation by having Jimenez follow Masterson, because the Indians have a decent shot of winning on days when Masterson pitches, and not so much when Jimenez does. If a probable win is represented by + , a toss-up by x, and a probable loss by -, I’m guessing Tribe manager Terry Francona would rather that the rotation go +x-xx than +-xxx. Maybe I’m wrong about this. If you have a better theory as to why Jimenez won’t start on Sunday, please feel free to weigh in on the comments section.

The rainout means that the Indians, like their division rivals the Royals and the Minnesota Twins, have played only 19 games to date. All other MLB teams have played more games; four teams have played as many as 24 games to date.

In the 2012 season, only one Indians game was rained out. Doubleheaders are not popular with players and with management, and they have a habit of taking a toll on pitching staffs in particular. And as Justin recently pointed out, the Tribe’s pitching staff has taken its share of knocks already. Let’s hope the Indians don’t run into any more inclement weather from here on in.

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