Game 13 Open Thread: Mariners vs. Indians

I have a number of questions floating in my head about today’s game – will the weather cooperate enough for the Indians to play, or will they end up with their 4th postponement of the young season?  Will we see the Cody Anderson that we saw against the White Sox (6 IP, 2 ER, 6 hits, 2 K, 2 BB) or the Cody Anderson that we saw against the Mets (4.2 IP, 5 ER, 9 hits, 5 K, 1 BB, 3 home runs)?  Can the Indians finally get above .500 and stay above .500 for more than a day (before the last 2 weeks in September)?  I just don’t have a ton of confidence in Anderson; I always feel like he’s a house of cards waiting to fall apart.  While I’d like to see him back on track against the Mariners, I just have this nagging feeling we’re in store for more performances like last Friday’s against the Mets.  The good news is that even if Anderson falters, he has options remaining and can be sent to Triple-A.  With Trevor Bauer in the bullpen, he could easily step into the rotation if necessary.

The Indians will face RHP Nathan Karns, who is in his first season with the Mariners.  He was traded to the team last November from the Rays in the deal that involved Danny Farquhar and Logan Morrison heading to Tampa.  With the Rays last year, he pitched 147 innings, and had a 3.67 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP.  Karns has had a decent start to 2016 – on April 9 vs. Oakland he gave up 4 ER on 7 hits, with 6 K and 1 BB, and on April 15 vs. the Yankees he surrendered just 1 ER on 5 hits, with 7 K and 4 BB.  However, he only pitched 5 innings in both of those starts; even if he makes an early exit, the Indians haven’t had much success this series against the Mariners bullpen.

The Indians’ bats have been pretty drowsy this series.  If it wasn’t for the bases-loaded walks on Tuesday evening, that could’ve been a very different game.  Danny Salazar and the bullpen pitched well on Wednesday, but the offense wasn’t able to put together more than a run against Seattle.

It would be nice for the Indians to win this series before they head to Detroit for the weekend series.  The Indians have looked dreadful against the Tigers over the past couple of seasons and I’d love to see them finally figure out a way to beat them. It would feel great to head to Motown having taken 2 of 3 from Seattle.

Lineups: