Eager to shake off an extended losing streak and a heartbreaking series sweep in Baltimore, the Mariners flew to Cleveland hoping for better days, but at the end of the weekend, all they have to show for themselves is their second rough sweep in a row, as the Indians won every game in the bottom of the ninth against Brandon League. Travis Hafner was the big hero, as he came up huge each time he was called upon, and League and the Mariners now get to fly home and think about how things have suddenly gone so wrong. This was the fourth time the Mariners have been swept on the season, and the second time they've been swept by the Indians.
---
Rainouts aren't interesting. Rainouts are generally the opposite of interesting. Rainouts are the absence of even the possibility of anything interesting taking place. But there's one thing that I think might one day make this game the answer to a trivia question, and that's that, before the game was rained out, Len Barker threw the ceremonial first pitch. That ceremonial first pitch was the only pitch of the day. I suppose you could say that Len Barker threw his first complete game in 27 years.
In the long run, making these games up is going to be a nightmare. The Mariners make one more trip to Cleveland between August 22-24, and they could either play five games in three days, or they could also play on August 25 on what is scheduled to be an off day. However, the latter scenario would result in the M's and Indians both playing for 27 days in a row, which the union frowns upon. That's going to be a mess.
But in the immediate, because this game never actually got started, the Mariners have been able to simply push their rotation back a day, meaning that Michael Pineda will start tomorrow, and Felix Hernandez will start on Tuesday. That's Pineda and Felix getting both starts in a two-game series against the Twins. A two-game series at Safeco against a Twins team with an eight-game losing streak and the worst offense in baseball. I'm not in the business of predicting no-hitters, but seeing as how the Twins have done what they've done and are still without Joe Mauer and Jim Thome, these next two days will definitely feature the Mariners' best odds of someone making history all season. You're gonna want to be watching, just in case.
So that's something positive to take out of an otherwise empty weekend. Thanks, Cleveland! We wouldn't be having this conversation if it weren't for you and your big giant lake.