I don’t see the point in getting all up in this game, considering I’ve written a ton about the Seahawks’ draft (set to post Monday morning, bright and early).  A day after losing a squeaker – thanks to some amazing Indians pitching after the first inning – the Mariners brought out Chase De Jong to start in place of Felix, he and our defense got rocked, and we ultimately lost 12-4.

Word is, Felix will miss a minimum of 3-4 weeks.  I don’t know what that means as far as when he can start throwing again, but if he doesn’t respond well when he does, we could be in for a long absence.

Word is, also, that Haniger will miss a minimum of 3-4 weeks, but again, I don’t know what that means for when he can start swinging a bat and such.  If he has a setback, he too could be in for an extended DL stay.

But, right now, pitching is the primary concern.  True, De Jong didn’t get a lot of help out of his defense today, with various booted balls and sun triples allowed behind him, but he also doesn’t strike me as a Major League calibre starting pitcher.  I wonder if he’ll get another crack at starting in five days, though I don’t see there being many other better options under him in the minors.

Casey Fien returned to stink up the joint; 3 runs in a third of an inning.  He needs to be DFA’d; he obviously doesn’t have it.

Dillon Overton mopped up the final 5 innings of this thing, to at least save the rest of our guys in the ‘pen.  I don’t see him supplanting De Jong just yet, or really going anywhere at this point, considering we’ll need lots of long relievers in the coming weeks, with the way this rotation has played.  While Overton didn’t really “keep us in the game” per say, giving up 3 more runs (2 earned) in his 5 innings of work (after we’d just pulled the game to within 9-4 after the top of the 6th), he ate up a bunch of innings and didn’t walk anyone, so he gets a C grade from me for today.

Cruz and Heredia continued their torrid hitting.  Segura, Gamel, Cano, and Seager all did a little bit.  Vogelbach looks completely inept at the plate (and worse in the field, letting a pop up drop in foul territory).  The fact that the Mariners have gotten exactly nothing from their catcher and first base positions is a fucking travesty (only mitigated by the fact that the young outfielders are all doing great jobs).  Boog Powell got his first Major League start (in left field) while doing nothing at the plate but ground into a double play, so we’ll see how he bounces back from that.  I wouldn’t expect him to play a lot unless we have more injuries.  He was spelling Dyson, who got a much-needed day off (pushing Heredia to center).  Considering Powell mostly just walks and slaps singles around, he’s probably more of a backup/pinch runner in late innings than anything else.

As I noted above, the Mariners had a chance to plow right back into this thing.  It was looking bleak going into the sixth, down 9-1, but the first six batters got hits, pulling the game to within 9-4 with the bases loaded and nobody out.  Taylor Motter pinch hit for Worthless Vogelbach, and I couldn’t help thinking, “If he can get a hold of one, it’s 9-8 and we’re back in this thing!  But, Motter struck out instead.  Chooch Ruiz was up next, but he lined it right at the short stop, who threw to second to pick off Kyle Seager to end the inning.  After that, the Indians put the game away in the bottom of the seventh with three more runs, and that was that.

Off-day tomorrow, then the Mariners go home to play Anaheim and Texas for six games.  As we’re STILL in last place, having a 5-1 homestand would seem to be of utmost importance.  So, get ready for a 1-5 homestand, because Mariners.