The Indians have a few hot hitters and a lot of cold hitters as they try to bob and weave their way through the final month of the season.
UPDATED: 11:55 p.m.
SEATTLE, Wash. -- This is a daily briefing of the Indians 2010 regular season. The Indians play the Mariners tonight in the third game of a four-game series at Safeco Field.
Safeco Field's dimensions: Left field line 331 feet, left center 390, center field 405, right center 387 and right field line 326. Outfield fence, 8 feet high.
In-game notes:
Score: Indians 4, Mariners 0 after six innings.
Keep going: Michael Brantley made it 4-0 for the Tribe with a two-out RBI single in the fourth. Jason Donald, who beat out an infield single and got to second when manager Manny Acta started him on the pitch as Lou Marson grounded out, scored.
In 23 games since rejoining the Indians from Class AAA Columbus on Aug. 6, Brantley has 12 RBI in 23 games.
Rolling: The Indians stretched their lead to 3-0 with on two runs on four straight hits in the third. Marson hit a leadoff double. Brantley turned an attempted sac-bunt into a base hit when starter David Pauley was slow reacting. Marson stopped at third, but not for long.
Asdrubal Cabrera brought him home with a hard single to right. Shin-Soo Choo hit a carbon-copy single to score Brantley for a 3-0 lead.
Early start: After being held hitless for 6 1/3 innings Friday night, the Indians took a 1-0 lead against Pauley in the first. Choo drew a two-out walk, stole second and scored on Travis Hafner's line-drive single to right. Choo beat Ichiro Suzuki's throw to the plate by plenty.
So far, so good: Mitch Talbot, trying to win his first game since June 27, held Seattle to two hits through the first three innings. After allowing two singles with no one out in the sixth, he struck out power-hitting Russell Branyan on a 3-2 pitch. He then retired Jose Lopez on a liner to center and Casey Kotchman on a flare to short.
Pre-game notes:
Game 136: The Indians and Seattle, two of the weakest hitting and lowest scoring teams in the American League, meet for the third time tonight. They've each been shut out an AL high 12 times.
Pittsburgh leads the National League in being shutout 13 times.
Here's a look at who's hot and who's cold among Indians hitters.
-Hot stuff: Michael Brantley 21-for-73 (.288); Asdrubal Cabrera 29-for-94 (.309); Shin-Soo Choo 16-for-45 (.356); Travis Hafner 17-for-53 (.321) and Jayson Nix (12-for-37) .324.
-Cold stuff: Trevor Crowe 17-for-74 (.230); Shelley Duncan 8-for-55 (.145); Chris Gimenez 8-for-40 (.200); Matt LaPorta 8-for-59 (.136); Lou Marson 3-for-24 (.125); Andy Marte 24-for-110 (.218) and Luis Valbuena 10-for-49 (.204).
Rotation changes: Justin Masterson will miss Sunday's start against Seattle because of a family matter. Masterson returned to his home in Fortville, Ind.
Jeanmar Gomez, who wasn't supposed to pitch until Wednesday so he could get some extra rest, will start Sunday.
Masterson is expected to rejoin the team in order to start Tuesday against the Angels at Angel Stadium. Josh Tomlin will move from Tuesday to Wednesday's start against the Angels. Carlos Carrasco will start, as scheduled, Monday against the Angels.
Lineups:
Indians (54-81): CF Michael Brantley (L), SS Asdrubal Cabrera (S), RF Shin-Soo Choo (L), DH Travis Hafner (L), 3B Jayson Nix (R), 1B Matt LaPorta (R), LF Trevor Crowe (S), 2B Jason Donald (R), C Lou Marson (R) and RHP Mitch Talbot (8-11, 4.61).
Mariners (53-81): RF Ichiro Suzuki (L), 2B Chone Figgins (S), DH Russell Branyan (L), 3B Jose Lopez (R), 1B Casey Kotchman (L), C Josh Bard (S), CF Michael Saunders (L), LF Matt Tuiasosopo (R), Josh Wilson (R) and RHP David Pauley (2-6, 4.25).
Umpires: H Brian Runge, 1B Jerry Layne, 2B Mike Winter, 3B Hunter Wendlestedt. Layne, crew chief.
Quote of the day: "As a ballplayer, I would be delighted to do it again. As an individual, I doubt if I could possibly go through it again," Roger Maris, after hitting 61 homers in 1961 to break Babe Ruth's record old record of 60 homers in a season.
Next: RHP Jeanmar Gomez (3-2, 3.08) vs. RHP Felix Hernandez (10-10, 2.38) Sunday at 1:10 p.m.