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June 2, 2009Grady Sizemore May Need Surgery
June 2, 2009The bugs were back in town, just in time to rattle Yankees starter Joba Chamberlain. Only they didn’t “bug” him at all. In fact Joba went deeper into a start than he ever has before. His eight innings of work made the Indians bats go silent, as they lost the series finale to New York 5-2. Though the calendar turned to June, we saw some familiar things in this loss that reminded us of April.
Take the top of the sixth for example. With the score tied 1-1, Ryan Garko walked and Jamey Carroll singled, putting two on with nobody out. Kelly Shoppach, who has been a windmill all season long, was in prime position to lay down a sac bunt. He came into this at bat on a five-AB strikeout streak. Shop had just one job, lay down a bunt. He of course, failed miserably. His attempt was popped up and Chamberlain made a diving catch, doubling up Garko at second. The rally was killed there. Of course, that was their last best shot against the cruising Yankee right hander.
What about another early season throwback – Jeremy Sowers’ inability to get past the fifth inning. In his last outing, Sowers came out of the bullpen and pitched five scoreless innings, getting a win during the 11-10 comeback against Tampa Bay. In his the first of his two failed starts, he entered the sixth inning in Boston with a 2-1 lead. By the time he left, six consecutive Red Sox reached base without him recording an out.
Meanwhile, the Tribe offense was non-existent against Chamberlain.
As good as Aquino was in the sixth, he was that bad in the seventh. He proceeded to pull a Sowers and walked the bases loaded. The .233 hitting Nick Swisher hit a two-run double which effectively ended the evening for the Wahoos. After an intentional walk to Mark Teixiera, his night was over. Manager Eric Wedge sought refuge in the form of Luis Vizcaino. The Viz allowed a single to A-Rod which scored two, putting the Yanks up 5-1, much to the delight of the annoying contingent of pinstripers in the stands at The Jake.
Though it was a 5-2 final, closed out by Mariano Rivera, you never got the feeling that the Tribe could win this one. The old adage in baseball is that walks always come back to haunt you. On this night, Sowers, Aquino, and Vizcaino, combined to walk 11 Yankees in eight innings. Eleven. That won’t win you many games. Neither will four hits. Give Chamberlain the nod, he was as good as he has ever been as a starter, despite the re-emergence of the bugs late in the game that plagued him here in 2007.
The bottom line here – the Yankees are a much better team from top to bottom that our banged up Tribe, who are without the DL’d Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, and Rafael Betancourt. Even at full strength, it isn’t really that close. Eric Wedge is fighting with the troops he is given, but it is tough to go on a big winning streak with this current cast of characters in the rotation.
Also, Shoppach’s play has become a big concern. I said it this past offseason; Mark Shapiro missed a golden opportunity to capitalize on Shop’s ’08 success. His stock was never higher, after leading all AL catchers in homers. This season, he is literally a strikeout machine. After last night’s game, he has a whopping 40 K’s in 93 at-bats. That, my friends, is not getting the job done.
Even worse comes the news that if the two week rest doesn’t help his elbow, Sizemore may need surgery which would shelve him through the end of July. That would be a devastating blow to this team.
After what has to be deemed a successful 5-3 home stand, the Tribe heads to Minnesota to take on the Twins in that dome that I would like to blow up. David Huff gets another crack at keeping his rotation spot tonight against the 7-1 Kevin Slowey.
5 Comments
it pains me that I just added Eddy Mujica in a fantasy league… He’s fanned 28 in 25 innings with a WHIP of 1.07.
Meanwhile, we can’t get the ball over the plate…
Mujica sucked for 4 years here. Just shows you how bad the NL is if that guy can succeed there.
I said the same about Shoppach. Shapiro should’ve sold high. He could’ve gotten a decent young pitcher or two, now he’s stuck with a mediocre backup catcher who strikes out way too much.
Re: Mujica, I was shocked (SHOCKED!) to learn that Justin Speier is still in the majors on Friday. He was one of the Magnificent 32 pitchers used in that dreadful 2000 season. And he was ATROCIOUS. And he’s STILL in the league??
Let’s be a little fair to Kelly. Last year when he went on a tear he got to hit every day. Now he’s getting spot starts here and there with a frequency slightly higher than before ’08. It’s tough to get things going when you don’t get to play every day.
As for the loss last night, I thought it was the perfect example of Wedge being crap. When your catcher who never bunts is being asked to bunt in a situation where Joba is finally starting to have trouble (he gave up the homer to Vic, walked Choo, then started the inning by walking Garko and giving up a hit to Carroll) you are asking for trouble. Why not let him swing away there? If he continues his recent run, he strikes out, which doesn’t hurt the team at all.
Then he tops himself by bringing Aquino out for the 7th, even though he just asked him to get three of the toughest outs of his life. And even if that’s not the worst idea, which it is, at least have someone warming up to start the inning so you can stem the tide in case things go badly. But he didn’t, and by the time he needed to pull Aquino it was too late and they lost the game. Wedge is just an idiot. Banged up team or not. This was bad managing in a game they could have had.