Just when you think things cannot get any worse for the Indians, the Baltimore Orioles float into town and provide the paddles to shock the Indians back to life. Sunday’s 9-0 beat down of the O’s certainly won’t give Browns fans any sort of silver lining in the afternoon’s Baltimore/Cleveland duel sport challenge, but at least there was some sort of positive to come out of our beloved city.
The sweep of the Orioles most likely won’t save Eric Wedge’s job, but at the very least, he can say his players didn’t quit on him in what could be his final weekend homestand as Tribe manager. David Huff, the rookie lefty and the team’s leader in wins, pitched eight scoreless innings, scattering five hits and walking just two, to grab his 11th victory. While Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn were throwing picks, Huff was throwing strikes.
“I threw a lot of strikes, kept it around the zone and let the defense work,” Huff said. “Our defense was phenomenal,” Huff said. “They had my back the entire game.” With his inning limit for the season reached, the odds are that this will be Huff’s last start of the year. It is possible he may work out of the pen during the season’s final series in Boston next weekend.
As always, Grindmaster Flash stays on message, despite the odds being stacked against him. Look at how he talks about the future. “This has been a great developmental year for him. He’s really stringing it together at the end. I like his focus, his attitude, and he has an edge to him. What he’s doing is encouraging and making a good case for himself for next year.”
Next year, you mean, under a new manager, right?
It always makes things easier when your offense puts up crooked numbers. A sixth run first was all the Tribe needed to close out the weekend sweep. Asdrubal Cabrera, on the first of his four hits, doubled in Jamey Carroll and Luis Valbuena to put the Wahoos on top 2-0. Andy Marte followed with an RBI single of his own bringing in AC. Kelly Shoppach ended the scoring with a three-run bomb off of Chris Tillman.
The bats grabbed two more runs in the fourth on Cabrera’s RBI single and a sac fly from Jhonny Peralta, and a solo shot from Matt LaPorta in the seventh. It was his seventh of the year. It was nice to see an 11 hit attack for the first time in seemingly ages. Sunday’s lineup featured a mix of veterans and youth, and they all produced. Only Shin-Shoo Choo and Peralta didn’t get a hit.
Funniest stat of the day – the attendance. Allegedly, over 29,000 fans came out to Progressive Field to see two of the worst teams in baseball on a football Sunday. MAYBE half of that number came out. MAYBE.
Up next is the final home series of the season (and the Eric Wedge show) as the Red, White, and Blue welcome in the Chicago White Sox. Yours truly will be in attendance for at least one of these games. Don’t ask me why I am going; maybe I enjoy a train wreck. But this is your last chance to see live baseball for the next six months.
This is also your last chance to watch “The Grind” in person. Anything is better than watching the Browns right now.
