While We’re Waiting… Cavs Fans: “Noah Sucks,” Noah: “Cleveland Sucks”
April 19, 2010Travel Tips For Joakim Noah
April 19, 2010I am just gonna come right out and say it – Shin-Soo Choo is the best player on the Indians and is headed for stardom. The Tribe’s rightfielder capped off a week in which he hit a whopping .579 (11-19) with a second inning Grand Slam that sent the Tribe to their fourth straight win and a sweep of the division rival White Sox. Chicago starter Gavin Floyd made a mistake to the wrong guy, and he promptly deposited a no-doubter to the seats in right-center.
Said his manager Manny Acta: “Choo was a one-man wrecking crew.”
A suddenly hot Indians team has battled back to .500 at 6-6. It’s been pretty easy to see how they have done it; good starting pitching and timely hitting.
While Fausto Carmona’s six innings/three earned runs line isn’t spectacular, he was handed a 7-0 lead and qualified for a “quality start.” This was the Indians sixth straight game in which the starting pitcher went at least six innings. And while this was the first of the Tribe’s six wins in which they didn’t have to come from behind, the big hit at the right time has propelled them during the streak.
On Thursday it was Choo’s eighth inning, three-run blast that stole a game the Tribe shouldn’t have won against the Rangers. On Friday, clinging to a 3-2 lead in the sixth, an Asdrubal Cabrera double coupled with a Mark Teahen error opened the flood gates. On Saturday afternoon, AC’s solo homer in the eighth tied it, and Choo’s two-out RBI double won it.
But yesterday was a full team effort, all of it coming in the first two innings.
The offense, which came ranked dead last in the AL in batting average, jumped on Floyd from the opening batter. AC smoked a double to right and Grady Sizemore walked. The hotter-than-Kate Beckinsale Choo singled to right, scoring Cabrera. After Mr. April (ha ha) Jhonny Peralta and Matt LaPorta both struck out, the inning had the look of many we have seen thus far, lots of action, no big inning. However, a most unlikely source came through in a monster way. Luis Valbuena worked a walk, and up stepped Mark Grudzielanek. Grudzie, who was in the DH spot with Travis Hafner being given the day off, hit a two-out single to right, scoring Sizemore and Choo. “It was a very important hit in the game,” Acta said.
You never know with the Wahoo attack; the Grudzielanek hit may have been the only big one all day. Luckily, it took just one inning to prove that theory wrong. Michael Brantley led off the second with a walk. AC singled Brantley over to third and advanced to second himself on a wild pitch. Floyd, who just didn’t have it on this day, was stuck in a bases loaded, nobody out situation against the Sox killer Choo. You all know what happened next. Choo’s bomb put the Indians up 7-0 and chased Floyd. It was all over but the shouting at this point.
There was minimal drama once the White Sox got to the Indians bullpen, but Acta handled it well and deserves credit. Carmona departed after six innings with a 7-3 lead. With a rested bullpen, Acta gave the 7th inning to Rafael Perez who hadn’t pitch in a week. He was rusty, walking Omar Vizquel and giving up a single to Alexei Ramirez. Knowing how shaky Perez can be, Acta had both Aaron Laffey and Joe Smith warming behind him. He didn’t hesitate to make his move and yanked Perez-Left in favor of Laffey. It worked. Laffey retired Juan Pierre and Gordon Beckham before handing the ball to the right-handed Smith, who got the final out, Carlos Quentin. Crisis averted.
Smith worked through the eighth unscathed and lefty Tony Sipp started the ninth. Back to back singles and a potential game-saving diving catch by Choo had Acta coming out of the dugout for his closer, Chris Perez. It was a worry spot earlier in the week, but Perez-Right bounced back with a 1-2-3 ninth on Saturday. At 7-4, all he needed was two outs for his fourth save. A sac fly off the bat of Carlos Quentin was the first, and a K of Paul Konerko closed out the Tribe sweep.
“We’re playing good baseball,” Chris Perez said. “We’re finding ways to win. That’s the sign of a good team. I’m not saying we’re a good team yet, but we’re getting there. This was a big sweep for us.”
Love that positivity coming from the Tribe clubhouse.
I credit Acta a ton for the way he managed the bullpen yesterday. He knew Raffy Perez could struggle after a full week off so he had options ready right away. This isn’t about seeing who can work out of jams, this is about winning. Perez being yanked for Laffey after two hitters was a winning move. Readers of mine know that I was an Eric Wedge defender, but I can say there is no way he makes that move.
In the meantime, Acta has his team playing .500 ball with a tough opening schedule, and now hit the road with stops in Minnesota, Oakland, and Anaheim. It won’t be an easy trip.
Maybe the biggest reason for the improved play is Choo. He is still toiling in relative anonymity nationally and even locally, but folks, you have a star on your hands here. This kid is better than Grady Sizemore (who by the way looks healthy and much better thus far. How about that diving catch?). That is a fact. Lets enjoy him.
The Last Word – the Indians drew a averaged 10,827 fans over the past five games after a home opener crowd of 42,061. I was there on Saturday and Progressive Field seemed like a ghost town. I know the Cavs are in the midst of a playoff run, but try not to forget you have an young baseball team with a new look and positive vibes playing right next door. But don’t you worry, I will be here, banging that Tribe drum as if my name were John Adams.
photo via Chuck Crow/Cleveland.com
23 Comments
“I am just gonna come right out and say it – Shin-Soo Choo is the best player on the Indians and is headed for stardom WITH EITHER THE YANKEES OR RED SOX NEXT YEAR”
/Dolan’d
He was a one-man wrecking Choo.
I hereby nickname him the Choosen One.
I was at the game for most of the night on Friday and can tell you it was absolutely miserable weather wise. I don’t like using that as an excuse for not going, but given the choice between watching the Tribe outside and freezing or watching the Cavs at the Q or inside, I think I am going to choose the Cavs. Can’t wait for summer though.
Chugga chugga Choo Choo!
If we take 2 outta 3 from Minny then I am officially a believer.
“The hotter-than-Kate Beckinsale Choo” I almost spit out my coffee. Nice! Glad to see the Tribe competing. Maybe they can keep it interesting this summer. I would take .500 from this team with a chance to make it interesting into August.
5-1 vs. the white sox 1-5 vs. everyone else….lets hope we can keep this rolling against other competition. And I fully agree Choo is playing out of his mind right now. I was at the game saturday and it was a pleasure watching him hit that double and cork the obnoxious sox fans sitting in front of us.
I wonder when we’ll trade Choo for two infield prospects and a mid-level, side-arm closer?
The team is playing well. If it wasn’t for a few blow ups, we are looking at 8-4 or 9-3. The starting pitching is doing it’s job. If they can just get the bats going, they will be competitive all year. If the bullpen gets turned around, then you never what could happen.
This will be a very telling series vs. Minny.
Big League Choo was one of my favorites to watch last year and I’m just loving the play from him right now. This homestand was more fun to watch than the entire last season.
I’m just glad our pitchers are getting past the 5th inning meltdown we saw OH SO much of last season. If we tighten up the screws in the back end of the bullpen, we have a pretty competitive team.
As mentioned before, at this rate he’s definately gone to the bankees or red sox ASAP. I love MLB!
Ugh. Is this how it is going to be all season? Every nice game/week by any of our young players followed by tons of comments about said player going to the Sox or Yanks? I get it, I really do. But this reaction everyday is going to make for a long year.
@Mark in short…yeah….we all know that’s how MLB works, and in my opinion at least is extremely flawed and it’s a shame. It goes back to a previous post about trying not to get too attached to players anymore because they all eventually bolt…I think that reaction is a defense mechanism we all use. 🙁
gotta love the haters. tribe on a 4 game win streak, just swept our main rival, so let’s get on a message board and complain that all the good players are gonna be Yankees. Yaaay!!!
best starter gets the win + best player hit GS + 2 great catches by OF (grady and choo) + striking out their best player 3 times including to end the game and the sweep = great baseball game
Go Tribe!
Just imagine what this team would be like if we hadn’t GIVEN away two or three games already.
They should take down the retired number for “the fans”. The “fans” of this franchise are an absolute joke. This isn’t the Pirates, who have had what, 16 losing seasons in a row. Just 3 years ago this franchise was 1 game away from the World Series, and now nobody supports this team anymore. Well, the Pirates drew at least 13,800 fans every day this weekend and even had 25,100 fans on Saturday. Indians fans should be ashamed of themselves.
@ Mark — That’s the lay of the land, man.
@ #16 yeah tribe fans seem to come in two flavors, die-hard and fair weather (not to say there aren’t some exceptions). It just seems to me that if it’s not the “in” thing at the time no one shows up. I can’t say I’ve been to alot of tribe games over the past few years but when I can scrape up some extra money for parking and such I tend to make a day of it. Right now all those “in crowd” fans are spending their money on CAVS tickets.
I will say it doesn’t help that you go down there and a beer is the wrong side of 7 bucks and a stupid hot dog is almost 5. I guess you have to expect inflated prices at these places but sheesh.
I’d have to say Big League Choo is rivaling my favorite nicknames of all time. Like I’ve been saying, the baseball season is long, so let’s all just realize that there’s good talent on the Tribe, particularly when it comes to hitting, and our team isn’t even starting to hit yet. I would say that’s a good sign and it’s not yet time to talk about players being dealt. No one is getting dealt if we have a legit chance at winning the division after the All-Star break, and although Minnesota has to be the favorite, I think there’s certainly more than just hope right now.
I’m with Mark on this. The team has had a good start so far. Yeah it could have been better if the bullben could have closed out a few games, however it has been a good start. I will not succumb to thinking about next year while this year is so new. If there are fans out there saying I don’t want to go down to the stadium becuase they will suck next year or this player will not be there next year. Well then I say to those fans go and become a Yankee fan cause the tribe don’t need you anyway. Cheer THIS team, cheer THIS year. Because you will never know what might happen.
@18 I’m glad I’m in the former fan category of “Die hard.” I will go to every game I can this season, and I’ve been quoted saying that this season will be interesting and exciting if nothing else.
Apart from that… What a great series. I was there yesterday, Choo is just insane right now. I think the best part was how I just traded Gavin Floyd off my fantasy team like 5 days ago and talked about my hunch that he would not pay off for me. Man, was it beautiful to see my prediction come true up close and in person. These boys are hot and feeling good right now, and Branyan will be joining the team most likely for the series in Minny, so hopefully more runs will give the starters some shots at winning.
Despite living in Tampa, I still manage to make at least a few Tribe games at the Jake each year, not to mention catching them when the play the Rays down here…just wanted to put that out there for those who apparently think hating the reality of MLB finances is the same as not loving the hometown team (cue sarcasm font: NO ONE QUESTIONS MY FANHOOD!! I AM OUTRAGED!!). I would agree with the sentiment that this season could be the good kind of interesting, and I for one will be watching. It is just hard to enjoy any one player too much without realizing that this ownership will not keep them around long-term even if they could, which the economic realities of pro baseball seem determined to prevent outside of the occasional Joe Mauer contract (which will likely hinder the Twinkies chances down the road, by the way). I suppose that has always been true, but I know it didn’t seem so immediate back in the glory days of the 90s. After the Victor deal, not to mention shipping out Cy winners two years in a row, I will fully admit to bitterness.
@B-bo – Please dont take anything I’ve posted as some sort of knock on your or anyone else’s fanhood. I get the bitterness as I feel it sometimes myself. I hate the MLB finaces too. I just wish people would enjoy what we do have without lamenting about how this player or that will be outta here soon. But as stin4u said, it is a defense mechanism.
BTW, totally agree on the Mauer contract and said so the day it was signed. I bet the Twins will be desperate to get out of that deal in 4 years.