May 20, 2013

Acta: “I Know it’s Tough on the Fans, But it’s Tougher on Us.”

September 2, 2010 by 19 Comments

The Cleveland Indians were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs long ago.  Staying out of the American League gutter by a matter of percentage points, the team is playing some of the worst baseball of the entire season, producing a league worst seven of their last 10 games.

Following Wednesday’s loss to the Chicago White Sox (which will most definitely be recapped in a little bit), Manny Acta had the following to say about the level of baseball that is being endured by the Indians fans in Cleveland.

“I know it’s tough on the fans out there, but it’s tougher than us,” he said.  “We are the ones in the dugout teaching these guys on an everyday basis.”

For those following along at home, Acta understands that it is the fans paying their hard-earned money on tickets and merchandise, attempting to support their team through thick and thin.  But the losing baseball is considerably harder on those that are getting paid – some of them handsomely – while producing at a considerably sub-par level.  At least I hope that he does.

I understand where Acta is coming from as no athlete (or coach) enjoys losing.  As Denny Green Herm Edwards infamously told us all, “you play to win the game.”  But in the same regard, this is a fan base that has been forced to cling to a nostalgic roadshow of Manny Ramirez and Omar Vizquel, and has pondered the potential of Jim Thome returning to hit his 600th home run as a member of the Tribe.  It’s a contingency that came out in droves just to listen to Kenny Lofton say a few words and toss out the first pitch.  It’s a support system that gets excited when former players like Sandy Alomar Jr and Charles Nagy land coaching positions anywhere within the Indians system.

At this point, many have cast aside dreams of a lofty win total simply to see players that make them all warm and tingly inside as they did back in the mid-to-late 1990s.  You know, when the team actually won more often than not.

Fans and media members alike have longed for Acta to tear into his team for losses – especially those which the team is in full control for the majority of the game, only to blow it with either a bad bullpen outing or a flurry of errors.  Emotion goes a long way; even more so when compared to Eric Wedge and his “griding.”  And while we will never know what Acta actually says to his team, quotes like the one above is not a step in the right direction if the first-year Tribe skipper is looking for improved fan support.

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Photo: Chuck Crow / The Plain Dealer

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  • oribiasi

    In last afternoon’s press conference he was asked why he didn’t put Perez in to close the game. He said something like “Well if we were in a pennant run then sure I would have put it in but since it was just to win a game, I didn’t want to put him in to have a 4 out save again in the same week he had a 5 out save.”

    Hmm…doesn’t seem like Acta wants to “win” at all. I am pretty fed up with him already and with this team.

  • Lyon

    Herm Edwards says you play to win the game…. Denny Green said they are who we thought they were.

    /nitpicked

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Scott

    dammit – thanks, Lyon

  • Lyon

    Well they sure don’t play like they’re sick n tired of losing. Would be nice to have a manager every now and then who will hold people accountable. I know he “Could” be doing that in the clubhouse, but it isn’t showing on the field.

    If this production keeps up, Acta will be gone soon, so he might as well start ripping guys and trying to light a fire.

  • B-bo

    We pay hard-earned money and watch you lose. You get paid millions to play a game, win or lose. Losing is most certainly not harder on you, skip.

  • http://clevelandthing.blogspot.com Ammo

    Sign Thome, Manny and Omar next season.

    Call it the “Farewell Tour.”

    I’d rather watch them use canes and walkers to play baseball and lose, than watch the pack of chumps we have now and lose.

    And I bet attendance would double, too, cuz I believe a lot of people feel the same way.

  • kingdiesel

    Bad form by Actaball.

  • Boqueesha

    #6

    Would probably get me at more games. I don’t know how it would work to have Thome, Manny, and Hafner at DH though…maybe we can really go back to the golden days and let Thome play 3rd? haha

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Jon

    It’s an unfortunate quote, and I really wish he hadn’t said it.

    That said, I understand what he meant, I think. That this sort of losing can grind a team down. That they’re not happy about it either. That they’re doing everything they can to make it better. That he hopes that people don’t think they’re complacent with what’s happened this season.

    It shouldn’t have been said, but I don’t think there was malice behind it. I really don’t.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Scott

    “It shouldn’t have been said, but I don’t think there was malice behind it.”

    I doubt there was malice behind it either. But for a team with as many PR issues as the Indians, one would think all of those with decision-making powers should err on the side of the fans when given the chance.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Jon

    Agreed. Bad PR move. As Pedro would say, “Is very bad.”

  • PNR

    An unfortunate quote by Acta, no doubt. But let’s take a look at the bigger picture. A majority of Acta’s players would be in AA or AAA on just about any other team (apart from perennial cellar dwellers). And against the White Sox — a team battling for a playoff spot and who just acquired future HoF’er Manny Ramirez — the Tribe played hard and competitively.

    All that matters *during the part of the season when a team is trying to make the playoffs* is wins and losses. That part of the season is long over. Now it’s up to Acta to see how his extremely talent-deprived team plays against teams that are taking wins/losses seriously. Are they just going through the motions or are they trying hard, running hard, taking pitches, etc. And on that count, I think Acta is doing a decent job.

    Acta’s far from perfect but take a look at his tools — Justin Germano, Chris Gimenez, and Shelley Duncan for crying out loud!!! — and give the guy a break.

  • http://mrrklaw.com tsm

    Agree with #1. Acta’s comment makes no sense. Sometimes the crucial save situation is in the 8th inning as it was yesterday. The situation with their best hitter at the plate screamed for Chris Perez. If Acta was worried about over pitching him, he could always bring in someone else to face the bottom of the order in the 9th. You use your best weapon in the crucial situation when the game is on the line. Acta is not the only manager to not understand this, just the latest.

  • Max

    Actually the Indians – at 29 games out with 29 games left – won’t be “mathematically” eliminated from the playoffs til tonight (with a Rays win or a Tribe loss). But they’ve been effectively out of the playoffs for over a year now.

    I don’t need to see all of the old vets, but making an effort to sign Vizquel last year in the off-season would have been a good business decision, knowing he would put a few hundred more butts in the seats each game (I would have gone to a half dozen more games). But if the effort is for a full scale rebuild, and they are ok with the current revenue, it’s “nice” (for lack of a better word) to see the “talent” at 2B/3B get their time in at the big league level despite the results.

    If the core of the team (Santana, Choo, Sizemore, Cabrera, LaPorta) can stay healthy, we’re only 5 starters and a 3B away from nipping at a wild card slot…

  • George

    Completely disagree with Scott on this one. We go to a few games here and there, and watch when we can. The players have to go out and live this for hours every day. They’re professional athletes, more competitive than any of us by a long stretch. They don’t have day jobs; the losing is now their 24/7. Very, very few of them are handsomely paid, and all of them are faltering at the time when they’re supposed to be proving themselves–they’re costing themselves the chance for baseball to be lucrative, ever. Our financial stake in their individual performances absolutely pales in comparison to that of the vast majority of the Indians’, in other words.

    Sure, we’re the fans, us buying hats pays their salaries, so forth. But it’s insane, I think, to argue that that entitles us to think a loss is harder on us than on the athletes who lost it.

  • Harv 21

    Two things:

    - I think Acta was trying to assure the fans that he cares, he is competitive, the season is not just one long spring training to him. It came out awkwardly.

    - The org picked this guy for one long spring training, one they hope lasts only a few years. He’s the teach-our-kiddies-the-right-way/watch-them-blossom guy, not the “just win the damn game” guy. Not sure Shapiro has ever wanted that second guy who gets in their faces and generally can’t stomach losing. He would never hire Pat Corrales or even, I suspect, Mike Hargrove.

  • Alex

    I think we really need to sign Omar and Thome, even if they’re literally using canes. If anyone noticed the reception Omar got when he came up was better than most our current players, hell they even cheered when he got a hit. I think considering how almost everyone in town has forgotten about the tribe, and the ones who still kinda care dont know anyone on the roster it would be a very wise idea.

  • http://josemesaisdead.com JoseMesaIsDead.com

    George is right. Of course, fans always want to believe they’re the center of the universe. And they’re not. Like players, coaches, and GM’s wake up and say, “Can’t wait to get to the park and play for the fans today!” Kinda like most of us don’t go to work and think first and foremost about the customer. We think about ourselves. We think about our bosses. I’m beginning to think fans are actually more egotistical than players.

  • Fred Beene

    @ 15, 16 and 18. Well said. Thank you.

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