2010-11 NBA Blogger Previews – Atlantic Division
September 20, 2010Jawad Williams Signs Cavs Tender, Eyenga to D-League?
September 20, 2010Well at least one Cleveland team took down Kansas City this weekend.
It was a strange weekend for the Wahoo Warriors. Friday night’s game saw one player hit three homers and drive in seven. Saturday night’s game had longer rain delays than game play. Sunday’s game featured an Indians middle infield of Luis Valbuena and Drew Sutton.
And you all want to discuss why the Browns didn’t run more Wildcat yesterday. (SIDE NOTE – They should have. The play calling of Brian Daboll was brutal. How do you throw deep pass after deep pass to Wide Receivers that can’t get separation, yet run just one play out of the Wildcat with a running QB?)
The good news is that with the Tribe taking the weekend series two games to one, they are no longer in the AL Central cellar. Rejoice! So what did we see this weekend worth talking about with our beloved Wahoos?
Shin-Soo Choo is the man. I’ve said this all year, Choo is hands-down the best player the Indians have. You can have a healthy Grady Sizemore. Give me Choo. He can do it all. He showed it again this weekend. Friday night, he hit three jacks, including a grand slam, and drove in seven in the Tribe’s 11-4 win.
He busted out of his 10 game slump (where he hit .162) in a major way all weekend. He went 8-12 with four homers, 10 RBI’s, and a stolen base – his 20th of the year. Sunday’s home run and stolen base made his a 20/20 guy for the second consecutive year. Choo becomes the fourth player in Tribe history (Sizemore, Joe Carter, Roberto Alomar) to accomplish the feat of 20 homers and 20 steals more than once.
“Last year was my first full season in the big leagues,” said Choo. “A lot of guys may say I was lucky or maybe I would just do it one time. I showed this year that I can do it again.”
I think we all no this is no fluke. Choo now sits at .295/20 HR/82 RBI/20 Steals/ .873 OPS. Imagine his numbers if he had anyone hitting in front or behind him for a full season. You know who hit in front of him on Sunday? Drew Sutton. Shelley Duncan was behind him hitting cleanup.
The Indians still have to worry about Choo’s future thanks to his two-year military requirement by the South Korean Government and the fact that he is represented by super agent Scott Boras. Enjoy Choo while you can, because the way he is playing, he has priced himself right out of town once he hits free agency.
Carlos Carrasco gets his first win. It seemed to be a long time coming for the kid who was once the gem of the Phillies system. People forget that he is still only 23 years old. Carrasco wasn’t his best Friday night, allowing three runs and eight hits in six innings, but the “one-man wrecking Choo” gave him all the offense he needed.
Carrasco did strike out six and walk just one on the night he notched his first career win. “I told him he needed to be more aggressive in the strike zone,” Manny Acta said. “He had been more aggressive when it was 0-0 than he was with the four-run lead. I told him to get back to attacking the zone.”
His teammates greeted him with a beer shower in the locker room after the game to celebrate his first win. Carrasco deserves it. Unless he fails miserably next spring, he has to be in the 2011 rotation.
We had a Matt LaPorta sighting Saturday night. If you ask me who the most disappointing Indian has been this year, I’d easily cast my vote for LaPorta. After the trade of Russell Branyan, he was handed the first base job and given all the at-bats. Finally, the key guy in the CC Sabathia deal was going to get his first real shot at his future position.
To say he hasn’t run with it would be an understatement.
I’ve said before that LaPorta’s development as a middle of the order right-handed bat is the key to the success of the Tribe offense, when fully healthy. The Gator is having a poor season – .223/11 HR/39RBI/345 AB’s – there are no two ways about it. He entered Saturday night’s game in a 2-33 slump, including no hits in his last 15 at-bats. For at least one plate appearance, he found what he has been looking for.
LaPorta hit a fourth inning grand slam that put the Tribe in control of a 6-4 win. “It was nice,” LaPorta said. “The guys did a good job getting on base, and it was nice to come up big for the team like that.”
Its been long overdue. The Indians don’t want to be in the market for a first baseman this offseason and LaPorta will no doubt get another shot in 2011, but its time for him to step up and become more consistent.
The night that never would end in Kansas City. That is what it seemed like on Saturday as the Tribe and the Royals battled through some epic Midwest storms. I’ve seen many a baseball game in my day, but nothing like this. There were not one, not two, but FOUR different rain delays Saturday night in KC. By the time the game resumed after the last delay, it was 11:30 local time in a game that started at six.
Trevor Crowe said, “That has to be a record for rain delays, right? We’re lucky there was a lot of football on TV.”
The odd thing – one of the delays came with the game already official, with the Tribe leading 5-4. Umpire Deryl Cousins decided to wait things out, despite the fact that the two teams are bottom of the barrel. According to Anthony Castrovince of Indians.com, there were fewer than 200 people left in the Stadium after the last delay. They would play nine innings, with the Tribe winning 6-4.
For the night, the delays were three hours and 40 minutes. The game was played in two hours and 57 minutes.
Acta added, “it was a long day at work.”
Up next for the Tribe is a trip to Minnesota to play the first place Twins. Pitching for the Wahoos in this three game set are Jeanmar Gomez, Fausto Carmona, and Carlos Carrasco.
photo via AP/Ed Zurga
3 Comments
I figure someone should comment on this. I was really hoping that rain-soaked game would get through 5 because I didn’t want LaPorta’s grand slam to be vacated. Thankfully the weather cooperated.
Trevor Crowe said, “We’re lucky there was a lot of football on TV.”
***Things Tribe fans generally say in September for $100, Alex.
[…] within a cavalcade of failure, Indians right fielder Shin-Soo Choo was rewarded this week for his torrid stretch through the second week of […]