While We’re Waiting… Loving Manny Acta, More on Attendance and Cavs Draft Decision
April 8, 2011Retiring the Sweater: Cavs to Hold Joe Tait Appreciation Night
April 8, 2011During the Eric Wedge era, or “The Grind” as we loved to call it, it was station to station baseball. Wedge loved to sit back and wait for that big inning or the three -run homer. He rarely moved runners, didn’t like stealing, and seemingly despised the bunt. That ran its course and Wedge was let got after the 2009 season.
2010 brought a new manager, Manny Acta, and a laid back style. Sure, many (yours included) were a little taken aback by his seemingly play it cool approach to his team, but nevertheless it was his style. If I wasn’t sold on Acta as the Tribe manager after last year, he officially won me over during the last two days.
I give a ton of credit to the Tribe skipper during yesterday’s 1-0 series sweeping win over Boston that sent the Red Sox to a shocking 0-6 start and the Tribe to an equally shocking 4-2 start. Whatever string he has seemed to pull over these last four games has worked.
Take yesterday for example. With the Indians locked in a 0-0 pitchers duel in the eighth inning and third baseman Adam Everett on first after a leadoff walk, the obvious play was the bunt. Orlando Cabrera squared twice and pulled his bat back when Daniel Bard threw balls. With the first baseman Adrian Gonzalez charging hard, Acta smartly called for Everett to steal. He was able to get the jump because Gonzalez wasn’t holding him on as tightly as he should. Everett stole second with ease.
Orlando Cabrera, who looks like a steal every single day, laid down a beautiful bunt to the right side on the next pitch, moving Everett to third. Up stepped Asdrubal Cabrera, Wednesday night’s hero. After fouling off a 2-0 pitch. Acta called for a squeeze bunt, something Eric Wedge did only once in his eight years in Cleveland. AC put it down the third base line to perfection, scoring Everett easily and breaking the scoreless tie. It was a thing of beauty.
“The whole dugout knew we were squeezing,” Cabrera said. “We know the signs. But, hey, that’s the type of team we are. We do the unexpected. It wasn’t a perfect pitch, but I was able to do it.”
In a 0-0 game where hits were at a premium, when you had the opportunity to score, you had to capitalize. The Indians did just that in the eighth.
But there were three big outs still to get. After Fausto Carmona pitched seven innings of two hit, shutout ball, and Rafael Perez cleaned up Chad Durbin’s mess in the eighth, close Chris Perez entered to try and close out the sweep. With two outs, he walked David Ortiz, who was lifted for pinch-runner Darnell McDonald. J.D. Drew then hit a hard groundball up the middle that glanced off of Perez’s shin. It ricocheted right to Everett at third. Both Cabrera’s were nowhere near close to second base and McDonald took a wide turn. Because of the damp conditions, McDonald slipped trying to go back to second. This allowed O-Cab to get close to the bag. Everett threw it to him and he tagged McDonald to end the game.
The crazy play summed up the series for the Sox, who played poorly while getting swept by the upstart Tribe. But lets not take away anything from our Wahoos; they were the better team this series at the plate, on the mound, and in the field.
After the game, the Tribe was all smiles in the clubhouse.
“It’s very, very important to sweep that team,” Carmona said. “Everybody knows that’s a very, very good team. But play hard and everybody is the same. I don’t care about that. I don’t care about who’s coming to the plate or who’s pitching. Play hard against everybody.”
That is the truth, the Indians played their tails off this series.
Acta was dead on when he said after the game: “It does nothing but help the confidence that these kids already had,” Acta said. “We did beat a very good ballclub. Regardless if they’re struggling or not, we won.”
That’s right, Manny. You did win, and you were a huge part of the sweep.
The Indians now ride high at 4-2 into Seattle to visit their old friend The Grinder and his Mariners. Carlos Carrasco tries for his first win of the season against Mariners lefty Jason Vargas.
photo via Thoms Ondrey/PD
24 Comments
I love small ball. It is just smart baseball. Yesterday’s win never would have happened with Wedge. Scoring a run without a single hit would baffle The Grind. I am starting to fall in love with Acta and this team. I already saw good things in the future, but hopefully the future is now.
Something scary about Shapiro…if he had his way, his “partner” Wedge would still be managing the team. The Dolans made him fire Wedge to try to appease the fans.
Loving what I am seeing so far. There is a time for small ball and a time to swing for the fences. Acta seems to know the difference, and got perfect execution from his players.
If the starting pitching can overachieve even a little bit, this could turn into a real fun season. Keep scrapping, boys!
in addition to the baserunning, ive been liking acta’s pitcher management. he went lefty-righty in the 5th inning on wednesday. he went to the mound and told raffie to go after ortiz with a 2-0 count and first base open, also on wednesday. he had no prob with a quick hook on durbin yesterday.
on top of that — whether its acta or belcher — the pitchers dont show a bias toward nibbling. theyre mostly throwing strikes.
all these moves paid off. they wont always payoff, but im liking his baseball mind.
What is impressive to me is that the Indians managed to hold the Sawks to zero runs with a worse defensive lineup than they usually put out there. Everett had not played any third base before Spring Training replacing a fantastic defensive third baseman in Hannahan, and Travis Buck is certainly a weaker center fielder than Brantley. But everybody played hard and got the outs that were needed to secure the win. I felt like, with the exception of Adrian Gonzalez’s homer on Wednesday, the Red Sox got all of their runs on cheap plays. Their best chances seemed to come from a ball kicked by the pitcher, or a high chopper off the plate, or a “seeing eye” single, or bloop single to the outfield. Hopefully that’s good news for our pitching staff going forward with other teams not being so lucky.
^^@5 — even that gonzo HR was ok with me. 12 pitch AB, up by 5 runs, indians pitcher said ‘screw it, no walks when we’re up by 5… earn it.’
all good stuff.
cautious optimism folks. We’ve won one series vs a winless team (albeit the monster sox). This is a young team and the season is a marathon.
I’m guarded at this point, I like what I’ve seen out of this team so far but consistency is the key. The pitching needs to remain on this level for them to keep producing wins and be in the race. I’m not convinced that is going to happen.
All I know is that I’m glad the Indians got these guys before their bats warmed up. It’s not like Boston will go 0-162; they haven’t played at home yet.
Great series – the guys didn’t buckle under pressure and Acta has been the man.
Who doesn’t love Manny being Manny?
@ ClevelandFan:
You already saw the future???? Where can I get a pair of these prophet glasses? And do I ever get that Harley that I’ve been wanting?
hopefully we got the Red Sox all riled up for the Yankees and they can drag them down too.
even if it’s April, I love seeing Cleveland, KC, Baltimore and Toronto at the top of the standings. Add in Cinci, who has a legit power building in the NL.
@7 I’m as big an Indians homer as there is, but I doubt we’ll see much in terms of consistency this year. Not only is this team young, but Donald and Sizemore will have to be worked back into the line-up and we’ll probably see Phelps and Chiz at some point this year. It will be up and down for sure, but hopefully we can stay around .500 this year and build on it next year.
I’m with stin on this one: cautious optimism. That would be true of a 4-2 start in any sport (the Cavs had a decent start this season, remember?), but especially baseball. I see these first two series as a likely microcosm of our season: focused, disciplined wins one series, cover-you-eyes terrible blowouts in the next. A likely rollercoaster, but I’ll gladly grab a seat.
If we can get 2 of 3 this weekend I will jump on the bandwagon. This team could be dangerous and fun to watch once they get some more confidence.
I’VE GOT WAHOO FEVER BABY!!! AND MY CAPS LOCK IS BROKEN!
Forgot Shelly Duncan at first base in my last comment as well… definitely a weaker 1B than LaPorta defensively.
@13 I completely agree with that assessment. Hopefully nobody is ready to crown us the AL Central champions yet. As for me, I am just looking for improvement and consistency. Some good signs to me are: Choo hasn’t started hitting yet, and he absolutely will sooner rather than later. We still don’t know what we have in Sizemore yet… there’s a chance for a comeback season, albeit I think it’s a small chance. Indians pitchers not named Talbot are pounding the strike zone and giving our bullpen good rest (I think we’ve only seen Justin Germano once so far, and he’s our “long reliever”, only seen Herrmann and Pestano twice). Seeing good plate discipline from Brantley, A Cabrera, Santana, Hafner, and yes even LaPorta. LaPorta is seeing a lot of pitches. There are definitely some good signs so far this season, but I am still tempering my expectations.
@ JimKanicki: agree, because even if Acta’s moves hadn’t worked he had reasons for them – matching up in the fifth because the bullpen was rested and he felt the game in the balance right there – rather than push-button, CYA managing.
Let’s not go delusional, being manager of the tribe in this era often means you are a Turd Polisher, but if that’s the job description why not be a Master Turd Polisher? Go ahead, Manny, chuck ’em against the side of the big boys’ houses, and when it sticks we’ll all have some fun. Nothing to lose, so play fearless and with a smile on your faces.
The best thing that happened this week is the Tribe gave all of us a reason to keep watching.
Sure, it’s only six games and thinks could fall apart quickly, but 4-2 is sure better than 1-5 as the team heads out west.
In the words of the immortal Clay Davis: “crawl, walk, then run.”
Manny knows his players inside and out now. He knows what they are capable of doing on the field and what buttons he needs to push to get them to do their job. In Wedge’s three decades as Tribe manager (tell me it didn’t feel like he was here that long), the only player I ever remember him calling out was Peralta. Wedge loved utility players the way Eric Mangini loved special teams guys. I just hope Manny kicks Wedgies butt all weekend in Seattle.
My fave Manny moment in the young season was after the opening day loss when the media was asking him questions that would allow him to say Fausto’s poor performance was due to nerves. Manny wouldn’t bite and told the truth….Fausto was horrible that day. Manny said in spring training that the goal was to win. He’s managing to win and yesterday was proof that the man knows what he’s doing.
“Nothing to lose, so play fearless and with a smile on your faces.”
why I always liked Mike Sciosia. he always managed like I played video games. aggressive (sometimes to a fault).
Acta is more controlled, intelligent decision making in his baseball moves, which is probably better in the long run for our club.
sorry to be annoying…
but what’s the story behind that creepy rendition of chief wahoo?
That Meme looks like Eric Wedge. And Mike Hargrove.
someone’s been on Reddit.
@9….speaking of Manny being Manny…..just saw Ramirez is retiring after getting busted for PEDs again in spring training….fitting end to a crazy career for that guy.