While We’re Waiting… More OSU trouble, Starting depth in the minors, and Delonte West can draw
May 8, 2011More bad news for Buckeye Nation: Athletes, relatives may have received discount vehicles
May 8, 2011A good batter’s eye is sometimes overlooked on both the individual and team level. But, the Indians have their plate discipline to thank for last night’s 4-3 victory. In the pivotal fifth inning, Grady Sizemore and Asdrubal Cabrera each drew walks after falling behind 0-2 to the hottest pitcher in the AL right now in Jared Weaver. That opened the door for the middle of the order to do damage and give the Tribe the lead for good. Alex White did his part and won his first career major league game in the process.
How can you not love the poise of Alex White? In his first two major league starts, he’s made mistakes by giving up home runs, but he hasn’t let it snowball and has avoided the big inning. Last night, it was Vernon Wells who smoked a fastball into the seats for a two-run blast in the second inning. But, for the most part, he held it right there. In the third, White stranded two runners after a leadoff triple by Aybar and an Abreu walk by coaxing a ground ball double play. Two inning later, he held the Angels after two infield singles to start the frame. The only other run White gave up was on a Wells sac fly in the sixth.
As for that fifth inning on the Tribe side, it was one of the more impressive and desperately needed offensive displays this season. After Hannahan and Marson were retired, Grady Sizemore fell behind 0-2. Then, Grady saw five more pitches from Weaver, laying off practically everything in Weaver’s repertoire and drawing the two-out walk. Following that, Asdrubal turned in another great plate appearance, seeing nine Weaver pitches and laying off one of many changeups he saw for ball four. The patience of the top two men in the Tribe order made it possible for some two-out thrills.
Just yesterday, I asked Manny Acta to bench Shin-Soo Choo as he was 0-for-16 on the trip and clearly not himself. Shows how much I know, because Choo delivered in a big way. The Indians’ right fielder took an 0-1 looping curveball and rolled it down the first base line, scoring both Grady and Asdrubal and giving the Tribe a lead it would never surrender. Carlos Santana has been piling up the hits lately, and he added another with a flare to center which plated Choo. Pronk added a single that would’ve been a groundout to second had it not been for the shift before Orlando ended the inning. Weaver threw 39 pitches in that fifth inning, and he was visibly frustrated in the dugout after letting both Grady and Asdrubal off the hook. Three runs, all made possible by good at-bats from the top of the order. The Tribe has now went an entire week without a home run, but Actaball has navigated them through that stretch at 4-2 thus far.
Just as important was Alex White coming out and holding that two-run lead, he even mentioned getting his guys right back up to the plate in his post game interview. As I mentioned before, he gave one run back, but he minimized the damage. After the Wells sac fly, Mark Trumbo had his second Baltimore Chop hit of the night that put runners on 2nd and 1st with 2 out. White had to go after Jeff Mathis, or he may have been chased from the game before the end of the inning. He did just that, clocking in at 94 mph on a high four-seam fastball that overmatched the Angels’ catcher. A raw display of emotion from White showed how important that out was not just to him, but the team. When you couple White’s poise with his hard-throwing arm and arsenal of pitches, he’s going to be fun to watch for a long time.
The Tribe bullpen was still a little overworked heading into this one, but with White turning in six strong innings, they were able to set it up for three of their most effective bullpen arms. Tony Sipp breezed through the eighth in 1-2-3 fashion so quick that I just assumed Acta would leave him out there for the eighth. Instead, he went to Vinnie Pestano, who gave up a leadoff single, but did not back down from the heart of the order. After striking out Torii Hunter, Kendrick grounded out to Hannahan at third. But, a heads-up Santana at first caught Izturis trying to reach third base, and Carlos threw out Izturis after Hannahan wisely made his way back close to the base. It was a huge momentum play that killed any potential Angels rally.
And, finally, it appears that we have our dynamite closer back. After having a couple of rocky saves with high pitches in a row, Chris Perez was able to locate his fastball and overmatch the bottom of the Angel order. He needed just seven pitches, six of those being strikes to nail down his 10th save in 11 chances. There were concerns over Perez’s back recently, but everything looked fine last night.
If nothing else, last night goes to show you why they do in fact play the games regardless of what the pitching matchup may be. Two nights ago, we lost to Tyler Chatwood with Justin Masterson towing the rubber for the Tribe. Last night, a rookie (albeit a tough, talented one) in his second start matched the best pitcher in the AL and notched the victory. Today, the Tribe will be an underdog once again as Fausto Carmona takes the hill against Dan Haren for the Angels.
(Photo: Bret Hartman/AP)
6 Comments
where did u hear Tomlin is pitching today? I’m pretty sure Carmona will take the mound and we’ll have a good shot for the W and the series.. Hopefully if Carmona is throwing hard strikes we can give the bullpen some well-deserved rest..
Thank you for pointing that out, gabriel. Carmona indeed is pitching today! As for why I put Tomlin, who knows? Maybe I was subconsciously thinking I’d like to have Tomlin on the hill? But, Fausto has been great lately, and I’m sure he’ll turn in a good performance today.
Couple of excellent at bats by Santana last night. Especially in the 5th when he worked the count and eventually got an RBI single.
Saw the game in Anaheim… along with a nice contingent of Cleveland fans. Maybe be a couple thousand of us there?
I don’t get a chance to see many games, but Hannahan always seems to make at least one defensive play that prevents a run from being scored and/or stops a rally. Last night it was the double play in the 8th. Peralta may or may not have been able to throw the runner out at first, but there is no way he would have hustled back to third to catch that throw from Santana to tag the runner like Hannahan did. Hannahan not only tagged him out — he sent him sprawling. With Peralta or Nix or Marte, that ball would have ended up in the stands and the game would have been tied.
Hannahan also broke up a double play with a hard slide into second.
I’m impressed with all the things he does that never show up in a box score.
Indians do not have any reliable big hitters. This means trouble in the long run.
@ Pat
I love Hannahan too. Hes one of those “intangible” kind of guys that all winning teams seem to have. I hope he keeps his offensive production respectable because I love what hes doing in the field. Chisenhall can wait awhile longer if Jack keeps it up.