While We’re Waiting… Buckeye Breakdown, and Plenty of Kyrie
June 28, 2011Hillis, McCoy Saying All the Right Things
June 28, 2011
I know many of you couldn’t stay awake for this 9:40 PM start time in Arizona. You should have.
Monday night was the long awaited debut of the Indians top hitting prospect, Lonnie Chisenhall. With the offense in a deeper funk than George Clinton and Parliament, GM Chris Antonetti fired his biggest bullet. Manager Manny Acta wasted no time, starting Chisenhall at third base and hitting him seventh. “Here’s here to play,” Acta said.
The last Tribe phenom to come up and wear #27 was Jaret Wright in a year the Indians were fighting for a pennant. Could Chisenhall have that same kind of instant impact?
In his debut, all Chiz did was go 2-4 with a huge sixth inning RBI single in the 5-4 win. “I felt like an all-around baseball player tonight,” said Chisenhall. “I got a couple of hits, drove in a run and made a couple of plays at third base.”
I’m not going to say Chisenhall’s presence alone was the difference in this game, but it was clearly an improvement over the Jack Hannahan/Adam Everett/Orlando Cabrera third base experience of late.
There were plenty of heroes in this big win.
Start with the Asdrubal Cabrera, who got the Indians off to a first inning lead for seemingly the first time in ages. He crushed a two-run jack off of D’Backs starter Ian Kennedy to get the Tribe rolling.
You could call Mitch Talbot an unsung hero in this one. Sure, I was killing him for giving back three runs in the bottom of the first. But if you take a step back and look, this could have easily been avoided. After walking Kelly Johnson to open the frame (you can’t be walking a guy hitting .206), Stephen Drew laced a line drive to center. Grady Sizemore made the mistake of trying to make a diving catch on a ball that was out of his reach. It rolled all the way to the wall for a stand-up triple, scoring Johnson.
Sizemore has to know better than to attempt a dive in that situation. It wasn’t even close. SIDE NOTE – I know he singled in the first (with nobody on), but the rest of his at-bats were again terribly weak, included popping out with two on and nobody out in the sixth in a tie game.
Back to Talbot. After Justin Upton’s bloop single scored Drew, Chris Young ripped a double off the left field wall. Five batters in, the Indians were down 3-2. After that, Talbot didn’t allow another hit in his five innings of work, retiring the last 10 batters he faced. It was vintage Talbot. He got behind early, then teased us with four good innings.
”He’s had some issues early in games in the two years I’ve been here,’’ Acta said. “”But he righted himself and gave us four good innings.”
Talbot was lifted after five innings because Acta had to use his once a game allotment of Travis Hafner. After the Indians tied the game at three on Travis Buck’s RBI single and took the lead on Chisenhall’s RBI single, Acta called for Pronk with two on and two out and the right-handed Kennedy on the mound. The D’Backs had no lefty ready in the pen.
While Hafner K’d to end the inning, it was the right decision. Acta had no problem handing over the lead to another set of heroes in this one; the bullpen.
First up was Joe Smith who retired all four batters he faced. He was replaced in the seventh by lefty Tony Sipp, who got the last two outs in a tidy five pitches. In the eighth, Acta turned to Vinnie Pestano, who has been close to unhittable this year.
Pinch hitter Wily Mo Pena led off with a single. Johnson, in a great at-bat, tripled Pena in on Pestano’s 3-2 pitch to tie the game at four. It was an 11 pitch at-bat. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the batter, and this was one of those times. Sure, Pestano may have given up the lead, but what he did next has to be applauded.
With the lead run on third and nobody out, Arizona had three chances get ahead. Drew’s fly ball to left (on the 10th pitch of the AB) wasn’t deep enough to score Johnson. Smartly with first base open, Pestano intentionally walked Upton to set up the double play with Young. Instead, he K’d Young for a huge second out. With the left-handed hitting Miguel Montero coming to the plate, Acta called for Rafael Perez.
Perez’s biting breaking pitch was on, and Montero couldn’t touch it. Raffy struck him out to work out of the jam and would soon after be rewarded.
“I hope this whole bullpen can make it to the All-Star Game,” said Orlando Cabrera. “I know it can’t happen, but these guys have been incredible.”
So to the ninth we went, where the biggest hero of the night would appear. Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson called on closer J.J. Putz in a non-save situation. As we have seen for many years in our city, that is usually a recipe for disaster. With two outs, Orlando stepped to the plate for his first at-bat of the night. He entered 5-11 in his career against Putz.
Putz hung a slider and OC deposited it into the left field seats to put the Tribe back on top 5-4. ”Manny knows that I hit Putz very well,’’ Cabrera said. “”He knows if it’s late in the game and I get a pitch, I have a pretty good chance. The ball just made it into that little corner; it was kind of scary. But everybody knows the ball flies in here.’’
Chris Perez closed out the ninth for his 19th save of the season. Raffy Perez was the winner.
This was such a big win for so many reasons and it was a complete team effort. The youngest kid (Chisenhall) and the grizzled veteran (O. Cabrera) came through when the team needed it the most.
”There still were a couple of opportunities that we missed,’’ Acta said. “”That would have made it easier on us. But we still won the game. It was a very good win, considering that it almost slipped out of our hands.’’
With the Tigers win earlier in the day against Toronto, the Indians stayed one game back in the AL Central. Tonight the “good” portion of the rotation restarts with Josh Tomlin (9-4, 3.95 ERA) taking the hill. He will be opposed by Arizona’s tough right-hander Daniel Hudson (9-5, 3.58 ERA).
(AP Photo/Matt York)
24 Comments
Which is the better shirt:
“The Chiz Means Biz”
Or
“Nobody Beats The Chiz”
@1 – The first one.
Grady Sizemore is done. Move him to right field till Choo is back and call up Carrera. We’re kind of all in at this point.
I hate NL style of play. It was the “right decision” to take a pitcher out of a ball game despite the fact that he had retired 10 straight batters and was nowhere near his pitch count limit.
And you could tell Talbot was fuming in the dugout. Good for him. Stupid NL w/ no DH.
Here is a point-counterpoint argument to why I don’t like the NL-style.
#Point1 – in the NL, the pitchers don’t really hit much because most are pulled after 5-6 innings and we see pinch hitters the rest of the way.
*Counterpoint1 – so, not only do we get the ‘benefit’ of seeing pitchers hit, but we get to see the better pitchers (starters > relievers) pitch less because their managers have more incentive to pull them early.
#Point2 – If you outlaw the DH, we may see more pitchers care about learning to hit.
*Counterpoint2 – and most will still be far below the average hitter. not only that, but I want my pitcher purely focusing on the health of his arm and how to continue to become a better pitcher. more time in the batting cages means less time studying batters/pitchers film, etc.
#Point3 – There aren’t that many great pure DH’s around the AL (before this year’s resurgence of Hafner/Ortiz etc)
*Counterpoint3 – don’t forget that having a DH is a good way to give a guy a day off from the wears of fielding without losing his bat (for instance a guy coming off a knee injury like Sizemore or someone playing a taxing position like Santana. or for a guy at the end of his career to tack on a couple years when he is a good hitter but just doesn’t have the legs to be a fielder anymore).
#Point4 – small-ball is better. Give me a walk, stolen base, bunt, sac fly over a solo homer any day.
*Counterpoint4 – small-ball is great. Watching the Tribe in April and May was a joy. The Angels are also a well-known AL smallball team who have had success. And, hitters who practice reading a pitch more than a pitcher are better bunters. Especially since it’s not as obvious they are going to bunt.
#Point5 – The DH was only added to baseball back when pitching was dominant.
*Counterpoint5 – pitching has been dominant the past 2 seasons. there are articles about the lack of run scoring (shutouts were nearly even with 10+ run games for the first time in 30 years last year and on pace to be greater than this year).
Mariners’s, A’s, Angels, Indians, Phillies, Braves, Giants…plenty of really good pitching staffs this year in both leagues.
#Point6 – The leagues need to be operating with the same rules.
*Counterpoint6 – I like quirks in sports. Makes it more entertaining and lends to better discussion. Good teams and managers should be able to adjust.
Sizemore swings at some of the worst pitches I have ever seen a major leaguer swing at.
Pestano did a heckuva job to limit that damage. Everyone gets touched up now and again, and like TD said, tip of the hat goes to the batter, but gotta love how he dug in after that. Incredible poise.
And how about the staff on the D-Backs bench? Great to see Charlie Nagy, I always liked him. Throw in Alan Trammell (sp?) and Kirk Gibson…me likey.
The Johnson and Drew at bats against Vinny P were just brutal….it’s gotta be hard for a pitcher to maintain focus during consecutive 11 and 10 pitch at bats…glad to see him pull through it
I personally hate the DH. I like it better when these guyes were all jacks of all trades. I just cant believe the mad money you throw at a guy like ortiz or hafner. doesnt seem right.
A HUGE win last night. Glad I stayed up for it. The pitching top to bottom on this team has been exceptional…a few hitters get hot by getting a spark from Lonnie – I will take it!
I have not commented on this site for a long time about Aaron and/or Fedor on WKNR (and no, I do NOT work there and would NOT under ANY circunstance) but it is hilarious to hear them talk about the Tribe. When they were sailing along at 30-15, they had to find ANY reason to complain about the Tribe. It seemingly did not matter how many wins the Tribe attained early on. They practically MOCKED the team for their success…absolutely amazing. And now…even WORSE!
Aaron with his hanging up on all callers / misrepresenting Cleveland whenever he can / being so contrived that it is BARELY LISTENABLE…on and on. Funny thing is that most everyone I talk to ONLY listens because there is NO OTHER LOCAL sports talk available. Basically giving them the right to SUCK with no worries of losing listeners to another station. To hear the angst drip out of Aaron Goldhammer when he hosts a Sat. am show solo & he has to take callers is hilarious. These guys spend 5-10 minute blocks talking about NOTHING or repeating themselves over & over and then typically finally take a call and pretty much rush every caller, hustle them off the phone and then wonder what the caller meant many times?! Kind of hard to know as they hang up on everyone…why? Rizzo has become almost as LAME as his co-hosts.
When a retread, lazy broadcaster like Bacon Brinda can still be on the air and proclaim “I am not going anywhere” to any caller that has the audacity to challenge him on the air before hanging up on them is still on the air, you know what a joke the station has become. Luckily “Chuck’s Last Call” is on STO after all Tribe games and there IS an option to these losers. Chuck actually seems to listen to callers and is not interested in just hanging up on them asap…everytime!
Lastly, the spots they run now to promo their own station focus on things like “bad callers beware” and Brinda hanging up on someone that has the nerve to say “hold on” to Bacon while trying to reset a point he was trying to make. These spots are supposed to make us WANT to listen??!!
The real question is always: why waste time writing comments like this as nothing ever changes! The joke survey Craig Karmazin does is a major waste of time as Bacon has his buddies vote for him as he is so afraid that he will get fired…AGAIN! Listening to 1350 AM out of Akron is now becoming a reality…too bad for us that like REAL local sportstalk, not whatever they think this is??!!
On one side, if Austin Kearns has to take at bats then I don’t see why pitchers can’t.
On the other side, neither has any business in the batters box.
The DH seems to be a way to increase offence and therefore general interest in baseball. I just don’t see them removing it from the AL as it will further make the game more dependent on pitching.
Of course maybe it forces pitchers out of the game sooner and guys like Hafner/Ortiz to play 1st, so maybe it would increase offence by reducing defence???
Just the way Acta drew it up before the game: Chisenhall with a big RBI and Orlando Cabrera hitting a game-winning homerun.
This blog has defended Grady Sizemore for years.
He is not good.
Sure we got the win but I’m going to disagree with lifting Talbot early who had 71 pitch count ,retired the previous 10 and was up in a 4-3 ball game.
Talbot at least connected on the ball his first bat up and then laid down a very nice bunt his second time up; so with that record he could have had a better at bat than Hafners strike out, and been out to pitch in the next inning.
“With the offense in a deeper funk than George Clinton and Parliament …”
Thanks for that, TD. Gotta love any sports article that references the Funkadelic.
@216in614 – yes, but if you are increasing offense by reducing pitching and defense is that really the way to go? I prefer to see the best players do what they do best as often as possible. whether it be pitch, hit, or play defense.
I wonder if Acta would’ve pulled Talbot had Marson been able to bring in the man at 3B with less than two outs. He popped out, but had he hit a sac fly to make it 5-3, I think Acta may have allowed Talbot to bat with two outs and a runner on 1B. So, in conclusion, I blame Lou.
Also, the reason the DH will never go away is financial. The union won’t let it happen because it allows guys to extend their career and make huge sums of money they wouldn’t make if they had to play in the field. If anything, the DH will come to the NL at some point. You can’t tell me pitchers like Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, etc. are being paid to bat. All it will take is one or two highly-paid pitchers being hurt as a batter or runner and their owners will start crying to have protection against their investment in pitchers.
I like the idea of the pitcher batting but only if they can actually look like they care. The real reason I like it is because they would have to answer to beanballs they throw at the other team.
But noone really pitches inside anymore anyway.
@12, Jim. I agree, I would have liked to see Talbot stay in the game. I wasnt upset they pulled him and understood why, but just didnt like it. If it was tied 3-3 and had a runner on 3rd I could see the need. But once you got your pitcher the lead, let him take a swing and then go out and defend the lead.
@3, lol, you could defenetely see in Talbots body language he wanted to stay in the game.
You guys are all saying how bad Grady is..I don’t get it?? He is second on our team in extra base hits with 25, and has half of the ABs as the guys that have been playing all year…come on fellas, see the whole picture
Great game last night. Awesome job by the pen to get us out of that jam in the 8th. I thought for sure we were headed for disaster there. Chisenhall looked good, the kid seems to have a cannon for an arm. If he can hold the fort down at 3rd base, he should do ok.
As for Grady Sizemore, hes been painful to watch lately. I actually kinda hope that hes not 100%, because if he IS healthy, then this is a very bad sign. Other than the 2 week stretch in April when he came off the DL, he hasnt been a very effective player for 3 years now.
Im rooting for the guy, I hope he picks it up. We need him.
@Eric – You just isolated one stat. How is that seeing the whole picture. Let’s see the whole picture…
– Terrible situational hitter
– Team leader in Ks/AB
– Can’t walk/get on base
– Terrible average
– Refuses to change his swing
– Lost his speed on base paths
– Lost speed in outfield
– Makes poor decisions in outfield
– Sub-standard arm in outfield
But yes, when he gets hits they tend to be something more than singles.
@ Jack – We can’t get rid of Sizemore, we already traded away Brady Quinn. It would leave us with a huge hole in the position of Cleveland Dreamboat that Hillis just can’t fill by himself.
Sizemore is worth defending. He had some ridiculously great years. Now? I think it’s still too early to say since he’s still coming back from pretty major surgery.
That said, he’s looked HORRIBLE at the plate. 13% swinging strikes compared to 7% in his glory days. 30% swinging at pitches out of the zone compared to sub 20% in his glory days.
Again, he’s coming back from major surgery. Give him a chance.
[…] Chisenhall made short work of his first major league hit and RBI as he went 2-4 in an Indians win over the Arizona Diamonbacks last night. I guess, technically, it could have […]
@JACK No doubt he is not what he was, but I guess by “whole picture, I meant by what else we have.
He never has really been a BB-OBP guy..career avg is about 10%-11% BB, this year he is at 6%…probably why he should be in the 4-6 range in the order..
But, In terms of what else we have check out OPS which is true indicator of getting on +power…agreed?
Hafner – 968
ACab – 848
Santana – 759
Grady – 739 which equals a +107 OPS+ and league avg is 100…so I think if he can get his avg just up to .250 this year, sprinkle in a couple more BBs(get back to career AVG 10%)than you are looking at hardly a “bad” player…considering the injury he sustained a year ago…