While We’re Waiting… Rivals and Realignment, Second Round Options and Phelps was Safe
June 21, 2011NBA Draft Rumors: Answering Questions About the Exception, JJ Hickson and the Fourth-Overall Pick
June 21, 2011
TD is out of commission this week, and as such, the recap duties fall into my (incapable) hands. The upshot? I can’t write from work and I can’t stay up until all hours of the night, so I’m going to live blog the game, and just wait to publish it in the recap slot. This is neither an original idea nor a particularly clever one. But I’ve never claimed to be either. So there.
6:29: Orlando Cabrera is playing third base. Maybe this is not the worst move ever. He could be a great third baseman. He is, after all, a decent enough shortstop. Hold on while I check something…
6:31: Nope. He’s never played third base in his MLB career. Which still means he’s probably better there than he is at second base, where he plumbs the depths of defensive inefficiency. Actually, let me check something else…
6:35: Orlando is currently the worst defensive second baseman in the AL (using UZR) by a not insignificant margin (6.3 runs below average so far; closest competition is -3 runs). Alright, no more O-Cab talk until his first at bat (or first error). I promise.
6:43: Watching SportsCenter. I know, I know. But I just wanted to share with you a thought that just entered my head: Rory McIlroy looks like a 53 year old woman. So does Kyle Orton. That is all.
6:49: Mike Hargrove is in the booth tonight. He opines on the pregame show: “Bruce Fields is a good hitting coach.” And later: “John Nunnally is a great hitting coach.” No one is splitting hairs here: I haven’t heard one person close to the organization make it sound as though firing Nunnally was the right thing to do. I don’t think hitting coaches really impact anything, so to be honest, I don’t particularly care about the firing. But we needed a scapegoat, and we got one. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
7:06: One pitch, one hit. Oh Fausto. CarGo rips one to right center for a single. People say so often that Fausto isn’t the same pitcher as he used to be that it’s become kind of clichéd and worn thin at this point. Except that it’s completely true and worth talking about. In both 2007 and 2008 Fausto threw approximately 88% fastballs (four seamers and sinkers). This year? It’s 65%. He throws his changeup 15% of the time and his slider 20% of the time—two pitches he almost never threw back then. He’s just not remotely a similar pitcher to the one he used to be. Which isn’t, in itself, a bad thing. Except for all the crummy results.
7:21: Somehow Fausto got out of the first with only allowing one run. Three hits and a stolen base turned into one run. It’s bad when you’re thoroughly impressed with a 9.00 ERA, but I’m getting there.
7:31: Meanwhile, after a Sizemore groundout, Brantley and Asdrubal shoot back-to-back singles to left. This is where you’d really like to have Travis Hafner healthy in the cleanup spot. Wait a second! Travis Hafner is healthy and in the cleanup spot. And he behaves accordingly, depositing a hanging slider into the right field seats for a 3-run bomb.
7:40: Matt Underwood just explained that Jack Hannahan is on the bench tonight because he struggles against RHP. Which is true. He has a weird reverse platoon split this year where his OPS against righties is only .588 but against lefties it’s been .897. Now, guess who’s been a thousand times worse against RHP this season? I made a promise and I intend to keep it. But you know who I’m talking about. Here’s a hint: his OPS against RHP is .497. For realz.
7:44: My double-reverse psychological trickery plan is working. O-Cab works a walk. Lemme look something up (I should just bookmark his baseball-reference page, huh?). He now has seven walks on the season. There is not an everyday player in the Major Leagues with fewer walks or a lower walk-rate. Not even Vlad Guerrero.
Alright, I promise. I mean it this time. There’s a game going on here. Tribe still up 3-1 going into the third after Marson grounds into a double play.
8:05: Mike Hargrove literally just said: “Manny [Ramirez] was not an evil guy; he did not have evil thoughts.” I don’t remotely know what this means, but I feel awkward listening to it.
Meanwhile, this has become a pitcher’s-duel. Fausto has sent down eight of his last nine, while his Colorado counter-part Juan Nicasio (I probably should’ve mentioned his name before, but I was busy) hasn’t let up a hit since Hafner’s blast. The only walk on the night belongs to you-know-who and was not issued by Fausto, proving once again that we can’t ever know anything about baseball.
8:07: Bob Costas is at Jagressive Field. He is drinking red wine out of what looks to be a brandy snifter, proving once again that he can’t know anything about baseball.
8:12: Carlos Santana just hit his third home run in his last four games. I hate to say I told you so. No I don’t. I told you so. He’s gonna be fine.
Meanwhile, Orlando also likes to say I told you so too. He singles to right field before Phelps grounds out to end the inning. Tribe up 4-1.
8:39: Ick. The thing to remember about the following sequence is that it all happened after Fausto retired the first two batters on five pitches.
A walk and two singles load the bases. Then Fausto walks Helton to bring in a run. Tulo hits a ground ball off third base to tie the game at 4-4. Yes, the Tulo hit was bad luck (and notice whom I’m not blaming), but without those walks we’d have been in fine shape. Instead though, Jason Giambi hits a ball to Pennsylvania to put the Rockies up 7-4. Your opening day starter, ladies and gentlemen, gets knocked out after 4.2 innings. He now has the second highest HR/9 rate in the AL. And he’s throwing fewer sinkers than ever before. Causation = Correlation? Who knows, but it’s worth noting.
Durbin strikes out Ty Wiggington, the tenth man to bat and the only one to get out twice in the inning. Harumph.
8:52: After hard-hit singles from both Grady and Brantley, Asdrubal strikes out swinging on a pitch at his eyes, leaving Hafner up with two outs. Nicasio, who wants nothing to do with Pronk, walks him on five pitches. Jim Tracy is not messing around. He pulls Nicasio for a LOOGY to face Choo.
8:54: Rick Manning goes on the record: he’s rooting for a hit.
8:55: Choo is nothing if not a Rick Manning fan. Single to center scores two. Hard to emphasize how important that hit was, both for this game (I hope) and for Choo’s emotional state. Whoever this lefty is, he throws from a low arm slot—just miserable for a left-handed batter. Good for Choo. 7-6 Bad Guys. First and second, two outs.
9:00: Santana rips a single to left. Travis Hafner is so slow that not only does he not score, but he barely gets to third. There are two outs. Bases loaded. Guess who’s coming up? It’s redemption time.
9:04: Orlando bashes one to right-center. Matt Underwood shouts that it’s going to drop for a hit. Instead, it hangs up for the third out of the inning. It was, to say the least, soul-crushing. Why didn’t Rick Manning just say that he’s rooting for another hit? Drat.
9:17: After Durbin sends down the side, the Rockies bring in Matt Lindstrom, who used to be awesome. I’m surprised to see him in middle relief. Three fairly hard hit balls off him by Phelps, Marson and Sizemore. Marson’s is a hit, but Grady’s is a double play ball. Still 7-6 Colorado. The Sunshine State. Gorgeous.
9:20: Katie Witham is trying to sell tickets while an old man leers at her. Someone needs to ask Hargrove, but I think he may have had “evil thoughts”.
9:21: Sweet lord. Bob Costas is in the booth. This will be both torturous and tortuous. I’m taking a break.
9:32: This is a crucial moment in the game. Raffy Perez has loaded the bases with two outs in a one-run game. The outcome is hanging in the balance. The tension is incredible.
Meanwhile, Bob Costas is holding court about Connie Mack and the merits of the designated hitter. Crikey.
9:33: Raffy Perez gets the swinging strikeout and Bob Costas is gone from the booth. The momentum swing is palpable. Still 7-6 Rockies.
9:42: Matt Reynolds, another LOOGY, slices through our 2-3-4 hitters with two strikeouts and a weak flyball (though Brantley did hit a foul home run before striking out). I hate our offense against LHP. So much for blaming Costas…
9:47: Raffy Perez is brought back out for the top of the eighth, probably because our bullpen is exhausted after yesterday’s extra-inning affair. Even still, it vexes me. I’m terribly vexed.
He walks the first batter, lets up a hit to the next, which brings up Carlos Gonzalez. CarGo rips one to center, and Grady makes a diving grab. That’s enough for Raffy: he gets pulled for Frank Herrmann. Two on, one out.
9:57: Boneheaded play of the night. Lou Marson tries to pick Chris Iannetta off first, and instead throws the ball to Shin-Soo Choo. Interestingly, Shin-Soo Choo does not play first base; he plays right field. Runner on second scores, runner on first goes to third. 8-6 Rockies.
And of course, Frank Herrmann retires the next two batters. Somewhere, Bob Costas is telling a story to someone who doesn’t care.
10:03: After a Choo groundout, Santana rips another hit to left field. He’s 3-4 on the night. This brings the tying run to the plate and makes me happy.
On the other hand, I am tired, and that hit also brings on Rafael Betancourt to pitch—he of the 30 seconds between each pitch. On the third hand, Orlando is coming up, and if I know my Orlando, he’s not going to see more than two pitches in this at bat.
10:09: Cabrera did swing at the second pitch, but it was foul. 0-2. Six minutes later. Two pitches.
10:12: Six pitches in eight minutes. Orly strikes out while Santana steals second. We need a hero to last us to the end of the night. Cord Phelps is up with two outs, Carlos on second.
10:13: He is a hero. Kind of. Phelps singles to left and Santana scores. Phelps advances to second on the throw and looked incredibly safe. He was called, incredibly, out. Needs more replay before I can comment further. Either way, that’s not the worst way to make the third out of the inning, considering the killer bats coming up.
10:15: Wow. That call sucked. Hard. Phelps was very, very safe at second. I blame John Nunnally.
10:21: Frank Herrmann throws 97? Where did that come from? He’s struck out two of the first three batters he’s faced. It’s good to know a blue-collar Harvard kid like Herrmann can make it all the way to the Bullpen Mafia. He and Craig Breslow are going to get into a math fight one of these days, and I want to be there to watch it.
Herrmann retires the side. Tribe going to the bottom of the ninth down 8-7. The difference in the game is the Marson error. That stinks.
10:24: With Huston Street in, Buck pinch hits for Marson, and pops out on the first pitch. Grady then hits a ball to the wall in right. Two down, Brantley up.
10:25: Brantley lines out. Cry time with Coldplay.
10:26: This is where I check the scores….and Detroit’s on the West Coast. I’m not staying up for that. Indians will be in first place until at least tomorrow night. Be back then.
18 Comments
Tough to put Marson’s name in the headline for this loss. Sure his throwing error was a bad play that cost the Indians a run in a game that was lost by a run, but Fausto’s implosion in the 5th was obviously the cause of this loss. The offense actually came through with several two out hits with RISP and did more than enough to win (as did the bullpen) but Fausto dug too deep of a hole. The guy just can’t get people out once a there a RISP. It’s awful. Tough loss to swallow, but at least Detroit also lost to the Dodgers.
Really enjoyed this style of recap! Definitely something that should be worked in more, not for every game but maybe for some of the more important games.
1. thank goodness the Tigers had Kershaw last night.
2. Santana. Santana. Santana.
3. Phelps is looking more comfortable. Hopefully his numbers start to catch up too.
4. I think Carmona doesn’t throw the sinker as much because when he does it doesn’t sink. It sort of just sits there over the plate like a little-league tee for the hitter to smash. FAUSTO!
Why was Bob Costas at the Jake last night?
Yeah, don’t throw Marson under the bus like that.
Obviously that Carmona performance was mind blowing. Is he over with? Should we have traded him last year when he was worth something?
Matt Underwood and him both need to go…
Not only has Phelps gotten some big hits recently, but he has smashed some line drives that were just snagged by infielders.
Jon, please do this more often. Thank you
Ya, love this recap Jon. Very nice!
I’m done with Fausto. Send him to the bullpen or look for trade partners (bag of balls? Russell Branyan?). I don’t care, just don’t let him pitch again. what a disappointment
Love the way we’re starting to swing the bats. We need some good pitching now so we can capitalize on the bats while they’re actually working.
I’m trying to figure out my favorite line. I’m torn between
“Somewhere, Bob Costas is telling a story to someone who doesn’t care.”
and
“I blame John Nunnally.”
1.Send Fausto back to C-bus.
2.Send Grady back to the bottom of the order plllleeaaaaaassseeee. Brantley is just too good at putting the bat on the ball and Grady is just too good at swiss cheesing any and all off-speed pitches that come his way.
3. Santana looks like he’s starting to loosen up and he’s gotten his timing down again. Rake master supreme. Love it.
Hate to bag on Marson, but dude has to know his limitations. Horrible, Little League-level decision on that pick-off throw.
And I know Acta said Fausto will be out there again in 5 days, but that’s going to be a tough one to take. They really need to move Fausto to the bullpen to let him figure out what’s wrong. What he’s currently doing is just not working.
@RyanC: Costas was in town visiting former Cavs GM Harry Weltman, who Costas worked with in St. Louis with the Spirits in the ABA.
I’ve tried to watch Ken Burns’ Baseball like four time, but the whole thing begins with five minutes of heavy Brooklyn Dodgers nostalgia and then transitions into Bob Costas lauding the beauty of baseball (or something). So then it’s either off or I’m asleep.
Bigger question – what to do with Fausto long term?
$7M/$9M/$12M options over the next three years.
Love that Jon when he removes pointy stat-geek cap. So human-like and whatnot.
I think fausto needs to come down with a “finger injury” and put on the 15 day DL. Then bring him back with “rehab” assignments in Cbus and hopefully in his off-time hes just working on his pitching. Then once Fausto is back up to 08ish levels, trade him. We’ve seen the story before, so get another prospect or put him in a deal to bring a big bat to the line up.
Am I the only one that sees no value to Lou Marson in the last two games? Isn’t he averaging a passed ball and a double play per game since Laporta got hurt? I don’t care how good his arm is if he can’t find the base in the eigth inning of a close game and offers nothing at the plate to make up for it.
Fact @ Jon: if Marson doesn’t make the throwing error and all else remains perfectly equal, we go to extras. No guarantees we win. Guys make throwing errors trying to make amazing plays that result in bad stuff all the time, like when your 3B makes an amazing bare-handed stab charging a ball and throws it to first when there’s no way he could get the guy out and ends up floating it into the 1B dugout.
The onus of this loss rests squarely on the shoulders of Fausto Carmona. He had Marson behind the dish, for Chrissakes, whose compiled ERA before this night in his last 6 starts in the battery was something like 1.7. But did Fausto stick with the trend of the 2.2 starter ERA with Marson behind the plate? Nooooooooo.
Title should read: Stupid Umpires and Carmona Too Much to Overcome
Gotta agree with the other comments, this was a nice change of pace from the usual tribe recaps. And since the Indians are really the only thing WFNY has to report on (I overdosed on NBA draft talk and trade rumors about a month ago), mixing it up is never a bad thing.