Twins 3 Indians 2: Another Demoralizing Defeat

I’m running out of adjectives to describe my frustrations with the Indians offense. Is it possible that this is the same team that was being trotted out in April to rave reviews? It can’t be, can it?

Yes, Travis Hafner is missing and he leaves a Grand Canyon sized hole in the middle of the order, but this offensive futility has become, well, offensive. “We continue to struggle in the middle of our lineup, and it’s just snowballing,” Manny Acta said after another painful one run loss. “We need a few of the guys to start swinging the bat.”

Here is a fun stat – the Indians are 1-40 with runners in scoring position since June 2nd.

Take this latest defeat to the Twins for example. Once again, the Tribe had every chance to take this game but couldn’t because they failed to drive in runners in scoring position. Meanwhile, they wasted another solid starting pitching performance from Justin Masterson and lost a home series to Minnesota, the team with the worst record in baseball with a lineup that would make the 2010 Indians blush.

You can say this was an improvement for the Wahoo “attack” as they came up 10 hits in this one, but the lack of the big hit did them in. They were 0-7 with runners in scoring position, left nine men on base, and only managed to scratch across two runs, both on solo homers.

Old friend Carl Pavano was able to stymie the Tribe for seven innings, allowing just one run – a Grady Sizemore 6th inning blast – on seven hits. In the third inning, Sizemore came up with two on and two out and popped out. In the fifth, Jack Hannahan led off with a single and never moved from first. In the seventh, Lou Marson and Michael Brantley hit two out singles, but were stranded by Asdrubal Cabrera, who can’t always come through, though it seems like he does.

Meanwhile Masterson was doing his thing. He just couldn’t get passed Twins center fielder Ben Revere. He didn’t walk anybody, struck out just three, but went eight innings allowing just two runs. He scattered nine hits. The problem was the big two-out hits;  something the Indians couldn’t come up with but the Twins could.

They got on the board in the third on a two-out RBI single from Revere. In the sixth, Revere again got to Masterson with a leadoff single and a stolen base. After two ground-outs moved him over to third, former AL MVP Justin Morneau stepped to the plate. Left-handers have always been kind of a bugaboo for Masterson. First base was open and the right-handed and .225 hitting Delmon Young was on deck. It seemed to me like a no-brainer to intentionally walk Morneau. For some odd reason, Masterson pitched to him, and naturally Morneau drove in Revere with a double.

It looked like another bad loss was upon us until Jack Hannahan stepped to the plate with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth against Twins closer Matt Capps. Down to their last out, Hannahan drove Capps’s pitch over the right-center field wall to tie the game at two and gave the Tribe new life.

That warm and fuzzy feeling didn’t last very long.

In the top of the 10th inning, closer Chris Perez got the first two men out, but allowed Drew Butera (a .151 hitter at the time) to double. This brought Revere to the plate who dropped a single in front of left-fielder Michael Brantley for his third hit of the game. Brantley came up firing and had Butera dead to rights, but Marson couldn’t handle the hop on Brantley’s throw. Butera scored what would be the game-winning run.

Said Marson: “Michael did a good job of getting the ball to me. The ball took a funny hop, and it turned into a tough play, but it’s a play I feel I can make.”

Really this can’t be pinned on Marson, considering the porous effort from the offense.

The Indians had their chance to tie it in the bottom of the 10th. Carlos Santana’s two-out double gave Shin-Soo Choo his shot at redemption. The man was LONG overdue for a big hit. He has had only two RBIs since May 13th and hasn’t homered since the end of April. I thought this was going to be his big breakout of the slump moment.

It again wasn’t meant to be. Choo’s drought continued as he weakly grounded out to the pitcher. It was just another in a long line of bad at-bats by Choo who looks completely lost at the plate. Have I mentioned that it is KILLING the offense?

Its not just Choo alone as we know all too well.

“We were hitting over .300 with runners in scoring position,” Acta said. “That’s impossible for any team to keep up throughout the season. But right now, guys are just expanding the zone. We’re being caught in-between way too much at the plate. We need to go back to having quality at-bats and letting the next guy take care of business, if [pitchers] are not giving in to certain hitters.”

Losing this series to the last place Twins at home is not what the Indians needed. Not getting their offensive struggles together before they hit the road for perhaps their toughest seven-game trip of the season? Also not a good idea.

Today’s day off couldn’t have come at a better time. The Tribe needs to recharge their batteries for the four game set in New York against the Yankees before the big showdown with second place Detroit.
I just hope the Tribe is still in first before they head to the D.

photo via Mark Duncan/AP