While We’re Waiting… Kipnis the Dirtbag, Browns WR Comparison and Bizarro Baron Davis
August 11, 2011United States Ties Mexico 1-1 in Klinsmann’s First Game as Coach
August 11, 2011
At the July 31st trade deadline, the Indians were looking everywhere they could for an impact bat that could add some life to the slumbering offense. Carlos Beltran didn’t want to come here. Josh Willingham and Ryan Ludwick’s prices were too high. Kicking the tires on old friend Coco Crisp never came to frution (thank goodness). Meanwhile, they had the bat they needed right under their noses the whole time.
Jason Kipnis.
On July 22nd, the Indians brass made the call down to Columbus to get their best hitting prospect left and immediately plugged him in at second. A week later, incumbent Orlando Cabrera was sent packing, and the two moves have been nothing but a success. OC is happy getting regular PT at shortstop in San Francisco and proved he needed to be shipped out of town with his “the Indians cut my legs out from under me” comments. Kipnis in the meanwhile hasn’t stopped hitting.
Last night was the pinnacle of that success, as Kipnis, along with starter Ubaldo Jimenez, led the Tribe to a big 10-3 win over the Detroit Tigers, moving them to within two games of first place. The Tribe’s rookie second baseman went 5-5 with a homer, four runs scored, and three RBIs, finishing a triple short of a cycle. He has become a natural in the two hole and his run of success and boost to the offense is very reminiscent of what his double-play combo-mate Asdrubal Cabrera did during the Tribe’s stretch run to the playoffs in 2007.
“He’s a dirtbag,” said Acta. “A dirtbag is one of those guys who’ll run through a wall to win. His uniform is always dirty. He’s not concerned about how he looks on the field. He just wants to win.”
Facing Rick Porcello, who has had great success against them in his short career, the Wahoos jumped out early and often. They received a big two-out RBI single in the first from Carlos Santana scoring Kipnis. In the second, the clutch two-out lightning continued. With Lonnie Chisenhall on second after a double, Ezequiel Carrera doubled his pleasure to the gap in right-center adding to the Tribe lead. Kipnis then followed with a bomb to the seats in right. It was 4-0 Indians.
You had to feel good with Ubaldo on the mound and a four run lead. The Tigers ended up getting three back in the top of the fourth, all which should have been avoided.
With two outs and nobody on, Asdrubal made a great play in the hole, his throw to first beat Victor Martinez, but Santana dropped the ball. For some reason, Martinez was given an infield hit. Ryan Raburn then tripled, Alex Avila walked, and Wilson Betemit doubled. Just like that, it was 4-3.
It wouldn’t matter, because this night belonged to the Indians bats.
They went right back at Porcello in the bottom half of the fourth, getting all three runs back plus one more for good measure. It stared with Lou Marson breaking an 0-19 slump with a double to right. After Carrera moved him over to third, Kipnis brought Marson home for his third hit and third RBI on the night. Cabrera clubbed a single up the middle with Kipnis was running hard the whole way to third. Andy Dirks’s throw sailed past Betemit and into the stands. Kipnis walked home and AC moved to third. He would score on Porcello’s wild pitch. Santana’s double chased Porcello. Kosuke Fukudome’s double off of reliever David Pauley scored Carlos.
It cannot be overstated how huge it was for the Indians to knock the Tigers starter out of the game with two outs in the fourth inning a night after their bullpen had to go 11-plus innings. On the flip side was Jimenez, who completely settled in and saved the Indians pen for the pivotal sweep attempt tonight.
With an 8-3 lead, Ubaldo cruised the rest of the way in his home debut, impressing many folks along the way. He allowed just one hit the rest of the way, ending his night after eight innings and 117 pitches. As I said before, all three of his runs should have been unearned. On the night, he gave up six hits and one walk in those eight innings, striking out six.
“I commanded my fastball much better tonight,” said Jimenez. “From the first pitch I was able to throw everything down in the zone, especially the fastball.”
Frank Herrmann, Tuesday night’s winning pitcher, retired the Tigers in order in the ninth, giving all of the Tribe’s big guns in the pen a night off. He did so in just nine pitches.
This was a total team effort. The offense supplied 10 runs and 18 hits. Every starter had at least one hit with Kipnis (five) and Fukudome (three) leading the way. Six of the nine starters drove in a run. Jimenez went eight innings and showed flashes of brilliance that can make us all excited about his acquisition.
Just an all around great night to be at Progressive Field.
“When you have a guy like that,” Acta said of Jimenez, “before the game starts, you feel like you have a chance to win the ballgame. You have a guy that can dominate any type of lineup.”
Its a beautiful thing, especially when that lineup you dominate is the team that you are chasing down for first place.
“These are the type of games we brought him in for,” said Kipnis. “To face Detroit, to face the White Sox, to face guys in our division that haven’t seen too much of him. These are they type of wins that we need out of him.”
Now comes the chance for the sweep. The Tribe has beaten the Tigers 13 consecutive times at Progressive Field, but #14 may be the hardest of them all. They must face the best pitcher in baseball, Justin Verlander (16-5). Interestingly, he hasn’t had great success in Cleveland. His career record at Progressive Field is just 4-8 with a 6.31 ERA in 13 starts. In his last three starts there, he has an ERA of 4.74.
The Indians will counter with Fausto Carmona (5-11) who has been much better of late. In his last five starts, he has allowed just eight earned runs in 27.2 innings pitched.
(photo via Chuck Crow/The Plain Dealer)
31 Comments
What a night by Carlos Baerga. Err…whoops I meant to say Jason Kipnis.
Indians hitting combined with Ubaldo on the rubber, I don’t think I’ve seen a more convincing win all year.
Is there anything worse than an entitled washed up vet like OCab? Since going to SF, he’s played 11 games and continues to be garbage – .244 BA/.256 OBP/.548 OPS with 0 HR and 6 RBIs.
Meanwhile in 16 games, Kipnis has a .295 BA/.358 OBP/1.014 OPS with 6 HRs and 11 RBIs. Even if Kipnis experiences a major regression over the rest of the season, I think the Tribe brass made the right call shipping out OCab.
In any event, awesome win last night. It was great that the Tribe set themselves up to cruise after they answered the Tigers’ rally. Ubaldo was terrific and Kipnis was incredible. Totally agreed that the 3 runs should have been unearned, talk about some bad homefield scoring.
“We are all Kipnisses”….has my vote for sign of the year. Saw it last night at the Jake.
‘I’m just a mid-20s dirtbag, baby’ – Jason Kipnis [via Wheatus]
Kipnis has provided a spark similar to what Asdrubal did in 2007 when he got called up.
Beating Verlander today would be HUGE, but even a series win puts this team back on the right track.
Hoping to see a stadium full of “We are all Kipnises” come October.
“We are all Kipnises” immediately was my friend’s status on Facebook, too. Loved it.
With Kipnis doing well, I think people are ignoring Chisenhall. He hasn’t been horrible, but hasn’t been great either – though lately he’s doing a little better, maybe… Anyone have thoughts on him?
Also, how bad is the Indians’ overall defense and will that hurt them if they’re trying to make a playoff push, considering the type of Ps the Indians have (Jimenez, Masterson, Carmona especially).
Rooting for a 2+ hour rain delay after the 2nd inning tonight.
so, we replaced OCab with Kipnis, Hanrahan with Chis, Kearns with Fukudome, and LaPorta with Santana. No wonder we went after a starting pitcher at the deadline 🙂
and now we know what cut OCabs legs out when he was here. he got to close to a Kipnis swing 🙂
Just an AWESOME win for OUR Tribe last night! Kipnis is locked & loaded with flair. Absolutely hilarious to remember just a couple weeks back when ALL the brainiacs at WKNR were doing their USUAL “Kipnis will NOT help the team” – ALWAYS NEGATIVE…they made it clear that in no uncertian terms would he help the team…at all. Would it be that hard when the Tribe brings up a young talent that EVERYONE was calling for, to actually support the move and say things like, let’s see what he can do, etc.??? When Roda/Reghi interviewed Kipnis a couple days ago, I actuallu felt BAD for KIpnis having to talk to the guys that were ripping him – big time – just a week or so earlier! Apparently so…maybe that dead weight Program Director, Jason “Stealth” Gibbs will actually do something over there.
I cannot WAIT for 8/29/11 for CBS (and their DEEP pockets) to launch into the market right as football season is getting red hot and the Tribe is right there for a playoff run!!! 92.3 FM “The Fan” will likely set RECORDS for our market size. That is how BADLY the callers have been dissed by WKNR while they have had their “monopoly on local sports talk” (M-F, 9am-6pm). They have about 2 1/2 WEEKS left to enjoy that! Even now, Vic Carucci is turning out to be the ONLY reason to listen to the station…a real PRO. Who needs Aaron’s rude, condescending, “Peter Brownesque” ‘tude w/o the knowledge??!! Yesterday they did the show w/o Aaron & Fedor for 3+ hours & it rocked…they actually had CONVERSATIONS (shocking) with real fans???!!! Too funny…RIP WKNR! I would say you had a great run, but that would be lying. Now we just get Aaron YELLING into the microphone daily (actually only until 8/29 for us to hear) as even his lame butt knows they are in for a huge hit by 92.3 The Fan…well done WKNR. Brinda…really????? Why??? A microcosm of extremely BAD, REALLY BAD judgement!!!
You’re seriously a one-trick pony, Joe. Did WKNR fire you or something?
You know the Tribe is doing well when guys write posts on WFNY that are longer than anything they ever wrote in an academic setting. Brinda did refer to the Tiger’s starter as Justin Zoolander, that made me laugh.
I think CBS just bought lunch for Joe. No dollar menu today Joe. You are going big time.
All sports radio is pretty much terrible.
Joe – like your judicious use of all caps. I can almost hear you saying it.
Yea and what is the DEAL with knr ANYWAYS?!
@4 – Wheatus? Nice. That song came out in 2000. I’m old.
@9 – Shapiro and Antonetti are bums.
@11 – I always assumed he’s working for a competing station.
That non-error on Santana is a great example of why I take ERA with a grain of salt and prefer stats like FIP.
Nice to have a game in hand so I can, in good conscience, stop listening in the 8th to go get something to eat. Now it’s time to take down Verlander and completely demoralize the Tigers. Sox lost too.
that’s knR, Denny. Get with the PROGRAM!!
I dont think you can fault Carlos for not getting that throw from Drubs. He was fully stretched out and it hit the top of his glove. there was no gator arm there at all, unless you are saying he literally doesnt have long arms. The only thing he could have done is choose a better angle to catch the ball, but hes not a first basemen and should not be expected to make that very above average play.
If 1st base defense is a problem, Im fine with Hannahan playing there. Lets hope we can keep a bat there, but the D is more important as of late (Going back to LaPorta letting a guy score from 2nd)
Joe – please quit telling us about how bad WKNR is
Being from Columbus and seeing Kipnis with the Clippers, I had no concern that he would hit well in the majors. His defense, as everyone has seen, will be spotty since he is new to the position. He eventually will be average to above average, as you has seen some great plays mixed in with the blunders.
I think Santana has done a great job this year, coming back from a major knee injury, this being his first full season in the majors, asking to hit in the middle of the lineup, and learning 1st base on top of being a catcher. Like Kipnis, Santana’s prowess at 1st base will improve. They are both athletic and will be studs for the Tribe for many years.
droppin the peter brown reference, damn
Ezzie – thoughts on Chisenhall. He will have more ups and downs than Kipnis or Santana because he is younger – doesn’t turn 23 until October. He’ll be fine defensively and will be Travis Fryman type third baseman offensively – good average, moderate power.
Still is exciting to see position prospects starting to come through the Indians farm system. Farm system is loaded with relievers and starters and 4th outfielder types. Biggest need now is power hitting corner outfielder or 1st baseman. Maybe they can use their pitching depth to get one.
I am an ‘original’ — Denny [via Carles]
@22 – I agree. Are we all okay with giving up on Laporta? I think I am.
I’ve been suspicious of big ticket FAs, probably because we’ve been so bad at choosing them, but some help at 1B and/or left this offseason could really put this team over the top in ’12. I have no major complaints about 6 of 8 position players starters. We’re set in our starting rotation (with some extra arms) and our bullpen is solid. Ah, what could be?
Didn’t you get the memo?
we gave up on LaPorta on July 16th, 2011. he pinch hit for Lou Marson and we all realized it was July and our starting first baseman had nearly identical hitting numbers to our backup defensive catcher.
I don’t take memos on the weekends. Probably why I missed that one.
fair enough, probably our fault for insisting on using a paper memo that we pass around and have people sign once they have read it.
Good points on Chisenhall’s age.
To be fair: If LaPorta had been as people expected, how great would Shapiro/Antonetti look right now?
Isnt Beau Mills begining to tear it up in Cbus? Not that he should come up this year, but next spring training I think LaPorta needs to defend his spot from Mills.
Found a “We are all Kipnises” shirt.
[Edit: Please submit all links to Tips address. Thanks.]
For every Laporta and Marte that do worse than expected, you get a Cabrera and Choo that do better than hoped for. I guess it all balances out.