While We’re Waiting… Major League Let Downs
September 12, 2011For the Browns, Pat Shurmur’s Debut Just the Latest In a Long Line of Rough Starts
September 12, 2011I know they have fallen off of radar screens all over Northeast Ohio after being swept by the Detroit Tigers Monday through Wednesday of last week, but believe it or not folks, the Indians still have some games left to play. After losing their fourth straight Thursday, an 8-1 laugher at the hands of the Chicago White Sox, the Tribe headed into the weekend in third place, but are now playing for second. The team is still banged up, still young, and look like a tired bunch. But again, the hope is that they can close strong and finish over .500 for the first time since 2007. Perhaps these last three weeks are going to be Manny Acta’s most difficult. It is worth seeing how these kids will respond.
This weekend in Chicago, the Tribe battled their tales off. Despite some sloppy baseball, lots of strikeouts from the batters, and lots of walks from the pitchers, the Wahoos took two of three against the White Sox. So since you were getting all lathered up in Browns butter, I will come strong with some Tribe knowledge from the weekend that was.
Who needs Alex White and Drew Pomeranz when you have Jeanmar Gomez? I am obviously kidding. But in all seriousness, Gomez has been rock solid in his three starts since taking over for the injured Josh Tomlin. Friday night was no exception. Taking the ball and trying to end a four-game skid, the young Venezuelan was in command.
For six innings, Gomez minimized damage and kept the Sox hitters at bay. He allowed two runs on six hits and didn’t walk a batter, striking out three. The Tribe made him a winner with a five-run sixth. “We have struggled as of late,” Acta said. “Gomez today stepped up and stopped our four-game losing streak. He threw the ball very well, with movement, good sink on his fastball.”
Believe it or not, Jeanmar has brought some much needed stability to a struggling rotation. You have no idea what you are going to get from Fausto Carmona these days. Ubaldo Jimenez is another guy who is up and down. David Huff, while better in 2011, is still David Huff. In his three starts since being recalled from AAA, Gomez is 3-0 with an 1.52 ERA.
In that same game, Lonnie Chisenhall seemed to have found his groove. As one of the top two hitting prospects in the Tribe’s system, there was lots of hype surrounding the left-handed hitting third baseman. With the offense in need of jolts at several points this summer, Chiz got a call-up and immediately became a regular. The Indians never wanted to bring up Chisenhall. In a perfect world, he could have continued his development in Columbus, and arrived in Cleveland for a September call-up. The plan obviously changed.
Though he went 2-4 with an RBI in his debut on June 27th in Arizona, the bloom was quickly off the rose. Lonnie struggled at the plate, particularly against lefties. It got to the point where Acta began going back to Jack Hannahan on a consistent basis and the way Jack was playing, Chisenhall found himself on the bench.
Hannahan pulled up lame with a calf injury last weekend in Kansas City, so Chisenhall became the everyday guy at third again. He hit a home run off of Tigers lefty reliever Phil Coke on Monday, just his third hit off of a lefty all year. Then Friday, he took Chicago’s Mark Buerhle not once, but twice. The second broke the game open in that five-run sixth that propelled the Tribe to victory.
“I’ve struggled against lefties this year,” Chisenhall said. “It’s just a matter of me going up there and taking an aggressive hack.”
Lonnie has looked more comfortable at the plate over the last week and he really got his stroke going over the weekend. He went 5-13 with two homers, four RBIs, and four runs scored as the Tribe took two of three. Hannahan will be back soon, but Chisenhall is starting to get more comfortable. The lefty thing is something the Indians wanted him to work on in AAA this season.
“It’s going to take a little time for Lonnie against lefties,” Acta said. “But the more he sees them, the better he’s going to get. He doesn’t project to be a platoon guy because his swing is so short with no holes in it.”
Ubaldo…Ubaldo….I still don’t know what to make of you. The trade that brought Jimenez to Cleveland simply cannot be judged on this year. I know many (me included) have been disappointed in his performance thus far, but again, you cannot lose sight of the fact that Jimenez is on the books for two more years after this one. We still don’t know if he is 100% healthy. We may see the real Jimenez next year. Or this may be the best we see of him now. You just never know. But you cannot judge this deal of this small sample size.
That said, I remain baffled with the right-hander. He can look so good one inning, and then lose his command the next. Its eerily similar to Fausto Carmona, who we watched Saturday struggle to keep his ball down and throw 103 pitches in five and a third innings in Saturday’s 10-inning 7-3 loss. A day later, Ubaldo was mirroring Fausto’s performance. As I said, Jimenez can tantalize you one minute, and leave you scratching your head the next. Yesterday he threw 106 pitches in six innings, giving up just two runs on three hits, but he walked five White Sox.
“Jimenez was erratic with his command, but he had pretty good stuff,” Acta said. “We saw the fastball whenever he had to go get it. We even saw 98 mph today, so that was encouraging to see. Today I think was the first time where he showed it with more consistency.
“I’ve seen a few games where he does it for a couple of innings, and then it disappears and he goes to his sinker and breaking balls and comes back maybe for a hitter or two. But today, he was pretty consistent with it.”
Luckily for Ubaldo, he was bailed out by a 14-hit Tribe attack. The bottom of the Indians order has been a black hole of sorts for most of the year. The names often change, but the results have stayed the same. On Sunday, they had quite an afternoon. Chisenhall, Luis Valbuena, Trevor Crowe, and Lou Marson combined for nine hits and four RBIs. Even Sweet Luis himself had a career day, with three hits and a home run. See, miracles do happen!
“I was happy when I hit that homer,” said Valbuena. “I did not want to go a whole year without a homer.”
Sweet Luis has been a whipping boy of sorts ever since he was forced into action in left field during that brutal stretch in July in Minnesota. But yesterday was some sort of redemption for him.
“Louie has never looked overmatched at the plate up here, but the numbers don’t add up,” said Acta. “He’s our best hitter in Triple-A, but it hasn’t translated up here. That’s why I’m happy for him.”
Speaking of Pomeranz and White….. Both former Indians #1 picks got starts for the Rockies over the weekend. White was the winning pitcher Saturday against the Reds, though it was a five and fly. He allowed a whopping five home runs in five innings. In his four starts for Colorado, White is 2-1 with an unimpressive 8.18 ERA. He has given up 12 homers in 22 innings pitched. Pomeranz made his Major League debut Sunday and was spectacular. He pitched five scoreless innings on 63 pitches, allowing just two hits.
Up Next for the Tribe is a day off before a three-game set in Arlington against the Texas Rangers. Justin Masterson takes the ball Tuesday for the Tribe against Rangers lefty Matt Harrison.
(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
2 Comments
Nice to see Gomez pitching well, we’re probably going to need him next season.
also worth noting: Detroit is now the 2seed in the AL and somehow only 4.5GB of NYY.
was thinking they’d be completely resting that final series, but now that they are fighting Texas for an opening home playoff series and potentially NYY (or Boston or heck Tampa) for home playoffs in the AL, then they could just lace ’em up and go that last series.
all the more reason to get some wins ahead of time to make sure we finish above 80wins.