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May 7, 2012Pure Rage Caption Contest
May 7, 2012Can you climb on board the bandwagon now? There is plenty of room to join us. Still time too! After a weekend in which your first place Cleveland Indians took two of three from the best team in baseball, the Texas Rangers (and really, they were a sac fly away from a sweep), how can you not be impressed by what you are seeing? How could you not want to come out and support this team?
They spent the weekend pitching their behinds off and showing that power stroke that had been missing but seemed to re-appear this week. Manny Acta’s club is starting to come together. I know, we saw this last summer with the 30-15 start, but doesn’t this feel much better than the Eric Wedge Aprils and Mays? I will take this all day, even with an offense that still leaves a lot to be desired.
We saw great starts, a budding star player continue to crush opposing pitching, a big time hit in a home debut, and disappointing attendance figures. All of it added up to a successful weekend at Progressive Field. Let us take a look back as we do every Monday morning at this time.
The Ubaldo Jimenez Redemption Tour began Sunday. Last Week, I pretty much called the Tribe starter an unfixable disaster. I said it was time to face the facts; that the Indians had gotten completely rooked by the Rockies and that Jimenez would never be the guy the they hoped he would be. I was not alone in my views. Everyone in this town seemed to be off the Ubaldo train. Everyone except for his manager and teammates.
Maybe they know better?
In Sunday’s home start, he fell behind the first batter he faced, Ian Kinsler, 3-0, and put two men on. An entire fan base said “here we go again.” But Ubaldo recovered from there, and pitched about as well as he ever has in an Indians uniform. I looked up in the seventh inning to see that he had a two-hit shutout going while striking out a season-high six. While Ubaldo still wasn’t showing that high velocity fastball, his off-speed stuff was really working.
“Ubaldo was terrific today,” Acta said. “He proves that you don’t have to throw 99 to get people out, but you do have to throw strikes. He threw strikes today. He had very good offspeed stuff. His curveball was the best I’ve seen so far.”
Don’t get overly excited about this, Tribe fans. The guy still walked five Rangers which is way too many. He is still a work in progress and until we see this kind of effort consistently, I’m not going to back off my assertion that Jimenez is this team’s fifth starter. But yesterday was very encouraging. We’ve said it since the start of the season, Ubaldo’s success is of the utmost importance to this team if they plan on hanging atop the division all year.
Meanwhile, Jeanmar Gomez and Derek Lowe kept their great starts going. Gomez was the winning pitcher in Friday’s 6-3 beat down of the Rangers. He went seven innings allowing three runs (should have been two) while scattering hits. In the win, he lowered his ERA to 2.82. He threw just 90 pitches and induced a pair of double plays. Remember, Gomez was not considered the top option to be the fifth starter out of Spring Training, but nobody pitched better than he did Goodyear. The good news for the Tribe is that he has carried this over into April and May.
Then there is Lowe, who didn’t have his best stuff, yet bobbed and weaved his way through six innings of two run ball against one of the best lineups the Indians will see all year. Sinker-ballers like Lowe are going to give up hits. Texas got Lowe for nine Saturday night, but he once again put his team in a great position to win. If you hold the Rangers to two runs, you should win the game.
Said the quote machine Lowe: “The game is easy when you can throw pretty much any pitch whenever you want. But it’s gratifying when you don’t really have that good of stuff against this tough of a lineup. To actually only give up two runs was pretty hard to do. Some of those innings I would never want to try again.”
Lowe is the perfect middle of the rotation guy. He just goes out there and does his job. You gotta love him.
While Johnny Damon is still rounding into game shape, his addition really lengthens the Tribe lineup. “The General” made his Indians home debut Friday night and it started off a little shaky. His porous play on a Mitch Moreland liner to left cost the team a run and at the plate, he had three forgettable at-bats until he came though in the bottom of the seventh with a two-out, two-run triple, which broke the game open.
Acta has moved Damon into the leadoff spot, putting Michael Brantley in the seven hole. It really adds depth to the lineup. Shin-Soo Choo has moved from third to sixth and Jack Hannahan is back in his customary place in the order, ninth.
But as we have seen over the last two weeks plus, the Jason Kipnis move into the two-hole has been a master stroke. The JK Kid has had the reputation of a gritty, hard-nosed, RBI producer from the second base position. We all loved how he put a jolt into the offense last year when he came up, and now, he is their hottest bat.
Kipnis is on a tear and he kept it going all weekend, capped off by Sunday’s fifth inning homer. The numbers tell the story – He is second on the Indians in batting average (.300), third in on-base percentage (.377), second in OPS (.917), first in steals (6), first in home runs (5), and first in RBIs (18). All of this in his first full season in the majors at the age of 25.
I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. We could be looking at our Dustin Pedroia here. The kid has it all and he is just scratching the surface. He should stay in that two-spot for years to come. It fits him perfectly.
At some point, we are going to have a changing of the guard with the Left-handed relievers in the bullpen. Tony Sipp has been Acta’s late-inning guy for the last two-plus years. In 2012, that hasn’t changed. However, Sipp has really been inconsistent, especially against righties (6-15, .400 BA). His ERA sits at 9.00 and his WHIP is 1.88. Those are not good numbers considering he is usually handling key situations. Sipp should be worried, because there is a stud waiting in the wings to take his role.
Nick Hagadone again looked spectacular Saturday night, striking out two and only allowing one hit in two scoreless innings. In his two stints in Cleveland, the hard-throwing lefty has allowed just one earned run in 7.1 innings of work (1.23 ERA) and has a near spotless WHIP of 0.33. Hagadone is the future of the Bullpen Mafia, but really should be a big time member of the present group. When Rafael Perez comes back from the DL, GM Chris Antonetti is going to have a really interesting decision to make. I can’t see how you can send Hagadone back down to Columbus.
On the attendance figures this weekend…. Where was everyone? This was a weekend series with nice weather against the two-time defending AL Champions, and the best the Indians can do is Saturday night’s 21,307, which is 47% capacity? I don’t know what to say. Tickets to Tribe games are very affordable (every game has good upped deck seats available for either $8 or $14). Its a good product, and the team is in first place. Hopefully with the weather warming up, we will see more of you out there this summer. I know you can’t go to every game, but get out to the park to support this team.
Lastly, on a personal note I took my son to the game yesterday and after the win, we ran the bases, part of the Indians Sunday afternoon “Lets Move It” campaign. At each base was a current Tribe player high-fiving the kids, and waiting at home was Acta. As my son came sprinting into home, Manny was there to greet him. I asked if he could take a picture with my son, and what you see above is the result. After the win, obviously Manny was in a good mood, but he couldn’t have been nicer. It was quite a thrill for my son.
All I could think of after walking away from this was “could you imagine Eric Wedge EVER doing something like this?” Not a chance.
Up Next for the Tribe is yet another series with the Chicago White Sox, who they just took two of three from this week on the road. It will be a four-game set, played in three days, with a day/night doubleheader set for today. The 1:05 game will feature the Sox’s Perfect Game hurler Phil Humber (1-1, 4.62 ERA) and Zach McAllister, who will be called up for the spot start. The Zach Attack is 3-1 with a 2.83 ERA in AAA. The Sox and Indians will be taking advantage of a great new rule in Major League Baseball, which allows teams playing doubleheaders to add a 26th player to the roster for that day. The night cap at 7:05 will have the Sox Eric Stults, making his season debut and the Indians Josh Tomlin (1-2, 5.27 ERA).
72 Comments
People have to start showing up for these games. Its one thing to hate the owner, its a completely different thing to deny that the product being put on the field isn’t worth watching. The play this weekend was really top shelf. Time to get to the Jake.
Wedge: These kids don’t grind enough. Casey Blake, on the other hand…
Too many Cleveland sports fans were too busy reading 2013 NFL mock drafts to go down to the ballpark. It’s a shame.
Lead by example… Went to all 3 games this weekend and had a blast! Trying to sneak away from work to go to the 1pm game and going tonight hopefully. Not many people can say they went to 5 tribe games in 4 days!!
Love the way this team plays but the biggest problem is the lack of a superstar. The team that sold out 450+ games in a row had a bevy of recognizable names. This team, while very good, has a lot of guys who havent reached superstar status. Blame the weather, the Dolans or the economy, I think this is the biggest reason for poor attendance.
I just got back from college on Friday and I was at the game Saturday. I am out there showing my support for the only good team we have in this town. I am hoping for another fun summer like last year!
Can’t blame fans for staying away still, no matter how many times radio hosts scream “first place, what’s wrong with all of you?” It’s early May and their record isn’t as good as a year ago. Cleveland fans now demand a larger sampler size from the Tribe, unlike decades ago when any short periods of hope would produce some flash crowds.
Actually, some very positive signs of season-long contention: Lowe putting it together one more time for his last contract, Gomez emerging as reliable, and if Masterson and Tomlin only dip a little from last year that staff alone will keep them hanging around a wild card spot.
Seems to me the real key is Choo. Hannahan will stop hitting soon and Kipnis can’t carry the team. But if Choo can avoid obsessing about his free agency and do his thing his bat can protect and relax the other guys in the order around him. If he keeps clenching there’s probably going to be a ton of frustrating 4-2 losses the second half of the season.
Awesome results from this weekend… we came incredibly close to the sweep, but I will always take a series win against a World Series quality team. It’s too bad the Tribe can’t schedule all of their games against the AL West! 8-4 if my memory is correct. I hate that we have another series against the White Sox though… even with the Tribe playing well, I’m bracing myself for another day-game disappointment.
feel compelled to add that I wrote the above before seeing the Diatribe piece about Choo. I’m perfectly capable of being wrong without being derivative.
that is an empty argument and I think you know it. if the fans want to make a statement to the Dolan’s that they are sick of the MLB-economic system and the associated spendthrift ways of the team, then that is their right.
but, to suggest that the Indians fans need such a large sample size of 1st place baseball that it excuses the fact that we have 6K less fans show up than any other team in baseball is ludicrous (note: it is actually 4K less now that the White Sox attendance dropped to 19K over the weekend and we raised ours to 15K).
Pitt fans know they have virtually no chance this year, similar economic situation and market size, no season over .500 since Barry Bonds left their team, and yet they are averaging 10K more fans per game. or 66% more fans per game than the Indians average.
Pitt at least has a beautiful ballpark though. What about Oakland whose horrible ballpark is in a decrepit part of town that is hard to get to, has a terrible team with no shot at competing with the 2-time defending AL champions in their division, why should they average 5K more fans per game thus far?
sorry, I am not buying what you are selling.
we are 6 games into a 21 games in 20 days stretch (4-2).
honestly, I want to win this series against the White Sox to help start shoveling some dirt on them. I think their FO saw this as a rebuilding year and I want them to keep having those thoughts. But, overall, if we can go 12-9 over this stretch, it has to be considered a success (8-7 the rest of the way).
The real problem for the Indians besides ownership is the lack of a superstar or a player to get excited about even just a little. Think about this team which player is exciting? I understand the “team” thing but frankly even when this team was winning a year ago the only excitement came in the close finishes. When that ran out of gas so did everything else.
That and I honestly believe there is a Browns letdown, it’s still the first week of May and we saw this Act(a) a year ago. If the Indians can keep it going ownership should pony up and go and get someone before the trade deadline. If they just sit there again then I can’t blame people for not attending.
One last thing that might effect attendance is virtually all of the games can be seen on television now. Alot of people may be taking a wait and see mentality figuring why pay when they can tune in and see what’s happening. Personally being at a baseball game is far better then watching it on TV, at least to me, but then again I also play fantasy baseball and love stats.
HOW CAN I FIND TIME TO GET TO THE BALLPARK WHEN I HAVE TO READ EVERY ARTICLE ON BRANDON WEEDEN!?!?!?!
/typicalclevelandfan’d
“Shame. Boatloads of shame, day after day, more of the same.”
Man, you guys are making me feel bad – like I’m supposed to get in my car and commute 12 hours every day to attend Tribe games. I swear, I would if I could! I try to watch every game through the MLB Extra Innings. Honest! I’ll get my pilot’s license and fly out there every night if it would help . . .
Seriously, though, what’s the league average for attendance in terms of percent of capacity? Where do we rank in comparison with other similarly-situated teams (i.e., not the Red Sox)? From my perch way out east, I thought the attendance at least “looked” good over the weekend. I was pleased from what the camera and the eye captured. It wasn’t embarrassing, anyway.
“Blame. Please lift it off. Please take it off. Please make it stop!”
So I have a friend originally from Texas who moved to Cleveland, spent time here, adopted the Tribe but recently moved home and re-connected with his Rangers.
Gentlemanly wager over the weekend on the outcome of the series. His chest full of pride he said “sweep, all the way. no way Rangers drop a game”
I called the bet and went in with “Tribe take 2 of 3, no way we survive Jimenez v Darvish on Sunday”.
Love to be right and wrong on the same wager!
I agree with you; for Buccos fans (and I’ve been to quite a few games there during my college years), the team has always been a joke and they even replace the “if they don’t win its a shame” line in “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” with “They never win, its a shame!”
It’s like meta now, over there. They have a good time though; the food in the club section is out of sight, they treat you well, its in a gorgeous spot by one of their three rivers, it overlooks the city perfectly, and its a smaller stadium that the Jake so it feels more…intimate?
Don’t get me wrong; nothing beats the Jake at full capacity; but TBH, PNC Park is probably my third favorite stadium. Right behind THE Ohio Stadium.
It’s a crying shame that more people weren’t at the Jake this weekend. I went on Sunday and it was a blast.
What’d you win?
I think if you’re more than an hour away from the CLE then you get a pass on not going to at least one game this weekend.
I am only about 20 minutes away but I could only make it to the Sunday game. I wish I could have gone to all three but life is what happens when you make other plans.
Free room and board at his house for my trip to Austin this summer. He said he’d even throw in complimentary soap in the bathroom!
This opens up a potentially interesting topic for discussion (which may or may not have already been done here): What is a fan’s “obligation” to their team?
If such an obligation can be defined, it certainly seems that it is greater the closer you live to city, but should it be? Should I be obligated to attend Tribe games when they play in Baltimore (or on the rare occassion in D.C. or Philly)? Maybe I should be.
Is there a WFNY reverse-jinx? First there’s an (appropriately) critical story about Hannahan, and the next game he comes through with an amazing clutch hit (which is why I love him even though he’s bound to regress). Then there’s the (appropriately) critical story about Ubaldo, and what happens next? Seven shutout innings. Small sample size, I know (sample sizes matter in the sabermetric study of jinxes, doncha know), but there is clearly a pattern here.
Can you guys get on Choo’s case next? I know Diatribe did, but I’m not sure if there’s a Diatribe reverse-jinx, so just to be safe you should write your own.
Soap on a rope? 😉
You can’t blame the fans, but you can point out how they are either A) pathetic or B) missing out on a fantastic time. Went to Friday’s game, amazing, and heard similar stories from Saturday (even though they lost) and Sunday.
This team is young and exciting, and far and away the closest thing to a contender this town has. There is no reason to not only not be there, but be so far behind 2nd last that its laughable.
And this is a “friend,” you say? What would you have had to pay him for room and board if you had lost or hadn’t made the bet at all?
You might need to requisition yourself some new friends.
The league median is about filling 2/3 capacity, or about double what the Indians are doing.
PNC Park and AT&T Park are my two favoritest ballparks.
That’s a fascinating question and its too large in scope for a little window like this comment board, but let me say this: it is entirely too easy to equate winning with the “impetus” for going to a game. In other words, if a team is a perennial winner, they may sell out all the time, but that shouldn’t be a main reason TO go to a game.
Rather, you should go to show your support for the team and for the city. They perform for money, yes, but they also perform for crowds. If we, as fans, didn’t buy their stuff, their gear, their tickets, their $10 beers, etc., then they wouldn’t exist. So, in essence, they are performing for all of us.
Petco is my favorite ballpark. The use of an old building that they enveloped the park around is great, the atmosphere is laid back and welcoming. They even have a little league teeball setup outside LF where the kids can play baseball during the game.
Yeah, I really like PNC. If you go back, buy some club seats (they weren’t even that expensive) and try their subs upstairs. They are terrific and the atmosphere in the lounge is terrific.
I think you mean “apathetic.”
/grammarfuhrer
Failed attempt at bringing to the table the fact that I won absolutely nothing in the bet.
…..wait, Tribe in first place. WIN!
if we go by capacity, then we are still last at 35%. 2nd last becomes the Mariners at 45%.
I had little choice in how it played out unfortunately, but the one time this year I will be in Cleveland, the Indians are in Houston (which I would have attended).
Every person’s situation is different, so it’s impossible to put an obligation on it that applies to everyone. But, I think it is safe to assume that if a team is consistently league average and attendance is among the worst, then there will be potential for the owners to reconsider their location.
well, that depends on what beer he stocks in his fridge for the visit IMO.
“Maybe they know better” uh, ya think? professional baseball players, managers, front office knows more than the fans or bloggers about patience and waiting more than 1/6 of the season to make a judgement on a player??? DERP
Um, yeah, that’s pathetic.
Okay flight school, here I come!
The kids are safe out there because of the lack of homeruns.
So the obligation is actually to one’s self (and other fans), and not to the team?
Makes sense to me.
I’ll be in town for the Angels series over July 4th. I was hoping to catch Pujols’s first home run. Alas, ’twas not to be.
Or, to sell the team. Mr. Dolan, I’d like you to meet Mr. Gilbert…
To be honest, as an owner of something, if I were to see that my business is suffering, I’d check out why. I’d want to know what I could do to make it better and solvent.
If, after exhausting all avenues I am still unable to fix the problem, sure, I’d consider moving. But I feel like moving a team like the Indians is pretty far down the road as a possibility.
I know, I know…I might have said the same about the Browns in the 90s, but to be fair, there is no new stadium deal that the Tribe wasn’t invited into and I think the only issues now are (1) financial, because the city/region is depressed and (2) lack of support for a team given so many previous losses. They had a lot of people give up on them for various and semi-legit reasons over the years. Sad but true. I never will, but then I’m a rarity.
Tribe’s problem is that they let their season ticket base slowly and steadily erode over the last decade. Over a 81-game home schedule, you need a base of about 10,000 fans to”be there” for every game. Everyone loves to talk about walk-up crowds but it’s hard to rely on that on a day-to-day basis over a 6-month season.
Conventional wisdom says that a baseball team needs at least 2 back-to-back winning seasons to build up interest in season tickets. And the Indians have consistently failed to do that in the last 10 years. Hopefully, that will begin to change.
No, I understood. You did fine.
haha.
though the field is far enough that it would take a Thome-off-the-Budweiser-sign type blast to get it out that far.
I like AT&T a great deal, but the overwhelming smell of those garlic fries can get to you.
I agree with all of this. It’s why when I’m home in Cleveland over Christmas, I always go to a Browns game and stay until the clock says “:00,” regardless of the score, the weather, or the degree of abysmalness of the team’s record.
can you swing by Texas and pick me up too then? I think a helicopter makes more sense though. we can have them build us a helipad in the upper deck. it’s not like it’s full enough for anyone to sit there anyway.
that sounds right to me.
I have left Browns games early, but I go to a lot so I guess that means I’m allowed…? I certainly leave pre-season games early.
I think as true Browns/Cleveland sports fans, we have already suffered like dogs in the summer so I think we (deservedly) get a free pass if we have to leave a game with 4:00 left in the 4th quarter because if I stay any longer the man next to me will be fired into orbit for wearing a Ben Roethlisberger jersey.
Well, staying until the clock (or innings) runs out is a hard and fast rule for me and my family, but I do think that I can let it slide for Browns season ticket holders with less than 5:00 remaining. Maybe. It’s completely non-negotiable, however, for out-of-town fans attending one game a year.
“Swinging by” Texas is like “skirting” the Pacific Ocean, but you’ve got yourself a deal, pardner.
Awesome picture! I went to a game last year with my nephew on a “run the bases” day, but the event was rained out after the game. We were both pretty bummed.
Shinerbock and Joe’s American Premium Pilsner…always.
“that is an empty argument and I think you know it.”
Didn’t really mean it was based on logical reasoning, meant it as a truth, part of the reason it’s happening, based on what I hear and feel myself to an extent. There is some burn-out in this city regarding this team that has nothing to do with Pittsburgh or Chicago fans. It’s a combination of things, some which habe been in the Dolans’ control and some not. And the fact that no one here ever burns out on the Browns doesn’t change make it less true. If the team keeps playing well, or better yet plays well in a compelling way with comeback wins and the like things will pick up. If I understand you. you’re saying the fans shouldm’t demand a larger sample size. I’m saying whether they should or not, they are demanding that.