Pat Shurmur and Secenca Wallace might not be on the same page
June 13, 2012An NBA title: What does Cleveland have to do?
June 13, 20127:38 PM – I’m late getting started again. A lot’s happened, so let’s catch up quick:
Choo led off the top of the first with an opposite field double off Johnny Cueto. After an Asdrubal groundout moved him to third, Kipnis (who else?) drove Choo in with a single up the middle.
In the bottom half, Jeanmar Gomez got himself into trouble by allowing the first two batters to reach base. But then Joey Votto flied out to center and Brandon Philips grounded into a double play. Indians up 1-0.
Got that? Good. Because the most interesting thing so far in this game happened in the top of the second. Johnny Damon and Casey Kotchman struck out and lined out respectively. Lonnie Chisenhall followed with a two-out single up the middle, which is nice, because he’s batting eighth and you like to turn the lineup over if you can so that a pitcher doesn’t lead off an inning. It’s what happened next that was mind-boggling. Jeanmar Gomez, on the first pitch of the at bat, squared early and laid down a perfect bunt, right back to the pitcher.
Cueto then picked up the ball and threw to first to end the inning. Your imponderable of the day: WHY WOULD JEANMAR GOMEZ BUNT THE FIRST PITCH OF THE AT BAT WITH TWO OUTS? I have not come up with a reasonable explanation outside of “confounding one’s opponent with a sub-optimal strategy”. Discuss, please.
7:53 PM – I’ve long felt that American League teams have the natural advantage during interleague play, on the whole. Here’s my logic. Your typical NL team, in an AL park, takes their best bench bat and DHs for the pitcher. Your AL team gets to play normal. In an NL park, the AL pitcher is forced to hit, who is obviously not as accustomed to hitting as the NL pitcher. So really, the question becomes: is the skill differential between an NL pitcher and AL pitcher wider than that between an AL DH and an NL utility player? I would say no. All pitchers pretty much stink at hitting, and having a .165 hitting pitcher rather than .125 hitting pitcher isn’t going to make a big difference. But plugging in a guy with a 145 OPS+ (AL DH) over a bench player (NL DH)? Yeah, that’ll be a big difference.
Anyway, as if to shoot all that logic to hell, Johnny Cueto leads off the bottom of the 3rd with single. This after the Gomez bunt attempt that I’m still mulling over.
8:02 PM – Nota Bene: When you manufacture a run, you’re supposed to do it for your own team.
A Gomez wild pitch sends Cueto to second, and after a Heisey groundout, Cueto advances to third on a Valdez single. Then, with Joey Votto up, Carlos Santana tries to steal an out by throwing behind Valdez at first base, who’d strayed a bit too far off the bag. Unfortunately, Santana never quite has a firm grip and throws the ball into right field, allowing Cueto to score.
Gomez battles through the rest of the inning, getting Votto and Phillips to ground out weakly. Credit where credit is due. That could’ve been much worse, considering who was coming up. But it probably should have been better. Tied at 1.
8:10 PM – Since the first inning, the Indians have had one batter reach base safely: Lonnie Chisenhall’s prologue to what shall henceforth be called, simply, The Bunt. Cueto has sent down seven in a row and 11 of his last 12. Still 1-1, but it’s the kind of tie where you feel like you’re losing.
8:24 PM – Jeanmar Gomez is up with two outs. We must document this, pitch-by-pitch, just in case he tries to sneak The Bunt Part II past us:
- Pitch One: Does not swing.
- Pitch Two: Does not swing.
- Pitch Three Does not swing. (I am in agreement with this approach; the count is 2-1)
- Pitch Four: Swings and misses. (Meh.)
- Pitch Five: Does not swing. (!!!! 3-1)
- Pitch Six: SINGLE TO LEFT FIELD—Jeanmar’s first career hit!
Which is proof-positive that The Bunt was a slowly-developed, cunning strategy by Gomez and Acta to lull Cueto into a false sense of security. Thank Goodness. I was afraid it was stupid.
Choo follows by grounding out to second to end the inning. Still 1-1.
For the record, the pitchers in this game are batting .500 (2-4), while everyone else is batting .200 (6-30). STRAGEDY!
8:37 PM – It’s the bottom of the fifth, and the Reds have a runner on second with one out and Joey Votto up. Acta calls for the intentional walk to bring up Brandon Phillips.
As a rule, I’m against this move. It almost never makes sense, probability-wise, unless the batter you’re walking is roughly twice as good as the batter who’ll follow. But for the second straight game, I find myself oddly OK with this decision, considering how dangerous Votto is.
8:40 PM – Rats. Phillips rips a single to right, to load the bases, followed by a Jay Bruce sac fly to center to put the Reds up 2-1. This neither supports nor refutes the decision to intentionally walk Votto. Not yet, anyway.
8:42 PM – Uh oh. Now Gomez might have lost it. He walks Frazier on five pitches to load the bases. Two things I’m thinking. First, Gomez now has four walks and only one strikeout tonight, so things could and probably should be worse right now. But second, doesn’t it seem that an intentional walk can sometimes lead to a loss of control? I’ve not looked into this, but it wouldn’t be surprising at all if it were true.
8:47 PM – Gomez finally strikes out Ludwig on a pitch down and out of the strikezone. That’s 92 pitches through five innings. I’d like to think they let him start the sixth, considering the bottom of the lineup will be coming up for the Reds, but the Tribe bullpen should be fresh. It prolly depends on whether the offense can get anything going here, but if this is it, at least we’ll always have The Bunt.
8:52 PM – I wrote on Monday that I was somewhat ambivalent about the Cardinals-Indians series over the weekend, considering that St. Louis is the city of my youth. How quickly things change. Tonight, the Indians are facing the Reds and Johnny Cueto in particular, whom I’m obligated to abhor (he kicked a Cardinals player in the head during a scrum and ended his career). Similarly, the Cardinals are playing the White Sox tonight, and AJ Pierzynski in particular, who epitomizes everything that is wrong in the world at large. I am no longer ambivalent. And it feels quite good.
Cabrera, Kipnis and Santana go down 1-2-3 on groundouts to the right side. Cueto is dealing.
8:59 PM – Joe Smith enters and pitches a perfect inning.
9:01 PM – Michael Brantley just extended his hitting streak to 19 games to lead off the seventh inning, but the bottom of the lineup is not inspiring me with confidence.
9:03 PM – Johnny Damon pops out to short. One down. Brantley pretty much has to steal second now, I’d say.
9:07 PM – Oh man. Brantley got my telepathy, but a bit too early. He took off running while Cueto was still set, who just turned and picked him off. Two down. Casey Kotchman up. Sad Trombone.
9:08 PM – Casey Kotchman strikes out to end the inning. That was the Kotchman-est inning ever.
Still 2-1 Reds heading to the bottom of the seventh. My twitter feed is starting to fill up with NBA talk. Things look bleak.
9:22 PM – After a single off Joe Smith and a tortuously-explained double switch courtesy of Matt Underwood, Tony Sipp lets up a 2-run opposite field HR to Joey Votto.
Let us pause to consider Tony Sipp, as he’s not been very good this season. Entering tonight’s game, Tony had a 6.97 ERA over 20.2 IP. That’s not good. But he’s also struck out 22 batters and walked only nine, which is just fine. Tony’s had two big problems this season: (1) he’s stranding only 56% of his baserunners (compared to 79% for his career) because (2) his BABiP is .328 compared to .248 for his career. That’s not good at all, but it’s also not something he can really control. Does he let up a lot of home runs? He does. But really, he’s always let up a lot of home runs. He’s been unlucky so far this year on batted balls that haven’t been home runs, and I get the feeling people are turning on him for it.
Let me be clear: Tony Sipp is not as good as Nick Hagadone. We knew that before the season actually, and we still know it now. But he’s plenty good to be the second LH bullpen arm. I’d rather keep him than Raffy Perez when everybody’s healthy, for whatever that’s worth.
That said, I didn’t much care for that inning. 4-1 Reds.
9:27 PM – Of course the Indians go 1-2-3 again in the eighth, this time with Chisenhall, Lopez, and Choo. They just look helpless against Cueto.
9:33 PM – This must end now. Accardo relieves Sipp and promptly lets up a lead-off single to Ryan Ludwick. Hanigan follows with a hit to right, whereupon Choo fires to third. The throw gets by Chisenhall and into the dugout to score Ludwick (Accardo wasn’t backing up). 5-1 Reds.
Must. End. Now.
9:36 PM – The Reds scored again. I’m not going to explain it. Needless to say, it was stupid. 6-1 Reds.
What I’m really interested in right now is the current matchup: Joey Votto against Jeremy Accardo. It strikes me as ridiculous that there should be such an unfair competition in professional sports; this is akin to me basketballing against LeBron James, or you running a footrace against I’ll Have Another. This isn’t fair. It’s a mockery of the competitive spirit.
Joey Votto is merciful though, so he only singled. 7-1 Reds.
9:41 PM – Watching Jeremy Accardo, I’m thinking of Dan Wheeler.
9:43 PM – The inning is over. Again, I refuse to elaborate. It was a gross and inhuman performance that only resembled the sport of baseball in the loosest sense of the word. Yes, there were nine men standing in roughly the appropriate positions on the field, but no, this was not the sport I’ve come to love so hard. It was a bastardization.
Still 7-1 Reds.
9:46 PM – Johnny Cueto is coming out to finish this one off, which is the most Dusty Baker thing ever. He’s thrown 110 pitches, the game is in hand, he’s been sitting for 20 minutes during that abomination of an eighth inning, and yet, like the Swallows returning to Capistrano, Dusty Baker must try his darndest to damage exciting right arms. Just ask Kerry Wood and Mark Prior what I’m talking about.
9:50 PM – After retiring Cabrera and Kipnis quickly, Cueto gives up an infield single to Santana. He’s now at 121 pitches when Dusty Baker comes out to check on him. Cueto’s never thrown more than 200 innings in his career, due to shoulder and elbow issues. This is not a no-hitter. It’s not even a shutout. Dusty Baker laughs, pats him on the ass, and leaves him in.
It’s moments like these where I take solace that Dusty Baker does not manage my team.
9:52 PM – Brantley grounds out to end the game.
Sometimes when I watch this team, I feel like they will never score another run. Carlos Santana is officially lost. Asdrubal Cabrera is hitting .257/.348/.386 over the last month. There are at least three and perhaps six spots in our lineup that resemble so much soft mush. Jason Kipnis is really all we got right now, and that’s more than a little frustrating. We’ve scored five runs in the last two games; Jason Kipnis drove in four of them.
On the other hand, we have to remind ourselves that this, too, shall pass. Santana just can’t be this bad (right????). Choo will find his power stroke. Cabrera will be fine. Hafner will get healthy. Chisenhall won’t get worse. Et cetera.
But things must get better. Because Jeanmar Gomez isn’t going to let up 1 ER most of the time—not when he pitches like he did tonight. And while Ubaldo’s last two outings have been nice, they’ve also been aberrational. This pitching staff is going to need the offense to carry them for some stretches this season, and we can’t wait on them forever.
We go at the Reds again on Wednesday evening, with Derek Lowe going against Mat Latos. Here’s hoping we bring some bats to the game.
Photo: Tom Uhlman, Associated Press
15 Comments
Jeanmar Gomez had 0 ABs in his entire tenure (including the minors) with the Indians before last night (since 2006).
I don’t think criticizing anything he did with the bat is valid. He was probably secretly thrilled that he even made contact.
Maybe Accardo is then the odd man out with Esmil Rogers joining the Indians today? It’s gotta be someone, and I’d be shocked if it is a position player.
re: the bunt
On the radio, Tom Hamilton tried to pass this off as a good thing since it meant that Choo would then be leading off. Of course, no matter what out Gomez made, Choo would be leading off. Just tell Kipnis to stay on the bag and you’re safe.
If he’s so green, then he shouldn’t be bunting either. Just take three pitches. Don’t have your newb pitcher putting their throwing hand out there on the head of the bat with a 90 mph pitch coming in!
God, I hate the National League!
Can someone please explain to me the double switch? I’ve never quite understood it and I did not catch Underwood’s tortuous explanation.
I agree. And the throwing hand isn’t the only issue on the possible bunt. I’ve seen guys bunt the ball straight up into their face, miss the ball and take it in the ribs, etc.
Just purchased Gomez’s second inning thought bubble with PayPal:
What’s with this on deck circle so close holy crap haven’t hit since high school breathe breathe breathe – SHUT UP PEREZ – you know i’m yelling at him next time he’s up ugh better not be peepee running down my leg this game better not he in high def …SHUT THE EFF UP PEREZ “yeah?! I got $100 says I hit one fair!!” like to foul one off your nasty beard my dog is smarter SHUT … UP … PEREZ. “yeah? $250 says I do and do it on first pitch – yeah? ok, let’s go 5 then!” Idiot …aw crap that’s my name here we go slowheartslowheartslowheart no idea why I’m looking for signs …is this dude smiling at me? you know what, this is crazy, i’m just collecting.
if the pitching spot is coming up soon in the order and you need to make a pitching change:
swap pitcher for position player (on the lineup card – i.e. batting order)
swap bench position player for pitcher
that way your bench player comes up sooner in the order while your pitcher gets a longer reprieve from batting.
and is another reason why the NL is a terrible league (as it leads to removing starting position players for bench players more often)
also NL stinks because – replacing starting pitchers for bullpen pitchers because you want the extra ‘bat’ in the lineup when the pitcher is up in the 6th / 7th (regardless of pitch-count).
And you can’t even have them swing away since guys can hurt themselves doing that.
just stand there and don’t hurt yourself = not fun
think of the “double switch” as moving the pitcher spot in the batting order from ninth to another spot in the lineup. To do this, the manager has to take two players out the game, the pitcher and a batter somewhere else in the lineup. The new pitcher is then inserted into the former batter’s spot in the lineup (typically the guy that made the most recent out in the previous inning to ensure the batting order gets eight non-pitcher at-bats in a row) and the new batter inserted into the former pitcher spot.
Thank you both. I, too, now hate the NL even more.
Sipp has struggled mightily and has some options (I think).
Sipps performance last year will keep him up here.
Accardo is the odd man out, IMO.
man, I must have bought a counterfeit thought bubble. the one I purchased just says this:
“Thank God everyone in Cleveland is watching LeBron choke in the Finals tonight.”
Wrong!
Apparently 11 at bats was all they needed to see of LaPorta right now.