While We’re Waiting… A Wahoo Winner, and a must read on Ubaldo
April 3, 2013Majoring in the Minors
April 3, 2013Oh how I have longed for this day…..
Your boy is back for year four of the Tribe recaps. It is a true labor of love for me. This year for me holds something special for all of us. I actually like the fact that the Indians started the 2013 season on the road in Toronto against one of the best teams in the AL. Let us see right away what Terry Francona’s bunch is made of.
Well it is only one game, but you have to love the way things started for the Wahoos. The new look lineup would have to face last year’s NL Cy Young award winner R.A. Dickey. The knuckleballer would be no easy out. The Indians approach against Dickey was fantastic all night as they worked deep into counts and didn’t seem to chase bad pitches.
They got started in the second with a Michael Brantley leadoff single. He moved to second on a passed ball. New DH Mark Reynolds worked Dickey for a one out walk and the Tribe were in business. A second J.P. Arencibia passed ball – he had trouble with the knuckler most of the night – pushed Brantley and Reynolds into scoring position. Lonnie Chisenhall, who’s time is now at third base, drove Brantley in on a great at-bat with an RBI ground out. With two down, the Tribe needed a big hit. They would get it from another new face, right fielder Drew Stubbs. His single to left scored a hustling Reynolds to put the Tribe up 2-0 on the Blue Jays new ace.
On the other side was Justin Masterson. The big right-hander started this season in search of his 2011 form. Right from the start though, he looked like last year’s version. He threw five straight balls to open the game before getting Melky Cabrera to line into a double play. He then gave up a single to Jose Bautista and hit Edwin Encarnacion. Masterson however then recovered to K Adam Lind to end the threat. It was a sign of things to come for J Mast. He was all over the place early.
An inning later, he put two Jays on with a double and a walk before getting out of the jam. In the third, Toronto had a big chance to do damage. They loaded the bases with nobody out on a single and two more walks. But the one thing Masterson is known for is inducing the double play ball. He would get one when he needed it the most. Again it was Lind in the big spot. He laced a line towards Asdrubal at short who made a fantastic backhanded stop, flipped to Jason Kipnis at second to start a 6-4-3 double play. A run scored, but it was a gigantic play in this game. Masterson struck out Arencibia to end the third.
“I wasn’t counting my pitches after the first three innings, but I knew the boys in the pen might have to get ready a little earlier than I expected,” Masterson said.
From that point on, Masterson completely settled down.
“I think Mickey [pitching coach Mickey Callaway] talked to him about throwing more four-seamers,” Francona said. “That got him in the zone more, then he got his breaking pitch to boot.”
The double play ball was the start of Masterson retiring the final 11 batters he faced. In the third it seemed like he would be lucky to get through five. Instead, Justin went six innings. Yes, he walked four which is way too many, but he gave up just three hits and one run before turning things over to the three-headed monster that seemingly always does the job.
The Tribe offense gave Masterson and the pen more cushion in the fifth. New center fielder Michael Bourn singled for the first of his two hits on the night bringing up Cabrera. Not only did Cabbie come up with the biggest defensive play on the night, but he jacked a two-run blast to right field to put the Tribe up 4-1.
“It turned into the Asdrubal Cabrera show,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “Big double play that he turned — could have been a game changer early in the game. And then, of course, the big home run.”
With that three-run lead and Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano, and Chris Perez ready to do their jobs, Tribe fans all over the country had to feel good about where they were. Smitty was first up, getting the bottom of the Jays order 1-2-3. Pestano retired Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, and Jose Bautista in order, striking out the dangerous Bautista emphatically. Up next was Perez who worked around a two out single to close the Blue Jays out for his first save of the year and the 100th as an Indian. Most importantly, the pen sealed the deal on Francona’s first win as Tribe manager.
“It’s great to get one for Tito,” said Perez, “but it’s great getting one for our team, too, and the city. There’s a lot better feeling after Opening Day this time than last year. He’s going to get a lot more wins here, but it’s good to get the first one out of the way.”
This was an all around team win all around. The Indians got solid starting pitching from Masterson, a patient approach against Dickey, superb defense from Cabrera, Stubbs, Kipnis and Swisher who all made great plays in the field, and almost perfect relief work from the Smith-Pestano-Perez trio. Stubbs sliding catch into the wall in right eighth was a ball Shin-Soo Choo just would not have gotten to.
Up next the Indians send Ubaldo Jimenez to the mound to keep the train moving. He will face hard-throwing Blue Jays righty Brendan Morrow.
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(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette)
34 Comments
SUPER BOWL!!!!
Seriously, good game though. Masterson looked fine. People hit baseballs. Defense was strong. It was a good start to the season.
he was outside the zone too much and not fooling the batters when he did it. he was okay, but certainly not 2011 Masterson. it’s just one game, but the first 3 innings he looked like a middle to bottom of the rotation starter. hopefully, he has the opposite of last season (looked great in game1, not so much for the rest).
Too many walks! But a good result. I’ll take it.
I love that baseball is back in my life. The past 3 days have been fun.
I think you undersold the Asdrubal double-play ball. It needs caps and/or ‘!’ and a bunch of other ways of amping it up. It was the single biggest deciding factor in the game. It seemed to calm Masterson down along with the rest of the team and it was the first point that I felt “okay, we have this game” as well.
Great, great play/game for him.
Most fun I’ve had watching an early season baseball game in awhile. Team just has so much potential it’s fun to watch.
Today’s game will be the key. Will Ubaldo implode or will he be serviceable? That could be the difference between playoffs and a repeat of last year.
Great start. Good to see Masterson settle down after a rough start. The outfield should be fun to watch. The Stubbs catch was great, but Brantley holding Bautista to a single on a shot down the LF line was good to see as well.
Was it my TV, or did the Rogers Centre seem like the most poorly-lit stadium in baseball? I couldn’t tell where guys were hitting the baseball, especially on the infield. Maybe it’s just the way the light reflected off the artificial turf.
Totally agree…bases loaded and no outs and they only score 1! That play was just as big if not bigger than his HR.
If he runs into a lot more of those “bases loaded with no outs” situations, it’s going to be a long, long season. I wasn’t impressed, but want to remain positive.
for now, we can say he was shaking loose the cobwebs the first few innings and settled down and the “real” Masterson was from that point forward 🙂
Doesn’t it seem ironic that in an offseason of moves by Chris Antonetti that the best move he made was one that he didn’t? I am speaking of Asdrubal Cabrera who was the first star of game #1 thanks to not only a two-run HR to lead the offense but a pair of double plays he initiated including what I consider a game changing bases loaded no out dandy off the bat of Adam Lind.
The defense was more then strong it was outstanding. Cabrera with the game changing bases loaded double play, Kipnis with a stellar dive to his left to save a single, Swisher with a great backhand stab behind first base and Stubbs with a tremendous sliding catch down the right field line to save at least a double but probably a triple from Reyes to start the ninth.
It was the first game and Masterson tight wire walked his way out of some serious jams thanks to his defense but he settled down and did exactly what Francona needed: six innings and then turn it over to the bullpen to do the rest. That being said the way Masterson pitched is what drives me crazy about him. But hey a win is a win is a win.
Positive thinking!
I echo your opening statement it’s been quite awhile since I actually watched a complete game and enjoyed good baseball. Lets hope it’s the norm and not the exception.
Astrubal has dominated in a bunch of early season games the last few years. If I’m Antonetti I’d certainly listen to offers when he’s smoking hot, when he can claim that this year Astrubal’s in too good shape to do his annual swan dive.
Or, if it looks like Astrubal really can keep it going, and that we have the horses to actually make a playoff run based on how everything’s shaking out, keep him.
What’s funny is that while Stubbs caught a ball that Choo certainly wouldn’t have caught last night, Choo was busy misplaying a fly ball to center field that certainly would have been caught by Stubbs. Love it.
Jason Kipnis had a fantastic diving stop of an Edwin Encarnacion grounder and threw him out by a split second… I was fired up.
I think the hit in the 9th off of Perez was a double, but I was about five beers in at that point.
I can’t remember the last time I watched a season opener for the Tribe, Cavs, or Browns and they actually won. Felt nice to not be completely disappointed for once.
Very similar to last year’s opening day, except Masty was a Lil wild at times and Perez did his job right. Great start to the season.
Roll Tribe
I think Cabrera is in a better baseball mind not to mention shape thanks to participating in the WBC. Heck the whole team is refreshed under the helm of Francona and the passion of Swish.
Personally I say hang onto Cabrera unless someone makes an offer that can’t be refused. I don’t see it happening. I’d move him in a deal for a top notch arm but nothing less. We’ll see, long long way to go, 161 more to be precise.
pretty much agree, but in the back of my mind can’t shake idea that this year’s cash windfall to the Dolans bought us a legit manager and some nice 30-somethings, but not a future of potential contention. Only good drafting can do that. The extra national tv money about to roll in can be eaten up by the upcoming rise in long-term contracts for good players. If the Indians suddenly have a ton of young middle infielders in the system but no excellent outfield prospects ready to go in a few years, Astrubal can be nice trade bait to a contender for that or, obviously, a starter.
If Mickey Callaway can turn this rotation around, he should get a nice bonus at the end of the year.
He’ll get a big wet kiss from me… whether he wants it or not.
Every time I see Masterson’s nickname, I immediately confuse it with former Tribe reliever Tom Mastny and have flashbacks to the 2007 playoffs.
And like TD said, coaching really was a factor in getting him to settle down… I think he will be alright for us this year…
there’s a reason teams like Atlanta, St.Louis, SF, Texas, and Oakland
tend to do more with pitchers. I think pitching coach is a big part of
that (or systemetic team-wide approach to pitching, etc.). I hope
Callaway proves to be a good one.
I’m to the point where I can’t worry about the future I feel like that is weighed to heavily in a town where winning now hasn’t even been achieved. It’d be one thing if we had contending teams on the downside which required forward thinking but Cleveland has three professional sports teams who have been stuck in neutral for multiple years now.
That being said I agree that if you can move an asset like Cabrera to shore up another area then by all means. The Indians of course have their SS of the future in Lindor and I like the young 2B they have as well as Paulinos but all of them still need more time to season.
I know one thing I feel more comfortable with SharpAnotteti making these decisions now as opposed to about 16 months ago.
So sweet to be undefeated.
Houston fans were saying the same thing before they were Darvished.
So this is what it’s like to have a good defense, huh? Pretty good example of what that can do for your starting pitching.
Agree, now is better than later. But I don’t yet trust Antonetti’s judgement, all I know so far is he’s got more walking around money. I’ll trust him when he makes a smart trade to show he’s progressed down the learning curve after the Ubaldo trade. Shapiro made a similar bellyflop with his first big trade, giving up Robbie Alomar coming off a very good year for Matt Lawton and a bunch of blah, like that first big trade was burning a hole in his pocket.
But mostly, they just have to draft well. Antonetti figures that out and he’ll be fine. That’s the salve for trades that don’t help.
Me too. I know that stats guys like Jon and Jacob tend to believe that changing coaches doesn’t make much of a difference for teams, but I don’t think I agree. I think that elite coaches make their players better and find ways to win games… it just seems reasonable to conclude that the best coaches could squeeze 5 more wins out of a 162 game season than an average coach through not just lineup and pitcher changes, but motivation and advice. I’m hoping we have those elite coaches now.
“This was an all around team win all around”
I think it was too, I think.
All Aboard The Ubaldo-Coaster, TONIGHT!
Nice Win for Masterson