NFL News: Browns make practice squad moves, work out two receivers
September 10, 2013Tracking the Browns defense: How many times did they blitz?
September 10, 2013Chris Perez just never wants to make it easy on us does he. Nursing a one run lead in the ninth inning of another uber important game – well, they all are at this point – CP put Tribe fans everywhere through the emotional wringer. Even manager Terry Francona said during the ninth he “had a stomach ache.”
We don’t know how Perez was feeling because he still isn’t talking to the media, which is probably a good thing. But for those of us inside of Progressive Field last night, it felt like another swift kick in the gut while it was happening. We shouldn’t have even gotten to this point.
The real story of this game wasn’t the shaky closer, it was the Tribe’s all of a sudden rotation stabilizer Ubaldo Jimenez. Yeah, I said it. The guy has become a rock. After two and a half years of frustration, the Indians have finally gotten what they traded for. In dire need of a quality deep start, the Wahoos turned to Jimenez and he responded like he has done so often since the All-star break. For seven innings, the Royals had nothing for the big U. His power stuff was working, hitting 96 with his fastball and command his breaking pitches. He would exit the game allowing one unearned run while scattering seven hits. More impressively, the former walk machine didn’t offer a single free pass while striking out 10. It was the third time in his last four starts that Ubaldo has had 10 K’s.
The whole comeback story is just incredible to me.
Jimenez now has nine straight starts where he has allowed three or fewer earned runs. Eight of those nine have been two runs or less and in his last two starts, in the most crucial time of the year, Ubaldo hasn’t allowed an earned run in 13 innings. His season ERA sits at 3.62, a whopping 1.94 since the break.
“I’m getting ahead, I’m staying ahead and I’m getting people out,” said Jimenez. “Right now it’s fun the way we’re playing together. Every day you come to the stadium, you know it’s a big game.”
The Tribe offense staked him to a 4-1 lead thanks to the long ball. The much maligned Asdrubal Cabrera got the Indians on the board with a solo shot in the second off of Kansas City’s Ervin Santana, who has dominated the Indians in his two starts this season. They would add a second run in the third behind the wheels of rookie Jose Ramirez. Making his first Major League start at third base, Ramirez led off the frame with his first career hit. He was so excited that he overran first thinking double. He managed to scamper back to first, but over-slid the bad. Luckily first baseman Eric Hosmer never attempted a tag. Drew Stubbs then hit a 3-2 ground ball to third with Ramirez on the move. Stubbs was erased, but Ramirez attempted to get to third. Hosmer’s throw was wild, allowing the speedster to dash home. It was almost as if Ramirez ran a marathon on the base paths in the third.
“He was all over the ballpark tonight,” said Francona of Ramirez. “He played with pure passion and joy. He helped us. That second run was huge and he scored on a grounder to third. It gave everybody a spark.”
Yan Gomes, who just keeps on hitting, put the Tribe up 3-0 with a solo blast of his own the opposite way. It was the Yanimal’s 10th on the season. He also gunned down two of three Royals attempting stolen bases. Gomes would have been perfect, but Cabrera dropped a throw on Alex Gordon’s steal in the third.
Fellow catcher, now mostly the DH, Carlos Santana would hit the Tribe’s third solo homer off the foul pole in right to start the bottom of the seventh. The play was initially ruled foul, but was overturned by instant replay.
The final six outs should have been on cruise control, but the Indians bullpen made this a maalox masher.
Cody Allen came on to pitch the eighth and wasn’t fooling anyone. Alcedes Escobar nearly missed a home run and settled for a double high off the big wall in left. Gordon then finished the job with a 394 foot blast to right that got out in a hurry. In a blink, this became a game. Allen recovered to strike out Emilio Bonafacio, but Francona took no chances, calling for lefty Marc Rzepsynski to face the lefty Hosmer. The southpaw did the job he was traded for to do, retiring Hosmer on an easy grounder to second. Francona then replaced Rzepcysnki with Joe Smith to face DH Billy Butler. Working for the third time in four days, Smitty got Butler on a comebacker, setting the stage for the ninth.
It was Pure Rage time and he almost drove Tribe fans into a pure rage. Salvador Perez sent a slow grounder towards the hole between short and third and it got through for a single. He would be lifted for pinch runner Chris Getz. CP then compounded things by walking Mike Moustakas. In an obvious bunt situation, KC manager Ned Yost sent up pinch hitter David Lough, who did his job, moving both runners into scoring position with one out. Then for some odd reason, when the last thing you need is a strikeout, Yost pinch hit Carlos Pena for Jarrod Dyson, who had two hits in the game. Pena is essentially a left-handed Mark Reynolds. With first base open, you pitch to him. CP recovered to do exactly what the Tribe needed, striking out Pena for the big second out.
Yost went to his bench a third straight time, calling on George Kotarras, who had hit a grand slam against the Indians earlier in the season in Kansas City. He fell behind in the count 0-2, worked the count full, fouled off four pitches, and eventually walked. It was a great battle that Kotarras won. The bases were now loaded for Gordon, who had homered his last time up. Perez buckled down and got him to fly out to shallow center to give the Tribe a 4-3 victory.
Exhale.
Never a dull moment with this bullpen and this closer, right? Hey, look at the bright side. Perez was brought on to get three outs without allowing a run. That is exactly what he did.
“We just try to show up and be one run better than the other team,” said Francona. “Tonight I felt we were 1/10 of a run better. I had a stomach ache in the ninth inning. That’s about a nail-biting as you can get.”
The Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 4-2, pushing the Yanks a game and a half back of both the Tribe and the Orioles. Tampa Bay did not play, so both teams gained a half game on the Rays. The Detroit Tigers lost to the Chicago White Sox, leaving the Indians faint hope of winning the AL Central still alive. They sit a game and a half back of the Wild Card and four and a half games back of the division lead.
Tonight it is Zach McAllister’s (7-8, 3.97 ERA) turn to come up big. He will face off with former Tribe first round pick Jeremy Guthrie (13-10, 4.19 ERA)
100 Comments
September baseball is so exciting. Regardless of how this pans out, I’m grateful for what the club has put together. Living in San Antonio, the past few seasons my month-to-month MLB.tv subscription had long been cancelled at this point. Not this year.
Nice to read a recap of the game that actually talks about the game instead of the attendance, i.e. Hoynesie.
1.5 back from the wildcard and somehow we’re drawing less people in September than we were in April.
I think at this point we have to pick up Jimenez’s 2014 option. Not that I was ever that much in doubt of doing so, but a guy who throw 150+ innings a season while posting a sub 4.00 FIP and ERA is a deal at $7M. White and Pomeranz are still young and may turn into something, but I think at this point we won that deal.
picking up the mutual option is not the problem from our end. we pickup, he says no.
ok now, do we offer him the $14mil/1year deal that we have to get the draft pick compensation back if he leaves? or do we offer him a 3yr/$30mil deal that he’ll likely get on the open market if he doesn’t have draft pick compensation?
that’s where it gets sticky
great, we have SA,TX covered now too. NJ0 is in Houston and I’m in Austin. So, if we can get an Indians fan from Dallas on this thread, we’ll have the major cities covered 🙂
I always sucker myself into buying the year subscription on it and painfully watch a few games in September to see who the young guys might be. It never really helps.
It’s amazing to be excited to flip on Hamilton for the drive home on the phone and then flip over to the game after dinner. Love having what feels like an extended baseball season (after the past few seasons).
I believe it is just a club option, not a mutual one. That’s how it’s listed on Cot’s MLB contracts.
great read on Ubaldo’s resurgence. also, he was facing a resurgent Ervin too. I thought last night might be like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters to have them face each other.
yeah, I thought that for awhile too. it was debunked by Pluto. apparently became a mutual option when he was traded and Cot’s never updated.
That’s why I have gone with the MLB radio in the past. The yearly $20 price tag doesn’t sting in August/September.
Oh wow. Thanks for letting me know that. Learn something new every day.
Ugggghhhh…. that complicates things greatly and makes that deal seem a little less smart….
Thank you, thank you, thank you for not mentioning the A word.
You obviously missed nj0 attendance monitor below.
Go tip a cow already!
Never ever cross streams or swords!
I was thanking TD. I hadn’t gotten to the comments yet.
I thought Texas was leaving the union to become it’s own country? Hurry up!
If that’s the case, I don’t think you offer him a qualifying offer unless you are fully willing to pay him $14M cause I don’t think anyone else would spend that and a draft pick on him. Honestly, I think you really have to either work a new deal with him or let him walk. Tough, tough decision.
Go ignore the elephant in the room!
Ah well just skip over anything authored by nj0 and you’ll be fine.
This is where our brain trust earns their pay. If Ubaldo truly has been “fixed” by our pitching coach, then the 3 year deal is a good one, given his performance since the all star break. They should be able to evaluate him correctly after the season.
I love Dumbo!
I’m with you Kool-Aid boy. If you can’t handle reality, best not to read what I have to say.
Whoa easy now if he’s fixed lets see him pitch in a wildcard game first!
Boy, ain’t no boy around here son don’t make me whip out my sword! I’m grounded in reality I’m not the one beating a dead elephant after every home game about attendance.
I was born in Ohio. I live in Ohio. I’m going to raise my kids in Ohio. I’m going to die in Ohio. I’ll never see a championship in Ohio well at least not in Cleveland. This is a Tribe I mean Browns I mean Cavaliers…good God make it stop!
I’m not above admitting that I’m getting some pleasure out of all this. Back in April and May, I kept hearing how the fans would show up in August and September if we were in the race. Me and a few others were wise enough to realize that this would not be the case. Now that I have been proven right, nobody wants to talk about attendance. It’s just the media yadda yadda. Like saying that or ignoring it negates the fact that this city can only get 9,000 people to a game. Just chickens coming home to roost is all.
You pick up my 30 dollar ticket and I will go.
You don’t go to the games so just stop telling me/us how we should spend our money. And hoynes who gets paid to be there can shut up about it to.
I have 3 cousins working in the box office. Every game, people show up. When the $40 they were planning on spending on tickets is $120 they walk away. You didn’t just lose those people for 1 game. You lost them for 4 at a minimum and probably the rest of the season.
They (and everybody else in the box office) tell upper management about it in their daily meetings. They don’t care.
The product is not worth what they are charging. They could easily have 2 -4X’s the number of butts in the seats if they wanted butts in the seats. They obviously care about other things more.
Where did I tell you how to spend your money?
I understand that the cost for attendance is prohibitive to many. If the economic reality of northeast Ohio means that the region cannot support three professional sports teams, that’s worth noting and discussing. Ignoring it or getting upset when people point it out does not change the reality of the situation.
We all have to have a go to move I guess if this is yours.
I hope the day comes when it is no longer available to me.
to be honest, the $110 for the year of TV + Radio doesn’t really sting. it’s just knowing I can watch Indians games and not really wanting to because they are playing terrible (past few seasons) that stung.
now, it’s realizing I’m paying $0.75/game to watch a potential playoff team. it’s fantastic.
one thing, does MLB.TV cover the playoffs? I assume not because most/all games are covered somewhere on local TV, but I haven’t had to think about it before.
I’m more focused on a championship whether there are 10,000 in the stands or 100,000 it doesn’t matter to me. Frankly I can understand the lack of support for any Cleveland team because they’ve earned it. I believe the collective city of Cleveland and surrounding area is just burnt out and honestly between the Browns, Indians and Cavaliers how could they not.
y’all hadn’t bin don here. may be in dat u-yun thingy, but weese our unn country. don be jealous.
lol…. i’m not really sure since i’m usually not listening much past august. it use to, but i’m not sure if it does anymore. according to wikipedia, mlb doesn’t black out radio, but how reliable is that.
with mlb.tv, what markets do you get blacked out of? rangers and astros?
“The product is not worth what they are charging”
And yet it somehow is in every other market. What happened in Cleveland where tickets for a team right there for the playoffs down the stretch are considered to be worth only $10-15?
right here
“1.5 back from the wildcard and somehow we’re drawing less people in September than we were in April.”
its all you ever do…..wahh the fans aren’t there (paying to be there)
it ain’t worth what they are charging. don’t sell me chicken ____ at chicken salad prices.
Seen this act before, old broken down players that aren’t here but are still on the payroll. I guess Mark Reynolds is slightly better than Keith Hernandez, he did suit up for a while, but nets out as a wash if you ask me, for at least 2 months they had the same production but at least Keith didn’t take up a valuable spot in the batting order and had a fabulous mustache. Pronk did have a better nickname though.
Can’t beat good teams. Absolutely Poop the bed in “prime time”. Hitting SP bullpen pick 1, you are Cleveland that is all you can hope for.
AND this year. Tickets that went from 5 bux in the 90’s to 10 bux today NOW cost you 27.50 day of the game.
They don’t want our business. They are going KC/Pitt route. Make your money off of the luxury tax, TV deal. Anything you can get out of the fans is gravy. Live off the 90’s AND MAYBE if the perfect storm happens again of 9-15 position players/pitchers all “show up” within 2-3 years of each other THEN we will really compete instead of this garbage AAAA lets jut look like we are trying garbage we have had since Dolan took over.
All he is doing is riding out his sunk cost (bought high there didn’t ya)
The Tribe selling the sizzle instead of the steak since 2005 (or to be overly generous 2007–to not be generous 2002 or even 1999). The fat done been sizzled off the steak, all we smell now is old burnt nasty.
You don’t blame the restaurant patron when the restauranteur used to sell you steak for 1/10 of what he is trying to sell you rat droppings for today
And yet here you are, calling out the only people who have absolutely nothing to do with the garbage on the field. Chisenahll? How is Giambi on a major league roster? we have 4 utility outfielders and 3 play every day. A catcher who cannot catch and has to DH or play 1st as bad as he catches. A SS who can barely field, hits closer to the Mendoza line than 300.
The ONLY player on the “everyday” roster hitting over 300 is your backup catcher.
The closer who is dumpster fire and hates us (the fans). Who will walk next year for NO compensation because there is no way in heck we can afford to Tender him and have our bluff called, we cant afford him $$ wise or cancer wise.
A starting rotation, which is our absolute strength, is anchored by a reclamation project that will be cashing big checks from somebody else next year. Good Jubaldo who has a mutual big money option for next year and will probably walk. All we got is Masterson a true #2 (to be generous) or #3 on a REAL major league team as your #1.
I remember the Greg Swindell/John Ferrel days of the 80’s, jerry browne anyone? alex cole?
For those teams I would spend 3 bux, sit in the bleachers and get a tan, buy 1 $3 beer from the stand and my buddy working there would keep filling it up for free.
THAT is what this team is worth (inflation adjusted of course)
You are right, we should be beating down their doors to pay for this dog’s breakfast…..mmmm tastes like filet.
Huh…
yes, they are both blacked-out even though DISH dropped the Astros station from it’s sport package this summer (Austin). so, there is no way for me to watch Astros games now (doesn’t matter this year, but my kids like them from going to 4-5 games/season).
Not worth it nj0. This team could make the playoffs, but he’ll only be happy if he gets to complain. Somehow, he has considered himself to be so severely wronged that he can’t enjoy this team playing well. Cut off the nose to spite the face and all that.
The attendance issue is definitely an interesting one. I think people respond so harshly to it being brought up is because we take it personally as fans. We pride ourselves as being some of the best sports fans in the country, but when the numbers challenge that, it gets people defensive. I personally love baseball games, and nothing is better than a summer day at the ball park, but maybe Cleveland really isn’t a baseball town. It’s definitely worth discussion. I would like to see how the fans would respond to a few consecutive years of contention, but we’ll see if that ever becomes a reality.
If fans feel that they have been so wronged by Dolan and the last 15 years of Indian baseball that they can’t support a team making a playoff run then shouldn’t more people support the idea of the team relocating? I mean, if Dolan, Shapiro, MLB, etc. are so bad and the system so broke that we can’t even get excited about this September then what September can we get excited for?
It’s like the couple who hates each other but stays together out of pride or spite or something. If the Indians make NEO so miserable that they can’t enjoy a good time like this, maybe it’s time to call it quits?
So nothing substantive to add? About what I expected. Are you two marketing interns for the tribe by chance?
whats that saying that ends with “and the horse you rode in on”
JUST paid for my partial season ticket renewal.
AGAIN for the 10th year in a row. Paid $1288 to sit in the front row for 10 games and watch the garbage they are going to trot out AGAIN next year.
Would normally do that and go to quite a few additional games during the summer.
I have the money, many here don’t, won’t pay 30 bux for nosebleed seats anymore, I am running out of patience for all of it.
Quit peeing on my head and tell me it is raining sunshine as you try to sell me a $75 umbrella. I am not asking for much.
Thank you. I know I come off as preachy to many people here, but the reason I constantly bring this up is because it is such an interesting topi that just won’t go away. For whatever reason, the region’s relationship to the Tribe seems to be permanently damaged, maybe irreconcilably.
You keep saying they are “right there”
they aren’t
Did you watch the DET series? Have you watched any game we have played against any of the REAL playoff teams? Or anybody with a record over .500?
have you looked at our team batting average?
We are right no where. which is where we have been and where will continue to be.
We can be the AAAA champion.
Marketing intern? Shapiro’s niece? Dolan’s grandson?
who else can be this delusional? Well scratch that, Dolan’s grandson is probably a yankee fan.
You can get into the park tonight for $12. To check out the Rays, a minimum of $21. The Orioles apparently have some special on Tuesdays where you can get $10 seats, but normally their cheapest actual seats are $18 (and $15 for SRO). The Tigers show a “$12 ticket”, and the A’s show a “$13 ticket” but it comes out to $19 after fees for the former and $20 for the latter (maybe the Indians can build up some goodwill by hiding ticket costs behind service fees, I’m sure that will work)
The Indians offer the cheapest tickets to see a legit contender.
Can we change Perez’s nickname to The Dude?
They are 1.5 games out of a playoff spot. That’s “right there for the playoffs”. I’m not holding my breath if they do make it, but once you get in, a lot can happen.
Can’t wait for Google to buy NFL and then I can cancel directv and just stream sports and shows
“watch the garbage they are going to trot out AGAIN”
I’m interested in how many teams you think are garbage, because if a playoff contender is a AAAA champion, as you suggest elsewhere, what does that make teams like the Astros and Marlins?
Yeah, well, that’s just like your opinion, man.