Anthony Bennett can breathe now
July 24, 2014Josh Gordon’s hearing is set for August 1
July 24, 2014(I apologize for the lateness of this recap. I’m filling in for TD today.)
I had to look up Anthony Swarzak’s name three times. Apparently Carlos Santana did too, according to Alex Smith of MLB.com. His game story says that Carlos Santana had no idea who was pitching yesterday 90 minutes before it was scheduled to start. The Indians never seemed to get to know him yesterday either. In five innings, the usual reliever Swarzak only gave up two hits while allowing one run via a Jose Ramirez double that scored David Murphy. The Indians mustered only three more hits across five relievers to fall 3-1 in a daytime game.
Trevor Bauer took the loss for the Tribe, but he wasn’t all that bad. It was another game where he wasn’t able to get past the sixth inning. His pitch count was 99 as he walked off the mound having given up six hits, three runs, two walks and a homer. The homer gave the Twins their third run as Oswaldo Arcia bid Bauer farewell for the rest of the afternoon.
The Indians had one late chance in the eighth inning as they trailed by what would be the final score. With one out, Chris Dickerson walked, Kipnis popped out and then Jose Ramirez singled, which wouldn’t have been that big of a deal, but Dickerson advanced to third on a throwing error. The Twins replaced Brian Duensing with Casey Fien to face Indians All-Star Michael Brantley, but it wasn’t meant to be for the Tribe. Brantley popped out to third and what seemed like one of the very few chances the Indians had all day was squandered.
Then again, when you’re talking about a game where your team’s most promising “chances” were first and third with two down in the eighth while trailing by two, that’s not an especially good game, is it?
The Indians sit 6.5 games back of the Tigers and only 0.5 games ahead of the Kansas City Royals who they face tonight in Kansas City. Corey Kluber goes for the Tribe and faces Danny Duffy. This same matchup occurred in Cleveland on July 6th and the Tribe won 4-1 as the Tribe amassed 10 hits and Kluber went 8 1/3 innings while striking out 10 Royals. Carlos Santana and Yan Gomes both homered in that game.
12 Comments
“He wasn’t able to get past the sixth inning.”
You say that as if most starting pitchers do this or something.
Key play was Brantley getting robbed of a 2 run single by Twins SS. Could’ve blown game open there.
He did have a crappy out with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs later in the game too
never a good sign when you listen to the entire game while you work, but it barely registers because there are so few reasons to fully tune in.
actually, a lot of them do, especially ones with Quality Starts, which you have to pitch a minimum of 7 innings for.
As mentioned in a good article yesterday, Bauer is doing a good enough job for who he is right now, but hes being terribly inefficient. 100 pitches in 6 innings is a rough go of things, and hes done that to almost every team hes faced. If he is going to pan out to be the superstar pitcher wed like him to be, then he has to get better at reducing his pitch counts
Lol, it’s 6 IP for a QS. And “a lot” doesn’t equal “most.”
Bauer is 23. Don’t know what you’re expecting there but he’s been fantastic so far this season.
BTW, Bauer has 9 QS, more than Bucholtz and Cliff Lee and tied with Doug Fister, Gio Gonzalez, Annalbal Sanchez and others: http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/pitching/_/sort/qualityStarts/count/81/qualified/false/type/expanded
Yeah. He’s fine.
Youre right, I was reading up on pitching stats recently, so youd think Id’ve gotten THAT right.
The point is still fair though. I went through the top 20-25 pitchers and theyre averaging just under 7 ip an outing, bauer is right at 6. Its hard to not think that maybe if he were a little more effective, he could be getting that extra inning (or two) every outing. As I said, hes doing a good enough job for who he is right now (23 year old top end prospect). He just needs to look at reducing his pitch counts to really start coming into the player wed like/need him to be.
About that trade deadline…
…oh nevermind!
I think you’re asking a lot out of a young pitcher. It’s not a linear progression – look at a guy like Danny Salazar (who’s older than Bauer + has more professional experience, BTW).
The Indians have to have been blown away with what Bauer has given them so far. They certainly always believed in him, but he was a question mark for 2014.
This fanbase is just too insulated. Only knows what the Indians are doing. No frame of reference beyond that.
I dont think that suggesting that someone work with a young pitcher on improving his pitch counts is asking a lot. Improving the ammount of pitches he throws not only makes him a better pitcher, but alleviates stress on his throwing arm and elongates his career.
Just because he is young doesnt mean that he is immune or should be abstained from improving the little things he needs to in the more ‘immediate’ time frame., which would help make him a legit young phenom.
Bauer is averaging 103 pitches per start. Compared to even some other young pitchers, who dont have close to the same expected upside/expectations, they’re tossing 10-15 pitches less a start, going similarly the same length into the game like Jeff Locke for example.
You seem to think Im super jaded and expect Bauer to have a sub 3 ERA and in contention for the Cy Young right now. I dont, Again, I think he’s doing good for what they could reasonably expect from him, but this seems to be the most immediate issue that he has that could be fixed to put him on a quicker path.
“I don’t think that suggesting that someone work with a young pitcher on improving his pitch counts is asking a lot.”
That’s not how Bauer’s pitching philosophy works though, so yeah, that’s asking a lot. He’s going to throw a bunch of pitches. It’s necessary for him to be effective. To “improve” on that could be detrimental to his entire career.
The Indians aren’t worried about his pitch count. He pitches better as he throws more – the stats show this. It’s people complaining to complain.
I’m only singling out you due to the comment, it’s not personal, never is. But Bauer can’t be on any quicker path than he already is. Drafted in 2011, MLB debut in 2012, and now in 2014 he’s a contributing member of an MLB rotation.
I’d encourage anyone interested to look into Effective Velocity (Bauer’s pitching philosophy).