Celtics forward Jae Crowder says that no one on the Cavs is intimidating
April 22, 2015Are the Indians dead yet? TD calms fears – WFNY Podcast – 2015-04-23
April 23, 2015Happy Earth Day, everyone. Wait, is that still a thing or did it die out when Captain Planet went off the air? Just to be safe put your bottles and cans in the recycle bins today1. The Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians were doing their part for energy conservation on Wednesday by playing a sunlit day game. The Indians aided in the efficiency by plating no one, ultimately getting shut out by the Sox to the tune of 6-0, dropping yet another series to start the 2015 season.
Corey Kluber would take the mound for the Tribe still in search of his first win of the year despite only giving up six runs in 21.2 innings pitched, while striking out 25 batters. It was also the first time in 2015 that Corey faced the White Sox despite the Indians having them on the schedule for four of their first thirteen games. The Indians offense hoped to let their powers combine with Kluber and continue some of the offensive successes from Tuesday night on Terry Francona’s birthday.
Go Planet…err…Indians!
The White Sox countered with right handed Jeff Samardzija, who had struggled in his first two starts but dominated the powerful Detroit Tigers in his last outing (he allowed 1 solo HR with 7 SO in 8IP). It would be the first time in his career that the Indians would face the 30-year-old former receiving target of Brady Quinn, who relies mostly on his fastball and slider but will occasionally drop in a good split-fingered fastball as his put out pitch.
Unfortunately, Kluber did not have his best stuff on Wednesday as he gave up the most hits (13) of his career and the most earned runs (6) since a September 27 start against the Minnesota Twins in 2013, which was also the last time he had given up double-digit hits in a start. The most surprising statistic though may have been the two wild pitches that Kluber threw after having just three wild pitches in 235.2 innings pitched in 2014.
The Indians offense did not help Kluber out either stranding eleven runners on base as the team went 0-for-10 with RISP. Also notably absent was the home run power from Tuesday night leaving the offense empty in the loss as the division-rival Chicago White Sox took the deciding game of the three-game set.
Key Moments of the Game
Bottom of 1st: For the second game in a row, the Cleveland Indians starting pitcher recorded three strike outs in the first inning. For the second game in a row, Jose Abreu hit a solo home run in the first inning too.
Top of 2nd, runners on 1st and 3rd, 1 out: Lonnie picked the wrong time to hit a pop fly to the third baseman. Roberto got a good swing on the ball, but well within the range of Avisail Garcia to end the inning.
Bottom of 2nd, runner on 2nd, 1 out: Kluber took control from there striking out Geovany Soto and inducing a soft ground ball to Kipnis to end the threat.
Top of 3rd, runners on 1st and 2nd, 1 out: Once again, Michael Brantley gets a decent swing on the ball, but does not do any damage. Carlos Santana carefully drew a walk to load the bases, but Brandon Moss got himself into a pitcher’s count before hitting a soft fly ball to end the inning. The Indians made Samardzija work with 65 pitches in the first three innings, but were left without any runs to show for that effort.
Bottom of 3rd, runner on 2nd, 0 outs: Melky Cabrera attempts the first sacrifice bunt of the White Sox season, which led to craziness. The bunt actually hit the bat twice and Kluber threw wildly to try to get the out at first when the umpires did not stop play and ended up hitting Melky in the helmet. But, after it all, the umpires made the correct call, which led to the bunt being called foul and Melky lined a hit on the next pitch. Corey was able to induce Jose Abreu into a 5-4-3 double play, but it scored Adam Eaton to increase the White Sox lead.
The White Sox setup a new scoring opportunity with LaRoche walking and Garcia hitting a single, but Kluber is able to get Gillaspie to fly out to end the inning.
Top of 4th, runners on 1st and 2nd, 2 outs: Michael Bourn came into the game 0-for-8 with RISP in 2015 and the Indians were 0-for-4 on the day with RISP. Michael Bourn continued those streaks by hitting it straight at Jose Abreu.
To that point, the Indians had racked up 93 pitches on Samardzija, but the seven runners they stranded ensured that they had not scored a run.
Top of 6th, runner on 2nd, 0 outs: Murphy moved Moss over with a pseudo-sacrifice groundball leaving Lonnie Chisenhall with another chance for a RBI, which he failed to do as Adam Eaton made a nice catch on a bloop into shallow center. Roberto Perez ended the inning with a bouncing grounder hit to shortstop to stretch the Indians hitless streak with RISP to eight batters in this game.
Bottom of 6th, runners on 2nd and 3rd, 1 out: After Brandon Moss takes a terrible angle on the ball, he setup the White Sox for a potentially big inning. Corey Kluber threw a wild pitch to score Avisail Garcia and move Gordon Beckham (pinch running) to third. Corey Kluber had enough of that and struck out Alexei Ramirez before getting Geovanny Soto to hit one to Jose Ramirez to end the inning.
Bottom of 7th: The White Sox scored another run off of Corey Kluber with three straight hits to start the inning and had another Kluber wild pitch mixed in. Jose Abreu then hit a double to score two more runs and put the game out of reach, while ending Kluber’s day. Anthony Swarzak came in and got three quick outs, but the damage was already done.
Top of 8th, runners on 1st and 2nd, 2 outs: Mike Aviles gave the ball a ride, but the Adam Eaton is a good center fielder and made the play.
Top of 9th, runners on 1st and 2nd, 1 outs: In a fitting end to this particular game, Jason Kipnis hit into a double play.
Key Moment Scorecard:
Chicago White Sox: 10
Cleveland Indians: 1
Old Friends; Help or Haunt
Zach Putnam, J.B. Shuck, Matt Albers watched this game.
The Nine
Michael Bourn: Bourn continued his hitting struggles, only managing one line drive hit and, of course, getting that hit with the bases empty.
Jason Kipnis: Three pitches, three strikes his first at bat. He did get a hit after Bourn’s single in the third inning, but he had another frustrating day at the plate. When the first four batters in the lineup go 2-for-14 with two walks, it truly hurts the offense.
Michael Brantley: Brantley continues to work counts and get good swings on the ball, but they are not dropping in for hits. The statistics say that should change, but it is also possible that his LD% drops instead.
Carlos Santana: Carlos was not able to get the ball out of the infield on Wednesday.
Brandon Moss: Brandon worked the count really, but leaving the bases loaded in the third inning really hurt. He also did walk and had perhaps the hardest hit for the Indians of the day when he hit a double to right field.
Ryan Raburn: Pinch-hit for Moss in the eighth inning where he promptly struck out on three pitches.
David Murphy: Murphy had another strong day at the plate. A nine pitch at bat led to a line drive past Eaton into right center and he followed that up with some luck when Samardzija tried to take care of a hard grounder himself and threw a bit high to Abreu. Even his out moved Moss to third base.
Jerry Sands: Pinch-hit for Murphy in the eighth inning where he promptly singled.
Lonnie Chisenhall: Foul Ball Lonnie seems to be back with his current struggles. Lonnie fouled out in his first AB with the bases loaded and almost foul out his second time up2. Chisenhall did start a rather nice double play but stranding four runners will likely be the first memory of him from this game.
Mike Aviles: Pinch-hit for Chisenhall in the eighth inning as Francona kept emptying the bench. Aviles hit a hard line drive that appeared to be going over Adam Eaton’s head, but the White Sox center fielder was able to make the play.
Roberto Perez: Roberto reached on a walk, but really continued to struggle at the plate. He did make a great throw to catch Micah Johnson trying to steal 2nd base in the 4th inning, but he also let those wild pitches from Kluber get past him3.
Jose Ramirez: Jose got his first hit in 14 AB his second time up in this game. Ramirez proceeded to start a new streak of hitless AB that now stands at two.
The Arms
Corey Kluber: The only good news was that Corey Kluber had six strike outs to just one walk.
Anthony Swarzak: The game was out of reach by the time he entered, but Anthony did pitch two solid innings of relief with three strike outs and allowing just a single hit.
37 Comments
I think Ramirez is beginning to play his way out of the lineup. His bat will never be even average, but that could be acceptable as long as his defense is good (and to be honest, Lindor hasn’t hit AAA pitching at all so far, this year or last). Instead, he’s made a few rather befuddling plays this year, and if that continues then he’ll find himself in AAA or at least on the bench.
Yep.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L02qm-CxlM
problem is, aside from Lindor, who is going to replace him? Who would you rather see everyday if Lindor is called up, Chis or Ramirez?
If the Indians wanted to be bold, then they could promote Lindor and Holt, move Ramirez to 3B, Bourn to RF, and instantaneously transform their defense.
And, really, it is a shame that Giovanny is injured or they could go a step further and demote Ramirez until he finds his way again.
Note: Lindor, Holt, and Ramirez in the same lineup is not going to help the hitting though they are all speedy when they do get on base.
L’audace, l’audace, tojours l’audace!
Any chance Walters makes his way back up?
Sure, he’s only played 1 game and will likely need some time as oblique injuries are tricky. But, I thought we were talking about improving the defense, which I’m not sure Walters would do at 3B.
James Ramsey is another prospect that could conceivably improve the defense when called upon (speedy guy with a strong arm).
I have nothing to add about yesterday’s game but to upvote this.
I’ll try not to post this every time the Indians lose, but right now it’s my prevailing sentiment.
I am curious, though: Do you think it’s time to call up Lindor, or should they still wait? I’m certainly ready for it, but I know you have a more long-term financial perspective.
I don’t think defense has been the problem. Yes we have lost a game due to Aviles in CF, but we need to score runs. If we score 4 runs per game, I don’t think our current defense will result in a loss of that 4 runs. I am talking a more complete player rather than guys that can do 1 and not the other. I forgot about Ramsey. Excited for him to start to make his way up, but he is probably behind a couple other outfielders in the system.
Lindor up doesn’t fix the problems hitting the ball, or the problems in the bullpen, or even make this a good defensive team, but I still think the time to call up Lindor was as soon as that extra year of service time was locked in. I’ll buy arguments that it’s worth it to wait until Super-2 status passes, but still think he should have been up as soon as possible.
This team was something like 75 runs below average in the field last year. That was more than enough to keep up out of the wild card spots. They did switch Ramirez in for Cabrera, but our best defensive infielder and outfielder are still in AAA.
Lindor is the future at shortstop anyway. Playing Ramirez there for any extended stretch is a waste of time figuring out how exactly Ramirez can help this team. Can he be a great glove at 2B or 3B (instead of just a pretty good one at SS), or is he a utility guy? Can Chisenhall or Kipnis man an OF spot? I get holding off on future plans if you don’t have room on the roster. But we’re doing things like playing Aviles in CF and holding on to both Sands and Raburn as the short side of a RF/DH platoon.
I know we are past the April 16 date which allows us to retain control for an additional year. When he comes up, he needs to be in the lineup every day. Who goes down (or goes to the bench)? Ramirez or Chiz to the bench?
http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=0&type=1&season=2015&month=0&season1=2015&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=8,d
28th
Not sure if it’s human nature or the game of baseball, but when things aren’t going well it’s very easy to notice all the warts.
This is what this team looks like when Brantley and Gomes aren’t playing out of their gourds and putting up career years. As optimistic as I was in March, I always knew this was a possibility. We just have too many *fingerscrossed* players. Can Bourn, Kipnis, Moss, Raburn, Swisher, etc. rebound? Can Ramirez, Perez, Chisenhall, etc progress? And at the end of the day, this is an offense that is still going to give Mike Aviles, god bless his soul, 350 plate appearances. Add to that Lord Tito’s unwillingness to bat a high OBP guy first, his unflinching-to-a-fault loyalty to vets, his love of the bunt, his massive bullpen, etc.
My hopes aren’t completely crushed because I think this is the worst this team could possibly play. Logic dictates that they will play better. That said, part of me wouldn’t be surprised if they never really do.
Agreed. I’m not one for shaking things up just for the sake of shaking things up, but this team has been lethargic. Can we show some urgency?
Like they say in Solon, “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and members of the Indians front office.”
Stop me if you’ve heard me say this before but to much has to go right in order for this team to do well. It’s also why guys like Ramirez, Murphy, Raburn, Moss and Roberto Perez are role players at best. The more they play the more you get to see their shortcomings and exactly why they are role players at best.
It’s also time for people to quit fooling themselves on Lonnie Chisenhall. Enough is enough.
Good thoughts. If we aren’t hitting, then time to turn to pitching and defense. It might give our staff more confidence on the mound. We will only go so far as our pitching staff (starters and bullpen) will take us regardless of what the bats produce.
As they say in Stow, the definition of the Indians front office is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Take a look at the numbers closer
P= -7
CF=-3
RF=-2
SS=-2
3B=+1
2B=+1
C=0
1B=0
LF=0
19 teams have P=0 or positive.
Also last for pitcher BABIP at .338. Royals are at .259. SSS and more factors than just team defense go into that, of course… but still.
Yes, they are all the way up to 23rd in non-pitcher DRS. And I will gladly sign a petition to ask MLB to make pitcher defense a non-factor. Until that is successful, pitcher defense still, unfortunately, counts.
As much as we disagree, I think we’ve always been on the same page with Lonnie.
At least Ramirez and Perez are young. And I think Moss is a bit more than a role player, but considering the injury…. how many fingers can you cross? Four sets? Five if you count your thumbs? If you have more *fingerscrossed* players than that on your roster… go ahead and make vacation plans for October.
They’ll play better. A lot will be that they won’t maintain a .258 BABIP while at the plate.
Speaking of the Indians: any one read about MLB’s Franchise Four promotion? Probably bothers me more than it should, but how is Omar ahead of Doby, Speaker, and Nap?
And HERE come the pretzels!
Some of the pitching defense = balls of carlos face.
Agree we need to be better though. There were 3 teams with bottom 15 D that made PO last year (DET-28, LAA-20, SFG-17, WAS-14)
I’m not sure Vizquel should be in the Franchise Four if we looked at just the 90s rosters.
Ramirez has options, right now they may just send him down to regain some confidence if they did bring up Lindor.
My conclusion is that he’s the one good player from that team who didn’t leave a bad taste in our mouth (outside of Thome after The Great Revival).
Ramirez is out of position he should be at 2b with Lindor at SS which means Kipnis needs a new position. I’ll keep saying 3B just because.
As far as Moss goes Oakland let him go for a reason maybe it was the injury maybe it wasn’t. Considering Moss’s only success came when he got to Oakland and that it was just for three seasons I don’t see how he could be counted on as that one big upgrade for the lineup. Plus he’s left handed.
Modern day people who don’t know Indians history.
He was playing 3B in Columbus I heard.
Kenny?
True. They’re sort of comparable in my mind. Yet it’s still Omar getting more love and I’m not exactly sure why. More highlight plays at SS maybe?
At least I get a day off from Indians rage.
I guess or the Mesa trashing, but Lofton will always be the one I remember more fondly
I have no idea why, but my mom to this day still absolutely adores Omar. She even named her cat after him.