Tashaun Gipson skipping Browns offseason program
April 20, 2015Tristan Thompson finishes fifth in Sixth Man of the Year voting
April 20, 2015The good news going into the Cleveland Indians’ fourth series of 2015 was that they weren’t scheduled to face any left-handed starters. The bad news is that it didn’t seem to matter. They still couldn’t hit.
Over the three games in Minneapolis, the Twins started Mike Pelfrey, Phil Hughes, and Trevor May, all righties. They all had solid starts and between them and the Twins’ bullpen, the Indians were held to 23 hits in 108 official at bats for a .213 series batting average. Wait a minute … That can’t be right. Let me check those numbers again. Yes, they’re correct, that’s .213 and they’re batting .221 for the season. That’s 24th in the Major Leagues.
The Indians won Saturday’s game, 4-2, defeating former Yankee, Phil Hughes, but they didn’t exactly torch him. The main credit for the victory goes to Danny Salazar, who struck out ten while holding the Twins to one run over his first six innings (plus Suzuki’s home run in the seventh). Nick Hagadone in the seventh and eighth, and Cody Allen in the ninth, slammed the door the rest of the way. But honorable mention goes to Roberto Pérez who went 3-4 on Saturday, scored two runs and hit his second home run of the season. Say what you will about the Indians’ roster offensively, but at catcher, they have deep depth.
In Friday night’s game the Indians couldn’t take advantage of another stellar start by Corey Kluber, who had a perfect game through the fifth. Kluber went eight innings, gave up only three hits and two runs but still came away with a no-decision. The sixth inning, accurately and colorfully described by WFNY’s A. Clayman in his C-Cap Recap, (and who’s to say that D, H and K didn’t actually occur?) was the game’s Twilight Zone interlude of the series. Rick Manning’s comment: “This has been one weird inning.” I have fond memories of sitting on the couch with my dad on Friday nights in the early 60‘s, watching the original Twilight Zone episodes and trying to guess what kind of macabre twist there would be at the end. Watching the Indians game after that 6th inning, I gave up hope for an interesting end to the story. I went to sleep after the top of the 11th. Twins 3, Indians 2.
The best part of Sunday’s game was the fact that I could watch a lot of it as the small, soundless picture within the larger, loud picture of the Cavs first playoff game. TJ House retired the Twins in order in the first, but it was all down hill after that. House gave up five runs over 5 2/3 innings and, again, had problems with walks and a hit batter. Anthony Swarzak doused the flame with lighter fluid in the 6th by giving up a three-run home run to Torii Hunter after taking over for House. The Indians’ bats slumbered.
When my son and I get together to watch a game on TV, we begin by establishing our go-to programs for viewing during the many commercial breaks. The Indians served the purpose during the Cavs game but sad to say, before long, we were looking for yet another broadcast of The Bourne Identity as our go-to. Twins 7, Indians 2.
Misc observations while trying to stifle a yawn:
- So glad we’re not watching Twins baseball anymore in that dreadful indoor stadium. To me, it always had the feel of Arena Football.
- By giving up five runs in his 5 2/3 innings yesterday, TJ House (0-2) lowered his ERA to 14.14 from forty-something. OK, that first start against Detroit was pretty dreadful, but on the other hand, he could be thinking, if I was pitching for Detroit, I might be 2-0 now. Starting pitchers are a bit like quarterbacks in that regard.
- Michael Brantley returns to the starting lineup, makes good contact and gets three hits in the series. Welcome back.
- Danny Salazar returns to Cleveland and provides a huge spark for the starting rotation. Now, the rotation that starts with Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco and Salazar is shaping up rather nicely.
- No one is shocked by the one-day delay until Tuesday of Carrasco’s next start.
Next up: Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, night games tonight and Tuesday and a day game on Wednesday. Indians starters scheduled to be Bauer, Carrasco and Kluber.
31 Comments
Yeah, such a frustrating start to the season at the plate. As such, losing a game like Friday is an absolute killer as it ended up being the true swing game in this series. And, we had the opportunities to score on Friday, just failed to do so. Saturday and Sunday saw even limited opportunities. 2-1 sounds so much better than 1-2.
CWS, Detroit, KC next 9 games. Can still make some early noise with a good stretch here.
Man this team really knows how to suck the life out early. I’d like to think the offense is just in a major slump to start, but it’s looking like the same thing we’ve seen over the last few years—after all, it’s essentially the same core of guys. Failing to move guys over, failing to get a runner in from third with less than two outs, poor base running, lack of clutch hitting, etc.
Not only are they not getting on base, but they are absolutely horrible with men on base (I thought I saw a stat that we’re .180 with men on).
Aside from McAllister & House imploding, the top of the rotation (and Salazar looking sharp) has looked good. Spark of hope? (hope that is until Detroit curb stomps us)
Bottom of the rotation is again set to face Detroit this weekend. Salazar, House, and Bauer. It feels like we almost have to win the Salazar and Bauer starts to win that series.
5.5 games out of first by April 20. This is how they drew it up in the off-season. I mean, you almost have to TRY to accomplish that. Assuming they’ve got a plan in this “long season” to “grind” and “scrap” and “claw” and “battle.” Should be fun. And by “fun,” I mean, “not fun at all.”
Indians Baseball: Catch the whiff!
Hey how’s Nelson Cruz doing?
The lineup is just in the tank but this is the problem when you don’t have one or two mashers who with one swing can make up for the lack of guys getting on base. But wait an offensive blowout will show up which will skew the stats back to mediocre and then they can go back to not hitting again.
And miss the post-season by a game or two. April baseball . . . oh, never mind.
You can catch the whiff or wait for it to waft your way.
I’m staying upwind.
“So glad we’re not watching Twins baseball anymore in that dreadful indoor stadium. To me, it always had the feel of Arena Football.”
Welcome to Tampa Bay Rays baseball! Even the Arena League would think twice about trotting out on that mess.
(In fact, they did. And declined. The Storm plays over in Amalie Arena instead)
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s–zESxotra–/17r2mwkscv6dzjpg.jpg
No one else misses hefty bags making up the OF wall in the Metrodome?
http://media.nj.com/yankees_main/photo/minnesota-twins-baggie-metrodome-1012jpg-0f466270d27d5d2a_large.jpg
I don’t understand why we have no right-handed batters.
Surprised we never saw Torii Hunter out there like this after stealing a dinger
http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6kau4veRX1qareywo1_500.gif
To me the most frustrating part of this team is that we cannot do anything but hope they get better. Our farm system isn’t turning out any offense, our top minor league pitchers have all been up and down from the bigs (with at best, mixed results), there are no free-agent bats to snatch up so all we can do is watch garbage and hope that someone in the lineup figures out how to connect with the baseball and put it in play.
At what point do we fire whoever the hell our batting coach is? (Ty Van Burkleo… really? Sounds like a Danish serial-killer)
Can we throw enough stacks of cash at the Wally Joyner to get him down here?
Yep. The Indians’ whole strategy since September has seemed to be “hope.” Unfortunately, “hope” is not a course of action.
http://izquotes.com/quotes-pictures/quote-never-lose-hope-be-persistent-and-stubborn-and-never-give-up-there-are-many-instances-in-history-theodore-kaczynski-242276.jpg
Finally! Our new hitting coach.
Do or do not
****BREAKING NEWS*****
Jason Kipnis farts on opposing catchers. Intentionally.
http://seattle.suntimes.com/mlb/7/72/967305/jason-kipnis-farts-on-catchers
Season-redeemed.
Apparently the whole team decided to try farting on the season but…
https://authorgkadamsdotcom1.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/baby-fart-picture.png
Perez has the unique effect upon me…….I go into the closet looking for my old mask and chest protector…..gotta get back into the action. Let’s try a few squats….yeah, let’s go! Guy is just a BALLPLAYER. Always a joy to watch those guys.
1,000,000 up votes!
House is looking more and more like the AA pitcher he truly is!
House is fine as a SP5. Most guys in that slot are going to have their ups and downs in a given season. I would prefer we give that slot to Marcum, but there is still time to correct it. And, I don’t think Shaun can go a full season anyway.
not sure how much that would have helped against a RHP set of Twins starters. as Richard mentioned, our hitters have struggled this season no matter who is on the mound (other than John Danks because, well, John Danks).
it worked with Carlos Carrasco
If you have four above average starters House might be passable but as I see it the Indians have two and a half the half being Bauer because you never know which Bauer will pitch.
Marcum cleared waivers didn’t he?
Reminds me of a great nickname that John Kruk had: The Uniballer
He is back in Columbus, yes.
Incredibly small sample size, but Bauer has been dominant thus far.