Mike Evans blames Josh McCown for only catching 12 touchdowns
June 29, 2015Pics: Warhawk Kyrie 1s debut at Nike’s EYBL Basketball Academy
June 29, 2015After being swept by the Baltimore Orioles this past weekend, the Cleveland Indians are now 33-41, leaving them 12 games behind first place Kansas City in the AL Central. The Tribe is reeling, inviting metaphors of the staggered boxer with wobbly legs and blinking eyes or the slow motion balletic scenes of Robert De Niro as Jake LaMotta, moving to the ethereal music of Pietro Mascagni’s Intermezzo…
If only the Indians were that entertaining.
With 74 games in the books, they are only seven away from the 81-game half-way point of the season, which they’ll reach as they finish their current 10-game road trip. That will come after the next four games in Florida and three in Pittsburgh. After that comes a seven-game homestand against the Astros and Athletics, the top and bottom of the AL West, respectively.
Fourteen games in as many days before the All-Star Game break. That much of their future is clear, but what’s hard to imagine is how the Indians can pull themselves into contention.
There was a period from May 15 to June 4 when the Indians won 14 of 20 including a six-game winning streak, but that interlude of entertaining baseball was interrupted on June 5 by the Baltimore Orioles. The O’s, who were struggling at the time, won two of three in Cleveland in a series that seems to have reversed the course of both teams. Beginning June 5, the Indians have played 21 games, losing 14. The Orioles, since then, have gone 17-5 and have moved into first place in the AL East, percentage points ahead of Tampa Bay.
Earlier this season, the American League Central looked like the dominant division. No longer. On Monday morning, the standings show every team in the AL East, except for Boston, with more than forty wins. Only Kansas City in the Central and Houston in the West have more than forty wins.
Much has been made of Cleveland’s season-long struggle hitting with runners in scoring position, but as the Tribe continues slip-sliding away from the division contenders, being backed against the ropes, there’s another stat that’s just as disconcerting.
One side of the coin: Hitting
The Indians’ .252 team batting average ranks eighth in the American League, right in the middle of the pack. Their .325 on-base-percentage ranks fourth. However, the Tribe ranks 12th in the AL with 291 runs scored, an average of just under four runs per game. The run production problem, though, is actually getting worse. For the nearly completed month of June, the Indians are last in the American League in runs scored, averaging only 2.75 per game.
The Indians are last in the American League in runs scored in June, averaging only 2.75 per game
With ducks on the pond, Michael Brantley, Jason Kipnis, David Murphy, Ryan Raburn, and Giovanny Urshela are all batting over .300. After that, however, there’s a big drop-off with Perez at .208 and everyone else below .200. With two outs, the individual figures are much worse. With two outs and RISP, only Ryan Raburn (batting .368) is doing well. Everyone else, from David Murphy (at .235) on down, is performing poorly.
The other side of the coin: Pitching
The Indians overall team ERA is 4.06, which ranks 11th in the American League. Their starters are at 4.52 (14th in the AL) and relievers are at 3.26 (4th in the AL). Opposing hitters are batting .254 against the Cleveland pitching staff, ninth in the AL.
A closer look at these figures, however, reveals something in common with the hitters. For a little perspective, with runners in scoring position, the Orioles have an AL-best 9.93 ERA and the Tampa Bay Rays are second-best at 9.56. The Indians are 13th in the AL with a 12.59 ERA with runners in scoring position. With two outs and RISP, Kansas City and Tampa Bay lead the AL with ERAs just under 8.00. The Indians, at 11.06, are 12th in the AL.
Further, with RISP, opposing hitters are batting .274 against the Indians staff, which is 14th in the AL. With two outs and RISP, Tribe pitchers are getting hit at a .272 clip, which is by far worst in the American League.
The combination of the Indians’ problems scoring runs on one hand, and their difficulties keeping their opponents from scoring on the other, gives them a run differential of minus-39. That’s near the bottom of the American League and 24th out of 30 MLB teams and, generally speaking, it’s near impossible for teams with a significant negative run differential to contend. This is where the Indians have found themselves parked almost the entire season. There are, one supposes, a limitless number of statistics baseball can throw at us, but especially now, runs scored vs. runs allowed seems to say it all.
Starting pitchers for the four-game series in St. Petersburg:
RHP Nathan Karns (4-3, 3.28, 85 innings) vs. Cody Anderson (7 2/3 innings, 0-0, 0.00)
RHP Erasmo Ramirez (6-2, 4.23, 6 2/3 innings) vs. Danny Salazar (6-3, 4.06, 77 2/3 innings)
TBA vs. Carlos Carrasco (9-6, 4.16, 88 2/3 innings)
TBA vs. Corey Kluber (3-9, 3.66, 110 2/3 innings)
The Tampa Bay Rays still have not announced their starters for Wednesday and Thursday, but they have already performed near-miracles with their pitching staff given the pitchers they’ve already lost thus far this season. So this week look for more of the same successful plug-and-play replacement parts.
The Indians this series will say hello to old friend, Grady Sizemore. On Sunday at Tropicana Field, Sizemore went 3-5 with two singles, a double, and an RBI in his debut with the Rays.
And then there’s Asdrubal Cabrera. Batting only .226 for the season, Cabrera is suddenly locked in. Over the last seven games he has been the hottest Rays hitter, going 10-for-25 with two doubles, a triple, a home run, and three RBIs. Someday, someone will study what happens to a player when he’s in the final year of his contract and whether the findings can be somehow implanted as a permanent mindset.
Rays second baseman Logan Forsythe, center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, and third baseman Evan Longoria have also been hitting well of late.
The Indians hardly need to be reminded of their hitting woes in general, but, against the Rays just over a week ago, the Indians scored only one run in each of their three games, although they did manage to win one of those, 1-0.
At 42-35, the Rays are in a virtual tie with the Orioles for first place in the AL East. Like the Indians, they have a losing record at home (21-23), but it’s not as severe a problem as the Indians’ home woes (15-23 at Progressive Field).
In Baltimore this past weekend, the Saturday game was rained out but played the next day as part of a day-night double header. That won’t happen at Tropicana Field unless the roof gets blown off. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday’s games will be played at 7:10 p.m. ET, while the fourth game on Thursday will be played at noon.
In 1952 at the age of 31, Jake LaMotta was still boxing, but finally, against Danny Nardico, LaMotta was knocked down for the only time in his career. In St. Petersburg this week, however, let’s cue up the Mascagni Intermezzo. The Cleveland Indians are still standing.