Barrett, Miller among six Buckeye captains for 2015
August 31, 2015Barkevious Mingo back at practice Monday, may play Week 1
August 31, 2015The Los Angeles Angels, shorn of their wings in August, fell to Cleveland last weekend riding a parachute gently to the ground. Before they could safely reach terra firma, however, the Cleveland Indians had snipped their suspension lines.
During the eighth inning on Sunday, as the Tribe was finishing off the sweep of the Angels, Tom Hamilton, radio voice of the Indians, began recounting some of the shocking collapses that have occurred in the month of September. Some teams spend five months winning games by simply throwing their gloves on the field. Come September, the magic disappears and baseball, the ultimate game of Chutes and Ladders, becomes a ghoulish game of Chutes Only.
Terry Francona has been on both sides of the macabre. He was the manager of the Boston Red Sox in 2011. On September 3 that year, Boston had a nine-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays for the Wild Card spot, but the Red Sox went on to lose 18 of their final 24 games. On the final day of the regular season, Boston lost on a blown save in the bottom of the ninth and Tampa Bay overtook Boston for the final AL playoff spot. In spite of Francona’s 744-552 regular season record as a manager of the Red Sox, along with a 28-17 postseason record that included two World Series Championships, the ugliness of that one month caused the Bo-Sox to bid him farewell.
Two years later, as manager of the Cleveland Indians, Francona watched his team go 21-6 in the month of September, including a 10-game winning streak to close out the season. They lost the one-game playoff (again, to Tampa Bay), but Francona was named Manager of the Year for the 2013 season.
In 2015, the Indians didn’t wait until September to hit the skids. Their well-documented troubles started early, as they went 7-14 in April alone. It wasn’t until late August that the Tribe began looking like a team on the rebound.
After their sweep of the Angels, and, with one more game to play in August, the Indians are 15-12 this month and 8-2 in their last 10. Beginning Monday, the Indians are off on a 3×3: a ten-day road trip with three games each in Toronto, Detroit, and Chicago.
Toronto (74-56) has taken over first place in the AL East and Blue Jays almost seems an inadequate nickname given how they’ve been hammering the ball this season. But, a blue jay can be noisy, and the baseball Blue Jays have made plenty of noise in 2015. The 718 runs scored in 130 games by Toronto leads the major leagues. That’s an average of over 5.5 per game. They also lead the majors in most offensive categories including doubles, home runs, RBIs, walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS.
Home runs are bountiful throughout the Blue Jays lineup. Third baseman Josh Donaldson has 36 home runs. Right fielder José Bautista has 31. Designated hitter and first baseman Edwin Encarnacion has 30. Catcher Russell Martin has 17. Left fielder Chris Colabello and first baseman Justin Smoak each have 13. Even center fielder Kevin Pillar has nine home runs. The list goes on.
On July 28, All-Star Troy Tulowitzki was added to that intimidating offense when the Blue Jays pulled off the big trade with the Colorado Rockies. Tulo wasn’t just a two-month rental either; the 30-year-old shortstop is signed through 2020 with a team option for 2021.
Then, on July 30, the the Blue Jays acquired David Price from the struggling Detroit Tigers.
Scheduled pitchers for the Cleveland-Toronto series:
LHP David Price vs. RHP Danny Salazar
RHP Marco Estrada vs. RHP Cody Anderson
RHP R.A. Dickey vs. RHP Trevor Bauer
As for pitching this season, the fifth-ranked Blue Jays (3.76 ERA) and sixth-ranked Indians (3.77 ERA) are running neck and neck statistically. Both have given up 482 earned runs, but Cleveland pitchers have actually out-performed Toronto’s with fewer hits allowed, fewer walks, more strikeouts, a lower opposition batting average, and a lower WHIP. The deciding factors that will be difficult for the Tribe to overcome in this series, however, will be that unforgiving Blue Jay offense and David Price on the mound. Salazar is returning after missing a start due to illness, while Cody Anderson is filling in for the sore-shouldered Carlos Carrasco.
The Indians, now 63-66, impressively disposed of the Angels this past weekend, but L.A. was trending downward. The Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, on the other hand, will be a different kind of challenge. They’re definitely climbing the ladder with no chute in sight.
[Related: Cleveland Indians president Mark Shapiro to take same role with Toronto Blue Jays]
3 Comments
Toronto’s pitching is actually ranked ahead of Cleveland’s? And they have an offense that makes the Indians look like one of those Little League teams (not the ones in the finals) too? Hey wait a minute. No wonder Shapiro bolted. I hope we see him during the broadcast tonight. Stoked!
I’ve got it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzhj2ev0Xwo
So… we are 18-31 against the central and our remaining schedule is:
7 vs Twins
6 vs Chisox
7 vs Tigers
7 vs Royals
3 vs Bosox
Time to man right the hell up if you want to make it interesting.