Piranhas … And the Top 10 Suggested Answers for Mike Pettine to Questions about Johnny Manziel
September 1, 2015Buckeyes downplay revenge talk ahead of rematch with Virginia Tech
September 1, 2015Odds are they won’t actually make the playoffs. If they’re lucky, maybe they snag a play-in game just for a shot at another play-in game. But at this point, they don’t have to make the playoffs for it to matter. To hell with the playoffs, boys — just play ball out there. Just get to .500, and then get over it. Remember what it feels like to won more than you’ve lost.
The last time the Tribe was over .500 was April 9, when a win over Houston improved their record to 2-1. April! That’s nearly five months of losing more than winning.
Five months. That’s longer than a semester. That’s enough time for your kid to grow two inches. That’s nearly twice as long as the Browns’ whole season (discounting preseason and being realistic/assuming no playoffs). That’s over half a pregnancy. That’s even longer than Deflategate has been going on — if only by a month. That’s a long, long, lonnnng time to be losing baseball games.
They’re starting to get it though, aren’t they? Or even if they aren’t, isn’t it fun to think that they are? Monday night they marched into Canada to play a team hotter than fresh poutine, a team that just pilfered their president, in front of 46,000 people — and they won. Danny Salazar said he was “dead tired” in the fourth inning, yet he went seven.1 He struck out 10 and gave up two, with only Josh Donaldson — who’s raking like it’s 1998 — landing a clean punch in the form of a two-run triple. Bryan Shaw stepped into some thick mud in the eighth, but Cody Allen dug him out with a bases loaded K that oozed onions. Allen got Donaldson to whiff like Pedro Cerrano on a greasy curveball to complete the five-out save.
The Indians didn’t exactly batter David Price, but they got three off of him, which is as well as any team has done since he was traded to Toronto. They got an enormous insurance run in the top of the ninth to give Allen a little breathing room. They got lucky — Yan Gomes doesn’t score if Donaldson doesn’t bone Lonnie Chisenhall’s grounder — but so what? If luck isn’t part of baseball, then charcoal isn’t part of grilling.
And how about Carlos Santana scoring from first on Raburn’s double to right in the seventh? Sure, most any player in Single-A could have scored on that ball, especially with Jose Bautista muffing it off the wall, but I’m a sap. Carlos is listed — charitably, in my eyes — at 210 pounds, and there he was, barreling around third like a runaway 18-wheeler and diving across home plate like an eight-year-old on a slip ‘n slide. He catches some hell for walking too much and not hitting enough, and he’s never quite won my heart, OBP be damned. That rumble around the basepaths in the top of the seventh and his neat stab at first in the bottom, however, were undeniable.
And Lindor. My god, Lindor. He just looks like a kid out there. I can’t decide if I would rather befriend him or adopt him. His limbs are like rubber when he runs. He takes no step that has no bounce in it. His eyes are wide as they can be only when you’re seeing something for the first time. He plays the game like he still has an imagination. He’s said the right things about learning from mistakes and all that, but he doesn’t look like he realizes this is supposed to be a job yet. Watch him for a few plays and it doesn’t even matter what the team’s record is. There’s something about sublime shortstop play that evokes feelings of artistry. Frankie’s got it.
Monday night’s game felt like exactly the sort that the Indians have lost this season. Their current six-game winning streak matches their longest of the year, from way back in May when they beat up on the White Sox and the Reds. They won five of their next eight after that to get up to 25-26. Alas, they couldn’t get out of the red. They toed the line for a while, but after six consecutive beatdowns in late July by the White Sox and Royals it looked like they were done for good. Time and again this season they’ve threatened to be relevant. Time and again they’ve fallen short.
And yet, here we are. They have 32 games to go. They don’t need 32 more victories, as Lou Brown prescribed to his troops midseason in Major League, but they need to keep this good thing going. It won’t be easy. They’ll be seeing a whole lot of their divisional foes over the next month, against whom they’ve gone 18-31 thus far, and that’s without mentioning two more against the Blue Jays, who have won 24 of their last 30. The next couple could be tricky, with rookie Cody Anderson going Tuesday and the iffy Trevor Bauer Wednesday, but if those two can hold the fort until Kluber’s turn in the rotation…
This team is seductive, no? I feel like Michael Corleone over here.
It’d be so much easier if they just went down and stayed down. We could just pack it in on the season and get back to the usual September stuff, like talking ourselves into the Browns and remembering that holy spit the Cavs are gonna be good this season. We could blame Shapiro and kvetch about attendance and all that good stuff. We could lament that 7-14 start and question Tito’s managing and wonder how it took so long to call up Lindor. For the moment, it doesn’t look like that will be the case. This team may be tougher than I thought. These bastards aren’t done playing.
At this point, they deserve to remember what it feels like to be over .500. I grant you that “deserve” is a peculiar word to use given their aforementioned crap start and their yearlong reticence to come up with the big hit. I understand that all of this good feeling can be undone with a single loss. I get that this team is still a very long shot to make the playoffs.
I just want this last month of baseball to matter, like it did in 2007 and 2013. I can’t claim to be any sort of Tribe diehard. There’s just something special about their going on a hot streak, especially late in the season. 162 of anything is too many, but an upside to the length of the MLB campaign is that you get to know your team. We know who these guys are now. We’ve seen them at their best and their worst. We’ve been delighted, frustrated, confused, and infuriated by them.
As much as anything else, I identify with the Tribe. I root for them more like a character than a team. There can be no connection to a protagonist without a struggle, and this team has had plenty of struggle — five months’ worth. Even if they don’t make the playoffs, I want to see them crack that damn .500 mark. I want them to come back home with a winning record and soak in a well-earned ovation from the crowd. I want to be there watching Corey Kluber pitch in a big game. I want to hear Hammy’s call as Carlos Santana belts a big homer. I want to see the opposing batter slouch after Lindor robs him deep in the hole. I want to feel what the winning montage in Major League captured.
I want it for me, and I want it for us, but more than that, I want it for them. Three games away from being above .500, boys. Get over that hump. After a win like last night’s, you’ve earned it.
- Full quote: “In the fourth inning I was dead tired. I had to hold on and try to come back.” [↩]
17 Comments
Indians need/needed to do something like what the Mets did and that was go out and acquire that one proven right handed power bat in Cespedes. Well in truth the Mets turnaround started sooner when they acquired Uribe but compared to Cespedes I consider that more of a minor deal.
The real unfortunate part is Tribe fans have been here before. The place where the team dogs it for 3/4 of the year only to catch fire down the stretch. It worked that one year where they lost the one game playoff but other then that they often just end with a decent record which disguises what the year was really all about.
Also, it’s better than 2005 when they furiously give away a lead. If the end result is the same, then I’d rather be the hunter than the prey. It’s more fun.
Yet another fantastic piece, Will. You just get me.
My memory is hazy what happened in 2005? But yes I agree it’s always more fun to be the stalker then the stalkee at least that’s been my defense!
2005, Indians had the Wild Card wrapped up but managed to lose 6 of the last 7 games instead.
Boston “won” the Wild Card technically, but really they were doing some choking of their own to give the division crown to NYY.
You need to let it go!
Right around paragraph 4, I started reading this article in a 1920’s news guy voice
Good stuff.
I, too, really want the last month of baseball to matter. That first month of baseball, though . . .
Upvote for the spirit of the comment, but APRIL BASEBALL MATTERS. We’re about to find out how much.
Sure, those games count as much as the other ones. Just, going 7-14 doesn’t mean you cannot find yourself in the middle of the race either. Middle ground : )
Hey, buddy, this is 2015. In case you haven’t noticed, we have to be on the extremes. There is no middle ground. It’s right/left; black/white; cats/dogs; Trump/Clinton (okay, maybe more similar than different); April/September.
All I want for Christmas this year is a .700 record next April.
I feel like I’ve heard this before. Probably just some rabble-rousers causing trouble before the season even started.
Prolly.
Christmas? Christmas is starting early this year with the airing of grievances. Feats of strength! Festivus bats! That’s Christmas, right?
Well, technically, that’s Festivus.
Are you sure it’s not Cespedes?
Cespedes for the rest of us.