Tribe Escapes: A Win That Didn’t Feel Like One
Written By: TD | Category: Cleveland Indians | Comments: 16
This morning’s Tribe recap was supposed to start with me fawning over David Huff’s breakout performance. Instead, I’m forced to talk about the bad bullpen again. Despite the fact that the Tribe won 5-4 in Pittsburgh, the gas can crew was handed a 5-0 lead with just three outs to get and can just shy of completely torching the place.
Matt Herges entered the ninth inning to close out an easy Tribe win. The first batter he faced, Adam Laroche, hit a solo homer to right center and all of a sudden the game was on. Robinson Diaz followed with a single. After an Andy Laroche ground-out, pinch hitter Brandon Moss laced a double into the right field corner scoring Diaz. Manager Eric Wedge wasted no time going to struggling closer Kerry Wood. After all, Wood needed to get back out there in a save situation after his debacle of a weekend in Chicago. Jack Wilson greeted him with an RBI double of his own to bring the Buccos to 5-3 and the tying run to the plate.
I believe it was at this point that I said to my wife “if he blows this one, Wedge will be fired tomorrow. No way he can even survive an implosion of this magnitude.”
Woody K’d pinch hitter Delwyn Young for the second out, but he still had a big one to go. Instead of dominating rookie CF Andrew McCutchen, he let the kid hit an RBI single. To make matters worse, McCutchen stole second and Wood couldn’t find the plate. He walked Nyjer Morgan and Freddy Sanchez to load the bases, bringing the man who started off the inning with a homer, Adam Laroche, back to the plate with a chance to win the game.
Wood got behind in the count 3-1 and Indians fans everywhere knew a walk to tie the game was going to occur. Luckily, he reared back, found his fastball, and Laroche flied out to center. Just another ho-hum 5-4 win right?
Wrong. The Pirates entered the ninth scoreless with just four hits. They had five in the final frame.
“When we’re in a stretch like this, you know it’s going to take a ball bouncing your way or something going your way,” Wood said. “They had me on the ropes, and he just as easily could have not swung at that, walked him and tied it up. I feel like we got a little help with that last at-bat.”
Said Wedge: “Got the last out. That’s the important thing.”
Again, what we should be discussing this morning is Huff. The rookie showed how brilliant he can be when he is on, going eight scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and two walks on 112 pitches. He was never in any serious trouble and was mixing in all of his pitches, keeping the Pirate bats out of their comfort zone. You know he wanted to finish this one off, but at 112 pitches and a lost season, there is no reason to risk anything there, especially considering Huff is the future of this rotation.”I told him (Wedge) ‘I want the ninth inning.’ I tried to plead my case, but it didn’t work.”
“We’ve always protected our pitchers here, and we’re going to keep protecting them,” said Wedge. “I’m not going to send him out there in the ninth and have him throw 125 pitches. He’s had a history of arm problems. . . . He had arm problems this spring.”
This game also marked the return of CF Grady Sizemore from his first DL stint of his career. He wasted no time getting back into the fold, getting hits in his first two at bats, including a triple that scored the Indians first two runs of the game in the third inning. “You could feel Grady’s energy from the first inning on,” said Wedge. “He makes a big difference in our lineup. There is also a big difference when you have Grady roaming center as opposed to Ben Francisco or Trevor Crowe (demoted to AAA before the game). Grady made a running over the shoulder catch in the fourth that no more than a handful of center fielders make, robbing Diaz on the dead sprint.
Jhonny Peralta was the hitting star of the night for the Wahoos, going 2-4 with three big RBI’s. One came on a two out, two run single with the bases loaded in the four-run fourth, the other on a solo homer in the sixth. I’m not ready to call Jhonny out of his doldrums as of yet, but apparently, his manager is: “He’s starting to come around. He’s starting to go to right field.”
The Tribe’s six game losing streak is now over and Eric Wedge is safe for one more day. On that front, I’ve got bad news for the Grinder-haters out there. If they didn’t fire him on the off day after a miserable weekend where the team hit rock bottom, then he most likely isn’t going anywhere the rest of the season. After the season, all bets are off.
Author: TD
TD is a born and bred Clevelander who agrees with ESPN's Scott Van Pelt when he says ""Ranch Dressing makes everything better except for cereal and ice cream."TD has written 253 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
The Tribe’s six game winning streak is now over and Eric Wedge is safe for one more day.
did i fall asleep??
I was almost hoping that Wood would blow the game so Wedge would get canned.
Somewhere Luis Isaac is laughing his @#$ off.
I was at the game… and around the time that the tying run came to the plate… my buddy says… if us losing this game means Wedge doesn’t make it back to Cleveland… then go Pirates. And I agreed with him 100%.
If I were Huff… or Cliff Lee last week… or any other starter who comes out and throws a Gem… I would rather throw 200 pitches and bat 6 times in a national league park than let us go to our bullpen. You would have to pry the ball from my cold, dead hands to allow us to go to the bullpen… even up 5-0 in the 9th! This proves (even though we somehow won) that literally no lead is safe with this team.
What bullpen?
All I saw last night was Huff and Grady’s catch… All I can do at this point is force myself to focus on the good things.
I am just waiting for TD to lift the moratorium… come on… you know you want to.
All seriousness, the comments by the Wedge-bashers show how irrational this Wedge-hatred is. Wedge made the right moves by any rational measure – kept Huff in until it really didn’t make sense to anymore, going to a bullpen guy who has been decent to get the last 3 outs in a 5-0 game, and when that showed trouble signs immediately went to his closer who was paid a lot of money to get guys out in these situations.
If there are people at fault for this season, it’s either the players themselves or Mark Shapiro for failing to get bullpen guys who can get guys out consistently – and I wouldn’t blame Shapiro, considering the guys he got were all highly regarded (and that was true on this blog circa March).
If there is one sport where the manager/coach barely matters, it’s baseball. Ultimately, it comes down to guys pitching and guys hitting. I don’t see a lack of motivation – the hitters are all still plugging away. What exactly should Wedge be doing differently?
Yes, the lever-pulling line wasn’t bad – but what levers should he have pulled differently? It’s all nice and easy to say he should have brought someone else in, but had he done that and the guy bombed the cries would be even louder (if possible). Had guys simply done their job nobody would be complaining.
We’re at 13 blown saves? If the Indians would have won just 7 of those, they’d be 37-35 and 3 games out.
The problem isn’t Wedge. It’s time to recognize that right now, the guys who are pitching just suck, period.
Never Craig…NEVER!!! No seriously, once training camp opens, I will make my triumphant return to Browns commentary…
@#1 – fixed…sorry!!! wishful thinking I guess
@5 I blame wedge for precisely that last reason. he knows the bullpen blows and Huff was on a roll. let him go in there and try to throw 3 more outs and get his first complete game shutout. turning any game over to the pen has become seriously dangerous so why not let Huff pitch 10-15 more pitches and see what happens.
@ Ezzie – I think the main problem with Wedge isn’t his strategy (which is questionable at times), but the attitude and atmosphere he creates in the clubhouse. I think the “grindermaster” approach winds the players too tight (explaining the crappy early season starts and good finishes when they are out of it). I think the players would benefit from a fresh atmosphere in the locker room.
I agree with the move to take Huff out. A young guy with some arm problems in his past at over 110 pitches? No reason to risk injury.
“If there is one sport where the manager/coach barely matters, it’s baseball”
I completely disagree with this statement. Nobody makes him keep pitching Rafael Perez, he of the 10.53 ERA. Or Kerry Wood, he of 2 consecutive blown saves going into last night.
If your guy got torched all weekend, give him an extra day off. You can’t blame the lousy bullpen on Wedge, obviously, but he’s been making poor decisions for years. His lack of small ball knowledge probably cost us the 2005 playoffs. Their record in one run games was atrocious.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, and probably a topic for another post.
The Wedge bashing has never been justified until now. And even now there isn’t a specific reason to point to as to why Wedge needs to be fired. The point now is that Wedge has been given a fair shot with this team over the last 7 years and he hasn’t produced. It doesn’t come down to a single attribute or complaint. The time has finally come. This season is now the second year in a row where I expected this team to be challenging for the division and they choked out of the gate. Maybe it isn’t Wedge’s fault completely. You still can’t justify going back to the same well time and time again with the same results. This team stinks. I don’t like it right now. Any change would be good at this point.
I totally agree boomhauer. If Huff goes out there and blows his elbow, then what? “Wedge should have taken him out!!” “I can’t believe wedge didnt use the pen!!” Blah, blah, blah!! Wedge made the same move. If th would have been joe torre making the call, we wouldn’t even be discussing this
@8 – What boomhauer and Brendon said.
@9 – That would make sense if the Indians each year started hot but got worn down. Instead, they have years like last year, where despite injuries, etc. they still rebound to a nice success. This year, look at the team – the guys sitting there in the dugout with him are performing just fine. The guys who sit in their own little area in the back are the ones who’ve stunk. The daily grind guys are succeeding mostly, while the “you be ready when we call on you” guys stink. That’s got nothing to do with the “tone” of the clubhouse.
@11 – Again, who should he be going to? If Wood closes last night out cleanly, everyone would be hailing going back to a guy who needs it to get out of his funk.
@12 – That’s both the best argument and silly at the same time. 7 years in baseball is not a long time; it’s no wonder most managers never last long. People aren’t patient enough. OTOH, if you’d argue that Wedge is consistently underperforming, then it’s a question of were the expectations unrealistic or have they actually underperformed.
As for the “change is needed” stuff, I had enough of that with Obama. Change for the sake of change is just silly. Nobody has come up with a suggestion that the Indians should be running the team differently than they are now, which tells me that nobody has a clue as to what they should be doing differently, which tells me there’s no reason anyone else would be better than Wedge.
I watched the game last night with my girl, and even she, who isnt a baseball nut like me, could see that the team is just expecting to implode…their body language (carroll and valbuena) in the 9th was almost reprehensible…giving that exasperated, little league tantrum look when the ball went up the middle off wood…that to me shows me that this team has no confidence (with good reason obviously, but cmon, youre professionals…you dont do that sort of thing)
valbuena is now completely hell-bent on hitting a HR as he has now gone to a hueg uppercut swing…someone needs to remind him that he needs to hit linedrives, and not try to homer every time up…
sizemore looked like a man on a mission…i just hope hes actually healed…guess we will see the first time he comes up for a grounder with someone rounding third…if he airs it out and is fine 2 days later…then hes ok…if he hits the cutoff man or doesnt even try to cut down the runner, then we have Johnny Damon’s arm in CF…
im glad the train wreck known as Garko didnt play last night, I cant stand watching his goofy legs-bent-running-around too much anymore…he looks like one of those strange vehicles from whoville when he runs…you know, those cars that have 12 feet in a circle that act as wheels on one side, and triangles of cheese on the other…
Huff – pitched well, but again, its the Buccos…im pretty sure my mother would pitch well against them…but it was very encouraging…but then again, playing Pittsburgh is like playing a AAA team, where Huff did well anyways…
Choo still looks like hes one of the best pure hitters that cleveland has had in a while…seems very intelligent and goes with where the pitch is, rather than trying to pull everything…
@14 – “As for the “change is needed” stuff, I had enough of that with Obama. Change for the sake of change is just silly. Nobody has come up with a suggestion that the Indians should be running the team differently than they are now, which tells me that nobody has a clue as to what they should be doing differently, which tells me there’s no reason anyone else would be better than Wedge.”
—politics aside, everyone can see that when you can get into a rhythm, the game seems to slow down for most…you bring a closer in to finish a game for the first time in 2 weeks and hes not ready, that doesnt surprise me…you bring a guy in that has rode the pine for 4 days and expect him to go 4 for 4? not gonna happen…you jerk young kids with a lot of promise up who are getting consistant AB’s in AAA, then pinch run them twice a week, throw them to a position theyre not used to and expect results, not gonna happen…you bring in a guy with a fragile ego because of failed relief experiences in another bad situation and expect results? not gonna happen…
this comes down to knowing your players, knowing how to MANAGE them and their personalities and setting them up for success…it just seems like Wedge has gone off the deep end looking for a solution…I mean, you have to know by now what your base lineup *should* be…yet he continues to tinker and flip and flop…again, it goes back to rhythm…always batting DeRo 5th or 2nd…whichever you decide…its ok to move someone, but KEEP them there as much as possible…
I understand the whole playing time argument, but you have to know by now that Benny is not going to be an everyday starter…that garko is at best a backup DH…etc…
as for the bullpen, I think you need to start looking at trades for some more power arms…besides wood, no one scares anyone…herges throws 88-89…thats a bit faster than BP…you look at other teams bullpens and they have guys in the 92-94 mph range…that usually yields better results than 4-5 mediocre guys with *some* movement…I think the problem with the ‘pen is that they dont have enough juice…when we had good bullpens, we had guys like plunk in the 90’s…Shuey in the 90’s…etc etc