Cleveland and the No Good Very Bad Month

There is no joy in C-Town lately for the local ball club. Hell, when the losing streak stretches out to a week, what is there to be positive about? Okay, I'll be generous; the pitching, for the most part, has been good enough to give them a chance to win most games. Yet, from the stars like Steven Kwan or Jose Ramirez to your most hated bench player (of which there is a plethora to choose from), the stench of this funk has lingered since early June. The errors have piled up. The baserunning is rudderless. The mistakes have been backbreaking. Not to mention the bats have packed so little punch that if they were a Roman candle, they wouldn't even be featured in your drunk neighbor's fireworks display during the July 4th weekend. Did I mention that Luis Ortiz is now on paid leave because he's embroiled in a gambling scandal? When it rains, it pours, huh. 

Look, I usually use stats to drive my point across, but if you're aware of what's happening on the field, I only really need to say this: over the last three weeks, they have averaged 2.75 per game. 2.75!!! I do not care if you have griped about the starting pitching, the bullpen, or even the fielding. If the team appears to be afraid of making mistakes and then makes one on cue, it's not by accident. It's because the lack of offense has bled into all the potential positives of the team and dragged them down. It is a challenging life to live as a big league team because, eventually, the pressure to score or hold onto the rare leads builds up; should we be surprised that the Guardians have played the most agonizing, sloppiest brand of baseball lately? Nobody is absolved from blame; frankly, they are the ones who are wearing this losing streak like a scarlet letter. 

Usually, I'm the type of person who tries to look on the brighter side of things, as that is my personality, but I'm also a realist. The only way the Guardians are going to loosen up and play anything close to winning baseball is for them to get any semblance of offense going. Could it happen with prospects like Chase Delauter finally being promoted? I won't promise that. Will Jose Ramirez break out of his slump (thanks, Kevin Gausman)? Of course, it's Jose Ramirez. Honestly, though, they've got a long way to go to turn this thing around. It's more than just one player or two shaking the lineup out of its slumber; it needs all nine hitters to feel like a collective unit, instead of individuals trying to jump-start this rotting corpse. This last month and change has sucked and if you want to scream and yell at the organzation you have every right to because they very much deserve it.