Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Thoughts From a Disappointing Split with the Yankees
Travis Hafner and Ryan Garko looked God-awful in the series. Hafner is missing fastballs that are right down the middle and up in the zone. He keeps fouling them off. I don’t understand. Why aren’t meatballs ending up in the second deck in right? I know they used to end up there. Check this one out. I called this home run by the way. Yeah, I was 21 years old, still calling a home run on every pitch to the plate when my favorite players were hitting. (http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/media/player/mp_tpl_3_1.jsp?w_id=430232&w=2005/open/topplays/archive06/061405_colcle_hafner_hr_350.wmv&pid=mlb_tp&gid=2005/06/14/colmlb-clemlb-1&cid=mlb&fid=mlb_tp350&v=2) Hafner is in a 7 for 37 slump although Garko’s got him beat with his 0 for 23 streak. I promise to take some time over the next several days and analyze what I think Hafner might be doing wrong. Below are some other thoughts that hit me while watching the games from the Yankee series.
Yankee commentator Michael Kay loves to reference crappy television sitcoms:
“An interesting thing about Paul Byrd, he bears a striking resemblance to Kelsey Grammer, the star of the hit show Frazier.” Just moments later while the camera pans the crowd, a woman wearing glasses in the likeness of Drew Carey is spotted: “I think somebody stole Drew Carey’s glasses,” Drew Carey, star of the hit sitcom, The Drew Carey Show.
WOULD YOU STOP CALLING OUR FIELD THE PROG, Michael Kay? It’s bad enough the naming rights of the stadium were sold to Progressive Insurance but now we have idiots coming in calling it the Prog. Moments later, as if to drive an icicle into my eye, Kaye spits out this gem: “Welcome back to the Prog, that’s what they call it here in Cleveland now. I’ve listened to or watched 85% of the games this year and I have yet to hear this God-awful phrase. Even the radio voice of the Indians, Tom Hamilton rarely calls it Progressive Field. Nope, he likes to use the phrase, “At the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.” I love Tom Hamilton. This guy likes Tom Hamilton too: http://youtube.com/watch?v=bi9mRcjtICY
Despite giving up three monster home runs, Paul Byrd tightropes through 5 2/3 innings. Jhonny Peralta comes up big with a three run homer off a poor changeup from Andy Pettitte. Peralta’s homer masks another mediocre performace by the offense, but a big win nevertheless.
David Delucci, I mean Jeremy Sowers, is charged with three earned runs after Jorge Posada’s three run triple to left. Delucci’s poor read and route to Posada’s liner turns a lineout into the slow catcher’s first triple. It spoils a fine effort by Sowers who ends up with a no-decision. Any other runner and we would have had an inside-the-park grand slam. That would have been interesting.
The Tribe seems to be having better at-bats over the last several days. Joe Buck mentions that the Yankees have $45 million dollars on their bench. Ohh yeah, I’ll take Jason Michaels as our ace in the hole any day.
What’s wrong with HAFNER!? Ian Kennedy is throwing 90 mph fastballs up in the zone and he’s late on it. In ’05, he’d already have a homer and a double off this guy. All of a sudden, his contract looks like a disaster. Get pissed already Hafner.
Most inventive product pushed on us today: A Touch of Gray
I didn't realize that dying your hair “a little less gray” get you a “Summer of Love!” I wonder if I would see equal success were I to give the product a try.
Victor Martinez, the only guy who I really trust at the plate, wins a back-and-forth affair with a basehit to left. He’s such a good hitter. I rest easy when he’s up to bat. Although I’d be lying if I wasn’t a bit concerned by his inability to drive the ball thus far in 2008. He’s hitting .364 but only slugging .416. That’s four extra-base hits and zero homers.
Favorite part about Saturday’s game: Grady Sizemore hurting his ankle in the ninth inning. The trainer comes out and starts trying to lead him off the field. Sizemore refuses to leave the middle of the diamond. You see the trainer make this face as if to say, “Yeah right, you can stay in this game.” So Sizemore walks out to the outfield grass behind second base and starts doing sprints back and forth. The trainer leaves the field and Sizemore scores the winning run. He is so good.
Sunday
This loss falls squarely on my shoulders. If I blow off a birthday brunch for a friend, we scratch a run off Wang. This guy will never impress me. Sinkerballers are great but they are truly dominant. Wang is like a Derek Lowe, a guy who can pitch really well but who you really don’t feel that great about pitching in a big game. Although, I don’t know how the Tribe manages to strike out nine times against him. This offense is truly befuddling. At least, C.C. is back pitching well. Sizemore doesn’t play for the first time since 2004.
Monday
The Indians decided they were content with a split when they woke up this morning. The team had every opportunity to pound Mike Mussina into oblivion and they let him off the hook and handed him a generous victory. The Yankees score four runs in the top of the sixth and manage to hit the ball out of the infield once. Our left side of the diamond, Peralta and Blake are where “deer and antelope play” and infield hits too. This team is driving me insane. That five game winning streak from last week seems like a mirage. This team is not hitting. Let’s fire our hitting coach. It worked in 2005. http://www.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050604&content_id=1075793&vkey=news_cle&fext=.jsp&c_id=cle
Labels: baseball, Cleveland Indians, Cleveland sports, MLB, New York Yankees, Travis Hafner
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Tribe's 2007 Encore
Watching the Cleveland Indians isn't an easy hobby. I sure it’s not for fans in Not so for the Indians of today. Sure, they can keep it close against teams that spend twice as much but sooner or later, the $160 million dollar left fielder or even the under-achieving $75 million dollar right fielder is going to outperform the out-of-nowhere second year starter or the closer who was only signed after he failed a physical for another team. Sound like sour grapes? Perhaps, but it’s true.
Like many fans, my team’s track record plays a part in how I perceive them. Specifically, the history that I’ve personally witnessed. The Tribe has collapsed at critical moments in the playoffs since I was 11. And they’ve failed to live up to expectations at every turn, especially in 2000 and 2006. After overachieving in 2005, the team of young talent and over-achieving veterans struggled to string together hits as the bullpen imploded. So through thirteen games, I am ready to peg this team as a 2006 redux. Too early, perhaps but you try watching a game like Monday night’s against the Sox.
The only thing I was assured of as Manny Ramirez stepped to the plate against
So am I pegging them as a disappointment in 2008 a bit too early? Do I already assume C.C. Sabathia is as good as gone as a free agent this winter? The answer to both questions is a definitive yes.
Hey, that’s my team. Only four months till the Browns play the Giants in the first of six primetime appearances they’ll make in the 2008 season. They’re my other team, the team in a league with a salary cap. I heart salary caps and Grady Sizemore.
Labels: Boston Red Sox, cleveland browns, Cleveland Indians, Cleveland sports, MLB
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Quick Hit Thoughts Following the ALCS
- It was with resignation that I sat down to watch Game 7. After following this team for six and a half grueling months, I couldn’t believe how ready I was for the end. Normally I can envision them winning. No matter how hard I tried throughout the day Sunday, I couldn’t imagine a scenario, enabling them to defeat
- I don’t know what to make of the series: whether it was a collapse on
- As I bemoaned the fate of the Tribe Sunday night and Monday afternoon, I kept coming back to the same agonizing conclusion. Every year, the Indians are playing against a stacked deck. I am not blaming the Red Sox or Yankees for spending a ton of money on players. Teams that generate as much revenue as each of those teams should use the money to field the best team possible. However, it’s hard to be optimistic as a mid-market team.
The Indians won the 2007 AL Central crown because a couple of guys came out of nowhere to become key contributors. Without surprises Rafael Perez, Jensen Lewis, Asdrubal Cabrera, Franklin Gutierrez, and most importantly Fausto Carmona, the Indians don’t make the playoffs. So many things went right for the Indians, which enabled them to get to a seventh game in the ALCS. A
Each spring, the Red Sox and Yankees head to
- What team and when was the last time a team besides the Yankees or Red Sox made the playoffs from the American League East? Answer below.
- There isn’t much to say about the game other than two key plays didn’t go the Indians way. The first play happened at second base after Kenny Lofton hit one of the left-field wall. Lofton slid into second base just ahead of Dustin Pedroia’s tag of his right arm. The umpire ruled him out on what was a very close play. The Indians scored a run that inning after consecutive singles and a sacrifice fly, but the game would have been tied had Lofton been ruled safe. The second play happened in the top of the seventh. With Lofton on second, Franklin Gutierrez lined a base hit down the left-field line. The ball ricocheted back towards shallow left-field and the speedy Lofton was held by third-base coach, Joel Skinner. After watching the play repeatedly, it is safe to say that Lofton would have scored. Casey Blake, the next batter, promptly hit into an inning-ending double play. That was all she wrote for the Indians as the Red Sox went to work on
- Two Other Quick Thoughts: Rafael Betancourt had one of the most amazing postseasons ever for a reliever who wasn’t a closer. He was so dominant throughout the ALCS that if he had shut the door on the Red Sox in Game 7 and the Indians had come back to win, he would have been in the conversation for series MVP. The only other arguments you could make for MVP would have been Jhonny Peralta or Jake Westbrook. When a middle reliever deserves consideration for MVP of a series, he deserves mentioning in a low-level and little-read blog post. Speaking of Jake Westbrook, his performance in Game 7 was jaw-dropping to
- It’s hard to sum up my thoughts in just a few words on the ALCS and the Indians season in general. It’s a weird feeling to be proud of people that you don’t even know. But I found myself appreciating this team, even in the top of the ninth as the season came to an end. The bottom of the order ripped three balls in a row that the
- The Red Sox are an unbelievably good team. Many are writing about the Indians bright future in the wake of their defeat. But the Red Sox are going to be a World Series contender for years to come. With Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jonathan Papelbon and Jacoby Ellsbury, it’s hard to envision this team not winning several World Series over the next decade.
- Answer to 4: The Baltimore Orioles in 1997 though the Yankees won the Wild Card that season. The last time neither the Red Sox nor the Yankees made the playoffs was 1993.
Labels: ALCS, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Game 7, MLB
