While We’re Waiting… Byron Scott, Browns Roster Moves and Carlos Santana’s Start
June 19, 2010An Alternate LeBron James Universe
June 19, 2010In a battle between the two last place teams in the AL and NL Central divisions, the Indians held on for a 4-3 win over the Pirates in Pittsburgh. The victory snapped a four-game losing streak for Cleveland while it was the 12th straight for the struggling Bucs.
Fausto Carmona delivered yet another quality start in the contest while seventh inning scoring was the only offense of the night. It was scoreless through six, and in the top of the seventh the Indians offense awoke against Pittsburgh starter Paul Malholm.
Jason Donald collected an RBI single and after Carmona struck out, the top three in the order Crowe, Choo and Santana all plated individual runs to give the Tribe a 4-0 lead. The team held on for victory as despite three runs with no outs in the bottom half of the inning, the Cleveland bullpen secured the lead with one of their finest performances of late.
There’s not too much to discuss more about the actual play-by-play of the contest last night, so let’s handle the rest of the Indians news in bullet point form:
– Carmona may be emerging as Cleveland’s most logical representative for the 2010 MLB All-Star Game in Anaheim. He now has a 6-5 record and ranks 15th in the American League with a 3.31 ERA this season. In his 14 outings, he has 11 quality starts and batters are hitting just .236 against him. His overall numbers now look much better than rookie Mitch Talbot’s and it could be an intriguing battle over the next few weeks.
– Friday’s game was only the seventh save opportunity in 15 outings this season for closer Kerry Wood. Sure, he retired all three batters he faced in the ninth inning for his fifth converted save of the year, but it is definitely obvious that the Indians are having trouble getting solid chances for their expensive closer. After a rough start to the season following his injury, he now has a 3.00 ERA in June and may just starting to pick up steam.
– Continuing with the bullpen, righty Chris Perez was dominant again with his hold Friday, and has certainly been the top Indians reliever over the past few weeks. He has 1.13 ERA in seven June appearances and oddly enough, also has a 1.10 ERA in 15 games during night time this season. He finally turns 25 years old on July 1st, and there is no doubt that he is the clubhouse leader to become the closer for the future in the Indians organization.
– Utility infielder Anderson Hernandez has been a pleasant surprise offensively over the past week and collected two more hits Friday against Pittsburgh. He is now batting .300 (6-20) in his six games played with the Indians this season and because of this production, might have a shot at remaining with the big league club for the rest of the season. Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera is not expected to even begin his rehab assignment until late July, meaning that Hernandez’s versatility will be huge over the next six weeks at least.
– SInce Carlos Santana was promoted from the Class AAA Columbus Clippers last Friday, both him and DH Travis Hafner have been among the best hitters in the league. There are only 20 qualified players in MLB who have a 1.000+ OPS over these past eight days and Hafner (1.419) and Santana (1.092) each rank among the leaders. Hafner will likely not be playing much over the next week because of the National League parks but it should be interesting to see how Carlos can keep up the pace.
– If it seems like pitchers have been oddly impressive in the major leagues in 2010, then you are definitely up to something. The entire MLB average for OPS this season is .736, making the Indians mark of .700 not look too shabby in comparison. The MLB OPS number over the past six seasons was .750, .749, .758, .768, .749 and .763. Seems like something is going on with that to me…
– To conclude things, here is your shocking baseball stat of the day: only five different pitchers have started a game this season for the Indians. The initial starting rotation of Westbrook-Carmona-Masterson-Talbot-Huff has remained consistent from day one and this is not something many organizations can say. In fact, only two other American League teams (Chicago and Tampa Bay) have employed exactly five starters all season. Hopefully I didn’t jinx anything..
(Photo above via Gene Puskar/Associated Press)
4 Comments
well, the Indians continue their assault on the bad clubs. at least we can beat them.
now about those pesky mediocre and good teams…
I was actually at this game and I learned two things.
1. Fausto should never be allowed to have a bat in his hands. I really have never seen a MLB player swing like that. Then again, maybe I need to watch the NL more.
2. Pirates fans keep they’re stadium pretty packed, which is really impressive. Almost as impressive is the number of other Indians fans there. There were so many of us that I definitely had moments when I forgot we were cheering against the home team! The fact that two bad teams had so much support just amazes me.
Was at the game as well and then watched the rest of the series from home. Send Santana to the AS game even though he’s only been up for a week. Man can that kid hit and throw.
[…] everyone recalls, as of mid-June, only five starting pitchers had began a game for the Indians at all. Of course, injuries and […]