Ball Played: Hi ho, Cleveland Indians take Detroit

Well, the Cleveland Indians finally made it to Detroit and I had the best tickets you can have—for the first plane out of town! (cymbal crash) Anyway, it’s easy to believe in other teams. Sooner or later, you gotta believe in your team too, because that’s what being a fan is. You have to try. The Indians are AMAZING! They give people the greatest gift that can ever be given! No, not children. Uh, not ice cream either. Yes: Sweeping the Detroit Tigers in Comerica Park while the Cavs are simultaneously sweeping the Pistons out of the NBA Playoffs. The third greatest gift ever!¹ And by the way, MLB has an opening in October. Sure, it’s six months away, but I once waited a whole year for October.

As for Detroit, I’m gonna shoot straight: You Detroit guys aren’t contenders anymore. I know you wish I shot a little more curvy, but it is what it is. Is this over-reacting to a three-game Indians (9-7) sweep of the Tigers (8-9) in an April showdown? Of course it is, but it is also fun to allow yourself to enjoy the sweep as the Indians have already bested their 2015 April win total by two games.²

On a serious and sentimental note, someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection.³ The lovers, the dreamers, and me. See, the Indians series with the Tigers meant a reunion for utility-man Mike Aviles with many of the staff and players who helped him through possibly the most difficult year of his life. Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal details the story on the Aviles family hearing the best news they could hear this past December and how strong their little Adriana has been through it all. A great read.⁴ Life’s like a movie, write your own ending…keep believing, keep pretending; we’ve done just what we’ve set out to do, thanks to the lovers, the dreamers, and you!

An Indians sweep over the Tigers in Motown is rare. The last time it happened before this weekend was August 25-27, 2008.

— Josh Poloha (@JorshP) April 24, 2016

Game 1, Friday: Indians 2, Tigers 1

The story of the game was moving the struggling Carlos Santana into the leadoff position in the lineup. What? Tito hit Carlos Santana leadoff? That’s illegal! I mean what’s more illegal, confusing the Santana-haters or putting a player with a high on base percentage coupled with exceptional baserunning (both stolen bases and taking the extra base any time he can) in a table-setter position? Hitting Carlos Santana leadoff, of course! Hmm, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say I was reciting some sort of important plot point. Well, I hope so otherwise I would’ve bored half the readers to death. Though, at least that would mean half the readers would still be alive.⁵

Wow, that was an expensive looking explosion! I can’t believe we had that in the budget.

https://vine.co/v/iUWgvUr2d3L

Sorry, Jason Kipinis and Rajai Davis, but you’ve been replaced…Permanently! Oh, yeah. Carlos Santana has grown into his role as the leadoff batter and no amount of terrifying cheap-shot karate pork chops is going to change it. Besides hitting a home run in his first ever leadoff at bat (bases empty for the glass half-empty crowd), he roped a double later in the game. For the weekend, Santana went 4-for-15 with three of those hits going for extra bases. In a surprise twist, despite working several counts, he did not walk.

Muppet News Flash! Josh Tomlin might as well be Rizzo the Rat for as great as he has been, his story is overshadowed at every turn. On Friday, the Santana blast gave him a one-run cushion. Justin Verlander controlled the Indians hitters except for a Marlon Byrd seventh inning home run, but Tomlin ensured the Indians score would hold up by allowing a meager four hits, one run and doing so on an efficient 85 pitches in 6.2 IP. This performance leapfrogged Tomlin into the fourth best starter on the Indians, one place ahead of the mysterious Cody Anderson. And, of course, such placement would be near the top of any other rotation in the American League.

Game 2, Saturday: Indians 10, Tigers 1

There’s only one guy in this world who can save us! There’s only one ballplayer who can restore order, bring justice, and set things right. Yes, I am talking about Corey Kluber. Yaa da curvin’ ball is…[strikes out batter] 3D! Da ball is curving in your face inna…[throws another strikeout] 3-D! In all, Kluber threw a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts, zero walks, and one run allowed. A completely dominating Klubot performance that would have held up with any semblence of run support.

https://vine.co/v/iU6XeMeVdQJ

Now, the offense had to embark on a potentially dangerous mission. There could be physical violence, there could be bat flips, and there is the slightest chance that somebody might even get beaned. In most Kluber starts, everybody would start begging out immediately. But, this game had to be won! We don’t want the Tigers to win. We gotta do this f-f-for justice! For freedom! For honesty! So, all nine batters recorded a hit with six of them reaching base safetly at least twice. Yan Gomes went 3-for-5 with five RBIs to lead the prolific output that saw Kluber have a 3-0 lead before he hit the mound and 8-0 lead before the Tigers saw their seventh batter step into the batter’s box. The game ended 10-1, but it felt 100-1.

For the season now, the Indians have the 11th best wRC+ (102) despite being 15th in batting average (.249), 17th in OBP (.313), and 18th in isolated power (.148). There is certainly room for improvement, but the offense has been manageable through the first month of the season.

Context on Kluber's 22 career 10K+ starts:

Verlander: 30 10K+ starts out of 322 career GS (9%)

Kluber: 22 in 106 career GS (21%)

— Joel Hammond (@joelhammond) April 24, 2016

Game 3, Sunday: Indians 6, Tigers 3

The show’s over! Indians sweep! The Tigers might have felt that they were thisclose on Sunday, but better inspection reveals they were nowhere close at all. Maybe that might make them feel better. Despite Carlos Carrasco leaving in the third inning with what looked to be a bad hamstring injury, the Indians scored enough to compensate for the 23rd ranked MLB bullpen pitching most of the game.

Despite needing to warm up on short notice, Trevor Bauer pitched admirably. He did give up two runs on four hits in 3 1/3 IP, but he also struck out four while only allowing a solitary walk. Bauer is going through a coming of age season. When he decides what his Big Dream is, he’ll be bursting with enthusiasm and want to share it with everybody. Most everybody will give him one of those ‘OK, that’s nice, now please pass the ketchup’ looks. Some will scoff, suggesting it’s too big. And, a select few will whisper words of encouragement. My advice is this: Pass the ketchup. Ignore the scoffers. And, remember those words of encouragement ‘cause they’re the only ones that matter.

Bryan Shaw continued his struggles, though, as he almost gave the game away the offense had tied up neatly with a bow. Sigh, Shaw, why do you always have to be so over dramatic about things, you know, it leaves me no choice but to do write that’ll hurt you? Although Shaw hadn’t given up a run in his last three apperances coming into Sunday, his outings were filled with drama. The drama continued on Sunday, but the scoreless inning streak ended at three innings when Victor Martinez drilled a double.

brooksbaseball.net

Thankfully, for Shaw, most people will remember a move that harkens back to Tigers first base coach, Omar Vizquel, and his tiff against the Seattle Mariners Arthur Rhoade’s diamond earrings in his playing days with the Tribe. Tigers manager Brad Ausmus threw a fit (twice!) about a foreign object on Shaw’s left hand. What was the object? Shaw’s wedding band. The psychological warfare did the trick, as Shaw walked the bases loaded before Jeff Manship saved the day by inducing a foul ball fly to end the inning. Regardless, Ausmus proved to be a Muppet of a man.

Sequencing is key, though believed to be statistically uncontrollable. Well, the Indians had it going again on Sunday as Jason Kipnis (2-for-5), Francisco Lindor (3-for-4, plus a walk), Jose Ramirez (2-for-5), and Marlon Byrd (2-for-3, plus a walk) all kept the line moving, while Tyler Naquin and Juan Uribe each picked the best possible time for their lone hit. By the end of the day, Santana was the only starter to have not reached base safely.

Obligator Francisco Lindor highlights

Everybody’s favorite new section. The Francisco Lindor amazing highlights. Yaaaaaaaayyyyyyy!!!!

https://vine.co/v/iU6rYTLguuK

https://vine.co/v/iU665idVE0t

It’s a wrap

You know, eh, I think they did it. Yes, they did, and we can pin it. If they did it, how did they do it? If they didn’t, they woulda blew it! And with nothing I can prove it!… Excuse me.

Listen Detroit, you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. And you know why? Well because, thanks to Brad Ausmus, you tried. And, if you failed, you failed together and to me that’s not failing at all. And, I don’t care what anybody says, I don’t care if no one believes in you because…I believe. I believe in you, Justin Upton. And you, Justin Verlander. And you, Justin..err, J.D. Martinez. You know what’s important isn’t this building or name, it’s each other. So I say fine, start from the bottom and work your way back up to the top. Walk out through Comerica’s doors with your heads held up high as a family because that’s what you are.

Just kidding…you totally failed. Maniacal laugh…maniacal laugh…

Cha-cha-cha! Thank you. We’ll be back in all season.

Thank you Muppets

1. it’s time to start the music. It’s time to light the lights. It’s time to meet the Muppets and use their quotes tonight! Bum, bum, bum. [↩]
2. Indians were 7-14 in April 2015 [↩]
3. Where rainbow connection = cure for cancer [↩]
4. and demonstrating why having beat reporters are a valuable part of the game, even if away games cost more money. [↩]
5. If you don’t love Statler and Waldorf, then I don’t know what to say to you. [↩]