WFNY On Location: Indians walk-off in once-in-a-lifetime fashion
August 20, 2016Kyrie Irving’s impressive 2016 continues with Olympic gold medal
August 22, 2016Playing their first home series in a visitor’s ballpark since the April blizzard of 2007, the Indians (71-51) still managed to take two of three from the Toronto Blue Jays (70-54) in easily the most thrilling weekend set of the 2016 campaign. …What’s that you say? It wasn’t a visitor’s ballpark? That was Progressive Field the whole time? But, on the radio… I very clearly heard the familiar din of roughly 25,000 obnoxious, bandwagoning Canadians chanting “We Da Norf” with merely a smattering of loyal Tribe fans making the trip to oppose them. And you’re telling me that was all going down in The Land?!
And LeBron was there hearing that sh#@?!
For a city that just hosted a big convention largely dedicated to strict, militant border control, Cleveland sure did let itself get overrun with Ontarioans (Ontarians? Cheri Oteris?) this week in embarrassing fashion. They come pouring across Lake Erie, and they’re bringing dumb signs, the French ones all eat crêpes, and some of them, I guess, are good people. Either way, the weirdly upside-down, Skydome South dynamic at the stadium made for an even more electric atmosphere in a way, as three incredible Indians comebacks were further magnified by the actual Cleveland faithful rising up against the infiltrators from Nickelback country.
Jam Master J-Ram
Tyler Naquin launched his own celebrity brand on Friday night with the most inspired, least ironic devil-horns salute since Lemmy died. But the man of the hour—and the year if we’re being honest with ourselves—is Jose Ramirez. What more can be said about this pint-sized giant among men? Where once he was the Tribe’s Dellavedova—a scrappy, skittering chipmunk off the bench—he is now Joe Thomas, Kyrie Irving, and Lake Erie Monsters captain Ryan Craig all combined into one: Steady, clutch, and still completely anonymous to the average Cleveland sports fan.
While Naquin’s game-winner will be deservedly remembered for its theatrics and novelty (it was the Indians’ first walk-off inside-the-park home run in 100 years, after all), fewer people will remember that Ramirez actually tied that game in the at-bat before Tyler’s with a dinger of his own. And on Sunday, he muscled up again—this time from the right side of the plate—taking Brett Cecil deep in the bottom of the eighth to miraculously vault Cleveland into a 3-2 lead.
Since Jose got his new Heatmiser haircut on July 15 (the one that has somehow made helmets even LESS likely to stay on his head), he’s hitting .344 with 6 HR and 19 RBI. Some people have advanced from talking about Ramirez for team MVP to LEAGUE MVP. That’s completely insane, but so is a first place team playing a home game in front of a majority visitor crowd, or three one-run games being played without Andrew Miller making a single appearance. In any case, Jose’s Sunday homer was his 10th, as he’s suddenly added a legit power stroke to his seemingly endless offensive arsenal.1
Dumb, Fun Stat
With Lonnie Chisenhall’s big three-run blast on Saturday, Cleveland now has seven players with double-digit homers and two within striking distance (Chiz and Gomes have eight). Lonnie should get to 10 pretty easily, and if Yan comes back and pulls it off, the Tribe would have nine 10-HR men for just the fifth time in team history (the team record is 10 in 2009 and 2013). One thing this franchise has NEVER done, however, is have 9-plus players hit 10-plus home runs AND 5-plus pitchers win 10-plus games. This stat is far more quirky than meaningful, the cynics will all say, but with Kluber, Tomlin, and Salazar already over the mark and Carrasco (8) and Bauer (9) likely to get there, it’d be an amusing accomplishment nonetheless, and a testament to a well-rounded ball club.
Tito Tinkering
Because Jeff Manship, Zach McAllister, and Mike Clevinger all escaped their weekend appearances unscathed, there has been very little push back on Terry Francona for turning to those three in critical late-game situations while keeping the Andrew Miller bullet in the chamber all weekend. Three tightrope games, a playoff atmosphere, a first place opponent… and no Andrew Miller? Isn’t this the exact scenario we brought the dude on board for? Well, yes and no. Miller was warming in the pen as Cody Allen sweated through the ninth inning on Sunday, so we can assume his health wasn’t the issue. The only other logical explanation, then, is that Francona—working with a seven-game lead in the division—wanted to give Miller an extended breather with the stretch run looming.
Another factor, perhaps, was getting a better gauge on what the club actually has in Manship, McAllister, and particularly Clevinger, as it concerns the postseason. Bringing the rookie into a bases loaded situation against Edwin Encarnacion, considering his control problems—seemed downright batshit to me if the goal was winning the game. But, after Clevinger showed what he’s capable of inarguably the most high stakes appearance of his pro career, Francona not only got a good result, but invaluable information to put away for later. I suppose it’s possible a guy who’s been in a Major League dugout his entire life might know more than me about at least a couple things.
Blue Jay Migration Patterns
For much of the early part of this century, the West Nile virus devastated the North American Blue Jay population (only 13 percent of which live in Canada, by the way—#NotAllBlueJays). Along with their dwindling numbers, jays are also tough to track anyway because of their confusing migratory patterns. “Thousands of Blue Jays migrate in flocks along the Great Lakes and Atlantic coasts,” says AllAboutBirds.org, “but much about their migration remains a mystery. Some are present throughout winter in all parts of their range. Young jays may be more likely to migrate than adults, but many adults also migrate. Some individual jays migrate south one year, stay north the next winter, and then migrate south again the next year. No one has worked out why they migrate when they do.”
Well, I may have worked it out. Blue Jays are far more likely to migrate when they’re playoff contenders. It’s an ornithological phenomenon known as “front-runner flight” or “fair weather feathers.”
The invasion Cleveland witnessed this weekend was all too familiar to locals who remember the height of Jay hysteria in the ‘90s, when the maple leaf scourge would take over old Municipal Stadium in a similar fashion. During the West Nile years, or the second Cito Gaston era, those traveling throngs diminished a bit. The Canadian Blue Jay’s bright plumage was dulled in the process, as well, as Toronto fans were forced to look at awful matte-grey and black uniforms, as management snobbily tried to follow trends and sell hip new merchandise. “What color should the BLUE Jays be?! NOT blue, that’s for sure!” went their marketing meetings. Canadians were displeased, the team sucked (except for Roy Halladay), and the migration paths rarely went much beyond Mississauga.
Then, about five years ago, the Toronto Blue Jays were finally through being cool. After a decade or so of denying any correlation between their team name and color scheme, the Jays introduced brand new blue jerseys—which were conveniently also their old blue jerseys. They also brought back the original, less streamlined logo—the passive-looking bird’s head with a maple leaf rudely jammed under its feather crest. Folks across Canada were giddy, suddenly reminded of Joe Carter glories past, but also of other happy ‘90s memories, like Koosh balls, Sega Genesis, and the greatest band of the era, the Barenaked Ladies (remember, this is from the Canadian point of view). Soon, they would begin flocking beyond their borders once more to yell at the world about Jose Bautista’s awesome bat flip that everyone already knows about. The invasive species has returned and is destroying the habitats of other birds and drinking all their beer.
Lloyd Moseby Nesting Habits
Weirdly, way down south in Ohio, I found myself surprisingly pleased to see the Jays re-introduce their old logo and colors, too. Not because I ever spent a single moment of my life caring about Toronto (it’s like Chicago with inferior museums and fewer murders, right?), but because of my own random childhood memories of pre-cable Indians games on WUAB, squaring off against the likes of George Bell, Dave Stieb, and to a lesser but more peculiar extent, Lloyd Moseby.
Lloyd Moseby, if you don’t recall (shame!), was a first round pick of the fledgling Blue Jays in 1978, and wound up being their center fielder for basically the entire decade of the 1980s. He was only a .257 career hitter, but he could steal you 30 bases and hit you 20 bombs, so he was no slouch. That said, it was not Moseby’s on-field production that left a mark on me as a kiddo. In a way, you could say it was his modeling work.
Back in 1988, during the height of my baseball card collecting days (a hobby which proved to be a colossal waste of time from a financial standpoint), I declared no special allegiance to one card-making company over another. I recall knowing even then that Donruss sucked, but nonetheless, my collection included plenty of those shitty Diamond Kings cartoons in amongst the Topps, Score, and Fleer piles. And it was out of this jumble of competing card manufacturers that the greatness of the Blue Jays’ Lloyd Moseby first caught my eye. You see, in 1988, Lloyd was part of a baseball card phenomenon not unlike the aligning of three planets in the night sky. In a masterstroke of unprecedented consistency, he apparently approached each photo shoot that spring with an identical, almost scientifically precise pose in mind. As a result, Topps, Donruss, and Fleer—three distinct companies with their own art departments—all wound up with comically identical-looking Lloyd Moseby cards in their respective 1988 sets.
Right knee on ground, left elbow balanced on left knee, right palm resting on the knob of a bat, right elbow pointed skyward at a 45-degree angle.
Why, almost 30 years later, would I remember this useless, quirky factoid about a guy who wasn’t even on either of the Jays’ World Series teams? Well, the truth is, I didn’t really remember it… until I saw those blue jerseys again.
Two Cannot Play at That Game
I had a thought of suggesting a big movement for Indians fans to purchase 20,000 tickets to a weekend series in Toronto next year, but you and I both know this will never happen. If we can’t average 20,000 in our own park, I don’t think we’re going to get that many people to book AirCanada flights.
- Over the last 30 days, Ramirez leads all of the American League in fWAR with 1.8, ahead of notables like Adrian Beltre, Jose Altuve, and Mookie Betts. [↩]
41 Comments
Loved the Clevinger move. Tito told him in that moment that he trusted him in such a spot. At the same time, it put the pressure on him to deliver in high stakes to see if he could handle it.
And, even with the Blue Jays trying to ruffle his feathers (hehe), Clevinger defiantly went to the stretch and grooved on in there. Crazy that it was only the third or fourth best moment of the weekend.
Those Blue Jays are a bunch of Eh-Holes
Listening to 92.3 yesterday and Fedor was going on about how he wants to experiment with Clevinger taking over Tomlin’s role. I understand his point, but the more important experiment is going on right now with him in the pen. Playoffs are a four-man rotation, assuming Kluber through Bauer are healthy (big if, particularly with Danny), there’s an odd man out anyway.
The other AL playoff teams all look like offensive juggernauts (BJs/O’s/Sawx, Rangers, and maybe Mariners/Tigers). Not a good fit for Tomlin in any of those situations…all seven are top 10 in home runs in MLB. Clevinger is more valuable this year out of the pen.
Putting Clevinger in made me nuts. I kinda get why, get the potential upside of Tito’s magic dugout fairy dust making Clevinger’s eyes uncontrollably spin as he accesses his inner Mariano Rivera that only Tito could have known was there. But this game and series felt like heavyweight championship weigh-in, two teams nose to nose and psyching each other out for October, and the almost-balk would have confirmed for the Jays that they can win in relatively tepid Progressive Field. Me, I’m rolling up my sleeve right there to show them my Andrew Miller tat. Same in the 9th, when Allen did his slow implode and it took a rocket hit at an outfielder to end the game and salvage the series.
But as you imply, Tito has a wider lens, he knows how to get in his guys’ heads in the best way, to make Chiz think he’s not a waste of org resources, to help rookies like Naquin and new guys like Guyer get comfy in no time. If Tito’s biggest prob is he loves too much, trusts too much, what would be a bad trade-off over a 16 game NFL season works in baseball’s slow death march. Still, none of this explains Ramirez, really. A season ago he looked scared to fail. Now he’s transformed into a young Dan Marino, the guy who can strut while standing still. Just don’t get it.
If Tito thinks he might have to utilize Clevinger in October, he needs to get that kid a crash course in clutch pitching. In August, you won’t find any better lesson than that one.
The 7-game lead gives him that opportunity.
I guarantee you the crowd wouldn’t have been as obnoxious if the Cavs hadn’t stormed their nest and eaten their young in 6 games.
Chiz needs to work on his “running with the cup tray” shtick so by the time we win the WS he is dashing onto the field with Brett-like speed carrying a full tray, not the two-cup embarrassment we saw on Friday night.
Don’t disagree. But while I could see Clevinger’s stuff translating to late-inning relief, don’t like a guy who can struggle to throw strikes coming in with the bases loaded in the 8th to face that guy. (Also, I think Clevinger has been groomed and stretched a starter, which they might need if both Tomlin and Salazar can’t find their lost grooves).
But again, as Andrew says, that’s why I’m not Tito. He sees things differently. Despite the division lead I thought yesterday was way more important than he did, and he’s right.
For sure. Ramirez in the on-deck circle late innings should cue the tray fill. Probably a bat boy duty.
I’m coming around on your boy Clev.
..I will admit it.
On the flip side. Monthly progress update request: Have you officially come around on Naquin?!
Could have sworn we made that official when I dubbed him Tyler Napalm Naquin, no?
http://www.scout.com/cleveland-sports/story/1685821-tyler-naquin-more-like-tyler-napalm
Kid is struggling a bit now that MLB pitchers have adjusted to his “wait for breaking ball low in zone” approach (thankfully, no one told Osuna), but I have faith he’ll make the proper adjustments.
Salazar’s health is the reason to potentially let Clevinger start a few games. I prefer him in the bullpen as he can just focus on throwing fire, but the idea of Tomlin in the new HR-era pitching a playoff game is not one I want to see happen either.
Rare footage of Lonnie’s cousin Bonnie… it runs in the family.
What about “Project Mayhem”? Goes along with the Tyler Durden thing on another post, it’s in-line with his style, he’s a bit explosive…
Although I’d miss not being able to talk about him or ask any questions.
Good. I’m glad they had a front row seat for this weekend’s theatrics
It is of my opinion that a player cannot have too many nicknames/memes
My opinion is it happened when he came back in August last year. The bat flip vs Minnesota was the culmination. J-Ram’s ascension was just a bit muted due to Lonnie Chisenhall acting like he had the speed of Lofton with the arm of Manny in RF.
The only pause I had is that this TOR series was the tiebreaker if we finished tied with the Blue Jays for home field advantage come October.
also, Andrew, loved this write-up. Just fervently hope your feature pic wasn’t a dreaded Uncle Remus reference
Huh? I do not know as Clayman would have to answer definitively, but I assumed it was a Snow White reference. Blue bird and everything.
http://www.nrm.org/snowwhite/images/selected_works/SnowWhiteAndBird-sm.jpg
Not intended as a reference to anything actually. It’s a symbol of Jose “taming” the Jays. The Remus thing never crossed my mind. But then again, I am a bird guy. I have seen hundreds of birds perched on hundreds of fingers and don’t really see it as representative of a certain thing. I suppose I get the concern, though. I only picked a cute cartoon jay to further insult the Canadians.
For the first couple innings on Saturday, Hamilton was going on about the Blue Jays and their 6 man rotation. He kept pointing out how unusual that was in the Bigs and how a starter may only pitch once every 7 days if there is an off day thrown in there.
Apply that to the Indians situation currently. Tomlin is struggling. Danny clearly isn’t there. Kluber has thrown a ton. There is… what… one off day the rest of the year? With so few off days, a pitcher’s routine could actually mimic a 5-man rotation with a pseudo off day in the middle. It could also give Tito the ability to have his pitcher-of-choice on normal rest to start the playoffs.
Would that ever happen? Should it?
it is certainly a Disney trope in general.
we have done it already this year w/ Salazar’s extended breaks. the first one in June sort of just worked out to 1-skipped start and a 6-man rotation. the latest one was more down-time, but not that far removed from that idea.
formally going to a 6-man would be a bit too late IMO. I wouldn’t mind it if we skipped the backend when needed to make sure Kluber and Bauer got their regular work (both thrive on consistency) but I also understand why Tito might not want to rock that boat.
all-in-all it comes down to Salazar’s health
I’ll just leave this here…
Uncle Remus/Zippity Do Dah was the “blue bird on my shoulder” thing. Uncle Donald would hate my sensitivity but younger peeps might inadvertently reference something legit painful by cultural osmosis without the slightest awareness.
Yeah I am familiar. I don’t think it was even a subconscious thing here (though who is to say when it’s the subconscious). I wanted to present Jose taming the Jays in some fashion; a tame bird sits on a finger; there is a photo of Jose pointing. If I’d chosen to feature Naquin, I think something very similar may have come from it. The subconscious element can also come in how people read things vs. how they’re created. Chicken and the egg. I can only say I certainly wasn’t going for: “Hey, here’s a Song of the South reference, cuz that’ll go over great.”
And me, I’ll stop channeling exactly the type of the undergrad prof I detested. The imagery was just too close for me.
Only thing left to say it this never would have happened on Scout. Amiright? (Still too soon?)
Where’s Steve?
He rightfully pointed out before the season began that the 2015 Indians had like 13 different guys start games and we would need 7 quality starters to contend. He was spot on. I see no problem having 6 quality starters, especially with Kluber being the ace. Even with a guy like Kershaw, and assume he stays healthy, going into the playoffs with a reduced number of innings is not a bad thing.
I think you’ll see Clevinger and Merritt start games in September. Both Salazar and Cookie are flaking out and Tomlin is out of gas. He’s only pitched more innings once in 2011, and he’s on pace to pitch more this year than in the last three years combined. The sure thing about Tomlin is he is always 100% full tilt. He’s done his job chewing up innings for wins this year.
We should all hope his continues to struggle this way…….
Sometimes they give Conan the Tonight Show. Sometimes Jay Leno takes it away.
Brilliant.
Then bringing in Allen after a blown save to save it against the meat of the order. That was a Miller situation if there ever was one. The combination of those two moves sends messages.
I should have put “outside the ninth inning”
TITO DUZN’T TRUST ANDROO MILLER!!!!
Hmm, still sounds like it’s a qualified on board. I’ll check back:)
Also, what is that website “scout” thing you are referencing? I’ve never seen that. Not familiar. Let’s never speak of it again!
In the last week or so, he’s put in both McAllister and Manship when down a run later in the game. I think it’s more than Francona doesn’t realize that down one is still a high leverage spot worthy of your best relievers. There was no reason not to use Miller there. None at all.
you are pretty well-reasoned in most of your thoughts, but your Tito-hate clouds your judgement.
the Indians were down or up a run pretty much the whole week. he’d have burnt out his bullpen if he didn’t utilize his guys at least some of that time.
could he have used Miller there? well, sure. but, as noted, it’s a long season and we have a cushion. getting Clevinger comfy with the high-leverage can pay dividends.
Uh oh. You don’t want to read the last section of today’s post. I almost get Naquin in trouble (he did a big no-no for an Aggie last week).
The Tito-hate comes solely from the well-reasoning. It’s baffling how the guy gets so many passes despite making so many obvious mistakes.
Here we are facing one of the best hitting teams in the game. 11 innings over the weekend had the score within one run, and Miller, our best per-inning reliever, pitched none, and Allen, our second, pitched just one. That’s just nuts.