A banner night in Cleveland: Cavs vs Knicks, Behind the Box Score
October 26, 2016The Cleveland Indians Lead the World Series 1-0: While We’re Waiting
October 26, 2016This is our year. There is no other way to describe the Cleveland Indians transformation that began in August of 2015 and turned the dial to 11 since June of this season. The Tribe has been the significant underdog in each round of the MLB postseason. The Boston Red Sox were swept, the Toronto Blue Jays managed to win a single game, and now the Indians destroyed the vaunted Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of the World Series, 6-0. The Tribe has eight wins and one loss in the playoffs. There have not been flukey wins. There have not been crazy comebacks. The Tribe has simply jumped on teams early and refused to allow any opponent to come back late. Three more wins (two of which could be Corey Kluber starts) and the Cleveland Indians will have finished off one of the most improbable runs in recent baseball history.
Jason Kipnis might have busted his ankle in the ALCS championship celebration (and had a poor Game 1 possibly as a result), the Indians might be missing two starters from their rotation, and the Cubs might be the best team assembled in MLB in years. None of it seems to mater when the Indians take the field.
Early domination
Corey Kluber could have been amped to play in the World Series though his expression never cracked. His laser focus and the Cubs lack of familiarity with his repetoire led to THE most dominating sequence of postseason at bats ever. No pitcher in the history of the World Series had ever struck out eight batters in the first three innings. Kluber did so on Tuesday night.
For the postseason, Corey Kluber has been remarkable (3-1, 24.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 BB, 29 SO, 1 HBP, 17 H, 0.74 ERA). The Indians have shutout their opponent three times when Kluber has started the game. And, as Francona wisely limited him to a mere 88 pitches on Tuesday, he should be ready and rested to go in Game 4. The Indians rotation might be missing a couple key pieces, but Kluber is making up for it by being unhittable.1
He got Dexter Fowler to start the game.
Corey Kluber started the World Series with this beautiful strikeout of Dexter Fowler pic.twitter.com/oLEY4aiNjt
— Pitcher List (@PitcherList) October 26, 2016
And again in his next at bat.
At the end of Round 2 Corey Kluber's Fastball vs. Dexter Fowler, it's Kluber 2 – Fowler 0 pic.twitter.com/BUuYTq2aZz
— Pitcher List (@PitcherList) October 26, 2016
Chris Coghlan wishes he did not replace Jason Heyward in the starting lineup.
The Klubot is cruising through the Cubs lineup with his Sinker, this time against Chris Coghlan (h/t @jonahkeri) pic.twitter.com/n9cOZDPov2
— Pitcher List (@PitcherList) October 26, 2016
And, even the great Anthony Rizzo was susceptible.
This breaking ball from Corey Kluber nearly hit Anthony RIzzo…and still got a whiff. pic.twitter.com/xqudbnX3JH
— Pitcher List (@PitcherList) October 26, 2016
The Indians offense scored however they could. It seemed fitting that the first run – and the only one the Tribe needed – came on a dribbling infield hit. Jose Ramirez would prove his hitting prowess throughout the game as he and Lindor both went 3-for-4, but it was the weakest of his hits that provided the big early mental advantage for the home team.
The second run of the game (and inning) was scored via Brandon Guyer doing what he does best by being hit by a pitch (with the bases loaded). Jon Lester must have felt fortunate to only have allowed two runs. He did not realize it was already too many.
Who said the ball has to leave the infield? pic.twitter.com/J8lIYcoXfh
— MLB (@MLB) October 26, 2016
That’s My Boy!
Roberto Perez had a great game framing pitches for Corey Kluber. He was masterful in his pitch sequence calling behind the plate. There will be a time and place for him to get all of that credit in full, but, Game 1 of the 2016 World Series will forever be the game that Roberto Perez was a faux Yogi Berra or Johnny Bench at the plate.
Catchers with 2 HR & 4 RBI in a #WorldSeries game, all-time:
2016 Roberto Perez
1976 Johnny Bench
1956 Yogi Berra— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) October 26, 2016
The first of Perez’s home runs barely cleared the left field wall as it hit the yellow marker at the top. Perez even stalled at first base until the umpires gave full recognition of his accomplishment.
https://twitter.com/PeabodyBaseball/status/791094343809445889
When Perez would hit the insurance home run that took the game from likely to out of reach, there was no question the ball was gone. Pitcher Hector Rondon never even bothered to turn around. He knew.
Sure, Perez still has a stat line of .222/.300/.593 that will not exude confidence of him being a dominant hitter. But, four of his six hits have gone for extra bases, and Cubs pitchers now know that they better not take the ninth spot in the Indians lineup lightly.
Never a doubt
Cub fans should not be chided for feeling some relief that their team was able to lay off the slider to draw walks and also make some decent contact to load the bases with zero outs as they faced Andrew Miller. However, the Cubs had their chance at putting a dent in the indelible armor. Miller instead induced a pop fly and struck the next two batters out.
Andrew Miller got out of a crucial jam with his signature Slider that David Ross just couldn't resist. Crazy. pic.twitter.com/aSi6AZQo2i
— Pitcher List (@PitcherList) October 26, 2016
It is possible that the Cubs lineup is a bad matchup for Miller and that his superhuman abilities will not be as present in the World Series as they were in previous rounds. The fact they were able to put runners on the corners again underscores this possiblity. It is more likely that Miller had an off night and the Cubs will rue their inability to take advantage.
Lindor is special, FOX is not
https://twitter.com/Detresss/status/791113183608115204
Lindor was fantastic. He did not provide his WOW moment on defense – yet – but he was great at the plate and played the game with his usual joy. He playfully took extra long leads at first base knowing that Lester would not dare throw the pick-off. He got caught stealing once, but earned the nation free tacos from Taco Bell by nabbing a stolen base too.
FOX seems quite willing to play him up as the star he rightfully is. Lindor is batting .371/.389/.629 in the postseason. He is 6-for-8 in his past two games, and he went on a 6-for-12 stretch over three games earlier. He has hit for power with three doubles and two home runs. He has hit for that crazy high average. He has shown speed on the basepaths, and he has done it all with a smile.
All was not right with the FOX broadcast though. Javier Baez and Francisco Lindor go way back. Both are Puerto Ricans who moved to Florida in order to play baseball in the United States in their teenage years. They played against each other their senior year in High School, but played on the same travel team. They had another teammate, which the FOX team noted was Jose Fernandez. After and awkward pause, the team went back to discussing the game as if nothing happened and closed the inning with a poorly placed anecdoate about Mike Napoli’s sleep apnea.
Ummm…hello! McFly! Is anyone home! Jose Fernandez was a pitcher who played the game with the same joyful enthusiasm that Baez and Lindor do. Was. As in, he died in a tragic boating accident that brought up memories of Steve Olin and Tim Crews for Tribe fans. The FOX team didn’t need to go into a eloquent diatribe about the Fernandez, his journey from Cuba, or what he meant to the game of baseball. It would have been nice, but they didn’t even need to go that far. They had to mention something though. It was shocking and unsettling for them to ignore the gravity of the moment they had created. Let’s hope they have something better prepared if/when it is announced that Fernandez is the 2016 NL Cy Young Award winner during these games.
Last word
Three. More. Wins. That is all that stands between the Cleveland Indians and a World Series title. No amount of obstacles or improbabilities have been able to deter Terry Francona’s ballclub from their ultimate goal. On the night that the Cleveland Cavaliers raised their banner into the rafters at The Q, the Indians moved one big step closer towards achieving a championship of their own.
Let’s go Tribe!
- Note: Corey Kluber said he hates the nickname Klubot, thereby you will not see that nickname here anymore. He’s earned that type of respect. [↩]
86 Comments
I guess we all knew Miller was due for an off night and that he couldn’t keep shutting out teams forever. So last night he had his off night and he still shut them out. Incredible.
Two guys that haven’t been lauded enough this season: Mickey Callaway and Chris Antonetti.
agree. I viewed it just a little differently: Davis made the catch racing in at full speed and then had to look up, focus and fire immediately. If he saw the runner 2/3 of the way to 3rd base yes, easy double play and the runner on third probably just bluffs, but who knows? A teammate might have helped him out there by yelling, or maybe did and couldn’t be heard over the din.
I listened to the game on ESPN radio. You’re so correct about the national media thing. It was laughable by the end of the game. “Man! The Cubs sure had some good at-bats while getting shut-out!” Then they interviewed Lindor.
But it actually felt right. I remember staying up to watch the Browns on their few MNF appearances as a kid and being disappointed that the announcers fixated on Boomer Esiason instead of Eric Metcalf. When the NBA playoffs rolled around, it was the Michael Jordan show with the Cavs being nothing but extras. So go ahead National Media: keep focusing your attention on the Cubs and let Francona & Co. do their thing.
Agreed. I don’t care what the national media think about the Tribe or how much they hype the Cubs as long as we keep our head down and do our job. The less attention right now the better. We’ll stealth ’em.
BTW, I’m no fan of Washington State football coach Mike Leach, but he had some interesting things to say about the Series.
http://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/mike-leach-calls-out-yuppie-cubs-fans-supports-the-indians-in-world-series/
re: Perez’s stat line. An .893 OPS is really good. But I get what you’re saying.
http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/cache/location.php-pitchSel=453192&game=gid_2016_10_25_chnmlb_clemlb_1&batterX=&innings=yyyyyyyyy&sp_type=1&s_type=&league=mlb&pnf=&zlpo=&cache=1.gif
Thanks- so Miller wasn’t getting squeezed?
Help me out- I am old school. How do these strike zone boxes allow for the 3-D nature of the strike zone?
Glancing at the pitch tracking, it doesn’t look to me like one team or pitcher was getting better calls at the plate. It looks like Larry Vanover just had an all-around bad night calling balls and strikes.
I’m hardly an expert on this stuff. You’re right: one image doesn’t capture everything that’s going on. There’s a lot more info and charts over at BrooksBaseball that smarter people than me probably understand.
My noob take: the bigger issue was that the home plate ump wasn’t consistent. Most egregious examples from the above chart would be the green dot (ball) right in the middle lower third of the strike zone and the red (strike) & green (ball) dots that are in a nearly identical place at the edge of the zone.
Is that squeezed or not? Miller wasn’t getting much in terms of close calls. But I think the bigger issue was probably just the inconsistency. If the same location is a strike one second and a ball the next, that has to screw with a pitcher.
http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/pfx.php?month=10&day=25&year=2016&game=gid_2016_10_25_chnmlb_clemlb_1%2F&pitchSel=453192&prevGame=gid_2016_10_25_chnmlb_clemlb_1%2F&prevDate=1025&league=mlb
Bode has had this article in the can since December, 1997. He just left the names blank.
In a more just world, Vin Scully would call every World Series.
My favorite bit of ridiculous logic: sure, the Indians got the win, but Miller threw a lot of pitches. Which is the same thing I heard after the first Red Sox games. As though it would have been better to lose the game and keep Miller slightly more fresh.
This is why you always listen to Hammy instead, people. I no nothing of what Buck said last night and my life is far better off because of it.
I had to be reminded why I listen to Hammy despite the 5-10 second delay on game action.
Yes, good point. Pitching him Gm4 is to make sure you can pitch him Gm7 too – if necessary
And, with perfect hindsight, Shaw could have helped accomplish boht
Terrific, a six-demon bag. Sensational. What’s in it, Egg?
not sure the call was so obvious. there’s a justifiable reasoning to trade the run for the double play and Davis admitted he missed Schwarber after the game.
still, I agree with you and Harv. no fault on Davis for going home as there’s a lot going on there. just make the play in front of you. no reason to force anything and there was precious little time to react.
Ruben Niebla too (MiLB pitching co-ordinator) — Verducci’s article today praises all three of those guys
yes, agreed. small sample size HR-rate effect there.
This is a totally scientific strike zone chart posted by a Cubs fan on another site… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/810e6677a0a2e1cb6a53338e8d60e99dc44ffdc3783e5a697b321f7b7d28f3f1.jpg
I wondered where the cutoff man, who is typically the 1st baseman and positions himself just in front of the mound was on that play. No mention of it by anyone on tv. He could have cut off the throw and nailed the guy who drifted off 2nd. On replay, Napoli was near 1st, when there was no reason for him to be there.
Can I have a link to that site?
It’s an anonymous comment at TBL…
http://thebiglead.com/2016/10/25/corey-kluber-cleveland-indians-chicago-cubs/
August Fagerstrom’s article over at Fangraphs is pretty interesting. Ostensibly about Kluber’s two-seamer, it really provides a glimpse into how all these guys contribute to and benefit from each others success
The butthurt is strong with this one.
Fixed the assertion. Thanks.
Are you saying that if I flip on the radio, and pause my DVR for 7 seconds, they’ll be in sync?!? If so, I am in!
Yes, if you have DVR, then you can sync them close enough. Using the FOX app makes it a non-starter (sad for me).
Was really interesting to me, listening to John Smoltz talk about how pitches in the WS near the outer edge were not strikes.
true.
What Rondon threw can hardly be classified as a “slider.” At least not at the major league level. It was, is, and always will be classified as a “hanger.”
That’s always been something that irks me about the “book”: hanging breaking pitches are still counted in the stats as breaking balls – they should have their own category.
I SOOOOOO wanted someone to say something about 1995. To this day I always argue that if we had camera angles and replay like we have now, the Indians would have swept Atlanta in 4 blowouts. That team was as good as I have ever seen.
Fair. Still, Perez had exactly 1 hit anywhere close to that zone in his entire professional career on non-fastballs. So, either no one has ever thrown him a hanger before or he’s never hit one well.
And Michael Martinez. Don’t you ever again forget to laud Michael Martinez.
On balls/strikes, this site https://twitter.com/cubsump has calls going 8-2 in favor of the Cubs.
This is why I’m thankful for DVR. Pause the tv until it’s synced.