Indians Bullpen Implosion Has Cavalier Effect
August 6, 2008Could Next Year Be Close in Columbus?
August 7, 2008Rays 10, Indians 7 (box)
Eric. Please. Please. Please. Just let Rafael Perez be your closer. Yes, the bullpen as a whole is God awful. Epic fail. I get that. But when you have yet another quality start by Jeremy Sowers (who was overmatched on paper against Scott Kazmir), you simply cannot allow your ‘pen to blow this game. Yes, I know that Perez had already tossed two innings. And he had two innings not long before then. But enough is enough.
Over the last five appearances by Perez, he has tossed nine and a third innings. He has struck out 12, while walking none. Zero. He’s only allowed two hits, and – needless to say – has allowed no batters to cross the plate. If yesterday’s game really was one of the worst defeats of the season (which is saying an awful lot given that we have 64 of them to choose from), it’s time you make a decision and let Perez handle the final innings.
Ryan Garko is lucky. He’s lucky that a game which started off with his benching resulted in another debacle for him to hide behind. My mention of a leg injury was simply spreading what was reported on RotoWorld. Turns out that Rick was correct in his assessment of laziness.
Johnny Peralta, on the other hand, is very unlucky. Peralta went 5-for-5 (which is practically unheard of… unless you’re Kelly Shoppach) with two doubles, his 19th home run of the season, two runs scored and two RBI. Had he had any speed at all, we could have hoped for a cycle; but that would just be greedy. To update Johonny’s post All-Star numbers: .349/.364/.605/.969
Not bad, Jhonny. I just wish we could translate this to more wins.
Indianapolis Indians 3, Bisons 2 (box)
The Bisons were simply stifled yesterday, striking out 10 times; five against Indianapolis starter Daniel McCutchen. Trevor Crowe, Jordan Brown, and Jorge Velandia combined to go 0-for-10 with three Ks. The unfortunate part is that all three runs scored by Indy were all unearned thanks to fielding errors by Bryan Bullington in the fourth and Tony Graffanino in the seventh. A passed ball in the eighth sealed the deal.
Aeros 6, Curve 3 (box)
Akron had a little more luck than their big brother, topping the Altoona Curve thanks to four runs in the final three innings. A bases-loaded double by Jose Costanza in the seventh put the Aeros on top for good. A sac fly by Costanza followed by a Josh Rodriguez single in the ninth just made things a bit more comfortable. After all, Masa Kobayashi wasn’t available to pitch for the Aeros.
Outfielders Bronson Sardinha and Nate Panther combined to go 4-for-7 with four runs scored. Brandon Pinckney added two runs on his 2-for-4 day. Closer Randy Newsome notched his 26th save of the season, striking out one batter.
Pelicans 9, Kinston Indians 6 (box)
The Single-A Tribe were walloped once again by the Pelicans, who went undefeated on their most recent homestand.
Catcher Carlos Santana went 2-for-5 with a home run, a double, two runs scored and two RBI. To give you a quick stat update: .368/.400/.632/1.032 through 38 at-bats. Relief pitcher Neil Wagner struck out batters 75, 76 and 77 in his one inning of relief work (60 IP on the year).
Jammers 5, Scrappers 3 (box)
You’ll never believe this, but the Scrappers lost this game thanks to a blown save! Crazy, I know!
After five innings of one-hit, seven-strikeout ball by starter Eric Berger (2-0, 1.45 ERA), reliever Mike McGuire came in and allowed four earned runs in one inning of work. Very “Major League” of them.
And since I know you’re curious, first round selection Lonnie Chisenhall went 3-for-5 with a double and three RBI. Chisenhall played shortstop yet again and batted third.
13 Comments
I’m glad i was unable to make this game… i might have had to storm the field and knock some heads together. Good show to Sowers though too bad the relievers blew it for him.
Per the last comment I made on another post: I totally agree with you on Perez.
Great for Jhonny. I dread Victor’s or Hafner’s comeback, because I’m almost certain Wedge will move Peralta from the cleanup spot, and this production will suddenly vanish, and we’ll hear about how “x is our cleanup guy, as well as Jhonny has done in x’s absence” and “Hitting cleanup was a great learning experience for Jhonny, and now he’s just got to make the mental adjustment to being back in the 5th/6th spot in the lineup.”
I think Victor would hit third in front of Jhonny, but Hafner would probably get the 4th spot from Wedge.
@LM: Similar to how “X was our closer” before being waived…
Six runs. Zero outs. Awful.
Is ‘awful’ a stat? Should be…
Look on the bright side….if we had been up 10 the Rays could have kept batting?
its never a good sign when your ERA for the day is “inf.”
You think the MLB could at least incorporate ‘awful’ into a stat for this year so the Indians could be leading in something?
Per Elias Sports Bureau:
Why does this not surprise me?
Who has to look those things up? Can you imagine how time consuming that must be?
But yet it’s a job I would love to have. I know stats like that don’t mean anything, but they’ve still always fascinated me.
Give me a million dollars. I can throw perfect meatballs too.