While We’re Waiting… Damon Jones, MLB Reallignment, and Dwight Howard’s Techs
April 9, 2010Bulls 109, Cavs 108: Balanced Bulls Trump Mo’s Big Night
April 9, 2010This is Acta Ball. Gritty. Gutty. Smart. Timely. I’m sorry, but I can’t help my enthusiasm. Last night’s 11-inning, 5-3 win over the White Sox was the kind of game that Eric Wedge’s teams surely would have lost in the past two years. Blame the expectations, blame the bad bullpens. But I believe it’s a fact.
The Indians won a season opening road series in which they easily could have been swept. However, this is why you play nine innings or in last night’s this case, 11.
I said before the season that they key for the Indians was going to be the starting pitching. Now that wasn’t a reach to say and I am certainly not the only one who said it, but nevertheless, the rotation remains the team’s biggest question mark. Justin Masterson made his first start last night on a frigid, bone chilling, South Side night.
To say his outing was a success would be an understatement. Using his deceptive delivery, he kept the Sox off balance and at bay. The right-hander pitched five innings of one one run ball – and that one run was courtesy of a complete joke of a home plate umpire for the second night in a row – allowing four hits, walking two and striking out five.
SIDE NOTE – The home plate umpiring these last two nights was about as bad as I’ve ever seen. Masterson’s 3-2 pitch that walked Carlos Quentin to force in a run was right down the middle, belt high – the same strike Bruce Dreckman had been calling most of the night. Even more egregious was Tony Sipp’s 3-2 pitch to Mark Teahen in the sixth with two men out. Tribe catcher Lou Marson and Sipp both began walking off the field. Everyone, including Teahen, looked stunned at the ball call.
Masterson looked like he’d get his first win of the season, thanks to the now healthy Grady Sizemore. Michael Brantley started the third inning with a single – again this is why Acta has him batting ninth, it essentially creates a 1-2-3 that the Tribe brass (and the fans) want to see – Brantley followed by Asdrubal Cabrera and Grady. After an error moved Brantley over to second, AC bunted him over to third. Grady sharply singled to right-center, putting the Tribe ahead 1-0.
In the fifth, the Brantley/Sizemore duo was at it again. Brantley walked with one out and Sizemore, in a two-out RBI spot, laced a double to the gap in right-center. The speedy rookie Brantley scored all the way from first. Having the kid in the lineup makes all the difference in terms of speed; something the Tribe has sorely lacked for years. \
“He showed in spring training that he’s healthy and ready to go, and this guy’s going to be an All-Star for us again,” Acta said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going to be able to do what he did before he got hurt.”
Grady wasn’t done. But we will get to that.
The bullpen needed to get the last 12 outs to preserve the 2-1 lead. That thought is always scary to Indians fans. Jamey Wright and Tony Sipp got through the sixth unscathed. But in the seventh, Sipp walked Juan Pierre to open the inning. Like the night before, Acta went to righty Joe Smith to face Gordon Beckham, Carlos Quentin, and Paul Konerko. Beckham sacrificed Pierre into scoring position, bringing up the beefy Quentin. The lead was gone with a one two-run blast. Nothing like an 88 mph straight fastball right down main street to the Sox #3 hitter. Smith was too good to be true two nights ago and Acta had no choice but to use him in that situation. Smith recovered to strike out the next two.
This Tribe team, now trailing 3-2, was not going away quietly. The seemingly untouchable Sox lefty Matt Thornton easily dispatched Sizemore and Choo to open the eighth, but Travis Hafner managed a tough single. Jhonny Peralta stepped to the plate in a huge spot. This was one of those chances that the 2009 version of Jhon would have failed with a whiff. This time was different as he went the other way against the lefty and perfectly placed a liner into the right-center gap which went all the way to the wall. With Pronk lumbering around the bases and me waiving my right arm windmill style in my living room, Hafner managed to score all the way from first to tie the game. It was a thing of beauty.
So again, it was going to become a game of who’s bullpen was going to falter first. Rafael Perez, the only Wahoo reliever who hadn’t seen the field yet, came on to pitch the bottom of the eighth. Other than a one out walk to Alex Rios, Perez left got the job done. On to the ninth we went, tied at three. Sox closer Bobby Jenks pitched around a Beckham error and a Brantley sac bunt where the Indians failed to scratch across the lead run. Perez put two on the bottom of the ninth (single, intentional walk) with one out, but worked out of the jam by retiring Tribe killer Konerko and Andruw Jones. Sox lefty Randy Williams took care of the top of the 10th, Tribe righty Jensen Lewis, who looked very sharp again, knocked out the bottom of the 10th.
Then came the breakthrough.
Against the hard-throwing J.J. Putz, Luis Valbuena took a chance. He started the inning with a perfectly place bunt single to third. Later we would find out he was bunting on his own. Lou Marson sacrificed him into scoring position – that’s right, the Indians bunted a man over successfully!! After Brantley struck out swinging, AC took his turn to be the hero. The budding stud hit what would be the game-winning RBI single to right, bringing in Sweet Luis. Sizemore followed him with a double to deep right, scoring AC.
“The at-bat by Cabrera was huge,” Acta said. “The way he battled Putz after two strikes. Then Grady had a huge hit to give us a two-run lead.”
Chris Perez pitched a perfect bottom of the 11th to close out a grit-filled series win.
“It would have been easy after Smitty gave up that homer for us to pack it in, especially with the way the weather is,” Perez said. “But we’re not going to give up. I think that’s going to be a trademark of this team.”
Man, do I love reading that.
Our beloved Red, White, and Blue are 2-1 and head to Detroit for the Tigers home opener today at 1, kind of a cruel joke played by the schedule maker. Why would they have had the Indians play a night game in Central time, then turn around and head to another road stop to play an afternoon game? Regardless, David Huff takes the mound for the Indians, he will face Tiger phenom Rick Porcello.
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(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
27 Comments
WE ARE ON PACE TO WIN 108 GAMES!! GO TRIBE!! WORLD SERIES HERE WE COME!!!
Not just the call on Sipp’s pitch to Teahen, but the pitch that Jenks then got Grady on in the 9th to end the inning. Talk about inconsistent strike zones…
When I saw Cabrera successfully bunt Brantley over to third, followed by an RBI single by Sizemore, I nearly wept. I’m serious. I’m a fan of an AL team, but I love small ball for some reason. I’d rather see two hits and a sacrifice, than two strike outs and a home run.
fantastic game last night…hope they continue to have that relaxed look and the ability to fight back, rather than pack it in…
Hafner chugging around the bases to score from first was great…he looked surprised he scored…haha..
the bullpen still frightens me…Jamey Wright looks every bit of the journeyman he is…don’t know that he will be here at the end of the season…but I’ve been wrong before…
The umpiring in this series was horrendous…the Sipp pitch was literally over the middle of the plate…that was re-freaking-diculous…I don’t understand why there’s such a horrible inconsistancy with regards to the strike zone…unacceptable…its not just one or two pitches…it was a LOT of pitches…
@2 – agreed…that pitch was not a strike by any stretch…there were 2 other ones that I noticed…a high fastball to Luis that was eye level…and another curve to Choo that he couldnt have reached unless he was standing on the plate…
not sure Acta is one to argue balls and strikes, but cmon…I was surprised Guillen didnt say something…but then again, he was benefitting seemingly more than us…although to be fair, the strike zone was bad for both teams, it seemed like the strike zone for us was worse with 2 strikes…
Needs less Lou Marson.. Is Santana ready yet?
I’m mildly encouraged by the way the team has played to start off the season, given that April was historically such a black hole during the Wedge era. Wasn’t the Tribe something like 0-13 at this point in the season last year?
Unless the Indians either get more length out of their starters (Carmona/Masterson have a bad habit of racking up big pitch counts), I am terribly concerned that the extremely lackluster right-handed middle relievers we have (Smith/Wright) won’t be able to stay out of trouble.
Was nice to see Perez pitch well, and Jensen Lewis looked nice and solid too. So far the team has played solid baseball, and after last year’s debacle it’s really, really nice to see.
@JK: I was at the Clippers game last night, and Santana sure looked ready to go. Got the recap of that game coming at noon today.
@Robbie #3: Me too, if only for the reason that I’d rather have someone who will likely make contact and hit a single up in the clutch than someone who might hit a home run 10% of the time but whiff 75% of the time.
A winning record? wahoo!
On the ump, how about that outside pitch to Choo for a strike… Are these guys really this awful at calling balls and strikes?
I was gonna say something about the umping too, there was a hanging curve that landed high and wide to I believe Valbuena. And he called it a strike, Valbuena looked back at the ump like dude are you on crack. Less to say he was pretty pathetic.
@7 a fantastic point. While I don’t want to overreact to three games, I sure hope that the Tribe is over their April problems that always plagued them under the Wedge era. You can already see the changes with the wonderful sac bunting.
I don’t know what was worse, Dreckman’s strike zone or having to listen to the White Sox announcers on Extra Innings. Its is agonizing listening to them.
Two things: Loved Perez calling out the media postgame. While it’s only two games, these guys have been getting crushed by media all off-season. And two, no Brantley or LaPorta today in Detroit.
Why Scott? Rest? We’re 3 games in!
Branyan was 3/3 in Columbus last night.. Oh no…
Ya the umpiring was awful on both sides. I was unfortunately watching the sox feed… And even the blindly biased hawk admitted that those calls against the Indians were terrible. He obviously said the sox were screwed over more but I was shocked that even he could give an honest opinion!
“Why Scott? Rest? We’re 3 games in!”
Not sure why – they’re both playing very well thus far. Marte and Kearns will get the nod. Teams tend to do this when a day game follows a night game – I’m surprised Marson is catching, assuming that he is. I haven’t heard differently.
(1) It’s early and there is still a lot of baseball to play.
(2) Against a truly elite pitcher — Buerhle — Tribe hitters were cut down like warm knife through butter.
(3) *BUT* I love the small ball instincts of this team (Valbuena bunting on his own) and the never-say-die attitude (coming from behind in the 8th inning on a frigid night on the road). As I’ve said all along, while I desperately want a winner, I’d be satisfied with an exciting, young team that plays hard and looks like it’s having fun. So far so good.
@ PNR – Maybe this is the kind of team that will do better when no one is watching. Opening day – big crowds, media spolight, 6-0 loss. Next two days – half empty ballpark, rain, two impressive wins. It’d be great to see the Tribe use the apathy this city has toward them to their advantage.
man, you guys are such a buzzkill…who cares what they do from now on…can’t anyone be remotely happy that we actually played well in adverse conditions? *sigh*
and while Buerhle is a good pitcher, I dont really consider him elite…very good yes, elite no…i’d argue there are only bout 8-10 elite pitchers PERIOD, let alone starters…yes hes good, but hes not elite…(just my opinion)
Someone tell me the home plate umpire is going to be reviewed, fined, and/or fired after his miserable attempt to call the ball game last night. It was unreal, I’ve never seen umping that bad. one or two borderline calls, I can understand and give the ump a break. But last night was unbelievable. Props to the Tribe for pulling out a gritty extra-inning away win for a series victory. Let’s keep it rolling into De-troit!
@DK: Not intending to be a buzzkill – I’m excited and loving the start of baseball season. Hope that message came out.
Re: Buerhle, I mean, we can quibble all day long about what it means to be “elite” vs. “very good.” But dude threw a perfect game in late July 2009 to run his record to 11-3. He lost some games down the stretch to finish 13-10 — and his ERA was in the high 3’s — but I think when you are a lefty who has recently thrown a perfect game, you’re elite – period.
@22 – maybe i mistakenly thought your comment about the fact that an elite pitcher (in your opinion) shut the tribe down…but my argument is, if the pitcher is truly elite, *shouldnt* that happen?
I would also argue that there are quiet a few pitchers who have pitched a perfect game that are not elite, and many elite pitchers who’ve never pitched a perfect game…hitting for the cycle does not make you an elite hitter…turning an unassisted triple play does not make you an elite defender…etc etc…Pujols might be the best hitter in the history of the game, but he’s never hit for the cycle…
again…buerhle is very good, but I (personally) dont find him to be elite…
I still am a firm believer that good pitching beats good hitting 95% of the time…so if the pitcher is “on” that night, its much easier to shutdown a team taht might be loaded offensively…
if choo and hafner start showing up to hit our offense will really be something to watch…
Just 159 more games left pace yourself people especially TD! 😉
Break up the Tribe.
Watching Brantley put up completely relaxed, professional at bats the last few days, somebody please remind me why a, ahem, “developing” team wants to give his roster spot to RFB (Russell Freakin’ Branyan). Sometimes the seemingly asinine decisions your home team makes are, in retrospect, just in fact really asinine.
Imagine I see a split screen of Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein tucking in their napkins and pounding their silverware on the table every time Grady steps in the box. C’mon Mark, you don’t want to have to pay the whole $7 million this year! Lookie here, got some real nice prospects for ya.
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