How long can LeBron take a beating?
April 22, 2008Beating Up On More Gil’s…
April 23, 2008
It’s hard to imagine that six shutout innings of four-hit baseball (along with 11 strikeouts) would be bringing an ERA down to 10.12, but last night’s win is something that I’d rather embrace and move forward than focus on the previous outings.
Kansas City has now lost five straight games after scorching right out of the gate. I’d love to make that six in a row after tonight as we’ll have our work cut out for us in the hitting department on Thursday when we face Brian Bannister (3-1, 2.42 ERA, 0.96 WHIP). But rather than focusing on the future, let’s recap last night…
The Good:
– Nine Indians recorded hits. Andy Marte went 0-for-0 with a walk, also managing to get on base.
– 7-8-9 batters managed to go 8-for-12 with seven runs and 10 RBI. Huge.
– More runs (15) than men left-on-base (7). I’m not for certain, but I’m willing to bet that it’s been a very long time since we’ve had a game like that.
– Rafy Betancourt striking out two in one inning of relief, though not in a save opportunity
– And obviously, CC’s masterful work.
The Bad:
– While it’s nitpicking in a game like this, Travis Hafner going 0-for-5 in a game like this is unacceptable. He’s one or two more poor games from dipping to .200.
– Jorge Julio managed to walk yet another man in an inning of relief. That’s now six walks in 10 innings, with only seven strikeouts. A 1.50 WHIP won’t get it done out of the pen.
Other than those two things, can you come up with anything? I really can’t. Perhaps if it was a closer game, there would’ve been more to analyze, but as I said above, everything came together in this one. You would just hope that in a blow-out game, there would be less pressure and more time to focus – perhaps resulting in a hit from Pronk or a walk-less inning from Julio.
I’ll take it. Now let’s hope Fausto can toss an ERA-lowering game as well. Even though his is only 1.96… Greedy, I know.
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7 Comments
Nice list Scott, here’s a couple more.
Good- Taking the first game in a series, takes some pressure off of game 2. Jumping out to an early lead, takes pressure off the starter. Dellucci continues to improve at the plate.
Bad- Andy Marte inserted only in a blowout again. Why not make Blake finish the game and start Marte the next day? Blake had a chance to set some career marks as well. Right now Marte probably thinks he’s only good for mop-up. Sabathia not making it out of the sixth inning despite a shutout. Too many pitches per at-bat.
Rick, how about putting Pronk’s but on the bench again until he finds the groove? He did smack one last night, but right at the CF. Put Blake at DH, put Marte at 3rd. Someone is getting the shaft now that Blake has found his swing, and it may as well be the anchor (both positive and negative connotation there, folks) of the lineup.
I almost had a heart attack there for a moment…..Blake as the DH? Found his stroke?? I’m all for sending Hafner a message, or lighting a fire under him or whatever it is that happens to these guys when they don’t get to play for a couple days, but I’ve never seen Blake and DH in the same sentance before!
Here’s ths thing, the Indians beat up a guy who had nothing yesterday. I was happy to see them beat up on Gobble as well, but you know that guy couldn’t have been as focused as he normally is when he faces us. The Indians need to be consistent against good pitching, not just unload on Gil Meche and Verlander when they are struggling.
Well, I can tell you why Blake started this game. He’s hitting .478 off Gil Meche in 23 career ABs against him. In general, I agree its time to get Marte some starts, but not against Meche. He’s hitting .320 off Greinke in his career, too…..I guess Casey likes playing the Royals.
i think it might be time for a shakeup on the coaching staff….something has to be done about hafner, and ifderek shelton isn’t getting thru to him anymore, than we need to do something. what do u guys think?
I think that’s an interesting thought. I mean, how can you tell….is Hafner just old and slow now, or is he doing something wrong that a different hitting coach could fix? I’m not sure.
I’m inclined to think we just have bad hitters on the team, but I just don’t know.
i just think back to when we ridded ourselves of murray for shelton, and the spark that insued. i guess i’m hoping that same thing would happen. i still can’t convince myself that hafner is “too old” or “just lost it”. i think that he lost his confidence. we’ve talked about it before, ever since that ball to the helmet against buehrle, he hasn’t been the same. he’s afraid to dive into a ball and drive it to left field. someone’s gotta be able to fix that.