Hey, Remember That Time You Hurt The All-Pro WR?
August 22, 2008Looking For Weakness…
August 22, 2008
Indians 10, Royals 3 (box)
Yea! That’s how a real fourth place team does it!
Obviously, I’m speaking in jest. However, there really wasn’t a doubt in my mind – regardless of how awful this team has played this year – that the Cliff Lee-led Indians couldn’t complete the sweep of the Kansas City Royals. Now, did I expect it to come with a seven RBI game from Grady Sizemore? Well, not exactly since lead-off men typically are not your run producers. But I’ll take it.
Lee allowed six hits and fanned seven guys in seven innings of excellent work. The Royals were only able to muster one inning of runs, two of them earned. Rafy Betancourt and Brendan Donnelly combined for two hits in two innings of relief to seal the deal for Lee’s league leading 18th win.
I touched on this a few weeks ago, but a post over at FanIQ rehashes it pretty well.
Lee is now 18-2, for a .900 winning percentage. The rest of the Indians’ pitching staff has a .387 winning percentage (41-65). Cliff Lee alone raises his team’s winning percentage by 81 points (to .468). Brandon Webb’s 19-4 record improves the D-Backs by 66 points (from .462 to .528), and Daisuke Matsuzaka’s 15-2 record has a total affect of +.048 on the Red Sox’ winning percentage.
There really isn’t anything more we can say about the guy. His ERA is still under 2.50. He has a K:BB rate of five and a half, easily the best of his seven-year career. When we need somone to break us out of a slump, Lee answers. And to think that he was battling for the fifth slot in the rotation only five months ago.
And that Sizemore slump we were talking about a few days back? The All-Star center fielder battered the Kansas City picthers to the tune of a .500 batting average with two home runs, four runs score and 10 RBI. He now has 29 home runs and 31 stolen bases for the season. Not too shabby.
Rehab Updates:
Both Victor Martinez and Josh Barfield suited up for Triple-A Buffalo last night. Ironically, Barfield was the designated hitter and went 1-for-4 with a double. Martinez hit clean-up and went 1-for-3 with a double, two walks and a run scored.
The Plain Dealer reports that these three will stay in Buffalo for at least the next day or two. I think we should expect them to be back with the big league squad by mid next week. How much time Barfield gets remains to be seen given Asdrubal Cabrera’s recent play. Kelly Shoppach and Ryan Garko will likely be the odd men out.
10 Comments
Listening to the game on the radio yesterday Hamilton made it sound like they were competing for first in the division. He kept talking about how well the Indians offense has been doing and what they were going to do when Hafner and Martinez come back. He said something to the effect of ‘it will be a tough decision on who loses playing time.’
Really? Is it that tough? Ok, let me help you, ’cause it seems pretty clear to me.
Andy Marte sucks. He could lose all of his playing time and would anyone care? Grrrrr…forget the comment…this deserves a post.
“Kelly Shoppach and Ryan Garko will likely be the odd men out.”
My guess is that Sal Fasano and Andy Gonzalez will be the odd men out.
LM – Rosterwise, yes. But I was speaking more of playing time…
“My guess is that Sal Fasano and Andy Gonzalez will be the odd men out.”
Agreed. play Victor at firsta nd keep him healthy for whatever is left. Shop holds his own behind the plate.
Get rid of Marte and move Peralta to third already. Maybe Barfield at 2nd and Cabrera at short (although one of them will actually need to hit well.)
Cliff Lee is outstanding this year. he has 31% of Clevelands wins.
Looking ahead.
Lee and Carmona will be a great 1-2 next year.
And the Tribe should make a run at Manny Ramirez, offer 20 mil for about 3/4 years. and play him in the outfield with Sizemore and Francisco/Guiterrez.
Although I doubt we would offer that much and someone will probably offer more, but it would be great to have Manny back with the Indians. He’d be worth every cent.
Manny would be worth every cent???
He’s a disaster in the clubhouse. If he gets his big contract, he is letting other players know that they can create the kind of trouble he created in Boston and be paid very well for it.
The Indians will never re-sign Manny. I’m happy they won’t – as much as his production helps, he is detrimental to the clubhouse. Look how badly the Red Sox wanted to get rid of him! They gave up $7 million, Manny, and Hansen for Jason Bay. While Bay has been suprisingly good, I’ve never heard of a team getting rid of a player as productive as Manny, a reliever, and $7 million for a player with the same stats (Bay).
Keep dreaming Brian
Bring back Manny? Let’s bring back Milton Bradley while we’re at it. Is Pete Rose still available to manage? Can Marge Schott be the GM?
stats aren’t everything. a good, cohesive, respectful unit is more productive than a bunch of superstars lumped together. don’t believe me? look at the (non-playoff bound) $200MM Yankees.
Let me first say that I completely agree that Cliff Lee deserves the Cy Young, and I believe he’ll get it.
But that business about adding points to a teams winning percentage is, in my opinion, a horrible way to evaluate a pitcher–worse even than wins, which is a pretty poor indicator. That stat makes it much easier for a pitcher on a bad team to “appear” as a good pitcher. For example, a .500 pitcher has a great effect on a team like the Mariners, but a horrible effect on the Rays. Does it make him better if he’s on the Mariners? Nope.
Regardless, Lee has been dominant this year–far more so than the others you mention and any others I can think of. (If K-Rod wins the Cy Young, I’m quitting this baseball thing) I just hope this dominance doesn’t disappear if/when we start competing for a division title next year.
Jon: Thanks for pointing out the fact that I forgot to blockquote that FanIQ post. They’re the ones that brought up the other names – I’ve also seen Mo Rivera in the mix as well as Joe Saunders, but Lee shouldn’t have an issue with any numbers-based voting.
And thanks for the analysis, I guess I just got caught up in fact that we’re a bad team so I forget that the percentage is all relative!
I think Marge Schott is dead.
So…cross her off then…