WFNY Podcast #17
April 15, 2009Did Terry Pluto Just Jinx the Cavs?
April 15, 2009Yesterday, Yahoo!’s Jeff Passan featured a lengthy post regarding the liklihood of rough starts that result in playoff births. It went a little something like this…
It gets uglier when looking at the full seasons of the wild-card era. Since 1996, only three teams have finished above .500 after starting 1-6: the ’04, ’06 and ’07 Phillies, who seem to have a knack for reversing ugly starts.
The Indians, on the other hand, have started 1-6 twice since 1982. They went 60-102 the first time, 61-101 the second.
Nothing like hitting you hard right out of the gate, right? Well, things got a bit worse within the same day as the Indians fell to the Royals yet again, this time by the tune of 9-3. If you didn’t watch the game, you’re likely thinking “Pavano!” Or perhaps “Strikeouts!” The latter may be true, as the Indians struck out 11 times last night, right around their season average. But the former was not so much.
Pavano actually looked relatively good, not even needing to compare things to his brutal start to the 2009 season. He struck out eight hitters, walking none, in six innings. He only allowed eight hits – but the big problem was the girth of said hits as he gave up three doubles, a triple and a home run during his six-inning stretch. In fact, if it wasn’t for the solo home run to Jack Buck in the 5th, Pavano would have actually had a quality start.
Not that that would have mattered after Rafael Perez continued his Implosion World Tour. We’re talking about a guy that had a K/9 rate over nine last season, and was as consistent as things came with the Tribe bullpen. Instead, his 1.1 innings resulted in zero strikeouts, three walks, two hits and four earned runs. Sure, it was Vinnie Chulk that allowed the actual grand slam, but Perez was saved earlier in the game by a great play by Mark DeRosa at third that saved a run.
All in all, Royals catcher Jack Buck played like Johnny Bench yet again against the Cleveland Indians. He’s a career .236 hitter. Last season, Buck hit .270 against us. So far this season, albeit a small sample, Buck is hitting .500 with two home runs (both last night). He’s also a guy that throws out 11 percent of would-be base stealers, and he nabbed Josh Barfieldin the eighth when Eric Wedge put him in as a pinch-runner, as he is one of our fastest guys. Yeah, not so much. Could be why he’s being sent to Columbus to make room for Aaron Laffey.
Shin-Soo Choo and Grady Sizemore were absolutely worthless at the top of the order. Mark DeRosa and Victor Martinez each had two hits in between them (Choo hit fourth with Hafner getting a night off), and Grady and Choo combined for three strikeouts and seven men left on base. In the eighth inning, after a lead-off single by Victor Martinez, Choo had one of the worst strikeouts I’ve seen all year. All three strikes were swinging, not one of them at an actual strike, and not an inkling of contact. It was like he hadn’t seen the on-deck circle before the at-bat. Unreal.
But while I keep attempting to tell myself that the season is still young, and that the lineups are bound to change, and this isn’t the same team that we’ll see come mid-summer, here are a few trends that I did like in last night’s game…
– I should mention Pavano again. He was inducing ground balls early on and striking out batters later in the game. Missing bats is big, and if we’re going to strike out a lot, we may as well attempt to have our opposition do the same.
– Both Jhonny Peralta and Kelly Shoppach used the opposite field to help manufacture runs. Peralta finally recorded an RBI, blooping a single to right that scored Victor Martinez. Peralta is quietly hitting 12 points above his career average, so it was bound to turn around for him.
– Pinch running Barfield in the eighth was a good sign of actual in-game management. Unfortunately, it ended the inning during a strikeout-throwout. Wedge can pick the guys, but he’s not the one running out there.
– Also, Wedge gave the steal sign to Ben Francisco earlier in the game. He stole second and advanced to third on a terrible throw by Buck. He would later score. I’m growing impatient with the guy, but at least Wedge is recognizing that he needs to do something different out there.
Aaron Laffey gets the nod tonight against Sid Ponson. Ponsonis 0-1 witha 6.00 ERA, but he did face the Yankees. A second win would be nice, especially since 1-8 would be very, very rough to overcome for those that are clinging to a .500 April – a month that still features four games against New York and three against Boston.
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(AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
12 Comments
For the first time ever this year, I wasn’t really pumped for the season to start, and I kinda felt bad. Maybe it was because the Cavs are doing so well, but I really didn’t care much. Now I don’t feel so bad.
WFNY when the indians will be .500 again (0-0).
Why did Wedge wait until after Choo hit to pinch-run Barfield for Martinez? If it was the right play to pinch-run with one out, why wasn’t it the right play with none out? If you pinch-run sooner, Barfield could have scored on a Choo double that Martinez wouldn’t have scored on, or had more time to pick a good pitch to steal on. The only benefit I can see of waiting is if Choo had hit a homer Martinez could have stayed in the game. But what’s more likely?
Why did Wedge roll Raffy Left out two innings in a row. I was calling for Jensen Lewis in the 8th. Oh well. Hine-site is always 50-50.
Barfield being sent to the minors is ridiculous. He wasn’t a loud mouth (I.E. Brandon Phillips) He’s accepted his role, and he hasn’t been given an opportunity to play this season (like the rotting corpse of Tony Graffinino). Maybe they should’ve sent Masa or Perez or Chulk down. Hoynes wrote a little blurb about it today, and it’s actually one of the only things I have ever agreed with that he’s written. Just venting a little I guess.
Also, We notice that the guys on our team who are struggling the most participated in the WBC. Perez, Choo, DeRosa, Etc. Also around the majors you see the same trend. Dice-K, Ichiro, Oliver Perez, Ryan Braun, etc., I think the MLB really needs to realign that tournament so it doesn’t affect players before the season. I mean millions of dollars are at stake for guys and our team. Just a thought.
more and more i think wedge wont last thru the year. when will it even be safe to watch the tribe!? the last week has been painful baseball
So is it time to fire Eric Wedge? I know a lot of this is not his fault, but somehow we have to light a fire under this team. I don’t know why they suck so badly, although not picking up or trading for a starter other than Pavano does come to mind, but this is getting old fast.
Did Ben Sheets ever sign with anyone? I don’t know if he did. Tell me he wouldn’t be worth some money that we are giving some of these bums. It looks like 07 was the aberration for Fausto, not last year, and that last year was the aberration for Lee and not 07.
And how can the offense leave this many people on base constantly? This is probably the part I would blame on Wedge. Can we practice situational hitting please????
Two on to start the top of the second, aaaaand Garko hits into a DP then Benny strikes out.
Indians take on a 1-0 lead on a manufactured run in the third inning. Graffffanino walks then advances to second on a sacrifice by Asdrubal. Grady then drives in the Grafffffman in on a single to give us the lead.
Laffey just got a huge double play in the third, and it looks like the Tribe might actually have a lead for more than an inning…
Did Jacob Rosen just jinx the Tribe?
Laff and Graff are leading the way today. Laffey has gone five with five strikeouts, and only allowing two hits and two walks. Graffanino has a double, and that walk and runs scored.
I’m with Matt from Lyndhurst: Keeping Raffy Left in another inning is exactly the kind of mistake that Wedge/Willis make all the time. When the game is close and you have a number of relief options, why not stick someone else in, who’s got a fresh arm (and keep Raffy Left reasonably fresh, should you need him the next game)?