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June 17, 2010
The Indians lost their third game in a row in interleague play last night against the New York Mets at Progressive Field, where audible “Let’s Go Mets!” chants could be heard in the sparse crowd of just over fourteen thousand. Mitch Talbot, who lasted only four innings behind poor fielding in his last outing, struggled again and was bounced from the game in the 6th after giving up 8 earned runs. The fielding behind him was once again less than stellar although each run on this night was officially earned and was not quite the abomination in the field we witnessed the night before and that Justin Masterson was a victim of.
The game was blown open in the top of the third when the Mets strung together 6 hits in a row against Talbot. This included an amazing stretch of four doubles in a row as they ran laps around the bases for a 10 minute stretch. Talbot continually left the ball out over the right half of the plate where it was not getting in on right handed hitters and vulnerable to lefties taking it off the left field wall the other way.
His outfielders, Austin Kearns in center and Shelley Duncan in right, are not the most rangy athletic guys in the league and it abetted the disastrous inning. Duncan was turned around on an Ike Davis fly ball that just as well could have been an error. Jason Bay followed the Duncan mishap with the final double in the gap, where Kearns, lacking ideal speed, dove but could not get to it in time. The Mets finished the inning with 5 runs crossing and the game basically out of reach. Acta addressed the Duncan play after the game: “We didn’t sign Shelley because we think he can win a Gold Glove…We signed him because of his bat and his ability to hit left-handers. It takes a lot of games out there to get used to that wall. We’re not going to blame him for that. They hit the ball off the wall.” It was still a play that needed to be made and one that Rick Manning correctly asserted is an error, unofficially. Duncan would get some of the runs back for his team when he hammered a pitch into the “Social Deck” for a two run homer in the 4th.
Carlos Santana, for the first time behind the plate since his call up last week, struggled a bit on defense. He and Talbot were not on the same page all night and they were all over the place when runners were on base. We have been told repeatedly that Santana was held back to work on his defense – namely calling a crisp game and transferring the ball from his glove on throws to 2nd. Last night was the first real bump in the road on this end. Talbot alluded to the communication difficulties and insinuated that it increased his struggles in what was his worst start of the season – a start where every batter in the Mets lineup got a hit totaling an amazing 13 hits in 6 innings. Santana also made a bad baserunning mistake when he overslid 2nd on what should have been an RBI double and would have brought the tying run to the plate in a 5-3 game.
After a shaky start to the 6th which saw Talbot give up 3 more runs, reliever Frank Hermann made his 6th appearance of the season. Hermann immediately struck out David Wright to end the inning. He pitched a 1-2-3 7th and has still not allowed a run in the 6 innings pitched since being called up. He was throwing hard last night and, for this month, appears to be the Tribe’s most reliable pitcher out of the bullpen. This seems to be a monthly contest and as we have seen with Tony Sipp, it can change quickly and drastically.
While Talbot and the Tribe defense flailed along, Jon Niese of the Mets scattered 8 hits and kept the Wahoo offense in check. The Duncan homer was the only major blemish for Niese, an Ohio native who was drafted by the Mets out of Defiance HS. Niese is having a great month for the Mets and the Indians were happy to oblige his winning streak last night.
Travis Hafner, who has been hitting really well and chipped in last night with another hit and 2 walks, will be put on ice at a most inopportune time as he becomes the most expensive pinch hitter in the game with the Tribe’s 10 game homestead wrapping up tonight against the Mets. Interleague play will move down the road to Pittsburgh. It is a 7:05 start on getaway day. Jake Westbrook will go for the Tribe and R.A. Dickey – an inconsistent starter who is having a good season – will pitch for the Mets.
(Photo: Chuck Crow/Plain Dealer)
6 Comments
The pitch location on those four doubles he gave up we’re absolutely atrocious…to call them meat balls would be an understatement.
Looks like Mitch has hit the wall of course his defense hasn’t exactly helped. Welcome back to reality with the three game skid.
That tag attempt @ 2nd by Valbuena was pretty bad. Didn’t think he needed to actually tag the guy to get him out huh?
Glad Brantley is @ AAA while Kearns and Duncan man the OF. Very sweet.
I blame Strasberg… Ever since he took the mound Sunday we have lost all momentum and confidence – of which the team had very little
@3 – Shelly Duncan looked like a little leaguer on that ball he missed near the track, and Kearns is miserable in center…he did his best Trevor Crowe impression diving for that ball in the gap and came up about a foot and a half short. In short, I agree.
Watched this game at a local watering hole with my Yankee-fan friend, who summed things up nicely after that Duncan play at the track: “Shelley Duncan played for us at one point. Hit a homer in his first Yankee at-bat. I didn’t realize he was still alive”