While We’re Waiting… Honoring Joe Tait, Interviewing Pure Rage and Questioning the Cavs
April 13, 2011Keeping the “S” in Scrappy: Mitch Talbot’s Upside
April 13, 2011It had to come to an end at some point.
The Indians offense ran into a buzzsaw named Dan Haren last night in Anaheim. The stud right-hander was masterful in holding them to just one hit in a complete game shutout, 2-0 win. The L brought the eight-game winning streak to a halt, but didn’t stop the Indians resolve.
Shin-Soo Choo, the owner of the Tribe’s lone hit on the night, was seen in the locker room after the game telling his teammates “we’ll start again tomorrow.”
This loss can be chalked up to a great pitching performance, pure and simple. You could see it from the first three hitters. Haren (3-0, 0.73 ERA) wasn’t going to be touched. His breaking pitch was borderline unhittable.
“To end our streak it was going to have to take a well-pitched ball game by a guy like him,” Manny Acta said. “He’s one of the best pitchers in the game. He’s a legit No.1 guy.”
“He was in complete command of the ballgame,” Acta said. “He had all his offspeed pitches working for him. He had a very good cutter. He was able to backdoor his breaking ball to lefties for first-pitch strikes.
“Then, he could throw that split as he usually does, down in the zone for a chase pitch, a strikeout pitch.”
His players were in agreement.
Said Choo on Haren: “He’s not a power pitcher, but he had really good mechanics and he had good mechanics on his off-speed pitch — down and away with his curveball and split.”
“That’s baseball. Sometimes you’re going to run into a guy who has a performance like that,” Travis Hafner said. “He was throwing four pitches and locating all of them and changing speeds. He was throwing a lot of off-speed stuff for strikes, and nothing was really in the middle of the plate.”
Hafner is right. Sometimes you are just going to have to tip your cap to the opposing pitcher. Its a shame too, because for the second straight time, Fausto Carmona didn’t receive any run support. The Tribe ace made just two mistakes on the night – long balls to Peter Bourjas and Mark Trumbo. Other than that, Fausto pitched well. He went seven and two-thirds, allowing the two runs on four hits. He struck out six and walked three.
Over his last two starts, he is winless, yet has allowed just two earned runs in 14.2 innings of work. His team has scored just one run total in support of him.
“He did everything you can ask for,” said Acta.
So on to the final game of the six game road trip we go. The 4:05 Pacific start should benefit the pitchers with the shadows. Carlos Carrasco (1-1, 5.68) makes his third start of the year and tries to start a new streak for the Wahoos. Ervin Santana (0-1, 3.68 ERA) goes for the Angels.
(AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
27 Comments
Haren was throwing bb’s last night. I can handle the streak stopping because of such a performance. Poor Fausto looked pretty good too.
Love Choo’s comment. Of course, talk is cheap, but I like the attitude from which the comment came. I am ready for 7:05 EDT. Hope the Tribe is. A 5-1 road trip would be just awesome.
that Dan Haren fellow is pretty good I hear.
Was there, few noticed the one hitter till the 8th, and by then, most around me were surprised how quick the game was. Though, honestly, it felt like all of cleveland’s good line drives went right to a glove.
If you’re going to get beat, you’d rather get beat by a great performance by the opposing pitcher rather than failure to execute, etc. It’s not that the Indians hitters were terrible last night, it’s just that Haren was that good.
In my mind, tonight the season really begins. The Tribe overcame the adversity of losing those first two games to the White Sox to go on the 8 game winning streak. Tonight we see how they handle just getting beat down by good pitching.
@ AMC — I 100% agree. How we respond to adversity when not every single thing goes our way will define our team. We have shown we can do it once; if we can rebound twice, that will mean oodles more. 5-1 on the road is superb.
The Tribe ran into a buzzsaw in Dan Haren. I’m not going to fault them for not hitting this guy… watched a lot of the game on MLB.com’s gamecast, and Haren (and Carmona) were getting lots of calls outside of the strike zone, which makes hitting tough. In addition to that, Haren threw about 6 different pitches last night, and was throwing them all for strikes keeping them out of the middle of the plate. He’s throwing as well as anybody in the league right now. I’m just glad the Tribe doesn’t have to face Haren and Weaver in the same series.
Commented before I read the article and realized that TD and I both used “buzzsaw” to describe Dan Haren… well played TD, you beat me to the punch!
@Nobody – how was the crowd? I haven’t been to Edison (or whatever they call it now) since the Angel’s were the “IT” team in SoCal. Are the fans still as boisterous and fun or is the OC as bad at front-running as the other LA teams?
Just curious. Thanks.
Headline error alert.
Unless you meant:
Angels 1 Indians 0: Haren Stops Streak at Eight and he didn’t even need the second run.
Taking the series tonight could still give this team a lot of momentum coming home on friday. Let’s go Carlos!
from hoynsie:
Haren (3-0, 0.73 ERA) is 7-0 in his past 12 appearances, including 10 starts, dating back to last year. In that stretch he has 69 strikeouts in 76 2/3 innings.
no shame in losing to this guy. (altho a no-hitter would have been a blow.) haren is a pitcher’s pitcher. i still like how we worked the counts with him; still seeing lots of 7-8 pitch ABs which is good.
tonite is pretty important to bring the good momentum back home to cleveland.
Haren was dealing, that was beautiful. If the Angels tank, wonder whether he might be made available at trade deadline. They need an impact OF, maybe straight up for Grady.
{Tribe Fever: Bask in its heat for as long as it lasts)
Haren for Grady? Thst 8 game streak has Harv fantasizing. Angels already have a crowded outfield plus I can’t imagine them giving up their ace for a injury risk like Grady. But nice thought.
@ Shamrock: why must you persist in refusing to Feel the Fever? Join me, don’t fight me.
the ’27 Yankees would have lost last night the way Haren’s off speed pitches were placed.
tip of the cap to him.
with that out the way; let’s get back on track today and take this series.
I really hope to see Santana with the day off and Marson in his place. He is pressing too hard right now and needs these next two days to chill.
Love the Indians, but have a tough time watching Carmona pitch. He seemed to always pitch from behind in the count; seldom throws a first pitch strike; looks like he has no idea where the ball is going. I went to bed with the Angels leading 1 – 0 and feeling the Tribe had no chance. For me, Carmona is so frustrating to watch, even when he is effective.
geez christopher, you’re right!
http://www.whatifsports.com/x.asp?r=394918&u=/slb/Boxscore.aspx?gid=3265158.ppid=.ppbp=0.ptf=
“Commented before I read the article”
Oy.
@#17 When Carmona was struggling a couple years back it was frustrating to watch but giving up two runs over seven innings? I’ll take that kinda of frustration from every starter every night every season. For a guy that got shelled in historical fashion in his first start to two quality starts since is quite impressive. Just lost to a better pitcher last night.
I think 159-3 will still be good enough to win the Central this year. I like the comments coming from the team after the game. They gave props to Haren and moved on to today’s game. This Tribe team may not set the world on fire but it sounds like a group of guys who believe in each other, sincerely like one another and are willing to do all the things it takes to win in the Majors. If they can win this game and come back with a 5-1 road trip they’ll have even more confidence which will help them overcome the slumps and losing streaks that happen to every team over the course of the season.
@Reggie – I know that 159-3 will be enough to win the Central. All the other teams have at least 4 losses.
We control our own destiny 🙂
@jimkaniki
that.is.aweseome
i.can’t.spell
awesome
There is a world of difference between getting beat and loosing. It did have to end and I’m glad that it ended with us getting beat and not just loosing. Now, we need to turn the corner and keep beating the forecasters to put up more W’s.
“One hit? That’s all we got, ONE g–damn hit??”
But for real. Haren’s a stud (and no doubt the ace on my fantasy pitching staff). Let’s take the series and come back home to beat up on some birds.
@mgbode – I’d never call the crowd there boisterous, but it was definitely fun. A lot of people into doing the wave and tossing the beach ball around the stands…I don’t think you catch how many times they stop those games on tv because of a ball falling on the field. I heard the first game of the series didn’t have many people, but it was sold out last night, so there’s definitely a decent fan base for the Angels (80/20 angels/tribe fans).
@Karsten
You can’t say g–damn on wfny.