Barkevious Mingo to undergo knee surgery, expected out up to a month
August 6, 2015Browns are using Karlos Dansby’s body wash at camp
August 6, 2015Just when it seems impossible for this 2015 Cleveland Indians season to reach a higher level of frustration, it ratchets up the meter a couple notches. The Indians should have absolutely swept the Los Angeles Angels this week. Instead, they lost the series and were nearly swept. The Wednesday afternoon getaway game might have been the worst of them as the Indians had the 3-1 win tucked away entering the ninth inning, just to see the Angels make a late 2-out rally to win on a wild pitch 4-3.
The Indians are not making the playoffs this season unless they go on a 2007 Colorado Rockies-like sprint to the finish. So, largely, a game like Wednesday does not mean much. However, it is still absolutely incredibly frustrating to see them let games slip away as they did twice in this series.
Keys of the Game
Ho Hum, just another typical dominating pitching performance:
Danny Salazar had just another typical, standard, great performance from a starter on the Indians pitching staff. Due to the Angels working counts, he only lasted through six innings, but he only gave up three hits and two walks while striking out seven. The only run he gave up was a solo home run to Kole Calhoun in the fourth inning. Superstar Mike Trout was especially baffled by Salazar’s stuff as he went 0-for-3 with two rather embarrassing strikeouts.
To complement Salazar, Kyle Crockett, Zach McAllister, and Bryan Shaw combined for two perfect innings in the seventh and eighth. We’ll get to the ninth inning shortly.
Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, and Ryan Raburn:
Jose Ramirez led every single game in this series off with a walk. He also hit his fourth career home run in this game to lead off the sixth inning. And, his walk to lead off the eighth inning allowed Francona to demonstrate that he still cares deeply about the outcomes of games.
Yes, Francisco Lindor was picked off first base. But his single still moved Ramirez from first to third, and there was still only one out after he was picked off. It would have been nice if Santana or Sands could have helped him out by knocking in Ramirez. When Lindor doubled in the fourth, he showed off his wheels not just reaching second, but then turning the corner at third on a short hit to left field from Ryan Raburn. Overall, he had a solid day.
Ryan Raburn is what he is: a solid platoon bat. His 2-for-3 day was marked both with a clutch hit to drive in Lindor and a home run (of course, with few Indians on base during the game, it was a solo shot). That 2016 option is looking like an enticing (and yes, relatively cheap) way to have a veteran bat to utilize in a limited role.
All the other bats:
Carlos Santana and Roberto Perez each had a walk. The Santana walk was of the intentional variety. Otherwise, the hitters outside the big three mentioned above went 0-for-22. 0 runs. 0 RBI.
The above description is what the rest of the Indians lineup put out on Wednesday afternoon.
Jerry Sands looked especially awful during his 0-for-3 with three strikeouts (more on Sands later). Giovanny Urshela looked as if he was trying to replicate his Tuesday night home run, but without the positive outcome (two strikeouts himself).
Tito going for the throat, Indians miss it:
In the eighth inning with the Indians leading 3-1, Jose Ramirez led off the inning with a walk and Francisco Lindor sacrificed him over to second. Then, Tito decided to go to his bench to attempt to put up an insurance run and seal the series victory. Lonnie Chisenhall and Michael Brantley had been given the day off for some well-deserved rest. But, Chisenhall was called upon to hit for struggling Jerry Sands; Lonnie Baseball popped out. After a Carlos Santana intentional walk, Tito was at it again, subbing out the hot-hitting Ryan Raburn for Michael Brantley, which also forced Mike Scioscia into a pitching change. Brantley would ground into a fielder’s choice to end the inning, but it was refreshing to see that Terry Francona is not giving up on this season.
It also would have been nice if the Indians did not need that insurance run. As it ended up, Cody Allen was knocked around in the ninth inning and the Angels made a two-out rally to win the game.
Cody Allen douses the game with some gasoline and flicks a match onto it:
Here is a graphical approximation of what happened to the game on Wednesday when Cody Allen entered.
Now, Cody Allen has been a relatively good closer since a slow start in April. In fact, he had not given up more than one run in an appearance since April 20 — that covered a span of 40 appearances during which he had a 2.08 ERA. It is entirely unfair to Allen, but this game was especially galling as it was the second of the three game set with the Angels that the halos came back to win. In what very well could have been an Indians sweep, it ended up being a series that was lost.
And honestly, I cannot even blame Allen completely here. Somedays, a pitcher just doesn’t have it. Terry Francona has to be able to see that Allen is wild (two wild pitches in the inning) and that the Angels are taking advantage (with two outs and Albert Pujols on second, the sequence went walk, walk, single, wild pitch). If that was happening to Bryan Shaw in the eighth inning, then someone would have immediately been in the pen warming up and Shaw would have been pulled. For whatever ridiculous reason, a closer needs to be able to set himself on fire and spread it around to everyone else rather than using the fire extinguisher sitting right next to the manager (the bullpen phone).
Or else, this happens:
Key Scorecard:
Los Angeles Angels that are not in the city nor county of Los Angeles but of Anaheim, California in the Orange County of the Desperate Housewives: 3
Cleveland Indians: 2
The Numbers
There are some good things and some bad things that came out of this game, here they are in numerical format
Danny Salazar’s last five starts
35.1 IP, 6 ER (8 R), 17 H (2 HR), 10 BB, 35 K, 2 HBP, 1.53 ERA
His record in those starts? 2-2
Indians overall record in those starts? 2-3
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2015 Cleveland Indians!
Jerry Sands and Tyler Holt continue to struggle mightily since being recalled from Columbus
Jerry Sands: 2-for-14, 7 SO
Tyler Holt: 1-for-11, 6 SO
Both players hold promise as potential 2016 bench players, but both would also likely be best suited to regain some confidence in Columbus.
Angels
Making it all worse is that the Angels have only won three of their past 13 games. Two of those games are ones that the Indians gifted them.
The Angels also entered Wednesday 0-44 when trailing after eight innings. Now, they are 1-44 in such situations.
32 Comments
We need one good bat on this team. Just one. Its sad to see the Indians waste these pitching performances. What a difficult team to watch and root for.
How dare you! Santana batting cleanup is a great bat! And who could tire of watching the likes of Tyler Holt, Jerry Sands, and Ryan Rayburn (among others).
17 runs in last 6 games. Coming in the Angels had won 3 of past 14 games, but managed 2 of 3. Teams have got to be excited when they see this lineup rolling into town.
If we keep jamming square holes into round pegs, eventually they fit. Or you just stop playing the game, which the Indians are clearly doing.
I don’t get the Ryan Raburn hate. He has been really good this year in his limited platoon role.
We have good bats, I think we need not so many black hole bats. If we had just decent hitting throughout rather than guys who are near automatic outs, then they could keep innings alive.
Regardless, I’m not blaming Wednesday on the hitting. We had the game wrapped up (a 2 run lead in the ninth, is a 2 run lead in the ninth), we just need to close it out.
He needs to bat 3
2012 he hit .171, then rebounded with us the following year in a platoon, then plummeted again in 2014, and then had a decent rebound year. So yes, he’s done nicely in a limited role this year–and thus one of our biggest success stories is a 34 year old platoon player who hit .270 and drives in 30 runs (who could easily regress again). Back to Mike’s original comment: We need a good bat (not more scrappers, grinders, platooners, or busted prospects)
No doubt we need Zimmer or Frazier or someone else to come up and hit really well (or Lonnie to hit like the 1st half of ’14). We definitely need it. Just noting that lumping in someone doing well with Sands/Holt isn’t fair.
why does this team feel like an eric wedge team of the early 2000s (minus the good pitching). what an awful manager he was…
You’re right. That’s a good point. I was just trying to say that nobody (outside of Brantley or Kipnis when healthy) moves the needle. Agree on someone hopefully rising soon, be it Zimmer/Frazier/Naquin/other
This whole team, I just don’t know what to say.
What a frustrating game to attend. I was all smiles the whole game until 2 out (TWO) with no one on (NO ONE) when they decided to lose. What a bummer. Oh well. Had great seats and even got to yell to Tom Hamilton when our elevator stopped on the media floor. I’m certain he didn’t hear me, though I’ll continue to convince myself that he did.
But I did get to see Sands lose almost 3% of his batting average in one day. So there’s that.
Pujols singled before Murphy hit that flyout. And, really, I’m only correcting because I was so angry about how it all unfolded that I needed to go double-check myself to make sure that my anger hadn’t clouded my memory there.
And, I hope that you yelled “Touch ‘Em All Time!”
Bode, you are doing a bang-up job on these re-caps. Now, please give me some reason to keep following this team. I think I’m done, and I don’t want to be done, but I’m pretty certain I’m done. And don’t say “pitching,” because it’s all I’ve had to go on this year, and it ain’t enough. Don’t. Say. It.
“They just need to play better,” Mark Antonetti.
Sigh.
I don’t get this team. The whole seems less than the sum of the parts.
Well, maybe the endless margaritas tainted my memory. I do recall however making a reference to Bob Wickman as the gasoline was being spread.
Story behind the elevator: I didn’t realize where we were when we stopped and the guy who got on had a media badge, and then I saw the floor indicator was 3M, and my buddy goes, “Are those the broadcast rooms?” And at that point it all sunk in and I just yelled, “Tom Hamilton rules” as the doors were closing.
I’ve kicked, stomped, shot, stabbed and burned this horse but repeat after me, “To many parts required to operate at peak efficiency in order for this team to compete!” Starter pitches great, check. Offense actually scores more runs then it’s average 2, check. Homeruns: 2, check. Defense 0 errors, check. Closer implodes, check.
It’s not Raburn it’s having another player like Raburn that’s the problem.
This has been said and known for the last three years and will be said and known next year too.
Fwiw, someone was warming up in the bullpen in the ninth while Cody Allen was blowing the game, I think Francona thought Allen would at least get out of the ninth tied…
Thowing towards the plate from the pitcher’s mound!
Thanks.
I think that warrants it’s own stand-alone column, but you might not be around to read it if I wait to find the time to write one. So, here are some bullet points to tide you over.
(1) Defense
(2) Youth
(3) Projectiles with outward velocity and rotational force sent from an elevated surface approximately 60-feet-6-inches away from opposing force with limited linear coverage.
(4) Just to see how punch-drunk Clayman and I get with some of these recaps as the weeks go by.
Yes, the general consensus was that the pen arm was for a never-needed 10th inning. If I was Francona, then I would have done whatever was needed to give him time to warm up including:
http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view1/4696014/phil-wellman-throws-a-grenade-o.gif
(1) The best defense is a good offense.
(2) I’m certainly not getting any younger.
(3) Sounds suspiciously like “pitching.” You’re not trying to “sneak a fast one by me,” are you?
(4) I don’t need to follow the team for that. I’ll just follow you guys.
How does (3) sound like pitching? Pitching is two syllables. That was way more than two syllables. That’s just science.
Pretty sure it was a German-to-English translation. Have you seen some of those German words?
Best baseball meltdown of all time. ALL TIME!
1) No
2) No
3) No
4) I’m allllll in.
1-for-4 may not get me into the HOF, but string enough of them together and it’ll get me the consecutive game hit streak record.
It is the meltdown with which to judge all other meltdowns.