Cavs finally re-sign J.R. Smith to four-year, $57 million deal
October 15, 2016OSU survives in overtime against Badgers in Camp Randall, 30-23
October 16, 2016Whoo boy. The Cleveland Indians have now won five straight MLB postseason games as they took a 2-0 ALCS lead over the Toronto Blue Jays by winning Game 2, 2-1. The talk of the pundits coming into the ALCS was how the Blue Jays slugged their way to a series sweep over the Texas Rangers by hitting eight home runs and scoring 22 runs over three games. In eighteen innings against the Indians, the Blue Jays have scored one solitary run (only eight hits). Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco might be limited to cheerleading, but the Tribe has continued to pitch their way through the MLB postseason, and the bullpen continues to be the biggest weapon ANY team has shown thus far in October.
Josh Tomlin is nails
Much was made of the fact that Tomlin’s fastball only goes to simmer as it sits around 89 miles per hour, and how the Blue Jays bats scorched such speeds as if they were sitting on a tee. Note the SLG% Y!Sports Jeff Passan indicates is higher than what Mike Napoli or Jose Ramirez had for the season.
Few pitchers in baseball throw as slow as Josh Tomlin. Blue Jays as a team have slugged .474 on 89-mph-or-less heat: https://t.co/JxXTrovRbu
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 15, 2016
Instead, Tomlin went 5 2/3 crucial innings allowing just three hits and one run on a Josh Donaldson double. The Little Cowboy did a much better job keeping the Toronto contact on the ground to the dominant Indians infield defense1 and even stuck out six batters.2 Blogger Jeff Sullivan noticed.
Josh Tomlin, season: 44% grounders
Josh Tomlin, today: 12/14 grounders
odds of that happening: 0.16% (once per 620 chances)
— Jeff Sullivan (@based_ball) October 15, 2016
So did the amazing Toronto’s Star writer Bruce Arthur.
Jays so far at the plate: 4-3, 4-3, 4-3, 6-3, 6-3, single up the middle, K. So far, Josh Tomlin's doing the job.
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) October 15, 2016
Exit stage left.
Josh Tomlin exits. Bryan Shaw enters. Andrew Miller warming. pic.twitter.com/MWaf9buNMJ
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) October 15, 2016
The most dominant weapon in sports – outside LeBron
The Cavs have LeBron James. The Indians have Andrew Miller. OK, LeBron wins the star battle as he scores points and prevents points (sometimes with championship-saving blocks). Still, Miller almost struck out as many in two innings (five) as Tomlin did as a starter (and he had a K/9 rate over nine). Overall, Miller now has 10 strikeouts in 3 2/3 against Toronto. Filthy.
Miller is worth every prospect the tribe gave up for him.
— Michael (@crobarred) October 16, 2016
One might think Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brandon McCarthy would be too busy to catch Miller pitch. One would be wrong and he had the line of the night about Filthy McFilthface.
baseball is so rooted in traditions thats hitters still take their bats to the plate against Andrew Miller even though they're not needed
— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) October 15, 2016
Andrew Miller in the postseason: 50 batters faced, 4 hits, 3 walks, 0 runs, 23 strikeouts.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) October 15, 2016
Professional hitting coach Ryan Parker graphically demonstrated how hitters have no chance against Miller.
https://twitter.com/RA_Parker/status/787436806669160448
Andrew Miller: Intocable 😮💥 #LasMayores #MLB https://t.co/GUtO6lGbLl
— LasMayores (@LasMayores) October 15, 2016
Slamtana, Chisen-hero & Lindor-ific
Carlos Santana is adding fans onto his bandwagon. Hitting the Game 2 home run in front of a loud, sellout crowd sure helps. Lonnie Chisenhall just kept hitting as he has a hit in every single Indians postseason game (.667 batting average thus far – ridiculous). Since Chisenhall also had a hit in the 2013 AL Wild Card game, he has a six game postseason hitting streak; the longest in Indians franchise history to start a career.
https://twitter.com/MusikFan4Life/status/787427812676337664
Carlos Santana hits solo shot to give the #Indians a 1-0 lead over the #BlueJays in the 2nd https://t.co/i5hBNDNfqN pic.twitter.com/0G9K9vBRe1
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 15, 2016
Lindor is Lindor. What more can be said other than Cleveland has the privilige of watching one of the great young talents in the game. The Francisco Kid now has the game-winning RBI in each of the first two games of the ALCS. And, Lindor range goes to 11.
Francisco Lindor, my goodness. He makes it look routine #RallyTogether #ALCS #PartyAtNapolis #TORvCLE https://t.co/BMc4rAb74h
— BIGTIME FOXY (@BigFoxy216) October 15, 2016
Oh, and Chisenhall’s biggest hit might have been the joke he made after Game 1.
Ok..whose night is it to watch @BauerOutage? Please tell me someone knows his whereabouts.@TheJK_Kid@CKluber @Indians@ChrisGimenez@jtomlin43
— Lonnie Chisenhall (@BIGLON8) October 15, 2016
Oh Rajai
Did it look like Rajai had a tell? Well, Rajai had a tell. Roberto gave him first, Davis took second, Davis took third, Lindor knocked him home.
Love this. We just talked about this during the week @rajai11davis pic.twitter.com/nEpcea2lS8
— StealBases (@StealBasesCom) October 16, 2016
Can’t all be good news, right?
https://twitter.com/TeedUpKirk/status/787388755116195840
Championship Cavs in the house
Do you remember the Cleveland Cavaliers going undefeated through the first two games in the 2016 NBA Playoffs as they took a 2-0 lead over the team from Toronto in the Eastern Conference Championship? LeBron James and many other members of the Cavs certainly do and they – once again – were at Progressive Field to cheer on the Indians and amp-up the crowd (not that the fine citizens needed any help there).
The Cavs took a small left turn when they crossed into Canada during their run, so it will be interesting to see if the Tribe can avoid the same type of fate and keep control of this series (Game 3 starter Trevor Bauer had controlled the Blue Jays lineup in past meetings). Also, radio announcer Tom Hamilton has yet to make the trip across Lake Erie, so it is also worth following if he has gotten his passport updated.
The #Indians are up 2-0 in the #ALCS and LeBron James is loving it https://t.co/i5hBNDNfqN pic.twitter.com/gDQGpnZAnS
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 15, 2016
Just how dominant have the Indians been?
When the vast majority of the bullpen needs to stay after to actually get some throwing in by having a simulated game, you know the team’s pitching has this series on lock.
The Indians are holding a simulated game for all the relievers they haven't used yet. Right now. Seriously. pic.twitter.com/M2HRHSKAj7
— Ben Reiter (@BenReiter) October 15, 2016
7 Comments
Great stuff, Micheal.
Man, this is fun. Sparkling defense, lights-out pitching, just enough timely hitting, and plenty of want-to. And props to Cody Allen. Close games are nerve-wracking enough, but he hasn’t made the last two worse by putting guys on base. Three up, three down.
Getting back to Game 1, I LOVE how Santana beat the shift with that bunt down third. Our first batter of the series announced, Game on, Toronto, we’re here to win this thing.
and Tito said even he had no idea Santana was going to do it. He just saw Donaldson playing way back and thought “why not”
been saying it for awhile, but will continue to do so. I’ve never had so much fun rooting for a team. all likeable and all competitive as get-out (constantly looking for any advantage)
Great piece Bode. I had a blast at those games. The place was rockin.
My friends at LGT posted linked this article from FG:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/how-josh-tomlin-beat-two-of-baseballs-best/
Excellent write up.
Couldn’t help but laugh when I read a comment saying the bullpen is helping Francona make it easy. Um they’re doing this with 3 starters.
Heard one of the national experts mention that the Jays are a power, fastball hitting team. Notice how are pitchers are using numerous breaking balls to counteract this. I hope Bauer understands this.
Baseball is a game of adjustments, but Bauer dominated Blue Jays in regular season. Team he had most success against.
I have warm fuzzies 🙂