Indians waking up
Posted August 23rd, 2007 by Ron
Are the Indians playing better? Are the Tigers just that bad?
Whatever the answer, the facts are that the Indians are in first place and that they have a 2.5-game lead.
I also think if you have to pick between good pitching and spotty hitting or spotty pitching and good hitting. Always take the pitching. Just ask the Tigers.
More proof? Jake Westbrook gave the Indians a chance to win today, and they did.
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Is that all it takes to sway you? The Indians "exploding" for three runs, after being held to 4 hits by a mediocre stiff for 8 innings? Trust me, Ledger, the 11-run outburst you saw yesterday was the abberation. There are so many more non-offensive games coming, and we all know it. This team has major, major deficiencies that management keep trying to explain away. We go into the 2007 offseason with essentially the same problems we had after last year: we do not have a reliable closer, our corner outfield positions are not MLB starters, 3B is entrenched in mediocrity, SS is a mess, and now 2B is so bad the player is replaced. Those are just the "worst" of it. Boy, is this team horrible. (Yeah, Wedgie, we know, you're just where you want to be…1st place. Talk to me with 7 games left.)
August 23rd, 2007 at 8:28 pm
I'm very optimistic. The Tribe has four pitchers who are pitching well. If Wedge will let Gutierrez play right field and Hafner or Martinez get hot, which is a good bet, they'll win the division.
August 24th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
I noticed that Atlanta has officially terminated Porky Whitman's reign of error. Wonder if Shapiro will make an effort to bring him back.
August 25th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Well, folks, anyone still buying into the Tribe's alleged "breaking out of it?" Hey, even a blind man will hit a golf ball eventually. Don't be fooled by one game of 8-runs. It is not the norm for this decrepid assemblage of non-hitters.
Someone on WKNR made a great point today: Early in the year, Tribe hitters were waiting for walks. Then the pitchers had to "groove" pitches and we were racking up some HRs. However, it's now a league-wide "secret" that you throw low strikes to the Tribe hitters from the get-go. It eliminates the walks, and even if we DO hit it, it's not leaving the park.
This team is not built to score runs. JUST THINK: Borowski has trashed about 4 wins we had locked up; and between CC and Fausto's 2-runs or less pitching, we've lost at least another 11 games that should've been victories. That means, with any semblace of offense, we'd be 15 games better (that's a minimum)….with the BEST RECORD IN BASEBALL. Kudos to the pitchers; Shapiro has failed miserably on this offense.
September 2nd, 2007 at 7:57 am
I understand your frustration, Slick, but I note with interest that the Indians have averaged almost seven runs a game since your post (and won all eight games). While the Tribe offense played badly for a month, they still were averaging almost 5 runs a game, which is slightly better than league average.