Well perhaps last night was the low point for the Cleveland Indians. Rock bottom.
Cliff Lee pitched outstanding, but Kerry Wood – the guy brought in to solve the late-inning problems of a year ago – blew a save and the Indians dropped to 14-26, worst in the American League and better only than the miserable Washington Nationals.
This is the kind of season that gets people fired. Managers. Players. Even the front office.
There's really no sign that things are going to get better. Some days the starters do well and the bullpen fails. Some days the pitching goes right and the hitters don't hit. This night things went perfect and were set up for the big-time closer, but he failed. Right now the Indians project to lose 105 games. Which is just one miserable summer.
The moves and constant moves and lineup shuffling reveal the Indians for what they are – a team in search of a solution but finding none. Standing pat with guys not doing the job won't help a lot, but the solutions tried aren't real solutions. Manager Eric Wedge reflects the philosophy of trying anything. His lineups have the consistency of jello.
Jamey Carroll is at second one game, Luis Valbuena another. The shortstop-third base thing with Jhonny Peralta is bizarre; moves like that are for spring training, no? Mark DeRosa has played third and first, which has moved Ryan Garko from first to left, and that's just not sound thinking to play Garko in left. Garko finds himself yo-yoed all over the lineup after leading the team in RBI last season. Matt LaPorta is called up and does not play every day. And David Huff struggled in his first start; why is it that some pitchers in their first start confound the opposition because the opposition hasn't seen them, yet Huff got rocked?
Rosters are made for guys to be used, but guys also need to know their roles. Right now even Victor Martinez's role is all over the board. Catcher one day, first another. All to keep Kelly Shoppach happy and give him time. The Indians have to use everyone at some point; if they didn't they'd have a 16-man pitching staff (which might be a necessity by July). But it seems past time to stop the shifts that resemble panic, and settle on an order.
The move of Grady Sizemore from leadoff put him all the way to second in the order. I know there are reasons for him hitting second, but what's the big difference in that move? Putting him third makes a change, shakes things up. This talk about doing it to take pressure off Sizemore and putting him back at leadoff once he gets going sounds like kid gloves. The guy's not been very good this year (which actually might be the counter-argument to hitting him third). Everyone likes Sizemore, but giving him a foot in the hindquarters doesn't end his baseball career.
Right now the Indians seem to be grabbing smoke with their belief that the team is better than it's played.
Rock bottom pretty much stinks.
another by-the-book loss last night. there must be some sort of law in wedge's mind that you have to bring in the closer. this isn't the first time wedge has pulled the starter too early. cliff lee should have finished the game.
Hindsight's always 20-20, Terje. If you're paying a guy 8 figures to pitch the 9th inning, why not use him for that purpose? This one's on Wood, not Wedge.
There's plenty of blame to go around this season. Wedge is certainly part of the problem, but he's not the only problem.
Yeah, all the talk about "versatility" in Spring Training raised some red flags with me. Shoppach is quickly showing last season was a fluke, and he's not worthy of forcing all these position shifts to accommodate his multi-strikeouts each game. Sad thing is, even with a "set" lineup, this group is W.E.A.K. No pop, no average, no consistency, no speed, no small-ball ability…what in the world has Shapiro assembled here?
Don't even get me started on the pitching staff.
matt, what's more important…a win or an appearance for kerry wood? a cy young winner trumps the $10 million dollar elbow on a string closer.
wedge has been going by-the-book with his pitching substitutions his entire tenure with the team. it's not working. and now he's mixing and matching the line-ups and as a result losing games (see garko in left field misplay the angle and give up a double to a pitcher while derosa plays first).
wedge and shapiro are the main problems with the team. they were the one's who assembled a jack-of-all-trades but master of none line up. they are the ones who's teams start slow and force a fire sale of the best players mid season. they are the ones who keep a guy who killed the 2007 season as a 3rd base coach. they are the ones who canned eddie murray at the first sign of trouble yet derek shelton undisciplined school of hitting overstays it's welcome for over a year.
a once promising franchise has turned into baseball's version of the cleveland browns in less than 2 years. no leadership. no focus. no discipline.
fire shapiro!
fire wedge!
Dou you remember how a coach who was fired by the Indians, supposedly stood on the pitchers mound of Municipal Stadium and cursed the team?
This "Cleveland Curse" appearently was so bad that the team brought in a real witch to remove it, remember? Well, when times got better in the 1990's, a reporter thought to go to Florida and ask the coach, himself, about the curse. He said: "Geez, I didn't curse the team. There was no curse. There was just bad mangement." That says it all, people…Just really, really bad management.
I agree, Wedge seems far too concerned with putting his "closer" (Wickman, Borowski, Wood) in 9th-inning "save" situations to pad their stats, rather than actually WINNING the game. You think Gaylord Perry would've allowed Wedge to pull him after 101 pitches? Maybe it's time for a little old-school common sense, instead of all these by-the-book failures. If there's a critical game-changing moment in the 7th inning, for instance, I'm not opposed to using Wood right then and there. Why wait and lose the game? Wood is not a sure-fire stopper, so let's dispel that thinking right NOW.
"This is the kind of season that gets people fired. Managers. Players. Even the front office."
hell, this is the kind of season where mcmanamon and pluto may have to worry about their jobs. LOL go tribe. go cavs.
Terje, I still don't think it was unreasonable to expect Wood to come in and do his job. As of yesterday, he still hadn't shown that he was as inept as the rest of the bullpen. Next time this situation comes up, though, I would hope Lee stays in the game. Of course by then the season will be a washout anyway, so what's the difference?
That said, I'm with you 110% on the ever-evolving lineup and this absurd notion of having guys play 3 or 4 different positions. Wedge certainly isn't "going by the book" when it comes to that nonsense.
kerry wood has been pretty bad this year.
remember this game?
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore;_ylt=Ao7M5F.wRyP_eGNTy5xuuje4u7YF?gid=290427105
I forgot about that one. All the bad bullpen performances are starting to blend together….
By the book is right. That's how they seem to do everything, with an eye on the odds and the long grind of the season.
The saber geniuses have brainwashed the Tribe's front office and they now have too little respect for the game's athleticism, emotion and momentum.