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Oakland Athletics
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Game Thread: July 3, 2009
by Ryan
on Jul 3, 2009 6:45 PM EDT
in Game Threads
179 comments
Oakland at Cleveland, 7:05 PM
179 comments | 0 recs
Meloan dealt to Rays
wha, wha, whuhhhhhhh!?
1 day ago
rolub
244 comments
0 recs
Early Weekend 6-Pack (7/2/09)
by APV
on Jul 2, 2009 3:19 AM EDT
44 comments
It is a holiday weekend and I am still living quite a few hours in the future, so this week's edition of Early Weekend 6-Pack will be very early (with appropriately chosen beverage below).
1. Eric Wedge is in Hall of Fame company
In 2007, Eric Wedge coached the Indians to an impressive .593 winning percentage. Going into Thursday night’s game, the 2009 Indians are winning games at a less impressive .388 clip. If that .200+ drop-off in win% in a 2-year span seems impressive, that’s because it is. I looked at managerial records over the past 50 seasons, and it turns out this feat has only been equaled once. This is obviously a difficult list to get on, because as that gap might suggest, you have to go from coaching a very good team (~.600) to a very bad team (<.400) in a short amount of time. Given roster sizes and player movement restrictions, even in the era of free agency there tends to be a lot of continuity on a roster from one year to the next, so such a rapid change doesn’t often overcome the forces of inertia. Quite a few managers have come close. Dusty Baker did it in three years between 1993 (.636) and 1996 (.429) with the Giants. Phil Garner did it in three with the Astros, 2004 (.649) to 2007 (.443). Cito Gaston did it in three following the Jays last WS title in 1992. Tony LaRussa is good enough to have had such a drop over a 3-year time span twice, one with the White Sox in the mid-80s and again with
2. But maybe the best is yet to come...
The Indians have over the past two decades had a tendency to be a strong second-half team. Indeed, 2007 (.595) and 2008 (.588) are the 12th and 13th best back-half W% for the team since WWII. And 2005 (.622) is actually 7th on that list. As you go through the years, those ‘80s teams were generally awful, first half and second. The ‘70s teams were not great, but tended to have decent second halves. The ‘60s teams, which were better, were strikingly bad late season teams and had a few epic fades (e.g. 1965 - tied for 1st on the 4th of July, 14 games over .500, played below .500 the second half of the season and fell to 5th place). And the golden era teams, 1948-1954, were just awesome all around. Here’s the complete top 10:
| Year | Rec | W% | Year | Rec | W% | ||
| 1 | 1954 | 55-16 | .775 | 7 | 2005 | 46-28 | .622 |
| 2 | 1995 | 54-23 | .701 | 8 | 1953 | 44-27 | .620 |
| 3 | 1952 | 51-28 | .646 | 9 | 1955 | 43-27 | .614 |
| 4 | 1996 | 47-27 | .635 | 10t | 2000 | 46-30 | .605 |
| 5 | 1948 | 52-30 | .634 | 10t | 1950 | 46-30 | .605 |
| 6 | 1951 | 49-29 | .628 |
3. More Matt LaPorta please
Speaking of records – here is the team’s record when different individuals have appeared in the game. The "best" record goes to Matt LaPorta, who in his brief stint in
44 comments
| 1 recs
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Game 80: White Sox 6, Indians 2
by Ryan
on Jul 1, 2009 11:42 PM EDT
in Game Recaps
118 comments
The length of its season is what gives baseball a dimension no other sport has. By watching your team on a daily basis, you get to know your team's players intimately, from their great abilities to their most annoying flaws. Each day brings a new game, another chance for victory. Or, when your favorite team stinks, a new and fresh reminder of it each evening.
Tonight was a very humdrum loss. Jeremy Sowers was his predictable self, doing well through the first couple times through the order, then falling apart after Chicago hitters caught on to his strategy. Indian hitters, who seem to have lost interest in working counts, were shut down by Jose Contreras, who was on the verge earlier this season of washing out of baseball entirely. To be fair, Contreras was hitting his spots well, and his last four starts have been markedly better than the six he made before going to the minors. But the Indians could have made his start much more difficult; he threw eight relatively easy inning, getting outs early in counts. And this wasn't the lineup of a couple weeks ago; tonight Grady Sizemore, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Travis Hafner were all in the lineup together.
The season's been over for a couple weeks now, but recently this team has descended to a new level. There's enough talent on this team, especially offensively, to make things at least respectable on a daily basis, but even that isn't happening.
| Highest WPA | Lowest WPA | ||
| Ben Francisco | .076 | Jeremy Sowers | -.246 |
| Jose Veras | .007 | Asdrubal Cabrera | -.114 |
| Kerry Wood | .004 | Jhonny Peralta | -.079 |
118 comments
| 2 recs
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Game Thread 2: July 1, 2009
by Ryan
on Jul 1, 2009 9:14 PM EDT
in Game Threads
266 comments
Top of the eighth, Chicago up 6-2.
266 comments | 0 recs
Game Thread: July 1, 2009
by Ryan
on Jul 1, 2009 6:45 PM EDT
in Game Threads
452 comments
![[Insert Major League reference here]](http://cdn1.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/52433/136382_white_sox_indians_baseball.jpg)
452 comments | 0 recs
Dysfunction At The Bat: A Short Play
by afh4
on Jul 1, 2009 4:46 AM EDT
92 comments
92 comments
| 26 recs
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Game 79: White Sox 11, Indians 4 (7 innings)
by afh4
on Jun 30, 2009 11:35 PM EDT
in Game Recaps
93 comments
After an extended rain delay, the game today was finally called final with the Indians suffering yet another loss. Today's loss was out of the ordinary in that it involved an abysmal Cliff Lee performance. For whatever reason, Lee just didn't have it today and managed to to give up 7 runs on 11 hits over just 3 innings. He was relieved by this Mike Gosling character who has proven that he is in no way a better option than Greg Aquino, Vinnie Chulk, or any other waiver wire fodder the Indians can get their hands on.
The slow death march of 2009 continues and it's hard to know what to focus on; Lee wasn't ever going to repeat as Cy Young winner on a team like this but his performance ballooned his ERA to 3.39, nearly a half point higher than it was coming into today. On top of that, Lee's record is now 4-7 which means nothing except that he'll probably get even less votes, if you're into that sort of thing.
The Indians did get a homerun out of Travis Hafner today, who now has 8 jacks in 107 ABs. That works out to one round tripper for every 13.375 at-bats. For reference, in 2006 he hit one out every 10.8 at-bats, in 2005 he did it every 14.72 at bats and in 2008 it was every 39.6. Pronk is even ahead of his 2007 pace, when the number was 22.7. In an extremely surreal season, it's become clear that Hafner's power is still present and accounted for when he's healthy which can only be seen as a good thing.
The Indians will play again tomorrow, with Jeremy Sowers facing Jose Contreras at 7:05.
93 comments
| 0 recs
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AL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Detroit
|
43 | 35 | .551 | 0 | Lost 1 |
|
Chicago
|
41 | 38 | .518 | 2.5 | Won 6 |
|
Minnesota
|
41 | 39 | .512 | 3 | Won 2 |
|
Kansas City
|
33 | 45 | .423 | 10 | Lost 3 |
|
Cleveland
|
31 | 49 | .387 | 13 | Lost 5 |
(updated 7.3.2009 at 9:53 PM EDT)
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