On Defense

by stuart dean on Sep 17, 2007 2:17 PM EDT

Things not in the box score and Kenny

Two things that are astounding to me converged yesterday when I was at the Jake. The first is mainstream media's reliance on errors, or their lack, as a yardstick for measuring defense and that Indians' fans still think that Lofton was and is a good defensive outfielder. After having a friendly discussion with a friend Friday night who couldn't fathom why I would take Gutz, Sizemore or even Grissom's defense over the perpetually wrong-route running Lofton, we lost the game yesterday due to shoddy defense that started with Kenny.

In the second inning with no outs and a man on, the box score tells you that Alex Gordon doubled to left center and came around to score. What actually happened is Gordon hit a very catchable fly ball to left that, had Kenny ran the long leg of a right triangle instead of both of the other two legs, he would have easily had. This baserunner proved to be the difference in the game as Gordon came around to score.

In the third, German was credited with a hit when Laffey was slow to cover and slipped on the way to first. This was a hit but it should have been an out.

In the sixth, the box score tells you that Alex Gordon walked and then Gordon took second and German third on a wild pitch. The wild pitch was ball four allowing German to third but Gordon took second because VMart took a Sunday stroll in retrieving Laffey's errant missile. Not an error...

In the seventh, Pena scored and DeJesus went to third on a single to right. Either Gutz overthrew Garko or Laffey was out of position because Laffey cut the throw too close to home to stop Teahen from taking second. No error but bad "D".

Although only one of these non-error gaffes cost us a run, it is amazing to me that there was absolutely no mention (that I saw) in the PD this morning. If Cabrera's extra range had allowed him to get to a ball that nobody else could've gotten close to but he threw it away, we would have heard plenty.

There! Thank you for letting me get that off my chest...

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Re: On Defense

That's okay. I was at the game and saw all of those things and was equally frustrated by them. No team is perfect. Pick one or two of those errors and it'd be okay. But yesterday was an awful defensive game all around. And then there was that one baserunner...

Still, we're going to sweep the Tigers.

by Voltaire on Sep 17, 2007 2:26 PM EDT reply actions

Re: On Defense

Kenny's a centerfielder. Of course, that was a bad play. That said, left may be the easiest outfield position to play, but it's still an adjustment. It's a testament to Kenny's athleticism that he hasn't been much, much worse defensively.

by fleerdon on Sep 18, 2007 12:47 PM EDT reply actions