Game Twenty: Indians 15, Royals 1

by Ryan on Apr 23, 2008 1:19 AM EDT in Game Recaps Comment 13 comments

Highest WPA		Lowest WPA
CC Sabathia	.169	Victor Martinez	-.043
Casey Blake	.111	Travis Hafner	-.014
David Dellucci	.106

So the baseball deities were playing an elaborate joke - CC Sabathia is actually a good pitcher, the hitters are good at working opposing pitching, and Casey Blake is an MVP candidate. I was kidding about that last part.

Ignore the 15 runs for a second. CC Sabathia pitching six shutout innings after what he'd done to start the season overshadows a 30-run output, because if CC isn't a reasonable facsimile of last year's Cy Young winner, the Indians' chances of making the playoffs goes from likely to unlikely. The 11 strikeouts that accompanied those six innings serve as a potent amnesiac. And if you watched Sabathia pitch, looking nothing like the body double who pitched in place of him in his first three starts, you'd mark April 22nd as his first start of the season, because whatever happened before didn't matter. At least you'll think that for the next five days, for then that start will mean absolutely everything.

OK, the second's over. Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, and Victor Martinez went a combined 2-for-15, so all that offense was created by the guys that haven't been carrying their weight. Casey Blake lead the way with four hits, including a game-breaking grand slam in the fourth inning. After that, it seemed as though the offense collectively went into the zone, working counts without thinking, hitting pitches the other way like they do every day in batting practice.

One worry about the game, though - the 14-run margin of victory means that the Indians have now scored more runs than they've allowed. And you know what that means: Pythagoras will be angry at Eric Wedge.

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Really, that’s the key to our offense. Production from the 2 hole .. and someone in the 7-8-9 spot stepping up and having a big game.

In our 12 losses, those 4 batting spots are batting a combined .160 (163 ABs, 26 hits) with 8 RBI’s.

by Toxicadam on Apr 23, 2008 8:34 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

CC’s Beta Unit has been called home to Rylos 4. CC was needed to protect the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada.

Free Andy Marte!

Pronk Needs You

by woodsmeister on Apr 23, 2008 9:13 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I must congratulate you on your virtuoso performance, my boy. Centauri is impressed. I’ve seen ‘em come, and I’ve seen ‘em go, but you’re the best, my boy. Dazzling! Light years ahead of the competition! Centauri’s got a little proposition for you. Are ya interested?

by Fiddlesticks on Apr 23, 2008 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why am I all of a sudden worried about Lee’s next start?

by oxforddave on Apr 23, 2008 9:21 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Good point. Selective reality is too much to ask for.

by SuddenSam on Apr 23, 2008 9:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Most significant thing about yesterday’s rout of KC – 5th straight strong start from an Indians pitcher (and from CC, no less).

Least significant thing about yesterday’s rout of KC—Blake’s 6 RBI (nice, but not the sort of thing that will happen often).

I’m not sure I agree that the 2 hole/7-8-9 spots are the key to the Indians’ offense. If they’re going to score runs CONSISTENTLY, they need the middle of the order (Hafner, Martinez, Peralta, Garko) to hit consistently, and they need Sizemore to score runs. Apart from Garko, none of those guys has been great lately (Martinez has a nice batting average, but hasn’t walked much and doesn’t have the extra base hits he usually has). I agree that getting more out of the bottom of the order will help (keeps pressure on the pitcher), but if the team’s real “stars” don’t do much, you’re in trouble—Casey Blake and Franklin Gutierrez are not going to drive the offense. You’ll get the occasional offensive explosion (like yesterday and last Thursday against Detroit) when guys like Blake have a good night, but there will be more 2-1 losses if the big guys don’t produce.

by peter m on Apr 23, 2008 9:46 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

what the hell did I miss?

Sizemore-Shapiro 2008. The Official Red Bull of Let's Go Tribe Game Threads.

by Gradyforpresident on Apr 23, 2008 10:29 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Domination.

by gte619n on Apr 23, 2008 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

is it too early to start looking at this?

by Brick. on Apr 23, 2008 3:30 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It’s a bizarre reality where the AL Central is won with less than 90 wins. I can’t even wrap my mind around it.

by Toxicadam on Apr 23, 2008 3:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Although looking back, we did just that in 97-98.

by Toxicadam on Apr 23, 2008 3:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Average wins by position in AL Central: 96.1 87.2 80.1 73.2 64.8

by mrich on Apr 23, 2008 4:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I know the fifth place team wouldn’t be the Tribe in 999 out of 1000 simulations, but it makes for an interesting coincidence that it is PRECISELY our current pace.

by CBusSteve on Apr 23, 2008 4:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs