Game Forty-Eight: Rangers 2, Indians 1 (10)

by Ryan on May 25, 2008 11:08 PM EDT

Highest WPA		Lowest WPA
CC Sabathia	.304	David Dellucci	-.220
Rafael Betancourt	.110	Ben Francisco	-.216
Ryan Garko	.053	Victor Martinez	-.186

Sometimes you have to laugh when getting angry just won't do. Sometimes you just have to throw up your hands and walk away, though I wouldn't do it in front of Bill Hohn.

CC Sabathia pitched seven strong innings, his only blemish a high fastball to Ian Kinsler. Didn't matter, for the offense couldn't do anything worth a damn. I guess you could praise Doug Mathis' tenacity if it makes it feel you better, but those anecdotes of great pitching performances against the Indians are kinda piling up.

The bottom of the eighth was a microcosm of today's ineffectual offense. Michael Aubrey, who hasn't with the team long enough to catch whatever has infected the rest of the hitters, walked on four pitches. Jhonny Peralta was then asked to bunt. Whether you agree with the move or not is immaterial: Peralta should have been able to put the ball down in fair territory. After he took a strike, after he bunted a pitch foul, and after he struck out chasing a ball out of the strike zone, David Dellucci grounded into a double play, one of the things a correctly executed bunt would have taken away.

Then came the surreal tenth inning, when Ben Francisco let a rather routine single to right through his legs, and advancing both runners an additional two bases. The gaffe came at the absolute worst situation: Masa Kobayashi had just walked a batter, and the Rangers would have needed another two-out base hit to score the go-ahead run.

So, what is to be done with this team? The obvious answer is to trade everyone...well, at least within the Let's Go Tribe universe. Stay tuned.

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The Peralta bunt was during the bottom of the 8th, I think.

by FranklinScott on May 26, 2008 12:21 AM EDT reply actions

And in defense of Peralta, Skinner seemed to tell him to take a pitch after Wright had thrown 5 straight balls. It may have been the most hittable pitch and halved his chances of a successful bunt.

by FranklinScott on May 26, 2008 12:24 AM EDT up reply actions

But yeah, the bottom on the 9th sucked, too.

by FranklinScott on May 26, 2008 12:26 AM EDT up reply actions

ugh, why did I think that it was the ninth? Fixed.

by Ryan on May 26, 2008 12:53 AM EDT up reply actions

The PD notes that Dellucci accounted for 5 outs in three official at bats. For a while there, he had me thinking he was a useful player, but I’m back to thinking he should be the next person thrown off the island (hitter anyway—Julio is likely next on Wednesday).

The 8th inning illustrates more than just Peralta’s limits as a player. The team has many slow runners, many guys who strike out a lot, and relatively few guys who are skilled at handling the bat (bunting, hitting the opposite way, just plain making contact). So, they can’t hit and run much and have trouble advancing runners. They’re susceptible to that kind of inning. It wouldn’t matter so much if they clubbed three run homers periodically. But, they don’t do that either.

by peter m on May 26, 2008 10:12 AM EDT reply actions

That’s the thing. We were that same team last year, but it wasn’t as noticeable because we hit the ball well. Now, our deficiencies are so incredibly obvious.

by gahnki on May 26, 2008 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions

well we hit the ball “ok” last year. We weren’t that good of an offense last year, and it was the hope that we would have improved this year….but he have gotten worse.

by hans on May 26, 2008 5:55 PM EDT up reply actions