Game Thirty-Three: Indians 3, Yankees 0
by Ryan on May 8, 2008 2:00 AM EDT
in Game Recaps
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| Highest WPA | Lowest WPA | ||
| Cliff Lee | .401 | Kelly Shoppach | -.047 |
| Casey Blake | .064 | Victor Martinez | -.045 |
| Grady Sizemore | .048 | Travis Hafner | -.023 |
Sometimes it's best to let the statistics do the talking:
44.2 innings, 39 strikeouts, 25 hits, 5 runs, 2 walks
Cliff Lee allowed seven hits, but several of those were of the bloop or squib variety. And while he continued to rely on command of his fastball, he used his sweeping curve to great effect when ahead in the count. Because the Yankee hitters had to guess fastball with two strikes, Cliff's slow curve was virtually unhittable. And because Lee continued to throw strike after strike, the patience approach normally employed to great effect by the Yankees was nullified.
As Lee was playing with the Yankee lineup as a sleepy kitten bats a hanging piece of yarn, the offense eeked out three runs off Chien-Ming Wang, who was off to a 6-0 start.* Andy Marte finally got consecutive starts, collected a hit, but was pulled for Travis Hafner in the ninth when his spot in the order came up with the bases loaded. Hafner had a terrible at-bat, ending in a weak inning-ending squib double play.
*In most other stats, he doesn't hold a candle to what Lee's done, but wins are what matter dontyaknow.
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It was tough to see just how effective Lee was from where I was sitting, so I have to say upon watching the highlights when I got home, that his curve looked unbelievable. The offense was okay, we had quite a few baserunners, but still not hitting the ball with any real authority.
Marte’s single was nice, but I thought the rope he hit to centerfield was the most impressive contact he made. From my point of view above home plate, it looked initially like it was going to line drive out of the park, but the Melk man made a pretty nice play on it. Hopefully Wedge notices and continues to give Andy some at bats.
There were tons of Tribe fans at the game and made an impressive showing in terms of the noise and cheering on of the team. Also, it is raining at the moment outside and looks like it is not going away anytime soon, so today’s game might be a rain out.
I only caught the last couple of innings, but I was impressed by Betancourt again. He looked like last year’s model. Really slowing the game down, hitting the corners, making batters miss, etc. Let’s hope the Raffies are back! Good Jhonny again as well, it appears. Hafner’s at bat was indeed a disaster. Maybe he needs SEVERAL days off to regroup and start over. The offense still needs him. I think that’s 4-0 when Ben Fran plays? Go figure.
Betancourt looked great.
I honestly think Travis was maybe our 4th best pitch hit option there; all you need is the ball in the air or a walk-I think Carroll, Garko, and Sabathia are all better choices. Seriously.
And, frankly, if we need a sac fly, shouldn’t we have just stayed with Marte?
I know, I know we can’t just quit on 58 million. And he was playing for the hit, not the sac fly.
Whatever.
Not only was Travis our fourth best pinch hit option, he was also our fourth best pitch hitter. He doesn’t hit pitches at all.
No fair arguing with yourself. But, I agree. Marte should have hit in that spot. 20-20 hindsight, but that AB can’t have helped Hafner’s declining confidence at all.
Now that we’ve had time to cool off, I want to know what GFP and Mario say about the decision to pinch hit for Marte.
I was fired up, and I have to say that I still am.
The best argument I heard for inserting Hafner was that Wedge NEEDS Hafner to come around - more so than Marte - and this was a nice spot for potential success. I think that’s a valid argument. I hope that’s what Wedge was thinking.
But here’s the problem: Everything Wedge has done - every decision he’s made with Marte - simply reinforces to the kid that the manager has no faith in him. He doesn’t play. Horrid hitters play in front of him. He finally does play, and he hits the ball hard—but then gets pulled with the bases loaded, the game essentially out of reach, and the league’s current worst hitter coming in to replace him.
When it comes to Hafner, I’m not convinced that was a great spot to shake him up. Hafner needs time to correct his ills. He’s not going to snap back with one bases loaded double. We’re better off giving him time and low-pressure spots to figure this out. By coming in with the bases loaded, he’s bound to feel more pressure, and the disaster that resulted only adds to the feeling of his inevitable suckiness.
Horrid hitters play in front of him? There are posters here that would disagree. In fact, some here believe that Blake would start for a number of other teams.
If it was Farnsworth or Joba, or another firethrower who keeps the ball up in the zone, fine. We know that’s Pronk’s bread and butter, and Marte can’t keep up. But not Albaladejo. Just can’t wrap my head around what Wedge saw there.
by supermarioelia on May 8, 2008 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions
for the reasons you described, it made no sense. absolutely none. i mean, let the damn kid hit already! he was having good at bats – outside of the strikeout which sucked but everyone looks bad now and then -, making solid contact, and is your best defensive 3rd baseman.
If this was Hafner 2006, it’s a no brainer. But it isn’t 2006, and Pronk is Proon.
Sizemore-Shapiro 2008. The Official Red Bull of Let's Go Tribe Game Threads.
by Gradyforpresident on May 8, 2008 11:25 AM EDT up reply actions
Sportscenter had a largely meaningless but interesting little tidbit today. Let’s see if I can get this right.
Including Cliff, 5 pitchers have ever started the season 6-0 in the modern era. They are:
Fernando Valenzuela
Randy Johnson
Pedro Martinez
and, ahh somebody else. Maybe Koufax? B-R is having some script problems…
Anyway, the other 4 all went on to win the Cy Young.
Could you imagine? CC and Cliff going back to back Cys? How improbable. Bizarre year, this 2008 so far.
There has to be some qualifier there, like with X walks or an ERA under Y. There are currently three other starters this year alone who started 6-0, right?
Steel Nick
I saw that same graphic, and I have no idea how they got that result. B-R shows 38 pitchers since 1956 who’ve won their first 6 starts. The guys they list make no discernable sense – they have to be narrowing it down using additional criteria, but I have no idea what. It can’t be dates, since Brandon Webb is 7-0 this year and wasn’t included. It can’t be ERA, since Frank Viola started out 1990 going 7-0 with a 0.87. I honestly think they’re just flubbing it and hoping people won’t notice.
Boy, Hafner’s AB was indeed terrible. Watch his hips. They are opening up immediately and he is really pulling off the ball. That’s why he can’t do anything with balls down or on the outer half of the plate. The second pitch was a fastball just off the outside corner and Pronk practically fell down in an attempt to reach it. He just slapped at it. Again, I think this all stems from a lack of confidence in getting around on inside fastballs. The hips open up and he can’t cover the plate and he can’t stay back on the offspeed stuff.
The problem is that Hafner has been unable to fix it. He knows the big problem, Shelton knows it, everyone connected with the big-league staff knows it. There may be other issues too, but this is the big one.
A couple of weeks ago I posted that, despite the results, Hafner was really looking a lot better at the plate. That went away during the home series against the Yankees, and now he’s looking like he did for most of last year. Like Andrew just posted, we can’t quit on $58 million…but that contract is looking like a huge albatross.
On not being able to fix it, the TV guys were pointing out that Asdrubal is dropping his back shoulder before he swings, which is really affecting his ability to drive the ball. It looked like they were right from the tape they showed. Presumably this, too, has been pointed out to him. Hard to break habits, I guess.
First, let me say Cliff Lee was just Unconscious Kitten last night. Those dinks really underscore how tough a perfect game would be, but by god he had the capabilities. He did start to miss his spots a little in the last two innings, so I’m glad some of those cheap hits didn’t extend him too much where damage could be inflicted.
I don’t know if this has been mentioned in the game thread, but I played our favorite game (“If you take out this, his numbers looks like this”), and his ERA would be in the 0.20 area were it not for that home run.
As for Yankee Stadium, I wish just once they’d put a mic in front of a player/manager’s face and he’d say “Who gives a crap? It’s a ballpark.” I mean for chrissakes. Underwood or Manning made the comment, “Let’s hope they can’t take the Aura with them.” I know he meant it from an intimidation standpoint, but I’d love if he were right from an annoying media standpoint.
Great game. Very fun to watch. But I was pretty pissed at the end there. Let me start by saying I am a card-carrying Hire Wedge Club member. I just can’t get behind that pinch hit. We’re winning 3-0. We don’t need that 4th run. Marte just got a hit in his last AB, finally, and he’s putting the ball in the air WAY more than Hafner is. With the game not on the line and our need to make decisions regarding Marte, why is he not batting? I understand I’m preaching to a choir here, but that was really frustrating. And that’s not hindsight talking. Even if Hafner hit a grand slam I would have rather seen what Marte could do. If we’re down 3-0, I understand completely.
Steel Nick
Not gonna lie…..if Hafner had hit a grand slam….I’d have been pretty darn psyched and the hope that that would knock him back into shape would have overshadowed removing Marte. However, I agree that he should never have been in in the first place.
by Nat on May 8, 2008 9:21 AM EDT up reply actions
This may be Wedge grasping at straws to get Haf going. If Haf delivers a solid knock and scores a couple of runs, maybe his confidence level improves. This team is desperate for offense and having Haf bat a league average would improve the lineup.
I was at a Sunoco station on the way home filling up the tank with the car radio cranked when that pinch hit came up. I winced and muttered aloud “ohhhh this is a bad bad bad idea” to the guy at the other side of the pump and we both awaited the inevitable double play. I must admit, I fully expected a 4-6-3 instead of the hitting abomination that resulted.
That might have been the most pathetic AB from Travis this season. If nothing else, I sure hope this means he’s hit rock bottom and the only way is up.
--
Right now, I'll take .500 and run. I'm a cheap happy.
I just hope that the real Cliff Lee keeps fighting the Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada on the frontier of Rylos while his beta unit keeps piling up these Nintendo numbers.
Free Andy Marte!
by woodsmeister on May 8, 2008 9:10 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
The worst was listening to Hamilton building up Marte’s at bat telling us how a sinkerballer plays into his strengths and how he hit the ball hard his last time up. Heagan chimed in to say that after seven ABs in two games, he may finally be comfortable hitting up there.
“And he won’t get a chance…”
EXACTLY. Anyone who thought Pronk matched up well against Albaladejo last night is nuts.
“But he’s a righty! And he’s young! Pronk should destroy him!”
I can’t remember Shop getting a single pitch above his waist in his whole atbat (not sure where to find the pitch data), and to think Pronk was going to come out and mash a guy throwing primarily sinkers is ludicrous.
And as was stated above, the guy at the plate is the Flyball King of the Midwest.
Here’s how I look at the move. There were two motivations pulling at Wedge:
1) What move is best to win the game?
Let’s say you were a tad concerned about Raffy blowing the save by allowing a 3-run homer, and wanted some insurance. You honestly think you needed more than one run? And who was the best option to give you that one run? The FKM quite simply.
2) What move will get someone on track the most to help the team down going into the future?
See above with the Albaladejo explanation.
So yeah, I’m cheesed. Especially since Marte probably won’t play today with Blake’s career numbers against Moose. If anyone criticizes Marte for moping around the clubhouse, or having a bad attitude for the next little while, I think we just have to snicker, because what self-respecting individual wouldn’t be upset right now? Hell I’m livid, GFP’s livid, vegetable lasagna’s livid, and I don’t blame Andy one bit.
Oh yeah, Cliff Lee is possessed. No other explanation.
by supermarioelia on May 8, 2008 10:32 AM EDT up reply actions
I’m just going to echo the chorus here on the decision to pinch hit Hafner … it was an awful move and, sadly, the result was all too predictable. I knew he’d go down a strike and as soon as he went 0-2 I said “come in under his hands and you’ll get an out here.” I get the thinking behind maybe getting Travis a cheap-and-easy one there (inasmuch as any hit is cheap or easy) but Haffner’s problem is not the pitchers he’s facing. I was actually looking forward to seeing Marte hit in that spot.
How cool would it be if LGT sent a sternly-worded letter to management? Don’t worry folks, I’m not nearly eloquent enough to pull this off.
by supermarioelia on May 8, 2008 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions
See below … I doubt very much Marte is moping or livid.
He got two starts in a row, and he broke an 0-for-14 string. These could represent a sea change for him, and he’s not going to screw it up my moping.
No self-respecting player likes to get pulled, but the guy has played professional ball since he was 17. You think he doesn’t understand that this is a typical move where you’re playing the split? That when you’ve got a righty pitcher and Travis Hafner on the bench and the bases loaded … they’re going with Travis Hafner?
Of course he does. I guarantee you, he’s not taking it as a personal slight, because it’s possibly the most obvious move in baseball. I just can’t figure out why nobody here understands it.
Yeah I didn’t post much in the game thread (but did watch the game) and I was kind of surprised to see all the outrage about this.
Burn on, big river, burn on...
by Turkmenbashi on May 8, 2008 11:53 AM EDT up reply actions
i think those of us angry are basing our anger on something like this: pronk is not pronk, but proon
Sizemore-Shapiro 2008. The Official Red Bull of Let's Go Tribe Game Threads.
by Gradyforpresident on May 8, 2008 12:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Jay,
My stated reasons don’t wash? Not a bit?
Again, we were hardly in a precarious position; not tied or behind, and almost a lock to win. Why, then, is it the most obvious move?
I understand your reasoning if 1) the game is in serious doubt, or 2) Hafner is the Hafner we came to love. But neither of those is the case. So I’m curious about how you respond to the points I listed above.
So are those offers to Pittsburgh for Jason Bay and St. Louis for Anthony Reyes involving Clifford off the table yet?
The December GM meetings seem like decades ago.
You know Selig? Ombudsman.
....and the trades of Hafner for Mo Vaughn are back on.
"Mixed emotions. Rather see him hit PEDroia [with that pitch]. I don’t care if he is in the dugout"
by Gradysmanldy on May 8, 2008 10:07 AM EDT up reply actions
I wonder if Joe Sheehan at baseball prospectus is still not a believer in Lee. He made the silly argument that his stats don’t matter as he has faced weak offenses. Now I guess the Yankees are a weak offense also. Anybody who shuts down any major league team (even you SF) has pitched a great game.
What if Cliff Lee’s only doing so well because we talked trash about him all winter? (Gasp!) EVERYBODY INSULT CLIFF LEE.
by fleerdon on May 8, 2008 10:40 AM EDT reply actions
Watched the game on ESPN and didn’t get a chance to gamethread with you guys as mrs. mrich was using the laptop.
Lee was astoundingly good, again, but I think I probably ended up with the same feeling as a lot of other people after this one—just a sick feeling in my stomach after watching that horrendous pinch-hit AB by Hafner.
I guess I can understand the rationale behind Wedge’s decision, as you couldn’t pinch hit for Shop, and Pronk is still in some sense The Big Bat, if only because of his contract and his fading reputation. So sending Garko up there instead of Hafner, even though it might have been a better tactical move (although I’d have preferred Marte get the chance) simply wasn’t going to happen for political reasons. But at this point it seems like Hafner is already 0-2 whenever he leaves the dugout. I mean, it’s like clockwork: take strike 1 down the middle, foul off the next pitch, and then protect the plate for a couple of pitches before making poor contact and grounding or popping out.
But the at bat last night, with that little squib that went maybe 2 feet from the plate and led to an easy double play… I mean, what can you say. That honestly overshadowed Lee’s effort for me. I’m beyond worried about Hafner at this point; I’m seriously starting to wonder how long they can keep him on the roster like this and what the FO’s options are. It might be “phantom injury” time pretty soon just to give him a 2 week vacation on the DL and pray he can start to fix his swing.
Even better than the time off that putting him on the DL gives him would be giving the guy some “rehab time” in AAA to destroy some minor league pitching & maybe get some confidence back. It’s pretty obvious that there’s little Shelton or Wedge or even Hafner himself can do at this point, I think he’s really just a headcase who needs to remember that he’s a guy who can kill major league pitching if he wants to.
Despite all of my best intentions, I have not, in fact, grown up to be a debaser.
So let’s see, my observations about the game last night:
- Yankee Stadium is a weird place. It may be “the house that Ruth built” but it’s really got that 70’s concrete monstrosity feel to it, so I don’t think bulldozing it means we’ll be losing a gem or anything.
- it’s such a pleasure watching Derek Jeter fail when you’re surrounded by fans cheering wildly for him.
- watched the Indians take BP before the game, which was pretty fun. Hafner was out there for a bit & he absolutely destroyed a couple of pitches to the second deck in right, which led me to get my hopes up, of course. I’m not even going to talk about the pinch-hitting fun that went on there, bleh.
- watching pitchers out there putting as little effort as possible into shagging flyballs is funny, too. Also, at one point during BP both CC and Mastny were standing next to someone (Byrd, maybe?) and they both totally dwarfed him.
- Cliff Lee is amazing.
- a LOT of people split early. I realize this was brought up by someone else talking about Tuesday’s game, but I still couldn’t believe how many people left after the 7th inning in a game they only trailed 3-0.
- Dellucci was the recipient of a lot of boos after Tuesday’s heroics. I kinda loved that.
So yeah, it was fun. I’d definitely do it again next year, maybe try to take a bigger contingent of Indians fans up with me. I was surpised at the number of people there in Tribe gear, actually, but I also saw on the scoreboard that there was some sort of Ohio State alumni group there, too, which probably helped up the Cleveland fan ratio.
Despite all of my best intentions, I have not, in fact, grown up to be a debaser.
Oh yeah, and I may have made the first ever on-location game thread post from my iPhone. Unfortunately my battery was dying & the site really starts to bog down when the comment counts get up there, otherwise I would’ve popped in more during the breaks.
Despite all of my best intentions, I have not, in fact, grown up to be a debaser.
Yeah long threads are a real problem on this new platform—trying to open one that already has like 300 posts in it just crushes firefox. I wish there were an option to do old-school, non-AJAX comment threads. Sometimes plain ol’ static HTML is the way to go.
i think there should just be three game threads set up before the game even starts. innings 1-3, 4-6, 5-9 regardless of number of posts and people switch over as the game reaches those points, rather than jay have to be at his machine when they reach a certain count. i’d also recommend less picture posts, fun as they may be they bog gamethreads down.
Ya know if one of you whipper-snappers was half computer literate you could get the machinery to start a new thread whenever it reached a certain post count – if yous was sharp.
"the most vehement Yankee-hating guy I know" - Jay
Well you need to read up on these things then. You ever heard of Holorith? or Adm. Hopper? why do you think they call it “machine language”?
"the most vehement Yankee-hating guy I know" - Jay
Oh yeah joeee, just cuz you play computer games doesn’t mean you know anything about computers.
"the most vehement Yankee-hating guy I know" - Jay
You takin Fluid Mechanics? I thought I saw a post where you mentioned studying for a FM exam.
"the most vehement Yankee-hating guy I know" - Jay
got a test right now. something about reynolds transport theorem.
my helmet has, like, no pine tar on it.
I think you guys are all totally nuts, obsessing over Hafner’s pinch-squib.
One, a play like that is a fluke. It doesn’t correlate to anything.
Two, this has nothing to do with one guy’s confidence or another’s. It’s a book move.
Three, it’s an obvious book move. Lefty, righty—do I have to draw you a picture? The book is right about this one.
Four, Hafner may be struggling — he may need to go to a sanitarium — but hey, it isn’t like Marte has been setting the world on fire. You know I don’t blame Marte for that, but it’s still there.
Five, for all the above reasons, this isn’t like last year’s BS where Wedge would pinch-hit Blake for Marte.
Six, Albaladejo held righties to .130-.203-185 in Columbus last year. I’d offer more data if I had it - MinorLeagueSplits is offline for pre-2008 - but you’re going to find out that he’s somewhere in the range from typically strong right-vs-right to total beast.
In sum, the idea that Marte was more likely to get a hit or a walk in that exact situation is, frankly, nuts, and the idea that he was less likely to hit into a DP is dubious at best.
I’ll buy point #6.
But as for your sum, you’ll be hard-pressed to find where anyone claimed Marte was going to get a hit or a walk. I was banking on flyball. To me it was a matter of letting the kid see some more pitches in a semi-high-leverage environment.
by supermarioelia on May 8, 2008 11:48 AM EDT up reply actions
That is so small-picture, frankly.
Big-picture is giving him a bunch of starts.
Big-picture is making smart moves as dispassionately as possible and letting them pay off over a long season.
I guess we’ll just have to disagree on pinch-hitting Proon being the smart move, small picture or big picture. I think my thoughts on Albaladejo’s approach, Pronk’s approach, etc. have been expressed, not much more for me to say. Would I be as upset if Pronk pinch-hit for Blake there? Nope, but I’m allowed to be irrational.
by supermarioelia on May 8, 2008 12:00 PM EDT up reply actions
Jay,
This is kind of time-warp crazy for me, because I was the one arguing that Wedge needed to make dispassionate decisions during the final week to try to get the best record. Remember when I flipped out after Wedge decided not to pinch hit for Chris Gomez with the game on the line against - I think - Seattle? KC maybe? I was told that Wedge “wanted to see what Gomez could do” in pressure spots. Anyway, point is, I agree completely with your premise.
And, frankly, the splits matter, and I didn’t have them. So it alters my perspective somewhat.
But not much. Again I’ll say, the game was on the doorstep of put away. That’s a factor. And getting Pronk back to being Pronk-like matters—others’ argument, not yours in this case, I know. But given the disheveled mental mess that Pronk appears to be (he is, at minimum, a physical mess right now), I have to believe that the expected outcome from Marte and Pronk has to be very similar.
The result matters not. It just happened to be one massive, anvil-to-the-head metaphor for Hafner’s season.
And let me add that in last night’s case, consider the following: It’s the Yankees at the dish and the only left-hander in the pen is Aaron Fultz. Matsui at the plate. Do you remove a right-handed reliever (Stomp, for example) to go with Fultz, just because of the split? I mean, last night Hafner was Fultz.
(And Fultz might not be the best example, but I think the point stands).
It’s a tough comparison. Some righty relievers are unusually tough on lefties - Rivera being one - and more platoon variation is carried by the pitcher than the hitter. So I’d need to know more about Stomp.
The real problem here is that Marte isn’t Stomp, he’s at best Mastny and more likely Ed Mujica. For the moment. And Fultz is more like Arthur Rhodes.
by Jay on May 8, 2008 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions
The splits are unremarkable, though.
Bill James said it succintly, 20 years ago: “The platoon differential is real and virtually universal.” We look up L/R splits on players because occasionally there’s an anomaly, but as often as not, the “universal trend” is going to be more significant than a short-term anomaly. The platoon differential is probably worth 200 points of OPS if not more, and in most situations, it will far outweigh any other factor.
I haven’t been impressed by any of the psychoanalysis on this, to be frank. Hafner’s confidence may well not even be a significant problem, and there is no evidence, none, that he struggles in high-leverage situations. Last season, 837 OPS overall, 839 close & late. This season, 605 overall, 835 close and late. B-Ref shows him at 779 for high-leverage, 559 medium leverage, 639 low leverage. He hit a sac-fly in his only other bases-loaded PA this season.
Those samples are all tiny, but so many comments on this are premised on the idea that we need to weigh whose confidence stands to be boosted or destroyed by making which move. I don’t think either player stood to gain or lose much confidence in any event. Call me crazy, but whatever their issues, they’re pro ballplayers who understand baseball situations.
Instead of making a psychological assessment that we can’t possibly know how to make, I say we keep it simple. Righty on the mound? Send up the lefty. Done.
I do take your point that the game was already close to a lock at that point, but I don’t see the harm in taking your best shot at the kill. If you want to tell me that you want to keep Marte in there for his defense in the 9th, I might actually go for that, but I don’t think we lost much if anything in going with Carroll.
by Jay on May 8, 2008 1:06 PM EDT up reply actions
I think it’s also worth distinguishing between a game that’s close to a lock and a game totally out of reach. Three runs is not out of reach for any club, let alone for the Yankees with Matsui leading off.
If we’re up six runs, I’m sure Marte stays in there. Five runs, pretty sure, and even four runs, probably. Three runs is not four or five or six.
by Jay on May 8, 2008 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions
Fair enough. I would guess the gap between games lost when leading by 3 runs in the ninth is quite large vs. games lost when leading by four.
And I would argue Marte gave us the best chance to get that one run. Only one run, but a run nonetheless.
by supermarioelia on May 8, 2008 5:03 PM EDT up reply actions
Well I may not have as many points but I think I’ve got the trumper. There are two cardinal sins the Tribe management can make. Number one is overpaying for any talent. You can lose a good player to free agency, make a bad trade, let a guy go who blossoms into a super star, but for chrissake don’t pay to much money for too little talent. And number two is do not – repeat do not – put Travis Lee Hafner up to bat in any kind of pressure situation – any kind. Batting him clean-up or third qualifies as well as putting him in to pinch hit with the bases loaded. Bad, bad, bad idea.
If you have any hope whatsoever of getting Pronk back the first thing – the first thing – you’re gonna hafta do is build up his confidence. Nothing – nothing – should deter you from that.
"the most vehement Yankee-hating guy I know" - Jay
I know it may be one the least of our problems right now, but is anyone else concerned that we pretty much only have a 3 or 4-man bullpen? I mean, Wedge has always not used guys for long periods of time, but I’m pretty sure I don’t even know who Tom Mastny and Breslow look like, and it’s only May.
I’m not really worried. Wedge seems to use a limited number of relievers in important situations (the infamous “circle of trust”), so he’s got the two Raffies, probably Lewis and Kobayashi to use in that way. The other guys pitch in situations where the starter fails or where the game is a laugher. This Indians team doesn’t look like the type that can come back from big deficits, so I don’t worry too much about holding the opposition when we’re way behind. I do worry a little that, if we play a lot of tight games in a row, the 4 guys will get overworked (even if our starters pitch well). Can Betancourt pitch today, for example? But, that doesn’t strike me as something that will happen a lot and Wedge, so far at least, has managed the guys he trusts reasonably well (sometimes he goes too long with one guy, in my opinion, but not often).
I worry a lot about JoBo. If he comes back, does that disrupt the stable bullpen that seems to be beginning to develop? Or does he add another arm that can help? Makes me nervous.
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