Game 47: Cleveland 5, Rays 1
by APV on May 26, 2009 10:56 PM EDT
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PrintI was on a Toledo sports radio show ("The Benchwarmers") back in March. One of the co-hosts suggested Carl Pavano might be the most important player for the Indians in 2009. I (correctly) suggested that was ridiculous – the Indians were paying Pavano $1.5M and anything he gave them would be a bonus. I stand by that, but Pavano is certainly an unheralded MVP so far for the team this year. Without him the Indians would be that much further in last place.
That was on display again tonight. Coming off consecutive games in which the bullpen was heavily taxed, Carl Pavano came in and went a very strong 7 innings. Pavano set the tone early with two swinging Ks in the first and he never really looked back. Pavano’s final line, 7 innings, 4 hits, one run, two walks and 6 Ks, is his best line of the season. Over his past three starts he has 22 Ks and only 5 walks in 18 innings. This is what the Indians need. There are no magic beans in Columbus to help Cleveland rise out of last place. The Indians have to win now with the guys they have and hope that by the All-Star break when Westrook et al. are available as reinforcements, there is still something to reinforce.
Offensively the Indians got it done tonight with the long ball. Garko went deep with a solo-shot of Rays starter Matt Garza in the second. Cabrera followed with a solo-shot of his one in the third. Mark DeRosa finished off the homerun hattrick off Garza with a 2-run shot in the 6th, helping to finish off Garza and give Cleveland a 4-0 lead. Kelly Shoppach finished off the scoring with a solo-shot in the 7th.
One victory, or even two in a row, is not going to get Cleveland back into it. But each step counts, and these victories right now are critical.
Next up: Jackson vs. Sonnanstine, 7:05pm
| Highest | WPA | Lowest | WPA |
| C Pavano | .347 | L Valbuena | -.076 |
| M DeRosa | .114 | S Choo | -.058 |
| R Garko | .093 | G Sizemore | -.034 |
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Comments
Shouldn’t we be more worried that Sonnanstine is hitting clean up?
"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter
by Denver Tribe Fan on May 27, 2009 12:35 PM EDT up reply actions
Agreed.
But the Red Wings are a close close second. And ’m not even a huge hockey fan anymore
by world dictator on May 27, 2009 12:02 AM EDT up reply actions
I still hate the Lakers more. And the Pistons. And the White Sox. Yeah, the Magic still don’t come close.
"I gotta be honest, I dunno much about the climate in Japan." - Matt Underwood
I’m not even a real big basketball fan but just about every one of their players annoys the crap out of me. Turkoglu has a face that is screaming out to be hit with a folding chair
by ASP on May 27, 2009 8:45 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Well, I am running out of sports teams to bandwagon on to. Does Cleveland have a a professional lacrosse or field hockey team? Maybe table tennis?
Maybe we can move all the sports teams to Solon and start anew?
the CityStars won the championship last year.
That is the 3rd highest professional soccer league in the United States my friend.
Oh and Valerie Jenkins is tearing up the PDGA National Tour
Were a fun team to watch. Completely overmatched in USL division 1 this year with mostly new players.
I refuse to ever root for a team that routinely does the MVP chant for opposing players.
by TheVanillaGorilla on May 27, 2009 3:17 PM EDT up reply actions
Funny how the first series I win for the Cavs to win…ever…is the one they’re losing.
I’m not entirely sad about this.
by world dictator on May 27, 2009 12:04 AM EDT reply actions
first series I root for the Cavs to win.*
man, my grammar is almost as off as Lebron’s three’s.
by world dictator on May 27, 2009 12:22 AM EDT up reply actions
And the OT 3 pointer he missed badly on where he tried to draw the foul.
Guess he just misses in the clutch :-)
by world dictator on May 27, 2009 1:02 AM EDT up reply actions
No but I saw the 3 games that they lost.
But guys, you realize I’m just being snarky don’t you? Lebron is obviously a good player.
by world dictator on May 27, 2009 3:09 PM EDT up reply actions
Tribe in ’09. Forget that basketball business.
"I gotta be honest, I dunno much about the climate in Japan." - Matt Underwood
Carl Pavano is going to drag us by the feet, kicking and screaming, into semi-contention.
--
Force quit and move to trash.
by vbc3 on May 27, 2009 12:09 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
I was asking principally because I’ve seen very few photos of the aftermath from Mississippi that included any remaining structures. I’m sort of wondering if it’s photoshopped.
Check that…just went back and looked at my source. It’s actually from Gilchrist, TX following Hurricane Ike, September 2008. I have no reason to think it’s a photoshop job.
Jackson + Huff= end of our “hot” streak
by world dictator on May 27, 2009 1:04 AM EDT up reply actions
We need a 3-game winning streak.
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge..." C. Darwin
I just want to be 5 games under .500 by the second week of June. I don’t think that is an unreasonable goal.
I was encouraged by what Pavano was showing in ST. I think 2 or three of his starts were on STO. I liked his changeup, though his fastball was definitely short. What is significant to me is that his fastball has gotten better as the season has progressed. The gun they’ve been using at home seems to be a little faster than others over the last year or so, but he was consistently 91-93 tonight. They had Wood at 95-96.
It’s not strange that his fastball is improving, since he didn’t throw a whole lot in the last four years. He’s getting some of that arm strength back. We’ll see if he can maintain it, but I’m liking what I’m seeing. The back-to-back three-pitch K’s in the sixth of Crawford and Longoria were impressive.
A little increased velocity won’t hurt, but what is significant to me, and what impressed me in the spring training game I saw, was the command, the location of the fastball and the changeup, on the corners and down. And the occasional slider thrown for a strike. And then tonight he was able to get one or two strikeouts by throwing a high fastball. The ability to locate is the key.
That tailing inside fastball to left-handers was darn impressive.
by fleerdon on May 27, 2009 7:58 AM EDT up reply actions
I agree – in the spring training start I watched Pavano’s off-speed and breaking stuff was good, but he clearly had no confidence in his fastball. That has obviously changed. His pitch f/x charts from fangraphs show the velocity has ticked up a little bit each start.
You know, the Padres just ended a 10 game tear that put them a game over .500. I’m just saying….
"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter
by Denver Tribe Fan on May 27, 2009 2:03 AM EDT reply actions
Do we ever get to play Baltimore, Seattle, Oakland, Pittsburgh, et al.? Did those teams not make it on the schedule this year?
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on May 27, 2009 7:39 AM EDT up reply actions
The Tribe’s first scheduled game against one of the other teams currently dwelling in the cellar of their division(s) is July 3 vs. the A’s (the Pirates, whom we play on 6/23, are technically not in last place).
This points out though that we won’t be playing against the last place team in our own division any time soon.
SO SAD.
Actually, though… we could pass the White Sox by June 29 or even by June 5 </ dreams>
FE WEE
Because I am too optimistic for my own good I’m going to go with closer to June 5th. I hope. Please.
by ClemsonGirl on May 27, 2009 11:55 AM EDT up reply actions
You can blame strength of schedule all you want, but the fact is that we have simply underperformed all season given the talent on this roster, and if this team were healthy we would be perfectly capable of a 10 game rip. Every successful team has to beat up on the weak teams, but coming into the season this team was capable of competing with and beating the very best. The recent injuries, however, are a much bigger concern. Looks like Grady is this season’s Vic, now.
"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter
by Denver Tribe Fan on May 27, 2009 12:30 PM EDT up reply actions
Someone posted this elsewhere, but if you look at the number of games played against the AL East among AL Central teams, it coincides with the standings. The team that has played the least amount of AL East teams (the Tigers) are in first and the team that has played the most (Indians) are in last.
Could just be a coincidence, or a partial reason for the records of these teams.
I agree. With all the talent on this team we should have been able to beat some of those better teams. Health does seem to be the biggest issue. Grady better get better or I will be very upset. Apparently this has been a whole season thing and if you ask me they should have put him on the DL a long time ago. It is much more important to have him healthy later in the season than early.
by ClemsonGirl on May 27, 2009 12:59 PM EDT up reply actions
Right, that’s what I mean by his being this season’s Vic. Last year, Vic was mysteriously underperforming until we found out he’d been playing hurt all year. It is inexplicable that they’d risk a more serious injury to one of the team’s core players instead of getting him right before giving him a lot of innings. Though Grady claims that it wasn’t affecting his performance until the last 2 or 3 weeks, and even then only in the field.
"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter
by Denver Tribe Fan on May 27, 2009 2:07 PM EDT up reply actions
The Indians margin for error in the rotation right now is impressively thin. Our 4th (Reyes), 5th (SLewis) and 6th (Laffey) starters are all out until late June at the earliest. That we happen to have Huff, Jackson and Sowers lying around is pretty impressive. That Tomo Ohka or Kirk Saarloos are within spitting distance of joining the rotation is terrifying.
And the bullpen isn’t in any better shape. And if Grady goes on the DL, we get to win with Trevor Crowe manning CF.
In reality, it will be Francisco in center and DeRo/Dellucci in left. With Crowe playing when someone needs a rest (or sucks).
At this point I would love to see us DFA Dellucci and call up Jordan Brown. Don’t see that happening though.
DFA Dellucci and call up Jordan Brown
hmm…I see Brown has played 19 games in the OF this year, splitting his time between right and left. I could get behind this.
Every game I have been at Brown continues to hit line drives. He looks every bit as good as LaPorta or Valbuena did why they were in Columbus.
Also! Brantley is starting to look a lot more comfortable at the plate as well. Like the version advertised after the trade with a very selective hitting approach.
Brantley’s K-rate is still tracking at a career-high without any increase in power. I’d like to either see the K-rate come down or the power go up.
Nice. Is that about to become your avatar?
-Erik
by drerikbrady on May 27, 2009 12:24 PM EDT up reply actions
The skull fits your profession better. Sort of.
"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter
by Denver Tribe Fan on May 27, 2009 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions
I’d bet the K-rate will improve if I were a betting man. It also seems that he’s working hard on the approach and not getting pull happy. Once he’s really locked in it might change with the power numbers too.
Kind of off-topic:
Someone the other day asked if players wear shorter pants when they wear their socks up. After a little investigation (not really I just noticed in a picture) Grady rolls his pants up and I’m fairly sure Ian Kinsler stuffs his in his socks because they poof out right above the socks. They look kind of like parachute pants. So I think they wear the same length of pants they just somehow make them shorter.
I just read your profile. High-five to another former St. Louisan/Cards fan!
I believe in Carl Pavano.
I went to Mizzou for a year before moving up to Cleveland. Prior to that, I went to Stephens for a year.
StephensCWRU
I believe in Carl Pavano.
Doh, that did not show up correctly. That should read:
Stephens is less than Mizzou is greater than CWRU.
I believe in Carl Pavano.
I can’t help it. I went to KU in the Danny Manning era. My family lives in Lawrence. My wife is a Virginia alum. My parents went to Kentucky and Louisville. I’m polygamous when it comes to college sports.
On the other hand, I lived in St. Louis, and I like the Cards except on the rare occasions they’re playing the Indians.
Same here, and to be honest I started following the Indians more because it’s easier. I did not want to shell out $200 for the MLB cable package in order to watch Cards games.
I can’t say I would have made the same choice had I moved to Boston or NYC, though.
I believe in Carl Pavano.
You can listen to Hamilton via MLB.tv, though, right? Hamilton+MLB.tv >>>> Underwood/Manning+STO.
I believe in Carl Pavano.
Well, the Royals aren’t helping out the division. They are getting murdered by the Tigers 8-2 in the 7th.
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