Game 63: Indians 4, Royals 3 (10 Innings)
by Ryan on Jun 12, 2009 12:06 AM EDT
in Game Recaps
84 comments
The Indians aren't a good team right now, but when Cliff Lee's on the mound, they're an excellent club. Likewise with the Royals and Zack Greinke; beating Kansas City with him on the mound is as difficult as defeating one of the best teams in baseball. And with the Indians sending Jeremy Sowers to the mound, the matchup seemed more like the Dodgers versus the Nationals than the two teams listed on the schedule.
Sowers in the first few innings was at the top of his game, spotting his fastball early in the count to get ahead, and even getting some swings and misses. But while Greinke seemed to be getting better as the game went on, Sowers seemed to be struggling forward just on his initial momentum. His last two innings were mortal struggles; he threw 36 pitches in the fifth inning alone. But to his credit, he left the game having only given up two runs. The Indians were still in the game, a minor victory by itself.
Greg Aquino relieved Sowers in the sixth, having little room for error given the score and opposition. He pitched scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh, and almost pitched a third scoreless frame, but he grooved a high fastball to Miguel Olivo, and the Kansas City catcher homered to give the Royals a 3-1 lead. But compared to what the Indians were getting in these situations early in the season, Aquino's outing was fantastic. Although coming back from a two-run deficit seemed a tall order, at least it seemed possible.
Greinke tired as he approached 100 pitches. The Indians hit several balls on the screws in the seventh, and Ben Francisco lined out to begin the eighth. Then Mark DeRosa singled, and Victor Martinez worked a walk; Greinke was done, if not due to pitch count, then due to ineffectiveness. The Royals then gave the Indians an opening after John Bale came on; Shin-Soo Choo hit a grounder to first, and rather than being content to get a force at second, shortstop Tony Peña tried to turn a double play. The pitcher was covering at first, and he couldn't get to the relay. The ball bounded away, and not only did DeRosa score, but Choo went to second on the throw home.
Joakim Soria was then brought on for a four-out save. The Royals closer didn't have command of his curve, and hung one to Jhonny Peralta. If not for the wind blowing in, Peralta would have hit the hanger over the fence to give the Indians the lead, but on this night there was a good breeze blowing straight in, so the ball hit a foot or so below the top of the left field fence for a game-tying double. And now, with the game tied, the contest was no longer Greinke versus Sowers, but Soria versus Wood, a much more competitive matchup. Wood pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, and Matt Herges pitched a scoreless tenth. Trey Hillman elected to go with Kyle Farnsworth for the tenth, and the Indians, for the first time all game, had the advantage in a pitching matchup. DeRosa singled, Victor Martinez walked, and Shin-Soo Choo singled through a screech of gulls, clipping the wing of one unfortunate bird in the process. The ball was deflected just enough for Coco Crisp to miss the ball entirely, though I don't think the play at the plate was going to be close anyway. And so, with some good relief pitching and a couple of excellent late-inning at-bats, the Indians stole one at home.
| Highest WPA | Lowest WPA | ||
| Mark DeRosa | .228 | Ben Francisco | -.216 |
| Jhonny Peralta | .225 | Trevor Crowe | -.165 |
| Victor Martinez | .217 | Chris Gimenez | -.153 |
1 recs |
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Animal activists would probably site this moment and then complain about it.
Shin-Soo Choo, future U.S. Citizen.
Although we should note that according to the AP recap:
The stunned bird flopped around for a few seconds before finally flying off.
So the gull came out of it ultimately unharmed; this wasn’t a Randy Johnson exploding-bird-in-Montreal type of situation.
nitpick: it wasn’t montreal. it was a preseason game while he was with the d-backs.
but it is worth posting the video
by DontCallMeJoey on Jun 12, 2009 12:38 PM EDT up reply actions
As I recall, there was talk, years ago, when the Blue Jays played in Exhibition Stadium right on the lake, of detaining Dave Winfield for hitting a seagull with a thrown ball (I think whatever he hit was a protected species or something).
don’t forget Jae Kuk Ryu, once fined for hitting an osprey – on purpose. yup, same guy the tribe tried to sign in spring training.
Tonight was far and away DeRo’s best offensive game of the season. I smell a hot streak…
"I've never complained about it. I'm thankful to have a jersey." Mark DeRosa, 22 Aug 2007
Just in time for my trip into town for the Cardinals series!!!
by Les Fleurs Du Mal on Jun 12, 2009 8:54 AM EDT up reply actions
I saw Choo’s single on a replay on the MLB Network. I saw the bird get hit and Crisp zig when he should have zagged. The look on Crisp’s face was priceless. Do they do drills on how to play a bad hop off of a bird?
Sowers did just enough; the relievers were as good as they needed to be and Matt Herges is quietly putting together a very good season. It’s nice that he got the win.
She isn't crazy, she's just not impressed.
Sowers in the first few innings was at the top of his game, spotting his fastball early in the count to get ahead, and even getting some swings and misses. But while Greinke seemed to be getting better as the game went on, Sowers seemed to be struggling forward just on his initial momentum. His last two innings were mortal struggles; he threw 36 pitches in the fifth inning alone.
it probably won’t happen anytime soon, but could Sowers actually be a legit middle reliever/long man?
He’s unathletic and he warms up too slowly, or so I’m told.
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Jun 12, 2009 7:57 AM EDT up reply actions
honest question: what’s being unathletic got to do with it?
by DontCallMeJoey on Jun 12, 2009 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions
When Laffey was converted to the ‘pen instead of Sowers, the reason given was that he was “athletic and warms up quickly.” Both points may be legitimate about Laffey, but it’s sort of funny when you use it against Sowers. And I have no clue what athleticism has to do with anything. Maybe it’s about working from the stretch or something, or not knowing when you’ll be called on.
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Jun 12, 2009 1:18 PM EDT up reply actions
Perhaps it takes more athleticism to run from the bullpen to the mound than from the dugout to the mound.
So Jeremy would have to stop every 5 seconds or so and the Call to the Bullpen commercial break would be like twice as long?
Who needs affection when you can have blind hatred?
by ClemsonGirl on Jun 13, 2009 11:50 AM EDT up reply actions
Even if God seems to hate us, at least Gaia’s on our side every once in a while…
by still ill on Jun 12, 2009 1:33 AM EDT reply actions 2 recs
Coco had to pretend he was disgusted by the deflection to make it seem like he could have thrown Mark out at the plate. And with his arm, the throw would have probably died half way and rolled the rest of the way to the Indians dugout. But whatever makes KC fans happy.
by Cleveland Indians on Jun 12, 2009 1:52 AM EDT reply actions
Where were those birds when Joba Chamberlain was pitching?
MLB2PDX!!! (someday...)
by The Cactus Leaguer on Jun 12, 2009 2:42 AM EDT reply actions
Justin.
Shin-Soo Choo, future U.S. Citizen.
by USSChoo on Jun 12, 2009 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
really wish we would have won that opening game against the Twins – a 6-3 trip through the AL Central would have been nice
Yup. But at least it was a winning trip.
by Logodaedalus on Jun 12, 2009 2:53 AM EDT up reply actions
Time to fatten up on Interleague play… I hope we go like 12-3 or something, just like in 2005 when I think we won 9 straight against the dregs of NL West.
you realize of course that those NL teams facing off against the AL Central are saying the same thing
Except that the AL has owned the NL for a number of straight years. Any NL team looking forward to interleague is dumb
don’t we typically suck during inter league play?
by world dictator on Jun 12, 2009 10:21 AM EDT up reply actions
We’d be fine ifinterleaguethe first half of the season occurred the second half .
Fixed
"It's hard to win when you don't score." Cliff Lee, 9/28/05.
by Harry Doyle on Jun 12, 2009 1:26 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Lately, yes. Overall, the team is 109-105, so this hasn’t always been true. Last year, the Indians were 6-9 in the 5-series interleague swing, but that followed a 9-11 stretch and preceded a 8-12 one. The .400 winning percentage against the NL wasn’t a whole lot worse than the .425 they posted against the AL before and after.
We’re not playing the NL West this year, though. This next stretch could be problematic, at least the first two series, anyway.
"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter
by Denver Tribe Fan on Jun 12, 2009 6:33 PM EDT up reply actions
Second-best bird-related baseball moment ever?
Appropriately, since May 25 Sowers is morphing into what I always wanted Paul Byrd to be. He’s not going to get you deep into games (21 IP in four appearances, 3 starts), but he will keep it close (1.24 WHIP, .585 OPS, 2.14 ERA). He’s allowing baserunners, but only 3 of 26 (17 H, 9 BB) have been XBH.
Damn hippie, is what he is
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Jun 12, 2009 1:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Nice little roll the bullpen’s on. Over the last 2 series, 18.1 IP, 3 runs.
by supermarioelia on Jun 12, 2009 11:22 AM EDT reply actions
Yes indeed. In April, the bullpen ERA was 5.80. Since then, it’s 4.00, and only 3.06 since June 1. Herges, Vizcaino and Aquino have a combined ERA of 2.23 in May and June. Add in Wood, and you have the most unlikely Circle of Trust ever (16 runs in 54 innings since May 1). Best of all is the run Wood is on – since the meltdown against KC on May 19, he hasn’t given up a run, and since the end of May, he hasn’t given up a hit either (striking out 6 of 12).
Man, this just makes the timing of Betancourt’s injury so frustrating. He was looking really good and I could see a solid bullpen emerging. Now, they still look a reliable arm (or 2) short.
by Ryan Kelsey on Jun 12, 2009 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions
anecdotal thought alert.
so, i’ve been thinking the indians might have a tough time in interleague, offensively. i have no backup for this, but i feel like on the macro and the micro, our offense needs to see pitchers before they start hitting them. within games, it seems like they don’t get to starters till they turn over the line-up once or twice. within the season could that be a symptom of our slow starts in april/,may and how every time a rookie pitcher faces us we get shut down?
It’s worth noting at this point that we’re under-performing our Run Differential by 4 wins (again) Ranking the AL Central in Run Differential, here’s what it looks like:
DET 32 25
MIN 31 29
CLE 30 30
CHA 27 31
KC 24 33
Meant to mention additionally, do we ever get to a point where Wedge underperforming our Projected Wins record becomes an issue?
2003: 68-94, pWins 72-90
2004: 80-81, pWins 81-80
2005: 93-69, pWins 97-65
2006: 78-84, pWins 90-72(!!!!!)
2007: 97-66, pWins 94-69
2008: 81-81, pWins 86-76
2009, 4 wins under thus far.
Good god.
This is probably skewed slightly by our 22-run outburst vs. NY, though it does fit the overall trend.
*sigh*
It seems to me we scored a lot of runs one game and I, not without controversy, suggested that would leave a lingering effect on such numbers…
Yeah, but if you subtract, say, 7 runs from that game, you still come out to the 30-32 pythag record.
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Jun 12, 2009 5:02 PM EDT up reply actions
Is there a resident LGT ornithologist? Where are the gulls coming from (Exhibition Stadium in Toronto?)? Were they there during the 1990s? Why have they discovered Progressive? Are they there when the Tribe isn’t playing? Is there anything to be done about them? Is it weather-related? Will they disappear as suddenly as they appeared?
a very impressive, uninterrupted 8-question streak (with an additional sub-question in a parenthetical).
bravo.
by DontCallMeJoey on Jun 12, 2009 3:40 PM EDT up reply actions
Coco Crisp in the Kansas City Star:
"I don’t even remember birds being here at all when I was here," said Crisp, who played for the Indians from 2002-05. "There were always bugs, and I guess that’s what brought the birds — they like to eat the bugs."
According to my extensive research on the subject, gulls don’t eat bugs. They prefer to be kleptoparasitic, eating hot dogs, peanuts, nachos and other ballpark detritus. The gulls, therefore, are there for the abundance of garbage. Coco Crisp should keep his mouth shut.
The Kaegel & Castrovince quotation makes Crisp seem analytical and scientific:
I don’t even remember the birds being here at all when I was here," Crisp said. "There were bugs. I guess that’s what brought the birds — the whole nature thing.
by Deep South Ken on Jun 12, 2009 7:12 PM EDT up reply actions
- No
- Parma
- No
- Google Maps
- Yes
- No
- Maybe
- Birds are inscrutable
by FredOx on Jun 12, 2009 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions 5 recs
No, 4 got me. Sorry. I have no idea how that happened.
by jakesinger777 on Jun 12, 2009 7:09 PM EDT up reply actions
Subsequent to Choo’s assault on the seagull, we learn that a Korean golfer on the LPGA tour killed a different bird. Homeland Security is investigating.
Today’s Metro section on the birds.
They’re really after the buffet, said Kevin McGraw, an ornithologist from Arizona State University. The birds are piling up on food — scores of insects, as well as the occasional fan-dropped french fry or hot dog bun — to feed their young.
“It’s like drawing birds to a bird feeder,” McGraw theorized.
It’s the subject of “high-level meetings,” said Bob DiBiasio, vice president of public relations for the Indians.
So what can be done? Not much, said Stan Searles, curator of birds and aquatics at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Odds are that the federally protected pests won’t be forced out “of such an attractive place,” he said. They’ll only leave on their own accord, probably when the need for food slows.
The Indians’ efforts Friday night included a quick burst of fireworks every half inning. And so far no sign of the gulls.
There isn’t much more in the article than what I’ve lifted but a few bird jokes. I should point out that the fireworks between every half inning are done anyway on Friday nights.
Steel Nick
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