Game 128: Orioles 13, Indians 4
by Ryan on Aug 28, 2009 11:42 PM EDT
in Game Recaps
48 comments
The Indians had a couple chances to stay in the ballgame for at least a couple innings longer, but the game would eventually get put completely out of reach in the late innings.
Fausto Carmona brought the same gameplan to the mound tonight as he had used in his last outing, but this time his location wasn't on. Tonight the four-seam fastballs weren't on the corners, but in the middle of the plate, and he often wasn't able to use his sinker or changeup because he was behind in the count. He couldn't make it through the fifth, and this time the bullpen couldn't hold the Orioles down long enough for the Indians to mount a comeback.
The offense missed some golden opportunities, but there were some bright spots. Matt LaPorta went deep again; he was one of four Indians with two hits. Andy Marte got on base twice, and looks like he's gotten a lot more comfortable with consistent playing time.
Next Up: Sowers vs. Tillman, 7:05 PM
| Highest WPA | Lowest WPA | ||
| Asdrubal Cabrera | .120 | Fausto Carmona | -.365 |
| Andy Marte | .041 | Luis Valbuena | -.114 |
| Travis Hafner | .036 | Wyatt Toregas | -.104 |
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“He wants it,” manager Eric Wedge said. “He’s been grinding it out for a while.”
And so now we know why Marte has seen an uptick in playing time.
He’s come down with a bout of scrappy? Who let Eckstein around him?
by The Grimace on Aug 29, 2009 12:27 AM EDT up reply actions
I know this isn’t worth much, but I suspect Wedge really does respect the time Andy’s put in.
by fleerdon on Aug 29, 2009 10:14 AM EDT up reply actions
I don’t mean to cast this as a positive; it wasn’t Wedge’s place to be sour on Marte to begin with. All I mean is that this particular comment of Wedge’s about Marte seems sincere.
by fleerdon on Aug 29, 2009 3:28 PM EDT up reply actions
I saw this, and the exact words I said aloud were, “I hope Greg isn’t going to link me to a Bye-Bye Birdie vid.”
by fleerdon on Aug 29, 2009 5:45 PM EDT up reply actions
I suspect Wedge only respects the results and believes that the only way one can achieve those results is through grinding.
A steaming pile of scrappiness
by woodsmeister on Aug 29, 2009 12:27 PM EDT up reply actions
Ah, yes, the conclusory logic … now that he’s playing well, I observe that he’s a grinder!
Not unlike the Gold Glove balloting … now that he’s hitting well, what a sensational glove!
Eric Wedge deserves no breaks. None.
A steaming pile of scrappiness
by woodsmeister on Aug 29, 2009 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions
I think Wedge respects the hell out of that .327/.369/.593 line he put up in AAA, something he didn’t come close to doing since 2005. It’s not something you can measure, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Marte is more committed to maximizing his talent, and it’s generally accepted that he’s in better physical shape at this point in his career. And that maybe his results in AAA reflect that.
I think Wedge respects results and that if the process that is being used to achieve the results is good, that it has a better chance of continuing.
From today’s game preview piece. Offered without comment.
Indians manager Eric Wedge said Marte’s made some adjustments and is probably being helped by getting regular playing time.
“He’s a good kid and he cares,” Wedge said. “He wants it.”
Wedge also said that the game-winning homer in the ninth inning Thursday should give Marte’s confidence a boost.
“He was already doing a better job prior to that,” Wedge said. “When you put that on top of it, he should be feeling confident about his game right now.”
by fleerdon on Aug 29, 2009 3:41 PM EDT up reply actions
is probably being helped by getting regular playing time.
HEY WEDGENIUS… whose fault is that?
This is Victor's home. Victor Jose, you too.
I don’t know…most young kids that have come up have needed to produce before they got more time. That’s actually one of my criticism’s of Wedge. In the market they’re in, they need to take more risks, like the Braves. Sometimes it backfires on them (Schafer), but they’re more apt to create a spot for a young player with pedigree and let them go.
This has been brought up before and pretty soundly disproven. Gutierrez did not show any immediate results, just to name one example — he was terrible at the plate until after he started getting regular playing time. Grady was not exactly brilliant when he first started.
The point is that he tolerated hundreds of terrible PA out of veterans, with little reason to think they were better than some of the prospects who have been buried to one degree or another.
Veterans, agreed. In that case, Wedge considers previous success at the big-league level, often to his detriment.
Some of their prospects have been given more free reign than others, probably Victor and Grady the most notable. Actually, if you look at the first exposure to the majors, none of their mainstay regulars from the past few years got off to great starts.
Martinez (2003, 174 PA) – .289/.345/.333
Hafner (2003, 324 PA) – .254/.327/.485 (sent to minors after first month)
Peralta (2003, 270 PA) – .227/.295/.326
Sizemore (2004, 159 PA) – .246/.333/.406
And you can argue Gutz got better with regular playing time, but I don’t think it’s a one-way causal relationship. It goes both ways. Gutz also started to get more playing time after he started producing. Again, I’m not advocating that as a process, but I don’t think it’s entirely been the one-way street that you do.
In 2007, Gutz didn’t start getting semi-regular time until two 2-hit days on 6/14 and 6/17. And then when he went 4-5 with a double and homer on 7/16, he got pretty regular time the rest of the way. His at-bats went from 54 and 49 in June-July to 78-85 in August-September. And at the end of July, his OPS was .864. He finished the year at .790. You tell me what comes first – the chicken or the egg?
Wow. Me going to Frat parties in the middle of the game is not good for the Indians.
Who needs affection when you can have blind hatred?
Megoing to Frat partiesin the middle of the gameis not goodfor the Indians.
I'm not really into Song of Hiawatha.
by sarcasmdave on Aug 29, 2009 1:43 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
Cannot get enough of that LaBomba clip. D.T.B.
by fleerdon on Aug 29, 2009 10:19 AM EDT reply actions
Game observations:
1) If you didn’t watch the game, don’t be too down about that Fausto boxscore line. To me, the first three innings were the best he’s looked all year, particularly the first inning. He was on line with the plate and everything was down. Ryan, I thought he was throwing a ton of sinkers, not four-seamers. But as we both know, it’s pretty tough to tell with Fausto, so who really knows, right? He gave up a few hard-hit balls, but he also gave up two infield hits, one grounder through the hole with Marte holding the runner on, and one bad-hop single that Marte would’ve otherwise had. Negatives? The Orioles sniffed out his changeup after the first inning, Fausto got a little loose in the fourth and got noticeably frustrated in the fifth. But as far as having stuff and command, early on he was great.
2) How in the world was Matt Wieters hitting .263/.311/.366 coming into this series? Thursday night he hit one of the longest opposite field homers I’ve seen this year, and last night he took a sinker down and away and rifled it off the left field wall. Just like Mauer, it might take awhile, but this kid has serious juice.
3) That might have been the worst I’ve ever seen Jensen Lewis look. No velocity or command. Great combination. He’s either injured or completely lost with his delivery.
4) When Jess Todd throws a good slider, he can be pretty tough. When he doesn’t, he’s awful. Still hope he can help next year.
by TribeJay on Aug 29, 2009 10:47 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Ryan, I thought he was throwing a ton of sinkers, not four-seamers. But as we both know, it’s pretty tough to tell with Fausto, so who really knows, right?
They were up in the zone, so I assumed they were four-seamers.
as well as the combination was in AAA this year, I wouldn’t mind see J. Brown get thrown into this mix and see what happens. I know he was banged up a little, but I’d really love to see LaPorta, Marte, and Brown hitting in the back end of our lineup. That’d be awesome.
by MooneysRebellion on Aug 29, 2009 12:41 PM EDT up reply actions
That’d be awesome
I think that would more be a sign we have decided to invest 0 extra money to fill those spots
Not entirely a bad thing given the dough we’ve p_ssed away on position player fliers.
There is a great need for a sarcasm font
by stuart dean on Aug 29, 2009 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Agreed – next year is about seeing what we have. Don’t waste the money on some vet retreds. We’ve got vets on this club to lead (Grady, Westbrook, Pronk and potentially Peralta, Shoppach and Wood). I’d love to see Marte, LaPorta, Valbuena, etc. holding down the bottom of the order. Not to raise expectations too much or to say it’s an exact parallel – it might remind me just a bit of when we brought Manny and Thome up and they hit in the 7 & 8 spots to break in. Wow, that was a long time ago.
I just wanted to believe.
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