Game 148: Athletics 2, Indians 1
by Ryan on Sep 19, 2009 1:02 AM EDT
in Game Recaps
36 comments
This doesn't excuse the Indians' play one iota, but C.B. Bucknor is a joke. He's been a joke for a long time, and I have no idea how he's still in the majors. His strike zone was consistently ludicrous tonight, remaining so until the last batter of the game, when he called out Kelly Shoppach on a pitch nowhere close to the strike zone. I just hope, for the sake of teams still in the race, that he isn't behind the plate for a meaningful game between now and the end of the season.
In contrast to last season's strong finish, this year's club is tanking in September. Grady Sizemore is out of the action, but the rest of the regulars are all healthy and available. All of them, except Andy Marte, who is losing playing time to Trevor Crowe and Niuman Romero, among others. The offense has gone to sleep, the starters have been mostly hideous, and the bullpen has pitched in an implosion or two this month. 21-year-old Brett Anderson took advantage of the anemic offense, allowing 4 hits and a walk in six inning, and striking out 10 Indians.
Matt LaPorta prevented yet another shutout by doubling home the first run of the game in the ninth inning. Shin-Soo Choo prevented another run by nabbing a sure home run earlier in the game.
Next Up: Sowers vs. Gonzalez, 4:05 PM (No TV)
| Highest WPA | Lowest WPA | ||
| Michael Brantley | .040 | Jamey Carroll | -.148 |
| David Huff | .032 | Jhonny Peralta | -.147 |
| Jess Todd | .025 | Trevor Crowe | -.102 |
0 recs |
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Ryan, those first two sentences represent all of my immediate thoughts after the last out. And the delayed call? It was almost as if he reconsidered and decided he wanted to hear the crowd cheer.
Huff didn’t have the life on his fastball that he did in his previous two starts. He threw a lot of changeups and worked around trouble, so he gets credit for that. But his stuff was pretty pedestrian.
Anderson just overmatched the Tribe. He’s got great stuff, and he’s really putting it together. But the Tribe had a lot of non-competitive AB’s tonight.
And if Peralta is going to insist on swinging at inside pitches, he’s going to need to figure out how to get his hands through so he can get the barrel on the ball. Otherwise, he may need to borrow someone’s bats by Sunday, since all of his will be broken. I’m just tired of watching him. It’s frustrating to consider that at the age of 27 he’s nowhere near the hitter he was at age 23.
i agree about JP and it pains me, because i really like him.
he, more than anyone amongst position players, would
benefit from a change of regime.
"and if it stays fair, it's going to be ... A FAIR BALL!"
by manny trillo electric toothbrush on Sep 19, 2009 2:09 AM EDT reply actions
Maybe among the regulars, Peralta benefits most from a regime change. I think Agent M also benefits dramatically from a regime change.
"But people are stupid, and their memories are short." - FredOx
by woodsmeister on Sep 19, 2009 10:02 AM EDT up reply actions
How the hell does a manager prepare for CB Bucknor? It’s either a feast for your pitcher or bat on shoulder death for your hitters. Really have to wonder how he still has a job since he also sucks hard in the field. Sometimes I wonder if he tries to top his suck behind the plate with some calls out there.
Maybe my memory’s fadin’, but I cannot for the life of me remember a more anemic Indians line-up. Shoppach DH? some jadrool named Romero at SS? Who the hell are these guys? Is this line-up really more potent than the ‘91 Indians of Brook Jacoby 1B, Mark Lewis 2B, Felix Ferminn SS, Carlos Baerga 3B, Albert Belle LF, Alex Cole CF, Mark Whiten RF, Joel Skinner C and the Immortal Chris James at DH (a team that lost 105 games)? Or how about the ’85 Cleveland powerhouse of Pat Tabler 1B, Tony Bernazard 2B, Julio Franco SS, Brook Jacoby 3B, Joe Carter LF, Brett Butler CF, George Vukovich RF, Andre Thornton DH – a team that lost 102 – a record, that with just a touch of bad luck, we got a shot of duplicating? Without our first half guys – Marinez, Lee, DeRosa and – yes, Garko – we’d be well on our way to a hunnert loses. Hell, we’d probably be there all ready.
This is a bad, bad team. You guys may know more about good baseball than I do, but trust me, I know an awful team when I see one. And this bunch probably won’t finish in the first of division of the Atlantic League.
Resident LGT results-oriented boob.
Ooops – looks like even these stuffs won’t match the ’85 team for futility. But if it was possible, this bunch could do it.
Resident LGT results-oriented boob.
Seriously, I read people making fun of Ohka and he is really no worse or better than anyone this team sends out there on a daily basis. No wonder Wedge is being a good soldier – he’s happy as hell he is about to be fired with a year of severance.
by kennesawmountainwahoo on Sep 19, 2009 5:38 PM EDT up reply actions
This is an incredibly bad team. It takes me bad to the glory days of the 1970s and 1980s. Those teams were, it seems, better than what we have at present.
In 1987 the team had Brett Butler and Joe Carter and Julio Franco and a solid Brook Jacoby. And promising young pitchers in Greg Swindell and John Farrell, and a fantastic Doug Jones. It was the final year for Pat Corrales’ reign of terror. Doc Edwards came in midseason.
The present Indians have Grady, Choo, Cabrera (none of whom would appear to be HOF material). An obviously solid prospect in LaPorta. A bunch of hope—justified and otherwise—in persons like Valbuena, Brantley, Hagadone. And then what?
Wow, you just said it. Wake up call. Is Grady headed for a Hall of Fame career? Or is he this generation’s Andy Van Slyke?
More like Tim Raines or Bernie Williams. Great all-around players for a long time, but probably not quite good enough when all is said and done.
Raines belongs in the hall, of course, but if Grady ends up being Andy Van Slyke or Bernie Williams that’s still good.
First, he’s not gonna be around much longer. Second one Andy Van Slyke or Bernie Williams will not get us a WS trophy. We’ve had better players than Sizemore – the above mentioned Albert Belle and Joe Carter – on hundred loss teams.
What Shipiro’s gotta do is focus on ‘12-’14. Next year’s just about hopeless; 2011 looks like a shake-down year – see what we got – and ’12 looks like the start of another run. Might take til ’13. Sizemore will just be another piece of a bad team til his FA year. Better to get the best prospects available and build for our next run.
Resident LGT results-oriented boob.
I only really differ from you in two respects. One, this division could be very winnable even in a shakeout year — so even agreeing that that’s what 2011 looks like at the moment, there’s not much reason to cut bait on it. Two, I think there’s a very real chance we can keep Grady long-term, and if there’s one guy we should keep beyond free agency at significant cost, it’s him.
The larger point is that there is no prospect who is likely to be better than Grady Sizemore in his early 30s is likely to be.
Yes, I agree we could – that’s could, as unlikely – win the division in ‘11. But even if we did, it’d take a miracle for us to get to the WS, let alone win it.
And you’re right, it’s highly unlikely that we’d pick up a prospect who would be immeadiately be as good as Grady. But I’m looking much further down the road. If we got a guy like LaPorta – a guy I think will “breakout” in 2011 – he could be as good, if not better than Sizemore come ‘12 or ’13. And cost one tenth as much. Don’t forget, money’s gonna be a big issue for this club for the foreseeable future.
Nope, I think it’s time to go the full Devil Rays here and take it all apart, slash pay-roll and play for 3-5 years from now. Cuz the immediate future looks bleak.
Resident LGT results-oriented boob.
But even if we did, it’d take a miracle for us to get to the WS, let alone win it.
That is simply not true.
If we got a guy like LaPorta – a guy I think will "breakout" in 2011 – he could be as good, if not better than Sizemore come ‘12 or ’13.
Can’t agree. Don’t know if you’re overestimating LaPorta or underestimating the impact of Grady’s all-around game — defense and baserunning along with power potential every bit as big as LaPorta’s — but I can’t agree.
And cost one tenth as much. Don’t forget, money’s gonna be a big issue for this club for the foreseeable future.
Yes, the cost difference, hence my caveat. I believe we probalby can afford exactly one homegrown star post his walk year, and Grady is by far the likeliest to deliver value on that kind of contract, out of all the players we’ve seen since Manny left nine years ago.
Wasn’t the real problem for the mid-’80s clubs preventing runs?
by JulioBernazard on Sep 20, 2009 1:59 PM EDT up reply actions
Of course pitching is a critical part or any team. But look. In ’91 it was Greg Swindell, Charles Nagy, Eric King, Rod Nichols, and Tom Candiotti part of a pitching staff that put up an aggregate EPA of 4.24 In ’85 it was Neal Heaton, the perpetual HoF candidate Bert Blyleven, Don Schulze, Curt Wardle, and Roy Smith who together with the other "pitchers" posted an ERA of " 4.92. Our current bunch has an ERA of 5.04.
Nope, sorry, in just about every category this year’s team is worse than the last two Indians teams that lost over a hunnert games. It’s gonna take another miracle to turn this around. But as a long-time/suffering Indians fan, I believe in miracles.
Resident LGT results-oriented boob.
There isn’t a game that CB Buckner calls that doesn’t have controversy. Umpires should be embarrassed to work with him. Why MLB keeps that loser around I can’t imagine. Sadly, all this has been true for years and he’s still here.
MLB Gameday for this game is unavailable, so I can’t see where the pitches were. Conspiracy!
by cleveland teamer on Sep 19, 2009 2:06 PM EDT up reply actions
Oh there it is. It’s showing that last pitch on the outside corner. Video made it look a little more outside, but not too much of a stretch.
by cleveland teamer on Sep 19, 2009 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions
I’m not defending Bucknor generally, but I checked Gameday last night and also saw the replay, and the last pitch was a strike, at the knees, on the corner. The first called strike was a little bit outside. But lots of umpires miss lots of pitches both ways, that’s baseball.
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