Game 154: Indians 4, Orioles 2

by afh4 on Sep 25, 2009 10:35 PM EDT in Game Recaps

Cleveland wins! Cleveland wins! The Indians finally ended their losing streak by putting together a reasonably well played game of baseball versus the Baltimore Orioles. If the Indians had lost tonight, it would've been 12 straight and tied some now soon to be forgotten mark for consecutive failure in Cleveland baseball history. As they won, we can know go back to acknowledging that they are bad, very, very bad, but not historically bad.

Fausto Carmona, hypothetical stopper, took the mound and looked good, actually. He did give up a lot of hits (9) but he also didn't walk anyone, got some K's (6 over 6) and induced groundballs (8). Can't ask for much more than that when you've seen the Indians starters over the past month. Tony Sipp looked shaky again control-wise, although he worked around his three baserunners to complete a clean inning in the seventh. From there, it was the legendary Veras-Wood knockout combination. Kerry picked up his 20th save of the season and I'm sure that makes him feel a lot better for not signing with the Angels, or, really, anyone else at all.

The offense was powered by Andy Marte for the third game in a row: Andy now has six hits in the last three contests, as well as three walks. With Eric Wedge on his way out of town, perhaps Marte is exacting his revenge by pouring salt onto the slug that is Wedge's tenure in Cleveland. Or maybe some hits are just falling in. Whichever. LaPorta also contributed two knocks and Valbuena went oppo for a jack. Not a bad night, overall.

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via www.fangraphs.com

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Comments

I’m confused, how is it that you get a “win?” I seem to have forgotten how that works.

-Erik

by drerikbrady on Sep 25, 2009 10:53 PM EDT reply actions

For the Indians, you identify what the best possible course of action is and then achieve the opposite

by APV on Sep 26, 2009 7:56 AM EDT up reply actions

~~Laffey~~ Carmona
~~Victor~~ Marshawn
~~Grady~~ RSS
~~Dominoes~~ Marte
~~Grinding~~ Actually hitting

Captain of the SS [DO NOT TRADE] CHOO

by westbrook on Sep 26, 2009 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Westbrook: why do you make your jokes impossible to decipher?

by joeee on Sep 27, 2009 1:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Am I alone in being a little bit alarmed about how hard Fausto seemed to be getting hit? He wasn’t breaking bats or giving up little bleeder hits or seeing-eye singles; it seemed like every hit and some of the outs were tattooed.

Whatever. There were plenty of good things to take away from this game.

Everybody should get ice cream every day.

by Joel D on Sep 26, 2009 1:39 AM EDT reply actions

I don’t think you are alone, but the fact that he didn’t walk anyone and struck six in six IP is phenomenally better than anything else he could have done, only because of how bad he was in regards to K:BB before.

by hans on Sep 26, 2009 2:54 AM EDT up reply actions

Not to nitpick, but Fausto did walk 1.

Il faut d'abord durer.

by CU Adam on Sep 26, 2009 11:23 AM EDT up reply actions

Yes. Mainly yes. This is however the textbook box score for showing why K% is a better stat than K/9.

by Jay on Sep 26, 2009 3:06 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

I tried to tell you guys. We finally ran into a team that is even better at losing than we are.

by Jay on Sep 26, 2009 9:09 AM EDT reply actions

~~Running into one~~ Running into the O’s

Captain of the SS [DO NOT TRADE] CHOO

by westbrook on Sep 26, 2009 12:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Draft update: We have basically clinched the #7 pick (or better), as we are 7.5 games behind Toronto, plus we hold the tiebreaker. I think our magic number for #7 or better is one.

We are 4.5 games ahead of the Pirates for the #2 pick. I don’t think it’s happening.

We’re 3.5 games behind the Mets and Diamondbacks for the #6 and #7 picks, and we hold the tiebreakers over both clubs. It’s very unlikely we can catch up to and pass either of these teams in nine games.

We’re two games ahead of the Orioles and 1/2 game behind the Royals, and we lose both tiebreakers. Based on the above, we and those two clubs will have picks #3, #4 and #5. If I had to guess, I’d say we end up #5, but we’re likelier to be #3 or #4 than #6.

by Jay on Sep 26, 2009 9:20 AM EDT reply actions

“That’s great Ray, save me some!”

by hans on Sep 26, 2009 10:58 AM EDT up reply actions

Jay, you’ve commented that it’s a pretty significant difference to be drafting 5 instead of 15…question – how hamstrung do you think they’ll be in regards to bonus demands? I can’t recall, but I think they exceeded slot on Alex White.

by TribeJay on Sep 26, 2009 4:34 PM EDT up reply actions