Game 117: Indians 3, Twins 1
by Jay on Aug 13, 2011 9:56 PM EDT
in Game Recaps
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Not a lot of surprises in tonight's game, and in particular, no surprises of the exceptionally unpleasant kind.
The preternaturally steady Josh Tomlin shut down a meek Twins lineup for six innings, allowing just three batters to reach first base and not a single runner to reach second base. Tomlin started to lose it in the 7th, as expected, allowing a leadoff double to Justin Morneau, unsurprisingly. Jim Thome, the active major league leader in walks, drew a walk; it was the only walk allowed by Tomlin, who averages about one walk allowed per start. An RBI single from Delmon Young ended Tomlin's night with about the line you might have predicted: 6.1 IP, 2 K, 1 BB, 1 ER.
The Indians amassed 10 hits but stranded all of them, save for a beautiful home run shot by Asdrubal Cabrera (yawn, see photo) in the third. Joe Smith, Rafael Perez, Tony Sipp and Chris Perez all dominated the Twins to finish the game for Tomlin. Thome, the active major league leader in strikeouts, struck out to end it. Perhaps the only odd thing about this game was that LaPorta and Fukudome each collected two hits.
Four of the club's best lefty bats — Hafner, Kipnis, Brantley and Chisenhall — were on the bench tonight for the start against Brian Duensing — who pitched, you know, okay, like usual — so manager Manny Acta basically got away with sneaking in a key rest day for half of his best players. Jason Donald made the most of his opportunity, gritting his way to second base in the first inning and tripling in the 7th — stranded both times. Donald also singled Choo to second to set up Cabrera's three-run homer.
Totally unexpectedly, the Orioles jumped out to 5–0 lead over the Tigers. As expected, the Orioles blew it, and the Tigers notched yet another one-run victory — their tenth in four weeks — to maintain a three-game lead over the Indians. The Twins now have the second-worst run differential in the AL, after the Orioles of course.
| Highest WPA | Lowest WPA | ||
| Tomlin | .235 | Santana | -.076 |
| Cabrera | .179 | Carrera | -.059 |
| Donald | .102 | Smith | -.031 |
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uh, no. not even close. not even close close.
Lou Marson fan. Jason Donald advocate.
by Gradyforpresident on Aug 13, 2011 11:03 PM EDT up reply actions
Asdrubal is on pace for about 5.2 WAR, which is fantastic, at age 25.
A-Rod averaged 7.6 WAR from age 20 through age 25.
I was just looking up his numbers. Dear God that guy has had a career.
Are people going to say he shouldn’t be in the Hall? Because, come on.
Lou Marson fan. Jason Donald advocate.
by Gradyforpresident on Aug 13, 2011 11:05 PM EDT up reply actions
I take it thats a yes right?
"sometimes the internet is hard for me." - ClemsonGirl
by world dictator on Aug 14, 2011 3:24 AM EDT up reply actions
It’s a yes for some voters.
There are other voters who have said that they will vote for a player whom they believe would have had a HOF career without the PED — Bonds, Clemens and A-Rod being obvious examples. Not sure where that leaves a guy like Manny, but I suspect this contingent is too small to swing the vote regardless.
Personally, I think any writer who missed the steroid story for the entirety of the 90s should be barred from voting on players of that era. They sat out the story, they should sit out the adjudicating.
Wow. To go even harsher, they were either participating in a cover-up or flat-out ignorant. How about the writers that sh_t all over that guy who disclosed the ando-stenodine(sp) in McGwire’s locker.
OCab is no longer my bête noire.
by stuart dean on Aug 14, 2011 12:14 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
That’s a definite NO! You’re gonna cheat the Game you don’t deserve to be honored along with the greats who played hard and didn’t cheat. Bonds, McGuire, A-Roid, etc. they disgraced the Game and shouldn’t be in the same Pantheon as those who played with integrity.
Our best players wear suits.
Which rules of the game were broken before 2003? Since steroids were created in the 30s until then, no one was punished for taking steroids or greenies. And I’m sure that quite a few members of the Hall would rather us not delve too deeply into their level of integrity.
The problem with this discussion is the inexact nature of the term “steroids”. As stated ~154,827 times before, there’s lots of “steroids” Vitamin D is a steroid, so is cholesterol.
Anabolic steroids were added to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act in the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990. The list of what the DEA considered “anabolic steroids” is exact – hormones like Diabinol, hGH and testosterone are included on that list. Prohormones like androstenedione were not added until 2004. So in one sense you’re right since I don’t know exactly which “steroid(s)” A-Roid was using.
However you want to look at it, I still consider it cheating.
Our best players wear suits.
So what about greenies? Many players now in the Hall have admitted to using them during their careers. Should they be thrown out?
by Buckeye Brad on Aug 14, 2011 1:42 PM EDT up reply actions
The problem with this discussion is that some people want to pretend that MLB players started taking illegal substances only after the appearance of Jose Canseco, and the people who should be punished are the home run hitters and a certain few others that didn’t get along with the media. The presence of PEDs in baseball sucks, but it was around for decades, and it certainly wasn’t the first time MLB had an issue regarding integrity.
Yes, because Cap Anson and Ty Cobb were such better characters. Give me a break.
Lou Marson fan. Jason Donald advocate.
by Gradyforpresident on Aug 14, 2011 1:25 PM EDT up reply actions
This. Cheating has always, and will always, exist in competition. If you throw out A-Rod, you have to throw out anyone who ever cheated.
Formerly fwembt, now co-moderator of Banners on the Parkway
by Brad D on Aug 14, 2011 8:11 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
If you’re going to take out players who “cheated the game” then you’re going to have a pretty empty Hall of Fame.
by Buckeye Brad on Aug 14, 2011 1:35 PM EDT up reply actions
So what do we do if we find evidence of usage of a player from the 60s that is already in the Hall and hound him enough to make him admit it? Is it at that point do we finally admit that it was a black eye on everyone involved with baseball over a few decades, and not just sluggers of the last 20 years? Do we finally admit that baseball has had similar black eyes before?
I am still floored we got Ubaldo.
Lou Marson fan. Jason Donald advocate.
by Gradyforpresident on Aug 13, 2011 11:07 PM EDT reply actions 5 recs
Amen to that!
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge..." C. Darwin
by Spidey on Aug 13, 2011 11:18 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I just hope he continues pitching like he did in his last start. We need him to be at least good enough to be a #2 starter, though pitching as a legit ace consistently would be awesome of course.
You can go ahead and assume that for every Tribe pitcher ever, “pitching as a legit ace consistently” would indeed be awesome. It’s not exclusive to the new guy.
Ah, but we got Ubaldo to pitch like an ace- those are his “expectations”, whereas nobody thinks Tomlin will start suddenly completing games and striking out 7+ a game.
You’re confusing your attempt at analysis for the most obvious statement ever. My comment stands. And the expectations on Ubaldo are exactly what you said: Strong top-of-the-rotation guy, someone to pair with Masterson. Nothing new here; everyone hopes he pitches like he did last start.
I don’t mean to be harsh; just pointing out that this site seems to have a lot of “gee I wish so-and-so would perform awesomely” lately. Well, we all do. We’re fans. But LGT is about more than that.
step up the pace
OCab is no longer my bête noire.
by stuart dean on Aug 13, 2011 11:42 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
In last night’s game thread the issue of Tomlin’s durability post-6th inning came up. His numbers from this year suggest a few things. First, the Indians have almost never let Tomlin face guys a 4th time. It is not very common, in general, for starters to face batters four times in a game on four occasions all season. As far as how he has fared against batters a third time, his OPS against that group (.721) is actually better than when facing guys a second time (.742). The bigger issue seems to be simply maintaining the quality of his offerings as he goes past 75 pitches. While he performs equally well in the 25-50 and 50-75 pitch range (.761/762), over 75 pitches he slips a bit (.822 OPS against). I would actually be surprised if this number is much out of line with your average major league starter, however. Contrast this with a big-bodied guy like Masteron and you can see a big difference. When Masterson is throwing a lot of pitches in a game it is typically because he is pitching well and is able to maintain his stuff, actually performing at his best in the 76-100 pitch range (.463 OPS again). What is nice about Tomlin, however, is that with his outstanding walk-rate and low pitches/PA (3.6) he is consistently able to go deep into games despite not having the arm strength to maintain his stuff.
Apparently Kipnis is down with an injury.
dmansworldpd Dennis Manoloff
Kipnis: “I don’t think it’s anything serious, but if it is, it will come out in the public in due time. We’re going to take the nec steps”
I really hope it’s nothing serious.
Also, it looks like Duncan is being sent down for Huff, though it’s not official yet. This is a little surprising to me, as we now have no right-handed OFs.
“Kipnis is just a little banged-up,” manager Manny Acta told MLB.com. “He’s been playing a lot of games and diving all over the place. He needed a day off.”
Better be this.
by YoDaddyWags on Aug 14, 2011 10:42 AM EDT up reply actions
Yeah this is what I noted in the game thread, he has been diving around an awful lot.
by supermarioelia on Aug 14, 2011 10:48 AM EDT up reply actions
The PD said that Kipnis has right side soreness and stiffness. They had an article up about an hour ago but the link doesn’t work now, which is odd.
by Buckeye Brad on Aug 14, 2011 1:41 PM EDT up reply actions
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