Unbelievable

by Ryan on Sep 28, 2005 9:48 PM EDT in News

And I don't mean in a good way.

Cliff Lee pitches one of the best games of the season, and the Indians can't score a single freaking run. Off a guy who's been hammered in his last three starts.

Aaron Boone can't get a bunt down in the eighth inning. Of course, it probably wouldn't have mattered given the balls Blake and Sizemore hit.

Three awful losses in a row in the last week of the season. You can't sugarcoat it any other way.

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Re: Unbelievable

I live in Indonesia, and that was the first game I've seen on TV in over a month.
I was not impressed. McCLung was throwing well, but there was nothing spectacular about his location or pitch selection. Everyone looked lost. Even on the best at bat of the game Victor looked completely outclassed and off balance before raking the double.
They didnt look this bad in the KC series, did they? Please tell me that this is nothing more than the DRays stepping up and getting into our heads.

by boomgard on Sep 28, 2005 10:25 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Unbelievable

Unfortunately, you saw one of the worst performances of the year. McClung is a pitcher with really good stuff, and he was hitting his spots tonight. However, the Indian hitters really helped him out by swinging early in the count. I'll give McClung some credit, but the hitters an equal amount of blame.

By the way, how difficult is it to follow MLB in Indonesia? Do they show baseball games on TV, or do you have to watch over the Internet? I'm just curious.

by Ryan on Sep 28, 2005 11:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Unbelievable

If we're getting shut out by Seth McClung, one of the worst pitchers in Major League Baseball, we don't deserve to be in the postseason.

We don't.

That's all there is to it.

by tim @ Let's Go Tribe! on Sep 29, 2005 12:17 AM EDT reply actions

Re: Unbelievable

Difficult.
ESPN is partnered with Star Sports (part of the Fox evil empire) in Asia, so we get maybe 3 or 4 relatively random games a month (ESPN coverage and regional Fox broadcasts). Though they've been showing a couple of more carefully games a week over the last three weeks; I can't tell you how many Yankees/DRays games I've had to sit through. I'm hoping that the Fox connection will allow for pretty good playoff coverage, but I'm skeptical. For the NBA playoffs we were only getting 3 games a week, and they were chosen at random.
The other big problem is that the games run from about 6 or 7 until 9 or 10 in the morning, meaning that I'll be at work by the 6th inning of most games. That part of it is really frustrating. If the Tribe manage to sneak in to the wild card I may just have to quit my job.
I tried MLB.tv, but my connection is just awful, and it looks like the closest relay server is in Japan. Basically unwatchable, and certainly not worth the price.
That's the long answer. The short answer is ESPN.com, local papers and blogs. It takes some effort, but its a good way to avoid doing any work.
As for McClung, my college roommate (a diehard Tigers fan) caught for him in high school. The email I just got from him reads "Seth is not good. You should be ashamed."
On the bright side, Cliff doesnt suck.

by boomgard on Sep 29, 2005 1:01 AM EDT reply actions

Re: Unbelievable

No offense to your college roommate, but he could be holding sour grapes for Seth seeing that Seth was drafted out of HS and Seth owned the West Virginia Career HR record until Nick Swisher broke it.

Also, Seth is accustoming himself as a starter again after being out for a year and a half from TJ Surgery.

He's pretty much recovered, though, seeing that his fastball hit 99 4-5 times during the game.

by Jonny Hustle on Sep 29, 2005 3:24 AM EDT up reply actions

Re: Unbelievable

'he could be holding sour grapes for Seth'
>>no, i think he just wanted to rub the loss in my face. he's happy for his friend, he just realizes that seth is not yet a good major league baseball player.

'Seth owned the West Virginia Career HR record until Nick Swisher broke it.'
>>cool. he's a large man and obviously a good athlete. he pitches now.

'his fastball hit 99 4-5 times during the game.'
>>yes, it did. he throws really hard and hopes for the best. this is why his arm fell off.

i think when he said that seth is terrible, he was speaking more about seth's inability to pitch against any team other than the indians and blue jays.

by boomgard on Sep 29, 2005 6:55 AM EDT up reply actions

Re: Unbelievable

McClung is recovering form TJ surgery, and before the surgery he was regarded as a good pitching prospect. Next season, he's probably the D-Ray's #2 starter if nothing changes.

Still, you have to take advantage of a pitcher having a bad month.

by Ryan on Sep 29, 2005 11:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Unbelievable

I've been watching the last couple weeks of games on MLB.tv, and its been great, this team has been great to watch. But it does seem like the offense has been choking a little since they came back home for the stretch run - not as patient and trying to win the game in one at bat.
That being said, I thought McClung pitched super last night, he threw mid-nineties strikes all night and had a great curveball to boot. Yes, we should have scored, but McClung was very tough.

by mcrose on Sep 29, 2005 12:01 PM EDT reply actions

Tie-breaker?

Woah! I'm watching the 1:00 Sox Tigers game (C'mon Detroit!) and the pregame talking heads just said that a win for Chicago clinches the Central regardless of what the Tribe does tonight due head to head record of the two teams. Wha? I thought that there was no tie-breaker built in and that a tie had to be broken by a one game playoff. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that DJ and the Hawk (You can put it on the board.... I'm a jackass!) would be wrong about something like this, but I wanted to see if anyone could shed some light on the situation, just to be safe. Thanks.

by dctribefan on Sep 29, 2005 1:21 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Tie-breaker?

No, Yahoo said this as well...

So you can trust that... or not.

by Jonny Hustle on Sep 29, 2005 1:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Tie-breaker?

Just kidding, I looked it up and that's correct. There's no possible scenario in which Chicago could win today, tie the Indians, and finish with a record tied with or worse than either Boston or NY. So even more emphatically than before, GO TIGERS!

But what I said about the Hawk still stands... jackass.

by dctribefan on Sep 29, 2005 1:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Tie-breaker?

The Hawk is one of the major reasons I've hated the White Sox for years. I can't even watch a whole Sox broadcast without wanting to put my foot through the TV. He is the very definition of jackass...

by MotorCityJK on Sep 29, 2005 6:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Unbelievable

no, it's true. and (gaaag) it just happened.
the reason would be that even if the indians tied the sox (which would have to be at a 96-66 record), BOTH ny and bos couldn't have 96 wins. therefore, if the indians DID tie chicago at 96-66, then one would automatically get the central and the other would get the wild card. since the sox have the better head to head record, they'd get the central.
soooooooooo, this COULD actually work in our favor. perhaps the sox will rest some starters and not risk injuries for the postseason. it's obviously very important to take 2 from them, and hopefully all 3. this is good for the tribe, if they can remember what they've been doing for the last 3 months, and that is HIT THE DAMN BALL!

by brad on Sep 29, 2005 3:47 PM EDT reply actions