. . . on the day of his first major league hit and home run. And the homer was a game-winner, putting an end to a dramatic 2-1 contest with Tampa Bay in the bottom of the ninth.
As Hammy just shouted, "HOW ABOUT THAT!?!"
Is it fair to say that the Jacobs Field Magic is back?
As I type these words, Hamilton says, "Welcome to the good old days. They're back at Jacobs Field."
Great performance from Westbrook. He slipped free of a dicey first inning and never looked back. Back from his injury, Jake is an altogether different pitcher than we saw in April. If Lee can keep it going and Carmona can recover from Wednesday's rough outing, this is a terrific rotation.
Four of five at home, and we're back alone in first!
viernes, 29 de junio de 2007
On One Hand/On the Other
On one hand:
I was convinced the AL Central race was over on Sunday, after Detroit finished its cakewalks about negligible NL East opponents and we barely salvaged one game against the godawful Nationals. Detroit was looking too good, the overtake was overdue, hello wildcard race. Well, guess what? We've taken 3 of 4 from Oakland — always a June juggernaut, and the Rangers made the Tigers look decidedly mortal. What a difference three days make.
On the other:
We're still down a half-game, and I'd have preferred the Texas/Detroit game not be rained out yesterday. Better to play that game while the Tigers were reeling.
On one hand:
This is Franklin Gutierrez's time to shine, and he's doing it. After all this time, I have to say I'm a believer. Kelly Shoppach, too. Who knew he'd be the best player involved in the Coco Crisp trade?
On the other:
How far do we go with an outfield of Sizemore, Gutierrez, and Michaels? How do we get Kelly his ABs, given the logjam of Martinez, Shoppach, Hafner, and Garko out here in C/1B/DH-Land?
On one hand:
Things are looking up for Pronk. A couple of home runs, a rocket of a game-tying double on Tuesday night — and from what I'm hearing on the radio, a lot of hard-hit balls on which Oakland's fielders have just made great plays.
On the other:
Over the past six weeks we've seen more than a few false starts for Hafner. And the minute I declare he's out of his slump, he goes 0 for his next 10. And I'm starting to get suspicious re exactly how "loud" Pronk's outs really are. Hammy's an enthusiastic guy, and Hafner seems to have an awful lot of woulda coulda shoulda base hits, when Hamilton's doing the play-by-play.
On one hand:
CC has been absolutely dominating. Once Danny Haren regresses to the mean, Sabathia has to be the Cy Young candidate. I don't want to hear about Josh Beckett. These days it's a rare occasion when CC doesn't go nine.
On the other:
Heretofore reliable Paul Byrd's ERA has been climbing. And what in the name of all that's holy happened to Carmona last night? I worry — not so much about Byrd (though I've come to the realization that he's not going to return to sub-4.00-ERA form), but about Carmona: his shattered psyche was exposed for all the world to see last year. I don't want to see the blood-and-guts of it again. Hopefully the last two months have given him the confidence just to shake off this last performance. He has to know he has the stuff not only to win in the bigs, but to dominate.
On one hand:
Rafaels Betancourt and Perez. Can you dig it? Some kind of nickname is in order. Daffy Raffys? The Catast-Raffys?
On the other:
We need one more arm. Just one more arm in the 'pen. And please God, let it come from within the system. I couldn't stand to see us get in a bidding war for the likes of Akinori Otsuka — even if he does come with the double-bonus of Detroit not getting him.
That's all I've got.
I was convinced the AL Central race was over on Sunday, after Detroit finished its cakewalks about negligible NL East opponents and we barely salvaged one game against the godawful Nationals. Detroit was looking too good, the overtake was overdue, hello wildcard race. Well, guess what? We've taken 3 of 4 from Oakland — always a June juggernaut, and the Rangers made the Tigers look decidedly mortal. What a difference three days make.
On the other:
We're still down a half-game, and I'd have preferred the Texas/Detroit game not be rained out yesterday. Better to play that game while the Tigers were reeling.
On one hand:
This is Franklin Gutierrez's time to shine, and he's doing it. After all this time, I have to say I'm a believer. Kelly Shoppach, too. Who knew he'd be the best player involved in the Coco Crisp trade?
On the other:
How far do we go with an outfield of Sizemore, Gutierrez, and Michaels? How do we get Kelly his ABs, given the logjam of Martinez, Shoppach, Hafner, and Garko out here in C/1B/DH-Land?
On one hand:
Things are looking up for Pronk. A couple of home runs, a rocket of a game-tying double on Tuesday night — and from what I'm hearing on the radio, a lot of hard-hit balls on which Oakland's fielders have just made great plays.
On the other:
Over the past six weeks we've seen more than a few false starts for Hafner. And the minute I declare he's out of his slump, he goes 0 for his next 10. And I'm starting to get suspicious re exactly how "loud" Pronk's outs really are. Hammy's an enthusiastic guy, and Hafner seems to have an awful lot of woulda coulda shoulda base hits, when Hamilton's doing the play-by-play.
On one hand:
CC has been absolutely dominating. Once Danny Haren regresses to the mean, Sabathia has to be the Cy Young candidate. I don't want to hear about Josh Beckett. These days it's a rare occasion when CC doesn't go nine.
On the other:
Heretofore reliable Paul Byrd's ERA has been climbing. And what in the name of all that's holy happened to Carmona last night? I worry — not so much about Byrd (though I've come to the realization that he's not going to return to sub-4.00-ERA form), but about Carmona: his shattered psyche was exposed for all the world to see last year. I don't want to see the blood-and-guts of it again. Hopefully the last two months have given him the confidence just to shake off this last performance. He has to know he has the stuff not only to win in the bigs, but to dominate.
On one hand:
Rafaels Betancourt and Perez. Can you dig it? Some kind of nickname is in order. Daffy Raffys? The Catast-Raffys?
On the other:
We need one more arm. Just one more arm in the 'pen. And please God, let it come from within the system. I couldn't stand to see us get in a bidding war for the likes of Akinori Otsuka — even if he does come with the double-bonus of Detroit not getting him.
That's all I've got.
jueves, 28 de junio de 2007
Segregation 5, Brown 4/Cleveland 4, Oakland 3
I love these day games, but today was difficult. The Supreme Court cases on race in K-12 school assignments came out today. 185 pages of opinion, the upshot being that Brown v. Board of Education has been reduced to an empty husk, by five justices who, licking their chops, did nothing but cite Brown v. Board of Education in the process.
Humph.
In any event, I was up to my neck in those 185 pages — a work fire drill culminating in a meeting at 2:00 with my boss, to discuss the holdings.
I had radio coverage of the game on at work today, but I had to leave the office for that 2:00 meeting — in the bottom of the seventh, with two men on and a pitching change in the works. I wanted to wait to see what we did, but I had to go. When I got back the door to my office was closed, and I knew we had tied or taken the lead. Why? My deductive powers: the only reason someone might have closed my door, with me not inside, was that some noise was emanating from my office. What noise could that have been, other than Hammy screaming at the top of his lungs about something good happening? And so I was right. I sat down, brought up the Gameday screen, and we were up 4-3 in the ninth.
So notwithstanding our Supreme Court's precipitious descent into outright fascism this week, the day wasn't all bad.
Humph.
In any event, I was up to my neck in those 185 pages — a work fire drill culminating in a meeting at 2:00 with my boss, to discuss the holdings.
I had radio coverage of the game on at work today, but I had to leave the office for that 2:00 meeting — in the bottom of the seventh, with two men on and a pitching change in the works. I wanted to wait to see what we did, but I had to go. When I got back the door to my office was closed, and I knew we had tied or taken the lead. Why? My deductive powers: the only reason someone might have closed my door, with me not inside, was that some noise was emanating from my office. What noise could that have been, other than Hammy screaming at the top of his lungs about something good happening? And so I was right. I sat down, brought up the Gameday screen, and we were up 4-3 in the ninth.
So notwithstanding our Supreme Court's precipitious descent into outright fascism this week, the day wasn't all bad.
lunes, 11 de junio de 2007
Seven-Run Comeback — Ugh!
Back from a seven-run deficit to tie the game! So why am I annoyed?
Because it's the bottom of the eighth, one man down, Dellucci and Martinez are on first and third (respectively), Blake doubles down the left-field line, and Dellucci gets thrown out at the plate "by eight feet," according to Hammy.
Skinner apparently waved him home. "He took a chance," Hegan said. WHY? You keep him on third, and you can take the lead with a sac fly or a well-placed groundout. Not to mention the extra out to play with.
Seattle intentionally walks Hafner, walks Peralta to load the bases, and Garko strikes out.
Ugh.
Because it's the bottom of the eighth, one man down, Dellucci and Martinez are on first and third (respectively), Blake doubles down the left-field line, and Dellucci gets thrown out at the plate "by eight feet," according to Hammy.
Skinner apparently waved him home. "He took a chance," Hegan said. WHY? You keep him on third, and you can take the lead with a sac fly or a well-placed groundout. Not to mention the extra out to play with.
Seattle intentionally walks Hafner, walks Peralta to load the bases, and Garko strikes out.
Ugh.
sábado, 9 de junio de 2007
Fireworks in Cincinnati
Well, Sizemore, Peralta, and Dellucci have hit bombs tonight, to counter Conine, Hamilton, and Griffey. And all that wasn't enough pyrotechnics, someone is setting off fireworks.
Tom Hamilton, deadpanning: "Somebody in Kentucky just passed their ACT."
Great stuff.
Tom Hamilton, deadpanning: "Somebody in Kentucky just passed their ACT."
Great stuff.
Catching Up
I have about a month of material to catch up on here. Haven't had much time to post, with work heating up, always The Boy to attend to, and now we're putting the house up for sale — and we spent the last two months looking for a newer, bigger place.
So here's The Month in Review — in montage form:
*Sowers wins a game — against the Royals. Hooray. Not sure if he's suffering from Second Time Around Syndrome. Jeremy's pitching tonight. The Reds owned him earlier in the month, and he's out there again against Cincy tonight.
*As Hafner continues to struggle, Victor Martinez starts to make a case for the AL Most Valuable Player Award. Not that he has a prayer of winning it, with Magglio Ordonez hitting .363, on pace for 80+ doubles and 150 RBI.
[Sowers just gave up a two-run homer to Jeff Conine — yes, that's Jeff Conine hitting cleanup for the Reds. He had two homers on the year before this series. He's doubled that output in two days. "A costly two-out mistake," is how Hammy just described it.]
*Memorial Day weekend saw the Indians complete a three-game road sweep of the Tigers, to open up a decent-sized lead in the AL Central. Since then, the Indians' play has been largely uninspired — lost two of three to Boston on the road (excusable) and took two of three from Kansas City at home (ho hum). We seem to be in a pattern right now wherein we get three good starts from Byrd, Sabathia, and Carmona, only to have the "crafty lefties," Lee and Sowers, dissipate the momentum. Granted, if the Good Three hold serve, we play .600 ball. Thing is, perfection is too much to expect from them over the course of the year — and .600 ball may not be enough to win the division. In short, Lee and Sowers need to pull themselves together. By which I mean "not downright suck every time out."
*Between the Boston and KC series was a four-game set at home against Detroit. The series opened with two wins, and in the second the Tribe came back from four runs down twice — the second time in the bottom of the ninth, to win the game. A spectacular finish that I would have missed, had not The Boy made some noise and kept me awake. So God bless him: if he hadn't called for that bottle I'd have packed up the ol' bluetooth headset in frustration. Midway through that series, we were up 4.5 games, did not appear capable of losing to Detroit, and looked poised to go for the throat over the next two days. But oh yeah: Lee and Sowers were due to pitch those games. So never mind.
*There are questions in the bullpen. Rafael Betancourt isn't one of them — unless your question is "can you believe we've finally got a bad-ass setup man?" Something happened to Fernando Cabrera. He's completely lost it. There was a stretch of appearances where he didn't even record an out. Hard to believe a guy could be so dominating over the first month, then have it all turn off like someone flipped a switch. If we get anywhere this year, Cabrera plays a big part in it. So he needs to right the ship. Roberto Hernandez is coming apart, and time appears to have run out on Tom Mastny, who looked like a reliable arm until this last week. You wonder when the Indians will call up Matt Miller, who has been lights out in Buffalo. It must be a roster situation: they can't send down Cabrera, because he's out of options.
[Sowers just dealt another home run ball — this one to Josh Hamilton. You've got to feel right now that if Adam Miller weren't hurt, and Westbrook's' injury so slow in rehabbing, Jeremy would have "shuffled off" a week or so ago.]
*Jhonny Peralta is the Real Deal. And you have to love Casey Blake. No one has ever confused Blake with Brooks Robinson or Alex Rodriguez, and he has had long stretches of "anti-clutch" hitting. But boy, has he been terrific at third base for us, and batting second. He has made the most of his opportunity in Cleveland, and he's just a very good Major League Baseball player.
*Saw two of the Fenway games — a loss and a win. They dominated the celebrated Matsuzaka in the win. It was a rather enjoyable night.
MY ASSESSMENT, AT THIS POINT: This is a good team with significant flaws that are starting to catch up with it. The starting pitching we've discussed. I would take Sabathia, Byrd, and Carmona 1-2-3 against anyone in the playoffs. There are holes to fill in relief. Watching the Boston games illustrated what a luxury it is to have more than one lefty in the 'pen. Pronk didn't have a prayer against the sidewinder Lopez, and Okajima is almost unhittable. You can get by with Borowski and Betancourt if the starters go seven or eight innings. But that's a big if. We need the Good Cabrera and another reliable arm at least (Mastny? Miller?). The lineup is solid, and it could be tops in baseball — Detroit be damned — if Pronk ever puts it together. Grady, too, has been inconsistent. He's showing a great eye at the plate, good home-run power, and speed on the basepaths, but still hitting right around .280.
BEST-CASE SCENARIO: Hafner and Sizemore catch fire, Westbrook and Matt Miller return to stabilize the rotation and bullpen, and the Indians break away over the next two months.
[Indians load up the bases with nobody out and the heart of the order — Hafner, Martinez, and Nixon — due up in the top of the third. As Pronk comes to the plate, Hammy says, "This is a grand slam waiting to happen." Hafner lines out to left ("sharply," in the view of the folks at MLB.com, if you're looking for sunshine), and in the end we get one run on a sac fly. Nice.]
WORST-CASE SCENARIO: One of the Big Three starters loses time to injury, the bullpen implodes, Shapiro is forced into another Giles-for-Rincon-style move to try to hold things together, and things don't hold together.
So here's The Month in Review — in montage form:
*Sowers wins a game — against the Royals. Hooray. Not sure if he's suffering from Second Time Around Syndrome. Jeremy's pitching tonight. The Reds owned him earlier in the month, and he's out there again against Cincy tonight.
*As Hafner continues to struggle, Victor Martinez starts to make a case for the AL Most Valuable Player Award. Not that he has a prayer of winning it, with Magglio Ordonez hitting .363, on pace for 80+ doubles and 150 RBI.
[Sowers just gave up a two-run homer to Jeff Conine — yes, that's Jeff Conine hitting cleanup for the Reds. He had two homers on the year before this series. He's doubled that output in two days. "A costly two-out mistake," is how Hammy just described it.]
*Memorial Day weekend saw the Indians complete a three-game road sweep of the Tigers, to open up a decent-sized lead in the AL Central. Since then, the Indians' play has been largely uninspired — lost two of three to Boston on the road (excusable) and took two of three from Kansas City at home (ho hum). We seem to be in a pattern right now wherein we get three good starts from Byrd, Sabathia, and Carmona, only to have the "crafty lefties," Lee and Sowers, dissipate the momentum. Granted, if the Good Three hold serve, we play .600 ball. Thing is, perfection is too much to expect from them over the course of the year — and .600 ball may not be enough to win the division. In short, Lee and Sowers need to pull themselves together. By which I mean "not downright suck every time out."
*Between the Boston and KC series was a four-game set at home against Detroit. The series opened with two wins, and in the second the Tribe came back from four runs down twice — the second time in the bottom of the ninth, to win the game. A spectacular finish that I would have missed, had not The Boy made some noise and kept me awake. So God bless him: if he hadn't called for that bottle I'd have packed up the ol' bluetooth headset in frustration. Midway through that series, we were up 4.5 games, did not appear capable of losing to Detroit, and looked poised to go for the throat over the next two days. But oh yeah: Lee and Sowers were due to pitch those games. So never mind.
*There are questions in the bullpen. Rafael Betancourt isn't one of them — unless your question is "can you believe we've finally got a bad-ass setup man?" Something happened to Fernando Cabrera. He's completely lost it. There was a stretch of appearances where he didn't even record an out. Hard to believe a guy could be so dominating over the first month, then have it all turn off like someone flipped a switch. If we get anywhere this year, Cabrera plays a big part in it. So he needs to right the ship. Roberto Hernandez is coming apart, and time appears to have run out on Tom Mastny, who looked like a reliable arm until this last week. You wonder when the Indians will call up Matt Miller, who has been lights out in Buffalo. It must be a roster situation: they can't send down Cabrera, because he's out of options.
[Sowers just dealt another home run ball — this one to Josh Hamilton. You've got to feel right now that if Adam Miller weren't hurt, and Westbrook's' injury so slow in rehabbing, Jeremy would have "shuffled off" a week or so ago.]
*Jhonny Peralta is the Real Deal. And you have to love Casey Blake. No one has ever confused Blake with Brooks Robinson or Alex Rodriguez, and he has had long stretches of "anti-clutch" hitting. But boy, has he been terrific at third base for us, and batting second. He has made the most of his opportunity in Cleveland, and he's just a very good Major League Baseball player.
*Saw two of the Fenway games — a loss and a win. They dominated the celebrated Matsuzaka in the win. It was a rather enjoyable night.
MY ASSESSMENT, AT THIS POINT: This is a good team with significant flaws that are starting to catch up with it. The starting pitching we've discussed. I would take Sabathia, Byrd, and Carmona 1-2-3 against anyone in the playoffs. There are holes to fill in relief. Watching the Boston games illustrated what a luxury it is to have more than one lefty in the 'pen. Pronk didn't have a prayer against the sidewinder Lopez, and Okajima is almost unhittable. You can get by with Borowski and Betancourt if the starters go seven or eight innings. But that's a big if. We need the Good Cabrera and another reliable arm at least (Mastny? Miller?). The lineup is solid, and it could be tops in baseball — Detroit be damned — if Pronk ever puts it together. Grady, too, has been inconsistent. He's showing a great eye at the plate, good home-run power, and speed on the basepaths, but still hitting right around .280.
BEST-CASE SCENARIO: Hafner and Sizemore catch fire, Westbrook and Matt Miller return to stabilize the rotation and bullpen, and the Indians break away over the next two months.
[Indians load up the bases with nobody out and the heart of the order — Hafner, Martinez, and Nixon — due up in the top of the third. As Pronk comes to the plate, Hammy says, "This is a grand slam waiting to happen." Hafner lines out to left ("sharply," in the view of the folks at MLB.com, if you're looking for sunshine), and in the end we get one run on a sac fly. Nice.]
WORST-CASE SCENARIO: One of the Big Three starters loses time to injury, the bullpen implodes, Shapiro is forced into another Giles-for-Rincon-style move to try to hold things together, and things don't hold together.
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