2020 Series #14 Royals at Indians, Sep. 7-10

should not have pinch hit for Mercado!! Gotta see if he has anything!!

Good game... offense was held in check.. Cookie pitched well enough to get the win.. Need to get the finale to split the series before heading to Minnesota..

What we are seeing...

Naylor is not the answer to 'anybody is better than what we have.'

Cookie is not past his expiration date as a starter.

Naquin is either hot or cold. It didnt take long for the ice cubes.

Rearranging the chairs on the deck doesn't make much difference

Lousy defense can kill good pitching.

I hope seeing Tito with Antonetti tonight means he's feeling better. No issues really with sandy. I'd just like the man back and the boost he would give the team

This team lacks a real identity outside of the starting rotation. Who can hit? No one consistently. Tons of chances. Sandy even tried to play small ball. Yuck

we've lost cookie's last two starts - he's gone 13 innings and given up two runs - otoh, the bullpen's given up 8 runs in those 2 games

xmasbuck said:

we've lost cookie's last two starts - he's gone 13 innings and given up two runs - otoh, the bullpen's given up 8 runs in those 2 games

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Bullpen getting exposed. Maton needs to stop nibbling and blast it past hitters. He has the velo on the fb

ncinthenext3 said:

Bullpen getting exposed. Maton needs to stop nibbling and blast it past hitters. He has the velo on the fb

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The BP? How about the offense? That's the real reason for Cookie's failed starts. This team couldn't collectively hit a barn standing inside of it. They litteraly suck puddy balls right now.

CDAV45 said:

The BP? How about the offense? That's the real reason for Cookie's failed starts. This team couldn't collectively hit a barn standing inside of it. They litteraly suck puddy balls right now.

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See my prior post. We're on the same page.

CATS44 said:

What we are seeing...

Naylor is not the answer to 'anybody is better than what we have.'

Cookie is not past his expiration date as a starter.

Naquin is either hot or cold. It didnt take long for the ice cubes.

Rearranging the chairs on the deck doesn't make much difference

Lousy defense can kill good pitching.

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Scoring f'n 0 runs is what kills good pitching.

ncinthenext3 said:

See my prior post. We're on the same page.

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Gotcha! That wasn't really directed at you. Moreso an overall assessment.

Not sure posters will recall but I remember a bad late August loss to KC when a lackadaisical Grady Sizemore misplayed an easy fly ball, which allowed the winning run to score. Grady was laughing with another Tribe player because the Tribe was comfortably in first place at that time. But that miscue was the beginning of a horrendous tailspin that knocked the Tribe out of the playoffs. Could we be seeing a similar tailspin again, losing to a lousy team by not making basic plays on defense and a continuing lack of hitting? I have a bad feeling about these last two losses to the Royals.

Can't believe we couldn't score one run off Danny Freaking Duffy. Our best chance was in the 5th with the bases loaded and one out. Unfortunately, Lindor was up and I can't think of a worse hitter in that situation. Need a home run to lead off the game? Lindor's your guy. Need a base hit or just a sac fly with RISP and down by a run? Fuggettaboutit!

The Royals look like they're playing loose since they're out of it and have nothing to lose. The Tribe bats are non-existent unless the Royals pitcher is Jakob Junis. One run in the last 15 innings and that was when we were down 8-5 in the 9th last night.

If Josh Naylor ever hits a fly ball I'm going to die of shock. They might as well play five infielders against him.

Carrasco's line looked good but he was helped by a boneheaded baserunning play. With two out in the fifth he gave up two consecutive hits but the batter got thrown out at second to end the inning. The Royals opened the sixth with three straight hits so Cookie gave up five hits in a row but escaped with only one run after getting the next three hitters. If not for the baserunning blunder he would have given up three runs.

It looked like the Royals were sitting on his changeup. It looked like most of their hits came on off-speed stuff some of them on the first pitch. Even Rick and Matt noticed he was starting hitters out with a changeup and they were hitting it. His fastball was pretty effective but maybe that's because they were sitting on the breaking ball. He still held them to one run with some help from the Royals bad base running.

What's happening to our defense? Hosey and Hernandez have been great all year but they both botched easy plays. However, Cookie was able to bail them out.

Nice to see Luplow line a double to left and Berto get a hit and a walk. DeShields actually had three hits as the 6-9 hitters combined for five hits and a walk. Usually when we get that much production from the bottom of the order it's an easy win, but the 1-5 hitters went 1-for-17 as the Tribe left 10 men on base.

Ugly, discouraging loss.

Sandy tried to manufacture at least one run. No one showed up for work. First time I've seen him try small ball that I can recall. Very, very telling.

CDAV45 said:

Scoring f'n 0 runs is what kills good pitching.

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yes... can't win a game 0-0...