2021 Series #10 | Indians @ Royals | May 3-6, 2021

Here's a weird stat...

The Indians have the biggest run differential in MLB after six innings.

Shades of 1995...lol.

Tito to Angel Hernandez: “why did this always happen when you’re here?”

Tomorrow will be an adventure.

Huge win. It used to be if we got behind by three runs it was over - no matter what inning. Tribe improves to 14-1 when they score 4 or more runs.

The Indians are wearing out the Royals' bullpen the first two games of the series. Their relievers have thrown 186 pitches the last two nights and have allowed 9 earned runs in 8 innings. Their best reliever has been Staument, who has thrown 47 pitches the last two days.

This team is starting to break out of its' slump. When Bauers goes yard you know the ice is breaking up. Harold Ramirez is 4-for-9 with 4 RBI's in two games. What a jolt he's given this offense. Naylor had two more hits, one in a crucial spot that drove in a run and kept the inning going for Bauers' home run.

Hentges did not look good - 6 hits and 2 walks in 3.1 innings. It would have been a lot worse if Luplow had not bailed him out with one of the best defensive plays I've seen this year by the Tribe. In fact, it probably was the best given the situation. Hentges threw 33 strikes and 30 balls and made the mistake of throwing Savador Perez a first pitch fastball down the middle, resulting in a 460-foot blast into the water.

I suppose they'll give him another start and hopefully that one will go better. He was hitting 98 with the heater and his hook is ridiculous. He just needs to command those pitches better and work ahead in the count.

Amed Rosario is in a world of hurt. He got the Golden Sombrero tonight with four K's. The first three times up he struck at swinging at pitches so far out of the zone he couldn't have hit them with an oar. The last time they just threw three fastballs down the middle and he whiffed at all of them. He looks off balance when he swings. There's no point in playing him right now because he can't put the bat on the ball whether it's in the zone or not.

Yu Chang has one hit in his last 20 at-bats and he also looks lost at the dish. Hope Eddie can go tomorrow.

Now that the calendar has turned the bats are warming up. We're still looking for a #5 starter, though. But the bullpen is looking great. Wittgren and Sandlin had excellent innings and Quantrill hung on in the 9th.

The umpiring this series is some of the worst I've seen. The strike zone changes from inning to inning and pitch to pitch. What the hell was the first base umpire doing calling an out on that ball that dropped between Naylor and Ramirez? Wasn't that the second base umpire's call? He's the closest and it's his job on balls hit to deep center field. And why signal an out if you didn't see the ball being caught?

Then he called Jose out at first when it was obvious in real time he was safe. That guy was a joke. Angel Hernandez? And he's calling Bieber tomorrow? I'm not liking this.

CBBI said:

Shaw, Karinchak and Clase?

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Those 3 names are correct.
Additionally Trevor Stephan is also available for the game on Weds nite, but I think they hope he is not used so he is available to backup TMac on Thursday afternoon.

Looking at pitch count a couple of arms from today should be available for Weds (Wittgren) & Thursday (Sandlin & Wittgren)..

With a runner on second, its the first base umps job to get down the line and make a call in the outfield. He is supposed to raise his arm high enough for everybody to see and then signal a catch, if it is a catch.

He did two things wrong, not counting missing the call.

First, he didn't get deeper into the outfield to get a good view. Two, he didn't raise his arm and make an emphatic call.

But in the end, a call against us became a break for us. Had the ump not blown the call, the runner would have easily scored.

I have seen enough of Chang, if Bauer going to be here let him play every day the rest of the month & see what happens

Wham with the Right Hand said:

The umpiring this series is some of the worst I've seen. The strike zone changes from inning to inning and pitch to pitch. What the hell was the first base umpire doing calling an out on that ball that dropped between Naylor and Ramirez? Wasn't that the second base umpire's call? He's the closest and it's his job on balls hit to deep center field. And why signal an out if you didn't see the ball being caught?

Then he called Jose out at first when it was obvious in real time he was safe. That guy was a joke. Angel Hernandez? And he's calling Bieber tomorrow? I'm not liking this.

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If a player refused to play/ pitch since Angel "Missed Call" was handling the plate, would the MLBPA support them??
Would the MLB league office take action??
What would the umpire union do???

Recall when MLB switched the umpire crew mid series in the 1998 playoffs becuz the 1 guy (Joe Brinkman) was so bad in game 2& the Tribe "threatened" not to take the field due to the clear bias against them..

Didn't see this referenced but thought it should be shared..

From Indians Prospective twitter on Tues 5/4/21
Indians Prospective

Columbus Clippers RHP Jean Carlos Mejia will start Wednesday and not in the opener tonight. Mejia start was pushed back a day to line up with the current #Indians rotation. LHP Kirk McCarty will start the opener tonight.

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MT88 comment: Weds lines him up with Bieber until the next off day (Monday for both teams). If CBus is using a 6 man rotation (like Lake County) then the spot will shift to line up with the TMac spot in the rotation next week Weds..

MadThinker88 said:

Didn't see this referenced but thought it should be shared..

From Indians Prospective twitter on Tues 5/4/21
Indians Prospective

Columbus Clippers RHP Jean Carlos Mejia will start Wednesday and not in the opener tonight. Mejia start was pushed back a day to line up with the current #Indians rotation. LHP Kirk McCarty will start the opener tonight.

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MT88 comment: Weds lines him up with Bieber until the next off day (Monday for both teams). If CBus is using a 6 man rotation (like Lake County) then the spot will shift to line up with the TMac spot in the rotation next week Weds..

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Its always good to have a plan, and this org always seems to have one.

From the beginning I've thought we would need ten to twelve starters to get thru 162 games. We are less than 30 games in, and we have already used six.

On another note, the quality and depth of our rotation and pen is the main reason I felt that we could hang with Chicago and Minnesota.

On paper some may see their original rotations and pens as better, but everybody is gonna need a ton of pitchers this year.

If you are uncomfortable with some of our young depth pieces, wait until you see theirs. In the rotation, its our 6 thru 10/12 where he have a huge advantage. The same goes for the pen.

xmasbuck said:

Bauers is next to go, right?

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Bauers has an xOBA of .347 this year. I love advanced stats but that doesn’t seem possible after watching his at bats this season.

Great comeback last night.

Angel Hernandez calling balls and strikes tonight for Shane Bieber.

Seems almost like a free game, since nobody can reasonably feel bad about losing a game that Angel Hernandez umpires.

Its only a forlorn hope, but maybe Angel will actually try to call a good game tonight.

Hurl Bruce said:

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Awesome video. Hernandez didn't even hustle on the fly ball - he just strolled a few steps onto the outfield grass to make the call. And the play at first base was so obvious that Underwood called Jose safe and was shocked to see the out call.

Umpires like Hernandez are the best reason to have replay. Next step is an automatic balls and strikes caller. The technology is there and AFAIC it can't be implemented soon enough.