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2020 Series #11 Indians @ Cardinals, Aug. 28-30

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The Indians put 28 runners on base last night (20 hits, 7 walks, 1 HBP). Add in the 27 outs and Cardinal pitchers faced 52 batters and threw 224 pitches (not counting the 8-pitch 9th inning by a position player). You have to love that in the first game of the series.

However, the Cardinals did not use their best relievers (Gant, Gomber, and Gallegos have combined to allow 2 earned runs in 23.1 innings) so if they get good starts today and tomorrow they're still in good shape to close out the win if they have the lead.

The Indians need to keep working deep into the counts and running up the starter's pitch count.
 
petes999 said:
Has anyone heard anything about Flaherty? Tried a google search and everyone is saying he is fine. However, he we was their opening day starter and threw 89 pitches (70% strikes 6K in 7 inn). They held him back from starting after their COVID shutdown (supposedly to face the Cubs) but started on the 3rd day of games w Cubs (5th day back) and only pitched 41 pitches (60% strikes -- walked 2 and 1 HBP) so an off day. His 3rd start he pitched 64 pitches (63% strikes) ... no walks and 3 ks against Royals. This guy is a 10.5 k per 9 guy and can only get 3 vs Royals? And, I can see a limit on pitching if he had COVID (which supposedly he did not) but 41 and 64 pitches and doing bullpen sessions during the time off?

Looking at his 4-seam average, it has only decreased slightly from 94.3 to 93.8 ... He also did get away from his sinker (threw it 12% last year).

So maybe nothing .. just trying to get back into a grove ... but after last night's game, you would think our batters would want to be practice patience and see if he goes beyond 80 or so pitches. They may get more strikes if he is trying to conserve his bullets (pitches) to try to save their pen.
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Don't know anything about Flaherty but in that game against the Royals the Cardinals scored five runs in the 5th to take a 6-0 lead. Maybe they just decided the game was in hand and wanted to limit his pitch count for some reason.

The Cardinals have scored five runs in their last three games. They've now played 18 games in the last 14 days with no days off. I wonder if the fatigue is affecting their hitters. They're not a great offensive team to begin with, ranking 26th in runs per game. (We passed them last night, moving into 23rd place). This is a good team for Carrasco to face today as he tries to get back on track. He had three good starts followed by three bad starts. He's really had problems his second and third time through the order.

At least our bullpen is well-rested with the exception of Plutko. They had a day off Thursday and only Hill and Plutko pitched last night. Speaking of Hill, he comes in with a 6-2 lead, pitches one scoreless inning, and gets a W. Shows how irrelevant that stat is for a relief pitcher.
 
petes999 said:
Has anyone heard anything about Flaherty? Tried a google search and everyone is saying he is fine. However, he we was their opening day starter and threw 89 pitches (70% strikes 6K in 7 inn). They held him back from starting after their COVID shutdown (supposedly to face the Cubs) but started on the 3rd day of games w Cubs (5th day back) and only pitched 41 pitches (60% strikes -- walked 2 and 1 HBP) so an off day. His 3rd start he pitched 64 pitches (63% strikes) ... no walks and 3 ks against Royals. This guy is a 10.5 k per 9 guy and can only get 3 vs Royals? And, I can see a limit on pitching if he had COVID (which supposedly he did not) but 41 and 64 pitches and doing bullpen sessions during the time off?

Looking at his 4-seam average, it has only decreased slightly from 94.3 to 93.8 ... He also did get away from his sinker (threw it 12% last year).

So maybe nothing .. just trying to get back into a grove ... but after last night's game, you would think our batters would want to be practice patience and see if he goes beyond 80 or so pitches. They may get more strikes if he is trying to conserve his bullets (pitches) to try to save their pen.
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Look, basically the whole Cardinals staff is screwed up because of their insane schedule. Then their starter can't get out of the first inning???

Flaherty is by far their best starter, last year he was Beiber-like. But this year all bets are off for all Cards pitchers.
 
TFIR said:
Look, basically the whole Cardinals staff is screwed up because of their insane schedule. Then their starter can't get out of the first inning???

Flaherty is by far their best starter, last year he was Beiber-like. But this year all bets are off for all Cards pitchers.
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Flaherty has started three games and pitched only 13 innings this year. He's not screwed up. I think a schedule like this hits the bullpen the hardest. The starters still only go every fifth day and the team has to bring in spot starters for the double-headers.
 
So any projections on Cookie ??? Is it just being fatigued and trying to nibble too much (more breaking balls this year -- particularly change ups vs fastballs). However, his fastball velocity is only down from 93.5 to 93.0 over last 2 years (2018 to 2020) - which is given with age as he is 33. It is also obvious that he is walking a lot more (4.5 per 9 when he is usually around 2. He is also inducing less ground balls (about 40% versus the normal 50%).

Last game he went away from his change up ... so may have been trying to adjust something (or just their game plan for Det hitters). Yet, if it is just fatigue, then Sandy needs to tell him to just go 5 and go after hitters (versus nibbling to go longer). Hopefully for him, it is still just trying to find and hone a pitch or two. We will see. Luckily, they had Plutko and a big lead last night, so the pen is ready to go with Civale and Beiber up next (won't get taxed too much).
 
My guess...and its just a guess...is the FO won't make any decisions on the rotation until after the deadline. I don't expect a major trade, but Antonetti won't write the possibility off.

There are too many unanswered questions at the moment. Trade...Cookies stamina...TMacs health concerns...and making a move right now could paint the team into a corner.

While Carrascos average velo looks OK, it has dropped significantly over the courses of his last two games...starting 94-95 and dropping to 90-91. Maybe a blip, maybe not.

Its now a three team sprint to the finish with the schedule favoring Cleveland. The old adage that every game counts means even more now. I'm guessing the the FO wants to do everything possible not to start anybody outside the top six. Leaving Plesac below allows some protection against a disruption to the rotation from a doubleheader.
 
Naquin is red hot. He gets that way at times, and then suddenly turns ice cold.

He's had two streaks like this before. Last years lasted one month. The one his rookie year lasted two. Lets hope for three thru the playoffs.

I've been fascinated by Reyes for two years, when it was first rumored that we were looking to trade a SP for a young bat. For a big guy his underlying numbers don't change much. This is his third season in MLB. Check out his underlying numbers on fangraphs. They don't move. K%, BB%, EV, hard hit rate, spray charts, % to L-C-R. The difference last year? His BABIP was way down.

Its no longer a small sample size as he has nearly 1000 PAs.

At the same age and similar sample sizes, he has been far more productive than three other well thought of DH types...J D Martinez, Edwin Encarnacion, and David Ortiz. I'm not saying he will mirror them, but he outshines them significantly at 25 yrs old.
 
We are probably gonna see our former eternal prospect, Rob Kaminsky. He was just recalled from StL training site.

Kaminsky, a former first rounder for the Cards, was the return for Brandon Moss in 2015.
 
CATS44 said:
At the same age and similar sample sizes, he has been far more productive than three other well thought of DH types...J D Martinez, Edwin Encarnacion, and David Ortiz. I'm not saying he will mirror them, but he outshines them significantly at 25 yrs old.
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As a casual observer of the MLB outside of the Indians, when Reyes arrived to the Indians, the first player I thought of when I saw him at the plate was Ortiz.
 
CATS44 said:
We are probably gonna see our former eternal prospect, Rob Kaminsky. He was just recalled from StL training site.

Kaminsky, a former first rounder for the Cards, was the return for Brandon Moss in 2015.
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he was one of our top 10 prospects in 2015 - in order, they were zimmer, frazier, kaminsky,aiken, naquin, sheffield, bradley, mckenzie, hillman, egon --- from the standpoint of getting guys to the show not too bad - from a star power standpoint not too good (so far)

at 25 ortiz was still finding his way around minneapolis after being traded by seattle in exchange for 30 games of Dave Hollins - he was a year and a half away from being released by the twins - then of course, he signed with boston where he found, fame, freedom and farmaceuticals
 
Actually, Ortiz was traded to Minnesota when he was 20. By the time his age 25 season ended, he had played parts of five seasons with the Twins, accumulating about 1200 PAs.
 
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