2021 Series #30 | Rays @ Indians | July 22-25

[CDAV45]

FFS we'd have to have our windmill up with 2 outs and the tying run on 3B.

 

[CDAV45]

Depressing game

Square kick right in the sack!

 

[Andrew Scheid]

Bobby Bradley is who we thought he was, to quote Dennis Green: occasional power with an ungodly K rate.

 

[TxBuckeye]

BradGOAT has become Bradgoat. 8-54 w/30k's in July.

 

[mopete12]

I’m much more upset at Reyes’ at bat. All we needed was a fly ball and he had multiple pitches to hit.

 

[redscoon]

Terrible loss. Karinchak blows it. Reyes just needs to put a ball in play and fails. Bradley‘s honeymoon coming to an end.

You can’t lose games like this after piling up the 9 game losing streak. And they’ve pissed two 9th inning leads away already since the ASB.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

The Rays roster is so much stronger than ours right now the outcome is almost expected.
They simply outlasted us.

 

[PIP]

Wish they would just kill this group with fire so to speak… Legit the worst kinda team you can have… Just in the middle… Not good enough to to do anything… Good enough to prevent them from being good enough later

 

[Mott the Hoople]

So it looks like the Tigers are 3 games behind us.
Everybody hold on to their buts.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

Tribe was 1-for-13 with RISP. They let a relief pitcher who came in with an ERA over 8.00 go 2.2 innings without so much as a hit.

Karinchak was only throwing 95; usually he's above that. He gave up three hard hit balls; the home run to Yandy, the double off the wall in center, and a line drive that Johnson ran down in right.

Speaking of Johnson, he's supposed to be a good defensive outfielder but he looks like Manny Ramirez to me. Remember Manny leaping for a ball that hit him in the foot? Johnson leaped for one that hit the bottom of the wall five feet away from him. It should have been a fairly routine out that he turned into a triple and a run. Earlier he turned a single into a triple and a run. He gave up two runs with his defense and then committed a throwing error. Johson was a dumpster fire in right field and his misadventures cost us a win.

Bradley is totally lost at the dish. 30 K's in 54 at-bats in July? Wow.

So is Jose who's hitting .167 in July. In his last at-bat he took a pitch right down the middle then swung at a ball that would have hit him on the next pitch.

At least Quantrill had another good start. Six innings and only one run allowed and that was due to Johnson misplaying a single into a triple. That's four starts in a row where he's improved. He's looking like he could be in the rotation next year.

Clase is doing a nice job of mixing pitches but he almost got taken out by Wendle on a 101 fastball on the inside corner. That pitch has to be either at the top of the zone or at the knees. When he throws it halfway between the waist and the knees it gets hammered.

Amed is painfully slow turning the double play. He catches the throw, takes a huge step away from the bag, then takes the ball out of his glove and throws to first. But he did make an excellent play in the 10th and a great tag on a stolen bag attempt when the throw was in the dirt.

Cesar Hernandez has to be the slowest second baseman in the league at going back on bloops. Every freaking one seems to get over his head and drop in.

We're 3-4 since the break but could have been 5-2 if not for blown saves by Clase and Karinchak. What we thought was the strength of the team has become a liability.

 

[CDAV45]

Tribe was 1-for-13 with RISP. They let a relief pitcher who came in with an ERA over 8.00 go 2.2 innings without so much as a hit.

Karinchak was only throwing 95; usually he's above that. He gave up three hard hit balls; the home run to Yandy, the double off the wall in center, and a line drive that Johnson ran down in right.

Speaking of Johnson, he's supposed to be a good defensive outfielder but he looks like Manny Ramirez to me. Remember Manny leaping for a ball that hit him in the foot? Johnson leaped for one that hit the bottom of the wall five feet away from him. It should have been a fairly routine out that he turned into a triple and a run. Earlier he turned a single into a triple and a run. He gave up two runs with his defense and then committed a throwing error. Johson was a dumpster fire in right field and his misadventures cost us a win.

Bradley is totally lost at the dish. 30 K's in 54 at-bats in July? Wow.

So is Jose who's hitting .167 in July. In his last at-bat he took a pitch right down the middle then swung at a ball that would have hit him on the next pitch.

At least Quantrill had another good start. Six innings and only one run allowed and that was due to Johnson misplaying a single into a triple. That's four starts in a row where he's improved. He's looking like he could be in the rotation next year.

Clase is doing a nice job of mixing pitches but he almost got taken out by Wendle on a 101 fastball on the inside corner. That pitch has to be either at the top of the zone or at the knees. When he throws it halfway between the waist and the knees it gets hammered.

Amed is painfully slow turning the double play. He catches the throw, takes a huge step away from the bag, then takes the ball out of his glove and throws to first. But he did make an excellent play in the 10th and a great tag on a stolen bag attempt when the throw was in the dirt.

Cesar Hernandez has to be the slowest second baseman in the league at going back on bloops. Every freaking one seems to get over his head and drop in.

We're 3-4 since the break but could have been 5-2 if not for blown saves by Clase and Karinchak. What we thought was the strength of the team has become a liability.

This is so true and obvious.

 

[sportscoach]

If Johnson is a plus defender, he certainly hasn't shown it.

Just the opposite.

I feel like he is pressing to show off what he can do and is making mistakes cause of it...

 

[sportscoach]

Tribe was 1-for-13 with RISP. They let a relief pitcher who came in with an ERA over 8.00 go 2.2 innings without so much as a hit.

Karinchak was only throwing 95; usually he's above that. He gave up three hard hit balls; the home run to Yandy, the double off the wall in center, and a line drive that Johnson ran down in right.

Speaking of Johnson, he's supposed to be a good defensive outfielder but he looks like Manny Ramirez to me. Remember Manny leaping for a ball that hit him in the foot? Johnson leaped for one that hit the bottom of the wall five feet away from him. It should have been a fairly routine out that he turned into a triple and a run. Earlier he turned a single into a triple and a run. He gave up two runs with his defense and then committed a throwing error. Johson was a dumpster fire in right field and his misadventures cost us a win.

Bradley is totally lost at the dish. 30 K's in 54 at-bats in July? Wow.

So is Jose who's hitting .167 in July. In his last at-bat he took a pitch right down the middle then swung at a ball that would have hit him on the next pitch.

At least Quantrill had another good start. Six innings and only one run allowed and that was due to Johnson misplaying a single into a triple. That's four starts in a row where he's improved. He's looking like he could be in the rotation next year.

Clase is doing a nice job of mixing pitches but he almost got taken out by Wendle on a 101 fastball on the inside corner. That pitch has to be either at the top of the zone or at the knees. When he throws it halfway between the waist and the knees it gets hammered.

Amed is painfully slow turning the double play. He catches the throw, takes a huge step away from the bag, then takes the ball out of his glove and throws to first. But he did make an excellent play in the 10th and a great tag on a stolen bag attempt when the throw was in the dirt.

Cesar Hernandez has to be the slowest second baseman in the league at going back on bloops. Every freaking one seems to get over his head and drop in.

We're 3-4 since the break but could have been 5-2 if not for blown saves by Clase and Karinchak. What we thought was the strength of the team has become a liability.

They are young, hence why I wanted a veteran closer when the season started so that way we could get them some more big league time before they were a closer all the time...

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

They are young, hence why I wanted a veteran closer when the season started so that way we could get them some more big league time before they were a closer all the time...

They're both getting plenty of experience in both closing and non-closing situations. This should accelerate their development and benefit the team in the long run. You can already see the difference in Clase. He started out really successful throwing that low cutter almost exclusively. As of July 4 his ERA was 1.01. But the hitters adjusted and in his next three appearances he was rocked for seven hits and five runs.

Tito came out and said he needed to do more pitching as opposed to throwing. His last three appearances he's mixing in as many sliders as fastballs. The result is three innings, one hit, no walks, no runs. He's learning to mix in breaking stuff to take hitters off the fastball and also to have confidence that it will work. This looks like a really positive development for the long term.

Quantrill has allowed 2 earned runs in his last 11 innings against quality teams in Oakland and Tampa, and one of the runs was due to a misplayed ball in the outfield. That was after allowing 3 runs in 6 innings against KC and 3 runs in 5.1 innings against the Astros. He's really coming on as a starter. Now that he is not being yo-yo'd being starting and relieving and can get on a starter's routine the results are starting to show.

That was a really tough loss last night but for the long term the performances of Quantrill and Clase are very encouraging.

Daniel Johnson is getting interesting. He started off 0-for-13 but since then is 7-for-22; a .318 average. However, six of those seven hits were singles and he only has one walk, so he's starting to look like a left-handed Harold Ramirez; good batting average but very few walks or extra base hits. Oh, and he's also very fast but has no clue in the outfield.

Hope Plesac can get us a win tonight. Still not sure who's pitching for Tampa. Zimmer was out sick last night and that might be the only game in the series where Tampa starts a right-hander. Mercado could start every game. Mercado is similar to Johnson in that he started 0-for-9 and since is hitting .282. At least he's walked four times and has four extra base hits.

I'm all for letting Zimmer, Mercado, and Johnson play every day the rest of the way. We didn't see much of them last year as they got 86, 37, and 12 at-bats in the shortened season. Zimmer is hitting .324/.908 in his last 34 at-bats. Has he figured something out? Johnson and Mercado are hitting for decent averages after getting over their initial 0-for-13 and 0-for-9 slumps when they were trying too hard to make a first impression. What can they do if they played every day with no worries about being benched or sent down if they go hitless in two straight games?

Although I'm saying let's get on with getting some answers for next season, I must say I've been impressed by how the undermanned Indians have come out of the break. Playing against three of the top teams in the A.L. they're 3-4 with three of the four losses coming by one run. And that's with Josie playing hurt and going 2-for-19 with no RBI's, Josh Naylor and Eddie Rosario out, and of course no Bieber or Civale.

What could this team do with Josie and Eddie back to normal and Bieber and Civale back in the rotation? They might just kick some ass. They have not looked overmatched by Oakland, Houston, and Tampa. Take out the 6th inning of McKenzie's start against Houston and the cumulative score is 26-24 in favor of Cleveland.

So I'm conflicted. Part of me says sell off Eddie, Cesar, and Shaw and let's get on with preparations for next year. The other part says these guys are right there and just need to get Josie and Eddie healthy and Bieber and Civale back and they can get on a roll. I guess we'll find out in the next few days what management is going to do. Tampa just traded for Nelson Cruz. The first domino has fallen. Others should start falling quickly.

July 29 - NBA draft, Cavs have the third pick and lots of options
July 30 - Browns open camp and we finally start getting some daily information
July 30 - MLB trading deadline
Today - Pandemic Games Opening Ceremonies

Fun time to be a sports fan.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

One more thought - the Rays, who are a wild card team at the moment, just got better with the Cruz deal. They will also get Bregman back at some point. Chris Archer is pitching in rehab games and Tyler Glasnow has started to play catch. The Rays should be a lot better in a few weeks. Heck, they'll be better tonight when Cruz shows up.

Other teams the Indians are battling for a wild card spot will also be making moves to get better in the second half. The best the Tribe can do is a minor move to shore up a weak spot, like trading for a lefty reliever. They're not going to be bringing in a Nelson Cruz caliber player, IMO. No money even if they were willing to trade some prospects.

I really think the idea of lopping $7-10 million off the payroll while getting some clarity for next season is going to be too tempting for ownership to resist.