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The Indians go back to work after a rare day off with the 50-50 St. Louis Cardinals coming to town. The Redbirds are 6-4 since the break and 1-1 against the Tribe, winning 8-2 (Mejia started) and losing 10-1 (Bieber started).
The Cardinals are rather weak offensively, ranking 12th in the N.L. in runs per game, but they are hitting much better lately with a line of .262/.794 in the ten games since the break. Nolan Arenado leads the way with a .261/.818 line and 20 home runs. He's cooled off a bit, hitting .240/.754 in July. CF Harrison Badar is on fire, hitting .362/1.030 in July with 13 hits in his last 27 at-bats. He's much better with the bases empty, hitting .395 leading off an inning, .342 with nobody on, .222 with runners on, and .176 with RISP. Don't know him at all but my guess is he's a lot like Lindor - a good hitter who gets over-aggressive with ducks on the pond.
Paul Goldschmidt is hitting .270/.796 and .338/1.031 in July. Tyler O'Neill is hitting .274/.857. In the first series he went 4-for-7 with two home runs, off Maton and Stephan.
Arenado, Badar, Goldschmidt and O'Neill all hit right-handed, but they hit righties better than lefties in most cases.
The Cardinals' pitching is also below average, ranking 9th in the N.L. in team ERA. But in a two-game series the Indians won't bat against their whole staff, just a small portion of it.
Tonight Quantrill goes against 39-year-old Adam Wainwright, 7-6, 3.56. Wainwright pitched 7 innings against the Tribe in the first series, allowing 2 runs. He was in control the entire way. In his seven starts since that game he has allowed 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 1 run. The four run game was against baseball's best team; the Giants.
I don't expect the Indians to get more than two runs off him again tonight, if that.
Quantrill has allowed only two earned runs in his last two starts covering 11 innings so I'm looking for him to keep it up. One area I'd like to see him improve is efficiency. Two starts ago he threw 85 pitches in five innings. His last start was 94 pitches in six innings, and only 50 were strikes. He was doing a lot of nibbling. I'd like to see him get a little more efficient so he can go 7 innings on 100 pitches. However, I can't complain about one run allowed in 5-6 innings if that's where he tops out.
Tuesday afternoon Plesac goes against LHP Kwang Hyun Kim, 6-5, 2.88. Kim, age 33, is in his second year in the majors, coming over last year from Korea. He has allowed only 3 runs in his last 5 starts covering 30 innings. Good luck against that. Lefties are hitting .143 versus .250 for righties so I expect we'll see Chang and Mercado in place of Bradley and Bradley. With runners on base opposing batters are hitting .178 against him.
This will be Plesac's fourth start since returning from injury and he is fully recovered, having thrown 6.2 innings against Tampa in his last start, allowing four runs. A couple of those runs scored on the Little League home run, however, so hopefully he'll get some better defense tomorrow. I would like to see the Indians outfielders doing a better job of hitting the cutoff man and the infielders and catchers knocking down throws in the dirt so the runners don't advance. I'd also like to see better decisions from the outfielders on what base to throw to. The Tribe doesn't score a lot and they can't afford to give runs away through bad decisions, dumb throws, and letting balls skip by them.
I don't see the Indians generating much offense at all against Wainwright and Kim. Wainwright dominated them in June and he's on a roll. So is Kim. It could be a frustrating couple of games. Also, we seem to be catching the Cardinals at a bad time as they have some hot hitters.
After this short series there's another day off for the NBA Draft followed by another brutal stretch with seven games on the road against the White Sox and Blue Jays.
The Cardinals are rather weak offensively, ranking 12th in the N.L. in runs per game, but they are hitting much better lately with a line of .262/.794 in the ten games since the break. Nolan Arenado leads the way with a .261/.818 line and 20 home runs. He's cooled off a bit, hitting .240/.754 in July. CF Harrison Badar is on fire, hitting .362/1.030 in July with 13 hits in his last 27 at-bats. He's much better with the bases empty, hitting .395 leading off an inning, .342 with nobody on, .222 with runners on, and .176 with RISP. Don't know him at all but my guess is he's a lot like Lindor - a good hitter who gets over-aggressive with ducks on the pond.
Paul Goldschmidt is hitting .270/.796 and .338/1.031 in July. Tyler O'Neill is hitting .274/.857. In the first series he went 4-for-7 with two home runs, off Maton and Stephan.
Arenado, Badar, Goldschmidt and O'Neill all hit right-handed, but they hit righties better than lefties in most cases.
The Cardinals' pitching is also below average, ranking 9th in the N.L. in team ERA. But in a two-game series the Indians won't bat against their whole staff, just a small portion of it.
Tonight Quantrill goes against 39-year-old Adam Wainwright, 7-6, 3.56. Wainwright pitched 7 innings against the Tribe in the first series, allowing 2 runs. He was in control the entire way. In his seven starts since that game he has allowed 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 1 run. The four run game was against baseball's best team; the Giants.
I don't expect the Indians to get more than two runs off him again tonight, if that.
Quantrill has allowed only two earned runs in his last two starts covering 11 innings so I'm looking for him to keep it up. One area I'd like to see him improve is efficiency. Two starts ago he threw 85 pitches in five innings. His last start was 94 pitches in six innings, and only 50 were strikes. He was doing a lot of nibbling. I'd like to see him get a little more efficient so he can go 7 innings on 100 pitches. However, I can't complain about one run allowed in 5-6 innings if that's where he tops out.
Tuesday afternoon Plesac goes against LHP Kwang Hyun Kim, 6-5, 2.88. Kim, age 33, is in his second year in the majors, coming over last year from Korea. He has allowed only 3 runs in his last 5 starts covering 30 innings. Good luck against that. Lefties are hitting .143 versus .250 for righties so I expect we'll see Chang and Mercado in place of Bradley and Bradley. With runners on base opposing batters are hitting .178 against him.
This will be Plesac's fourth start since returning from injury and he is fully recovered, having thrown 6.2 innings against Tampa in his last start, allowing four runs. A couple of those runs scored on the Little League home run, however, so hopefully he'll get some better defense tomorrow. I would like to see the Indians outfielders doing a better job of hitting the cutoff man and the infielders and catchers knocking down throws in the dirt so the runners don't advance. I'd also like to see better decisions from the outfielders on what base to throw to. The Tribe doesn't score a lot and they can't afford to give runs away through bad decisions, dumb throws, and letting balls skip by them.
I don't see the Indians generating much offense at all against Wainwright and Kim. Wainwright dominated them in June and he's on a roll. So is Kim. It could be a frustrating couple of games. Also, we seem to be catching the Cardinals at a bad time as they have some hot hitters.
After this short series there's another day off for the NBA Draft followed by another brutal stretch with seven games on the road against the White Sox and Blue Jays.
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