2021 Series #32 | Indians @ White Sox | July 29-31, 2021

[Real Deal]

Talk about taking the Guard.

 

[PIP]

 

[PIP]

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

So... did every regional sports station (or whatever the fuck WUAB was back then) have license to this tune and make their own song?

I'm not sure if you just ruined my childhood or brought me into an incredible rabbit hole

 

[PIP]

So... did every regional sports station (or whatever the fuck WUAB was back then) have license to this tune and make their own song?

I'm not sure if you just ruined my childhood or brought me into an incredible rabbit hole

Word on the street is it’s only in cities where Rick Manning stole wives of opposing players and teammates…

In which case could literally be any city in any country on any continent….

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

Without question, the worst defensive game from the Tribe in my lifetime.

Agreed. From the outfield collision that resulted in a gift home run to the 8th inning cluster fuck that was embarassing. The difference in this game was defense, as the White Sox threw out Jose Ramirez trying to go from first to third on a single in the first inning. It was a great throw, but if Jose makes it there are runners on first and third with nobody out and two runs in. They needed a big first inning against Lynn to have any chance but the White Sox made a great defensive play to stop the inning in its tracks and then Lynn settled down.

The Tribe gave away several runs. I doubt we'll ever see Berto have a passed ball and a bad throw on back-to-back plays. Amed should have caught that throw but he was lazy and just bent over when he should have gone to ground to make sure the ball didn't get by him. Then Jose makes a wide throw to first. Of course it all started when Amed overran a ground ball. If he makes that routine play maybe Karinchak has a 1-2-3 inning.

Even though Mejia had his usual line of 4.1 innings, 4 runs, and 4 walks, I thought he showed some progress. He would have shut them out over the first three innings if not for the Zimmer/Johnson screw up. Mejia gave up two runs in the fourth on two ground ball singles that found holes, a walk, and a ground out. No hard hit balls and the RBI single was a weak ground ball that was perfectly placed. He pitched better than his line indicates.

There is something wrong with Bryan Shaw. In his last five appearances he's pitched five innings giving up 11 hits with only one strikeout. He was saved from allowing a run due to a baserunning mistake and a great throw by Zimmer.

Chang has no business being in the major leagues. Three more K's last night and he's hitting .181. I expect he'll be DFA'd after the season to make room to protect a prospect from Rule 5.

Eight of the 11 hits for the White Sox were by left-handed hitters, including all four allowed by Mejia. Right-handed hitters were 0-for-8 against him. I really think his future is in the bullpen. Right-handers are hitting .210/.596 against him versus .324/1.040 by lefties. The difference in OPS is well over 400 points.

Interesting choice to go with Blake Parker in the 5th inning with the bases loaded and one out. He's 36 years old and has spent most of the season in the minors. I thought he was the guy you bring in when the game has been decided to eat an inning. But lefties are hitting .217 against him with 1 walk and 11 K's in 46 at-bats. Righties are hitting .333. He's a RHP but his numbers are more like a LOOGY. Sure enough, he struck out a lefty (Moncada), walked a rightie to force in a run (Vaughn), then struck out a lefty (Goodwin) to end the inning. Maybe we've had our LOOGY all along and just didn't know it.

 

[CATS44]

Our young starters are getting hammered, and a lot of the hammering is being done by our defense.

Unfortunately, they don't give errors for many of our misplays, and our pitchers get statistically punished. But my guess is that the orgs inside analysts do...and that kids like Mejia look a lot better from the inside than from the outside.

My next guess is that instead of trashing him, or relegating him to bullpen duty, most would be raving about Mejia...if he was pitching where he normally would be pitching.

If Espino, Allen the Younger, and others who are being raved about down below were pitching in Cleveland, we would be knocking them, too....while the kids up here now would be mowing down minor leaguers.

Consider this...

Allen the Younger
Juan Hillman
Cody Morris
Tanner Tully

All are pitching in Akron, where Mejia should be.

Does anybody think they wouldn't get killed in Cleveland, even though they have more experience than Mejia had?

Or, does anybody really want to see Espino as a regular in our rotation next year?

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

Our young starters are getting hammered, and a lot of the hammering is being done by our defense.

Unfortunately, they don't give errors for many of our misplays, and our pitchers get statistically punished. But my guess is that the orgs inside analysts do...and that kids like Mejia look a lot better from the inside than from the outside.

My next guess is that instead of trashing him, or relegating him to bullpen duty, most would be raving about Mejia...if he was pitching where he normally would be pitching.

If Espino, Allen the Younger, and others who are being raved about down below were pitching in Cleveland, we would be knocking them, too....while the kids up here now would be mowing down minor leaguers.

Consider this...

Allen the Younger
Juan Hillman
Cody Morris
Tanner Tully

All are pitching in Akron, where Mejia should be.

Does anybody think they wouldn't get killed in Cleveland, even though they have more experience than Mejia had?

Or, does anybody really want to see Espino as a regular in our rotation next year?

As far as "relegating him to bullpen duty", the Indians have admitted Mejia at this point does not have a pitch that is effective against lefties. His splits clearly bear this out - lefties have an OPS of 1.040 against him compared to .596 for right-handed hitters. That is an extreme split and no starting pitcher can be successful if lefties are hammering him to the tune of 1.040. OK, some of that was bad defense, but mostly it's that his stuff doesn't play against lefties, not in 2021. Hopefully by 2022 he'll have developed something that works.

I'm expecting next year's rotation to be Bieber, Plesac, Civale, Quantrill, and McKenzie. At the same time, we just traded Maton and Shaw is getting lit up; 11 hits in his last five innings with only one strikeout. Wittgren's ERA over the last 2.5 seasons is 2.81, 3.42, and 5.50 this year. I don't expect Shaw or Wittgren to return next year and we just traded Maton. We will need to add some relievers. If Mejia is not in the rotation I could see him taking one of the three vacant spots. One of them was taken by 36-year-old Blake Parker, but he'll probably be released to protect a Rule 5 eligible prospect.

The Indians could very well decide to put Mejia in the Columbus rotation and continue his development as a starter, but they also have Morgan and Logan T. Allen there so if they need a bullpen arm that is lethal against right-handed bats I think Mejia is a realistic option. He was untouchable in the bullpen this year before they had to move him into the rotation.

 

[DCTribefan]

Is it my imagination or could the Royalettes in the video also have cameos in a Whitesnake music video?

 

[Soar]

 

[33Y0]

Dude looks like he's running as quick as he can to the bathroom before he shits himself.

 

[buzzdog]

What a comedy of errors last night. Major leaguers should be embarrassed for their levels of defensive incompetence.

I like Mejia but I agree he's been thrown into the deep end too early and he barely knows how to dog paddle. He does have the basic tools to be an ML pitcher but he's lacking in a few things.

He has some basic issues with his mechanics and he hasn't figured out how to repeat his delivery and location for different pitches, especially when he has to spin it. He'll be going along pretty well, then he'll go through a period where he seemingly has no idea where his pitches are going to end up location-wise. He needs to sharpen up those mechanics and muscle memory but it's probable he just hasn't had enough reps and focused work at this early stage of his career.

Hopefully he gets moved back into more of a learning situation where they can fine tune him instead of force feeding his development at the highest level.

 

[buzzdog]

Dude looks like he's running as quick as he can to the bathroom before he shits himself.

LaRussa is such a joke.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

It's amazing the Indians, who I thought had zero chance to win a game against a team that was 35-17 at home in which the starters were Mejia and Lance Lynn, could have won this one with just average defense.

It's rare to see five botched plays in one game; the gift home run, the booted ground ball by Amed, the passed ball and wild pickoff throw by Berto, and the wide throw to first by Josie. And we're not talking Harold Ramirez here; all these guys are solid to great defensively.

You hate to see them throw away a winnable game that you thought was unwinnable going in.

This season the Tribe has scored 8 runs in 16 innings against Lynn, who leads the A.L. in ERA. Not bad.

 

[buzzdog]

It's amazing the Indians, who I thought had zero chance to win a game against a team that was 35-17 at home in which the starters were Mejia and Lance Lynn, could have won this one with just average defense.

It's rare to see five botched plays in one game; the gift home run, the booted ground ball by Amed, the passed ball and wild pickoff throw by Berto, and the wide throw to first by Josie. And we're not talking Harold Ramirez here; all these guys are solid to great defensively.

You hate to see them throw away a winnable game that you thought was unwinnable going in.

This season the Tribe has scored 8 runs in 16 innings against Lynn, who leads the A.L. in ERA. Not bad.

There's clearly a defective group mindset and lack of focus overall. I have to wonder how much Tito's ongoing physical problems and him finally pulling the plug on the season had to do with this.