Well, look at it this way: having scored 26 runs in their last 14 innings against the Chicago White Sox, perhaps the Detroit Tigers are too tired from all that baserunning to have a good series against the Indians this week.
Obviously this Tigers series is a big deal for the Indians. If they have any hope whatsoever of winning the division, they simply must take at least two of the three games. A sweep would be better, of course, but with the pride of Manakin-Sabot, Virginia taking the mound for Wednesday afternoon’s game, that’s going to be a tall order. Verlander has been all but unbeatable lately, and you’ve got to figure he’ll come through again on Wednesday, unfortunately.
Doug Fister, who’ll start for the Tigers in today’s game, has pitched very well over his last three starts, giving up only two runs over his last 21 2/3 innings. The Tigers picked up Fister via a trade with the Seattle Mariners in July. If he keeps pitching the way he’s been pitching recently, that will make this a long afternoon for Indians hitters. The Tribe offense needs to get to him early and put some runs on the scoreboard so that Ubaldo Jimenez can pitch with a lead to protect.
Grady Sizemore is expected to start in center field for the Indians today. By all accounts, he’s healed from his recent hernia surgery. Let’s hope he comes back healthy and strong. The Indians could use some more offensive power and baserunning speed and acumen. And let’s hope, too, that he doesn’t get re-injured.
This has been a strange and interesting season for the Indians. Maybe, just maybe, things can go our way during this homestand. How about it, Baseball Gods? Can you cut the Indians some slack?
how painful is it to see V-Mart drive that stake in our heart?….such a good dude….still remember that footage of him crying by his locker with his little boy asking him why they werent indians anymore….jiminez, what a waste.
doug fister, the latest cy young winner against our lineup….santana, those pitches right down the middle of the plate are what we refer to as “strikes”….it turns out if you dont swing at them they are still strikes, then you have to go sit down….AC, thanks for bringing your A-game….did you even put a bat on a ball today?….watched and whiffed on almost every pitch he saw….too bad perez wasnt hitting today, he’s the only one that seemed to realize we needed to step it up today….
Jiminez: 7 IP. 3 ER, 8 K.
Is that a bad line?
Pitching is NOT the problem for this team.
not a bad line….but we needed a shutdown today and that ball up to V-Mart was a joke…you could have hit that out, chipper…and yes, the bats are the issue today, agreed….jiminez settled down and kept us in it….see last post
to chipper and other U defenders…is this acceptable to u?…mayme u can remind me what we gave up for a guy who’s ERA is 1 above the average pitcher?
Jimenez is 2-2 with a 5.27 ERA in seven starts since being acquired from Colorado. Fister is 4-1 with a 2.64 ERA in seven starts since being acquired from Seattle.
good news gang…..$14 million man travis hafner is rumored to be ready to jog this week….because goodness knows he does a lot of running from that action-packed DH position….
I say seeya to Sizemore and Hafner and take a run at Fielder. Indians motto should be ” Providing heartache and disappointmnet since 1949″
It was a good run; The Tribe was never expected to contend for anything but the bottom of a weak division this year. And the good thing about all these injuries is that they get a chance to evaluate the up and coming talent and get some experience earlier than expected. Yeah, I’m disappointed they have fallen out of the race, but this was never supposed to be the year anyways. Hopefully they can figure out what to keep, who to let go, and add a player or 2 and be in the hunt again next year.
I’m still up in the air about Ubaldo. He’s still signed, and can be a dominant pitcher at times, so I don’t think we can write it up as a loss yet; it’s not like he was a 2 month rental who will leave for greener pastures immediately, but yeah, he didn’t have the impact we all had hoped.
Keep plugging away, who knows, maybe DET hits a wall or something, we still have 5 games left against them.
I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a Ubaldo defender. There are times where he’s looked downright terrible and other times where he’s looked downright dominant. It’s the consistency that is definitely a concern. No need for Tribe fans to keep complaining about the trade. It happened and it has had no effect on this season (except we added an experienced, former Cy Young winner in Ubaldo Jiminez).
In other news, Alex White’s totals over his last three starts w/ COL: 17 IP, 14 ER, 19 H, 10 BB, 13 K.
(BTW, this isn’t justification, just simply providing an update on Alex White).
Fans want to point a finger at someone/something for not winning the division this year and everyone seems to complain and point fingers at Ubaldo and Carmona. The problem has not been these guys – it’s simply a team plagued w/ injuries and inability to generate runs.
Vern,
You’ve had quite a few pretty good recent posts. When are you gonna get listed on the “about us?” page?
Scott, thanks for the kind words. As far as I’m concerned, this blog belongs to Susan and Stephanie. I’m just one of the utility infielders.
Here’s the post Stephanie wrote introducing me to IPL readers: http://itspronouncedlajaway.com/?p=554
Here’s another perspective on the Ubaldo trade.
Clearly, he’s not what he was last year right now. But you can tell that the stuff is still there. If consistency is a concern, that can be coached and worked on in the off season. I’m not down on him; just realistic that the guy needs work.
But more importantly, I think people overstate the value of White and Pomeranz. How many prospect pitchers actually end up living up to their potential? The answer is very (very) few. The Rockies traded Ubaldo for someone who has a chance, a CHANCE, to be Ubaldo (Pomeranz), and another guy who has a chance to be a #3 starter, maybe an outside chance at #2 (White).
I know deep down we all realize this, but I get the sense that people have mythologized White and Pomeranz to the point where they were sure-fire 1-2 starters, holding down the rotation. Even if they make it to the big leagues and stick in a rotation, there’s only a small chance they’ll have the dominant stuff Ubaldo has when he’s on. This is just based on history.
Toss in the club-friendly contract and I think it was a great deal. Just my two cents.