When will it end? And by that I mean both the losing streak and the season. The only mystery left for this year is whether or not they’ll finish with the worst record in the American League. They’ve already been outscored by 101 runs this season, the third worst run differential in the majors and worst in the AL.
Earlier this week on Twitter I questioned whether Manny Acta was on the hot seat. The Indians are cruising toward their third consecutive losing season and no manager has ever been brought back for a fourth year under those circumstances. In fact, only Ken Aspromonte was allowed to complete three full losing season, all others were relieved of their duties before reaching that point – a fate which, potentially, could still await Acta.
After witnessing this 10-game abomination, I think it’s safe to assume that Acta’s job is on the line over the final two months of the season. I won’t be at all shocked if they decide to stick with him, the front office genuinely seems to like him and the players have – at least to this point – supported him. But when you fall flat on your face in a year in which you’re expected to make a run at the playoffs, heads tend to roll.
A few other notes…
- The Indians have allowed 88 runs during their current 10-game losing streak, the most runs allowed during a 10-game skid in franchise history. And according to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, it’s also the most runs allowed during any 10-game stretch since 1938. Remember how this year’s team was supposed to be built on pitching and defense? Ha!
- Zach McAllsiter became the first Indians pitcher to allow seven unearned runs since Brian Anderson in 2003 against the White Sox.
- Justin Morneau became the 4th player in Twins history with 3 or more multi-home run games against the Indians joining Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison and Don Mincher.
I’m typically fairly conservative when it comes to firing any members of a coaching staff (be it manager or coaches). I fully believe that they can’t hit, field, and pitch for the players and typically deserve some benefit of the doubt. The grass won’t always be greener, all of that jazz, etc.
With that being said, I’m at the point where I’m really hoping they just clean house. Something about the whole atmosphere around this team has just started to bother me…as far as I’m concerned, they can fire anyone whose name is not Sandy Alomar Jr.
Agreed. Fire everyone but Sandy Alomar Jr. and let him hire his team. Imagine if he could get Albert Belle and Kenny Lofton to join as coaches? Maybe even Chuck Nagy as a pitching coach.
I completely agree. I generally believe managers don’t do enough good or bad over the course of the season to warrant any type of evaluation at all, and as a result I’m usually inclined to keep the status quo. But for that same reason I think making the switch from Acta to Alomar has to happen. Alomar can’t possible be worse than Acta (it’s probably a lateral move) but it would go a very long way towards appeasing the fans and generating some positive feelings toward the club entering 2013. In other words, if managers don’t matter, hire the guy the fans want (which in this case is obviously someone the team thinks fairly highly of as well). It seems like a no-brainer to me.
Very disappointing season. The last two years have been hard to watch. So much potential but we just can’t put all the pieces together at the same time. Asdrubal, Brantley, Kipnis, Santana and Shoo just can’t seem to get hot simultaneously. I believe we have the talent but something is unfortunately missing.
At least in the NFL, there’s rarely anything that makes it clearer a coach/manager is about to get fired than by giving him a public vote of confidence. However, our owner is Dolan, and while I hate playing the “wah wah our ownership is so cheap” card, I believe it applies here.
I’ve been a fan of the Tribe since the sixties so I have watched a lot of bad baseball but never as bad as the second half of this year. I think a good shake up is in order from the GM on down.(I wish I could include the owner, also). Time to see what Sandy can do!
It’s so hard to believe that it has been 5 years since we made the playoffs. I feel like it was yesterday I was watching the 07 ALCS as a giddy teenager. I then began to play the what-if game thinking about how Skinner held up Kenny at the third base. Sadly, as an Indians fan, “What if?” is not a slogan of hope as the TV commercials suggest, but a collection of painful memories from the past. I only hope that my list of Tribe “what if?s” is not as long as my fathers when I reach his age.