The Indians kick off a four-game set against the Twins tonight in Minnesota as Zach McAllister takes on Andrew Albers. Even though the Twins look a bit different than the last time the Indians saw them (Justin Morneau was traded to the Pirates and Joe Mauer has been shut down for the season after a concussion) Albers gave them a ton of problems last time. A soft-tosser, in many ways Albers reminded me of Jeremy Sowers. And if you remember Sowers’ career (what there was of it), he was brilliant at times until hitters started to figure him out. Oakland managed to figure Albers out in his last start on September 20 – he gave up 8 ER and 8 hits over 4.2 innings. When the Indians faced him on August 12, he allowed just two hits and no walks in a complete game shut-out. Even though Albers hasn’t been that perfect in September, he has still minimized his walks – he hasn’t walked more than one person in any game this season. The Indians may need to jump on his pitches in order to find success.
McAllister is coming off two good starts against Houston and the White Sox, but they are two teams that have been offensively challenged at times this season. McAllister faced Minnesota twice this season, on August 13 and August 24, and on the 13th gave up 1 ER on 4 hits over 6 innings pitched, and on the 24th gave up 2 ER on 4 hits over 7.1 innings pitched.
Use this thread to chat about the game!
Gomes yard…will santana ever see regular duty at C again…..?
i doubt it! hey thats a good problem to have. in other news, i like tito pulling zmac. don’t let the train fall off the tracks
his swing was so smooth…where’s the fancy fox super slow mo cam???
totally with you…manage every game like #7 now….
scoreboard watching…la up 4-3 middle of 5.
i’m probably overthinking but i think its good for the tribe to keep having TB and TEX stay rolling so that we stay sharp. i don’t want to sound like a homer but if we get the WC and win and continue on, teams will not want to face us. we didn’t coast in, we’ve been clawing and scratching. i also like the fact that almost every “expert” in the media mentions the tribe with nausea in their voice. music to the ears of the faithful! and with the end of this post, albers is being pulled. i’d like to see that kid do well since he’s about an 8 hour car ride west of me in saskatchewan. small town kid from yahoopitsville
brantley with ANOTHER 2out RBI single…”Butter” Brantley!
BUT-UHHH!!!!
Someone had a sign at yesterday’s game and it had Brantley’s picture and it said something like “Trust me, I’m a doctor…Dr. Smooth.”
A big “Thank You” to the Yankees for completely rolling over for Tampa. Girardi didn’t let Rivera play center field yet, but he might as well have.
On the other hand, Texas is losing – if we can be 2 games up on them with 3 games left, we’re all but in.
thats officially changed..thanks martin
will be interesting to see how the last few games impact our use of ubaldo….
i think we’re going to skip him. optimism
Angels/Rangers 5-5 tie top 7
nitpicky…but anyone else notice that aviles’ AB have been REALLY ugly tonight? swing looks loooong and lazy..i wonder if he’s gassed. looks very unlike him. i’ll put $5 on chizzy starting at 3rd tomorrow
i dont think anyone wants anything to do w/ tampa either….shame if we’re head to head its 1 and done….dont care for 2 wildcards to begin with, but a 1 game off seems idiotic (ex a tie)
i agree…TB looks lethal. who do you think would get the start? price or moore..i would figure moore…ride your hot hand
Right now (and this obviously could change) Moore is set to pitch Sunday. Since Price pitched yesterday, that would currently line him up for a wild card game.
I almost wish it was a 3-game, so each team got at least 1 home game. There were all of these high hopes for Toronto this season…let’s see if they can at least play spoiler against Tampa this weekend.
ok…perez 2 R on 2 H…
plus another H
Perez is getting crushed again.
Masterson for closer?
you have to be FN kidding me
Perez should be stripped of his closer duties immediately.
Nice job pothead. Well it won’t impact his save percentage, right Perez lovers?
TRIBE WINS!!!!!!
Joe Smith for CLOSER!!!
If tito allows perez to pitch again this season he should lose his job.
My God, what’s happened to Perez? He must have some kind of injury or physical problem. It’s been a great run, but without a solid closer, the playoffs–if we make them–will be brief.
That was a win that feels like a loss.
Btw how does a 4.33 era for a closer sound?
Geez I almost had a heart attack at work right then……
Can we finally stop with the lets stick with him we’ve got no one else nonsense? Last I checked we had someone to cleanup his dung the last two outings. So clearly we have options.
It will be hard for Tito to stick with Perez as closer now. He might not even make the postseason roster if this keeps up. P.S. No way Chiz starts against a LHP.
good point (re: chiz). ill paypal you $5.
but lets look at tonight in a different light…this could also be the best thing that happened to the team. trials and tribulations for every team and this is just one more obstacle for us to figure out!
Throughout this season the closer we have gotten to sniffing the playoffs, the angrier I’ve gotten watching Perez come into games. I am at the point where the thought of him potentially coming in to “close” a playoff game induces severe nausea.
“That was a win that feels like a loss.” -D.P. Roberts No kidding. Shaun, hard to describe how my words taste right now, salty? I don’t know, this makes me question quite a bit. In order for the team as currently constructed to be successful in the post season, we need for everyone to be playing decently and Chris Perez is not doing it. I just don’t know right now and even though we won, I feel worse about what might happen than I did yesterday.
“That was a win that feels like a loss.” -D.P. Roberts
Hey guys, we won. We did, I swear! It’s better than us losing. I don’t think we’re going to get much help from LA or Toronto, so we need to keep winning. Someone else posted that this could be the best thing that happened. I agree. Now we know he’s crap 100% for sure, and hopefully Tito knows that we can’t put him in. Also, lose his job if he puts him back in again? Really, people? After 89 wins and counting? Get a grip. Tito’s always been a, “players manager.” He sticks up for his guys and defends them, so it wouldn’t be a stretch if he put him in there again.
Also, might I remind you all that Detroit had this EXACT same situation last year with Valverde, a formerly lights-out closer. They managed to find people to put in there, and made the World Series. We can do the same. My vote is for Masterson, but only if there is zero intent on making him a starter if we make a run.
While Perez has been the obvious topic of conversation, let me be the first to say that I have no interest in McAllister being in the starting rotation for the possible playoff run.
His command of his breaking stuff hasn’t been good since coming off the DL – I wonder if the injury has made him hesitant to really let go on those pitches. He’s basically a fastball pitcher now.
IMO I want Masterson to start Game One of any ALDS, Ubaldo for Wild Card/Game 4 of ALDS, Kluber for the second game, Kazmir for 3rd(these are interchangeable), Salazar to close(postseason only), and ZMac to be long relief.