Game 145 Open Thread: Indians vs. White Sox

It’s fair to say that the first two games in this series haven’t gone too well for the Indians.  And that was with two of our more reliable pitchers on the mound, Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer.  They’ve had their share of ups and downs, of course, but I’d still rather see them on the mound than Cody Anderson, or a post-All Star Break Josh Tomlin.

But unfortunately, thanks to the injury to Danny Salazar, we’ll see Josh Tomlin square off against Carlos Rodon tonight.  On a recent Tribe Time Now podcast, Joe Coblitz from Burning River Baseball and I discussed Tomlin a bit.  Basically, we came to the conclusion that Tomlin may be out of gas.  His command, so sharp earlier this season, seems to be slipping some in the last month or two.  Where he could paint the corners and hit his spots in the past, he’s missing those spots now.

Let’s compare some of Tomlin’s first-half stats, with his second-half stats:

Josh Tomlin - First Half vs. Second Half

As you can see, he’s really taken a dive during the second half of the season, and he’s thrown far fewer pitches.  (Because why pour gasoline onto a fire?)  During the offseason, MLB Trade Rumors, using data from a variety of sources, published their list of pitchers most likely to require Tommy John surgery.  This was regardless to whether or not they have had the surgery in the past, as Tomlin already had Tommy John surgery in 2012 and missed most of the 2013 season.  However, this data still placed him (prior to the season) as the second most likely pitcher in all of MLB to potentially require Tommy John Surgery.  Obviously, if Tomlin required surgery we would’ve heard about this.  I’m just wondering if Tomlin, who already appears likely/prone to injury, has just run out of gas.  All we can hope is that his rest over the past couple of weeks will be helpful.

The Indians have had some problems with Carlos Rodon this year, and he’s been pretty consistent for most of the year.  I’m concerned about their ability to score runs tonight, especially since they’ve looked less than impressive so far during this series.  The offense will need to step up though, because I highly doubt Tomlin will pitch a shutout, even if he does end up looking better than his last few starts.

Lineups: