There Was a Game. Whatever.

I’ve been working a lot lately, so I end up pretty tired with little free time by the end of the week (probably like many of you reading this).  My one release, the one little piece of enjoyment during my day, are baseball games.  Usually I end up working while they’re on, but it’s still something.  Watching games like tonight (and last night) do not provide any kind of enjoyment or opportunities for relaxation.  They just end up annoying me, and make me wish I would’ve opted to work in an isolated, quiet room instead.  I usually love blogging, and I was sorely tempted to just write “this game sucked” and then click “publish.”  Because the Indians have been playing some ugly baseball lately.  I know it’s barely two weeks into the season, and a long season has bad weeks…sometimes it just seems more bleak when they come at the beginning.  I think it irks me, because these games haven’t been very fun to watch.  There are some minor positives, but they get outweighed by the 10 tons of bad stuff.

Let’s start with pitching, because it was pretty awful.  Every time the offense managed to make some kind of a comeback, the pitching let it slip away.  The White Sox just could not stop scoring.  Five of the runs were charged to Carlos Carrasco, who at the very beginning of the game, looked somewhat improved over his last start.  Like everything else in this game…just when you think you’re safe, the ax murderer (i.e. pitching staff) pops out of the closet and chases you into the woods.  (That’s a terrible analogy.  Terrible games create a chain reaction of terribleness).  “What’s that, offense?  You managed to tie the game up at three?  LET ME GIVE UP MORE RUNS.”  My patience is wearing thin on Carrasco already (I usually try to give a guy more than 1 or 2 starts before I write him off, but I’ll snap long before that at this rate).  My patience has run thin on Blake Wood.  And is this crappy pitching contagious?  Even the typically reliable Bryan Shaw gave up two earned runs.  All of the cool kids were doing it, I guess he thought he should join in.

Bright spots: at least the Indians didn’t let Jose Abreu destroy them tonight, as he went 0 for 4.  Adam Eaton, Adam Dunn, and Conor Gillespie all went 2 for 3; Conor Gillespie had four RBI.  Not one of their more star-caliber players, but Conor-freaking-Gillespie had four RBI (To be fair, he has decent career numbers against the Indians.  Way better than his overall numbers).  The Tribe managed to score six runs on 11 hits; they actually out-hit the White Sox 11-10.  I think it’s pretty sad when you manage to score six runs, get production from almost everyone in your starting lineup (the only starter without a hit was Carlos Santana), yet you still manage to lose by three.  The Indians need to find a way to get the starting pitching on track.  Although to be fair, the games where they’ve had solid pitching, the offense has been relatively anemic.  (Like Zach McAllister and Trevor Bauer the other day against the Padres).  My advice: please play less awful.  Everyone, but especially the pitching.  They should hire me as a motivational speaker: “You all suck.  I get annoyed watching you.  Please stop being terrible.”

If watching this game didn’t depress you enough, if reading about this depressing game, after watching didn’t depress you enough – here’s a parting stat for you.  The Indians have already matched their loss total from 2013 against the White Sox (remember they went 17-2 last year).  I knew that the odds were slim that they could duplicate that performance, but I did hope they’d look a little better than they did tonight and last night.  When you’re already kind of tired and cranky, these aren’t the kind of games you really want to watch.