In an embarrassing display of sloppy, bad baseball the Indians squandered the positives from a weekend series win over the Angels with a squalid 7-2 loss to the White Sox.
Donald, Cabrera and Santana (at 1B for the first time this season) each misplayed routine infield pops and Kipnis later simply forgot to cover the bag on a steal attempt, ruining a strong throw by Lou Marson which beat the runner. Hopefully Acta won’t just mince the meat during the post game buffet.
Johnny Damon did not play on arrival day and Choo missed another game with a tender hamstring. Neither absence mattered as White Sox lefthander Chris Sale dominated the Indians for a second time this year. The Tribe managed only 6 hits and has scored 19 runs in the last 8 games.
The lone bright notes: Kipnis continued his strong hitting with 3 knocks, including an RBI double, and Duncan broke the long team homer-less streak after 370 at bats.
Jimenez was horrid. He threw 105 pitches (only 54 for strikes) in 4.2 innings and yielded 8 hits, seven runs and six walks. His ERA sits at a lofty 5.02 on the year and he’s walked 20 in 28.2 IP. Maybe its his cuticle . . . or cuticles.
The loss drops the Indians into a three way first place tie with Detroit and Chicago.
The whiplash rollercoaster continues.
I am growing tired of watching Ubaldo kill momentum for the tribe. We come off a good series win and he brings us back down with that garbage last night. He seems to do this all the time whether its game momentum or inning momentum. And Donald should never bat second in the lineup while we have one of our better hitters batting 7th in Kipnis. I understand the lefty/righty matchups but there is still no way Kipnis should be hitting below donald in the lineup. Just my two cents. Here’s to hoping Damon can turn things around for the tribe!
Ubaldo is just horrible, there’s really nothing else to be said. I’d love to once, just once, see him retire a batter on less than 5 pitches, or throw a curveball that didn’t bounce 2 feet in front of the plate. I turned the game off after that dropped pop-up by Donald – anyone who’s watched Ubaldo before knew exactly where the rest of that inning was headed. I received a text from my cousin right after the dropped pop that simply said, “I have poured myself a drink. It’s obvious what is going to happen and I will check SportsCenter in the morning”. Couldn’t have put it better myself.
It was a hard game to watch. I wonder if Belcher would have made a difference with Jimenez’s approach and convinced him to stick with 2-3 different pitches until he develops command and drop the ineffective arsenal method.
It seems odd that a hard nosed player like Kipnis is so passive/inattentive in the field. He needs to take charge and but heads with ACab if need be.
Thanks for the comment.
On occasion Acta seems to err toward a ‘by the book’ managerial style which contrasts with his open personality. At least he plans to hit Damon at leadoff and place Brantley down in the order.
Against tough LHs, maybe bat Kipnis 2nd (.250) and drop Choo to 6th (.158).
Will McIlroy says:
May 2, 2012 at 11:52 am
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Against tough LHs, maybe bat Kipnis 2nd (.250) and drop Choo to 6th (.158).
Apparently Acta heard you. 😉 I suggest you start posting other things you’d like him to do before noon every day.
A scary conjoining. If only I could manipulate the stock market like this.
Looks like the Damon Era had a short run, at least for tonight. Hopefully not a serious injury. Kipnis has been very good in the 2 hole and Choo is struggling (2 Ks tonight with the bases loaded) so the move makes sense.
Thanks for the comment.