Man, I thought I had a bad day when I realized the grapefruit I brought for lunch was spoiled. (Seriously, it smelled like feet, it was awful.) Well, it was nothing compared to the day (week?) the Indians had. After the crushing sweep by Detroit this weekend, they lose three of four to the Mariners. And to say that two of those three losses were awful is an understatement. While it wasn’t a huge surprise to watch Zach McAllister tank (his other Major League appearance wasn’t anything to write home about), I have to admit, it was sort of a blow to watch the Mariners taking batting practice off of Josh Tomlin. For the first time in his career he did not make it for 5+ innings, ending his consecutive streak at 37. The Indians were hammered 9-2, after losing 12-7 last night.
This is frustrating, because the Mariners are not necessarily an offensive juggernaut. This is also a team that lost 17 consecutive games not that long ago; to lose three out of four is a huge disappointment. You’d think that the Kansas City series this weekend would be a good opportunity for the Tribe to turn things around, but the way they’re playing it may get worse before it gets better. With last night’s game, the Indians actually had a number of opportunities to get back into the game. They loaded the bases with one out on several occasions; unfortunately they were never able to make anything happen.
The Indians already have Grady Sizemore, Carlos Carrasco, Jason Kipnis and Travis Hafner on the DL; now Michael Brantley’s wrist is bothering him, and Shin-Soo Choo strained his left side during today’s batting practice. It’s obvious that Hafner and Brantley had been hurting for a while; their performance really suffered lately. Choo just seemed to be heating up though, so of course it figures that he’d end up injured.
There have been a flurry of waiver claims over the past 24 hours, but it’s uncertain how many were actually awarded to the Indians. Even if they were, there’s no guarantee that they’d be able to complete a deal anyway. Reportedly, the Indians placed a waiver claim on Jim Thome. Unfortunately, it’s been reported that the White Sox did so as well; since there record was worse at the time, they will win the claim. I’m not sure if the White Sox actually have plans for Thome with Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko on the roster (unless they finally want to start benching Dunn). There’s been some speculation they did so just to keep him from going to the Indians. Someone also placed a claim on the Twins’ Jason Kubel, and there is speculation that the Indians were one of the teams (although no word yet if they’re likely to be awarded the claim). I know after this weekend/week, getting a hitter may be a moot point. However, if you can get someone without giving up much, it would still make games a bit more pleasant to watch over the remainder of the season.
My dog is still disappointed she missed Puppypalooza last night. She should be thankful that she didn't have to watch the Indians play!
With all of these injuries and and apparent lack of endurance it appears that there is a problem the with coaching. Since the Tribe has a knack for dismissing coaches, is the trainer or conditioning coach on the hot seat?
What is up with ACab lately (8 for 40 in his last 10 games)? He has been stranding men on base a lot over the past week and his fielding is suffering too. I know this is the most games he’s played during the season in his career and he could use the rest, but he needs to step it up and play like an all-star again since we can’t rely on anyone else with all the injuries.
Drew, I think you may be onto something there. Although one interesting point (knock on wood) the bullpen has remained pretty healthy throughout the season, and that’s pretty unusual. It seems to be heavily weighted toward position players. One other thing that could also be going on – do you remember how the Indians used to be really evasive about player injuries? Guys would be playing hurt, and they’d be really tight lipped about it. I specifically remember Victor Martinez several years ago. Something was obviously up – he’d hit almost no home runs, really struggled at the plate during the first part of the season. Then they finally come out and admit that his arm is bothering him and he needs surgery. They made some dumb crack about how Victor at 80% is still better than no Victor at all. I think that may be the case with Sizemore at least – never 100%, but they pushed him back and kept it under wraps.
MikeD, I’m hoping he’s just going through a bad slump and isn’t injured as well (that’s immediately where my brain goes these days). Hopefully with 2 days off to clear his head, he’ll look better this weekend.