Little Things

[consigliere]

Man, we are on the brink of losing this game because of two incidents which resulted in two runs for the D-Rays and us not scoring a run.

First incident: We continue to play lousy defense. Just too many mistakes. Paul Byrd got absolutely screwed by his defense in I believe the 4th inning when there was a runner on 1st and 2 outs and Young hits a towering pop up to shallow RF. Barfield took an awful route to the ball, and Nixon was "trotting" in on the ball.....and they both completely f-ed that play. How that was scored a double is beyond me. Anyway, it lead to 2 runs for the D-Rays.

Second Incident: Shoppach with a seeing eye single which kicks off the second baseman's glove.....and he goes to 2B for a double and Young throw the ball away and it goes down the RF line. Shoppach goes to 3B and probably could have scored, but was gassed so he held up even though he was being waived home. Next pitch, line drive to RF with Young's momentum carrying him TO homeplate and the liner was shallow....yet Skinner sends Shoppach home. O-U-T. So, once again a runner at 3B and no outs, and no runs.

We are down 6-5 right now in the 8th, but threatening to score. However, point is, if we do the little things, we are winning this game maybe 6-4 right now. That's the difference between getting off to a good April start and going something like 15-10 and getting off to poor 11-14 or 12-13 starts.

[consigliere]

Like I said, little things.

Jason Michaels is up with bases loaded and two outs with Hafner behind him, so you know they will have to give you something good to hit. So, sit back and wait for the pitch.

Wo, what does Michaels do? Swings at two balls, and then grounds out weakly to 3B. Aye carumba!

[StewieG]

I looked it up in the dictionary.

Little Things (lit-l things) n.

1. A baseball term used to describe actions such as bunting, fielding, moving runners over, and not swinging at balls outside of the strike zone, among other actions.

2. What the Cleveland Indians can't do.

Hand to God, that's what it said.

[consigliere]

May 1st is a week from Tuesday.....Indians have like 9 games before then. If the Indians are under .500 at the end of April, does ANYONE in the media start calling for Wedge's job? Why is NO ONE calling for it now?

[pup]

Do I count?

[Hoover]

Tampa Bay is a truly rancid team. Their shortstop should be in AA, their pitching staff is full of stiffs. The Tribe should've beat those guys handily.

It was like Team Gomer Pyle vs. Team Goober Pyle out there tonight. Which team was gonna screw it up the most?

Sending Shoppach was just plain stupid. He runs like he's got a piano on his back. Skinner doesn't know any more about running the bases than Wedge does.

Between this and pitching to ARod with a base open on Thursday, it's more than a fan should have to put up with. The clock is ticking for Buck to take over this team.

[pup]

Did Delucci get hurt tonight, or did Wedge really think it was necesary to remove him for defensive purposes in the 6th inning of a tie game?

I don't think Tampa has a lefty in their bullpen.

[consigliere]

Did Delucci get hurt tonight, or did Wedge really think it was necesary to remove him for defensive purposes in the 6th inning of a tie game?

I don't think Tampa has a lefty in their bullpen.

I don't think he got hurt.

Good Lord. I'm completely off the Wedge bandwagon.

[pup]

Mission 1 - Get Tony off Wedge Bandwagon. Check.
Mission 2 - Get Tony off Shapiro Bandwagon. Give me another 6 weeks.
Mission 3 - Draft Joe Thomas. Whoops, wrong forum.

[consigliere]

Mission 1 - Get Tony off Shapiro Bandwagon. Check.
Mission 2 - Get Tony off Shapiro Bandwagon. Give me another 6 weeks.
Mission 3 - Draft Joe Thomas. Whoops, wrong forum.

Mission 1: Completed.
Mission 2: Fat chance.
Mission 3: Even fatter chance.

[rigs]

Pup
Was that supposed to read "Wedge" in line 1?
Wedge has to go, but the team Shapiro gave him is a .500 one.
If you take your heart out of it and look at things objectively, this team is very average. By June, we may be another rebuilding mode.

[pup]

Whoops. Fixed it.

[FUDU]

Guys trust me I am NEVER the voice of reason with the Tribe, I am ALWAYS a believer that a game in April will cost us everything in October but we are right where we have been and want to be in regards to the last 2 seasons starts.

The trick for this team is to keep this start going through May and June and not falter. Things could be way worse and yet we have a whole season of possible multiple 7-8 game win streaks.

We have only given up a couple of games this year, not all FOR SURE wins so I think we stand in a good position right now. CC seems to be right there ready to be what we all think he is or needs to be and we have Superman playing CF and his big brother batting 3rd in the lineup.

May will be our most important month.

[consigliere]

Pup
Was that supposed to read "Wedge" in line 1?
Wedge has to go, but the team Shapiro gave him is a .500 one.
If you take your heart out of it and look at things objectively, this team is very average. By June, we may be another rebuilding mode.

I wouldn't go that far. If they continue to struggle, you may see some roster turnover. But not a flat out rebuilding effort.

It is still too early for me to jump one way or the other. But, the two things that have me concerned right now are Wedge and the "little things" this team just does not do to win more consistently. Call me in mid-May and ask for my opinion on whether we need to start making radical changes.

[Hoover]

Guys trust me I am NEVER the voice of reason with the Tribe, I am ALWAYS a believer that a game in April will cost us everything in October but we are right where we have been and want to be in regards to the last 2 seasons starts.

The trick for this team is to keep this start going through May and June and not falter.

They're at .500. There's nothing special about this start. .500 will never win this division.

[jfiling]

Did Delucci get hurt tonight, or did Wedge really think it was necesary to remove him for defensive purposes in the 6th inning of a tie game?

I don't think Tampa has a lefty in their bullpen.

From Sheldon Ocker's recap:

There was one casualty: David Dellucci was forced to leave the game in the sixth inning with tightness in his left calf. He is listed as day-to-day.

[consigliere]

Wedge gets a pass on that one then. He needs all the passed he can get right now.

[gim357]

The biggest problem the team has is they have adopted Wedge's personality. Unless he is a different person behind closed doors, what you see is plain person. Don't get excited when things go well, don't get upset when things go bad. Until someone with the Indians gets upset with
sub par efforts, things will not change. Wedge never does anything to make opposing teams manage differently against the Tribe. No hit and run, no sac bunt's, no base stealing threat. Just stop the 3 run homer and you will beat this team.

[consigliere]

Like I said, little things.

Today in the 4th inning:

Baldelli stole second.
Baldelli to third on Martinez´s throwing error.
Harris struck out, reached on wild pitch.

Rays end up getting a run on one ball leaving the infield.

[consigliere]

BTW, if anyone is watching the Tribe game, what is Shields throwing? Darts? Butcher knives? You'd think.....9 Ks in 5 IP and just struckout the side in the 5th.

[Hoover]

BTW, if anyone is watching the Tribe game, what is Shields throwing? Darts? Butcher knives? You'd think.....9 Ks in 5 IP and just struckout the side in the 5th.

He's throwing a lot of change-ups. He's not a good pitcher, but the Indians are making him look like he is. They never hit good against rookies the 1st time they see them.

Tribe has turned into Team Choke when the chips are down. They're 1 for 18 with the bases loaded this year, according to Matt Underwood. Just brutal.

[consigliere]

Jesus H. 12 Ks in 7 IP?

[consigliere]

Anyone see the craziness in the 8th? What's this I hear Martinez threw to the wrong base (3B) thinking there was a force on a wild pitch strikeout?????

Good God.

Down two....1 out.....1st and 2nd for Garko with GUESS WHO on deck (Blake).

[consigliere]

And Garko gets Blake off the hook.

I need to start taking anti-depressants when watching/listening to this team play.

[StewieG]

This is the most fundamentally inept team I have ever seen the last 3 years. They can't get runs if they don't hit a home run. They can't. They probably allow a run a game that's due to stupid mistakes (wild pitches, errors, passed balls, throwing to the wrong base/overthrowing cutoff man, etc.). They also can't even make contact when they have to. This team is painful to watch.

Major changes need to be made.

Casey Blake needs to be a untility player only. He should not see regular action. I'm willing to sit through Marte and Barfield's growing pains, because they're still young, and they still have upside. Blake has no upside. He's on the tail end of his bland, forgetful career. He sucks, and needs to not play.

Wedge needs to be fired. His love affair with Casey Blake is enough for me, but you can add: His mishandling of pitchers, his refusal to let Garko play everyday, his inability to address any defensive or "small ball" deficiencies this team has (because I'm sure he's tried, but he just can't teach it, apparently), his DECISION TO PITCH TO A-FRAUD, WHO WAS THE HOTTEST PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE, WITH THE GAME ON THE LINE...should I go on?

Peralta needs to be traded. He's awful defensively, so if he's not hitting (which he's not), he's worthless. I've seen enough. He'll always be a strikeout guy. He's gone back to trying to pull everything. He has the range of...me. Which is not good. If we're not going to get anything offensively, we might as well bring up Cabrera, and let him play good defense. If we're not going to score any runs, we might as well save some from being given up.

We need a corner outfielder. I'm sorry, but Trot Nixon and David Dellucci and Jason Michaels are not the answer. There's gotta be someone who doesn't suck.

[StewieG]

If I'm the Devil Rays, I walk Garko, because I know how awful this team is with the bases loaded, and I also know how awful Casey Blake is period. I don't care if first base wasn't open. Third base was. That's all you need.

[FUDU]

They never hit good against rookies the 1st time they see them.

This is so true, and the thing about it that pisses me off is that is has been this way since the Jake opened. But the roster has turnover so much and often enough that it makes no sense, we don't have any of the players in our line up from our run in the late 90's or early 2000's, when this trend started yet it continues with this organization.

Mind boggling.

I have always said when an upcoming opponent is in a bind for a starting pitcher to throw against us they should just grab the hottest thing they got going in the minors and put him on the mound against us and they would have a great shot at stealing a game from us.

Um I mean yeah go Tribe. 6-4.

This is going to be another Jekyll n Hyde season I can see.

[sandlot33]

BTW, if anyone is watching the Tribe game, what is Shields throwing? Darts? Butcher knives? You'd think.....9 Ks in 5 IP and just struckout the side in the 5th.

He's throwing a lot of change-ups. He's not a good pitcher, but the Indians are making him look like he is. They never hit good against rookies the 1st time they see them.

Shields is gonna be a lot better than you think

[leadpipe]

Casey Blake is pretty bad, I would wager with anyone, however, that his career numbers when compared to Andy Marte's, are going to look far superior.

[Hoover]

BTW, if anyone is watching the Tribe game, what is Shields throwing? Darts? Butcher knives? You'd think.....9 Ks in 5 IP and just struckout the side in the 5th.

He's throwing a lot of change-ups. He's not a good pitcher, but the Indians are making him look like he is. They never hit good against rookies the 1st time they see them.

Shields is gonna be a lot better than you think

When he moves on to another team. Even good pitchers never do good in TB. They got terrible defense, a stupid manager, and no future.

[StewieG]

They got terrible defense, a stupid manager, and no future.

Hah, up until you mentioned "no future", I thought you were talking about the Indians. I'd like to think we have a future.

[pup]

Hah, up until you mentioned "no future", I thought you were talking about the Indians. I'd like to think we have a future

Ahhhh, the strength of the Shapiro regime. We will always have a future. Too bad we will never have a present.

[consigliere]

And Garko gets Blake off the hook.

I need to start taking anti-depressants when watching/listening to this team play.

The Garko HR a possible turning point to look back on? Something to take note of.

Instead of falling to 1-5 on the road trip going to the Twin Cities for two, they come in 2-4 and win both to salvage the road trip with a .500 record at 4-4.

[Dozen]

The Garko HR a possible turning point to look back on? Something to take note of

My god, I had the same thought about an hour ago.................... Lets hope so. So far Im not too disapointed to the start of this thing.

[pup]

Mark that date!