Game thread: 4/26 Texas

[Steve Buffum]

Thought I'd start one in case anyone wanted to chime in.

So far, Nixon with a 3-run bomb, Shoppach doubles in Choo, Choo guns Lofton down, Victor Martinez hits a ground ball and is not caught in a double play. Pretty much firing on all cylinders.

[pup]

Hoe did Shoppach advance from 2nd to 3rd on a flyout to center? Did Lofton contract malaria on his route to catch the ball?


Then he scores on a wild pitch. Indians baseball...Fantastic!

[pup]

I think CBSsportsline posted Lofton's steal before the pitch was thrown.

[neoleo]

Hoe did Shoppach advance from 2nd to 3rd on a flyout to center? Did Lofton contract malaria on his route to catch the ball?


Then he scores on a wild pitch. Indians baseball...Fantastic!

It was hit to deep center, a bit to the rightfield side.

[Steve Buffum]

It was hit to deep center, a bit to the rightfield side.

Also, Kenny Lofton aspires to have Juan Pierre's arm.

[neoleo]

For those not watching the game, I don't want Choo's assist to get lost in one simple post. Wow! A perfect throw on a rope.

When Kenny got to third with two outs, why he didn't steal home is beyond me. Byrd was going from the windup (which takes forever for him to complete) and Blake was playing way off the bag at third. I think he could've taken home standing up if he simply broke on first movement.

[neoleo]

It was hit to deep center, a bit to the rightfield side.

Also, Kenny Lofton aspires to have Juan Pierre's arm.

Ha Ha. Good point.

[Guest]

That throw Choo made was perfect!!!

[swerb]

Good idea on the game thread Buff.

I think we've gotten to the point where we can do a daily game thread for each game.

It will help keep game discussions to one thread, as opposed to Get_Wedge_Out_Of_Here_Now!!!!!! starting 5 or 6.

[neoleo]

An example of the baseball God's working their magic.

Barfield can't buy a hit all year and he finally lines a bullet but it gets caught by a leaping Michael Jord errr I mean Young.

Then five-for-his-last-nine Kelly Shoppach comes up a couple of innings later and whiffs on strike three but the ump calls it a foul tip so he walks on the next pitch.

[pup]

Good to see K-Love still being a pain in the ass.

[neoleo]

Leadoff triple, Byrd finds a way out.

[pup]

Maybe the infield single will get Barfield going.

Come on Grady!

[Steve Buffum]

Oh my God! Bases loaded for Casey Blake! What will happen?!?!?!?!?!

Edit: okay, I'll hand it to him, he drew a walk. And RBI with the bases loaded for Casey! Woo hoo!

[pup]

My guess would be Mr. Feldman is being sent to AAA, real soon.

[Get_Wedge_Out_NOW!]

lol 2 walks in a row

[pup]

Back to back, bases loaded, walks....and Victor swings at the first pitch. Don't know if there is anything more aggrevating then that.


Edit: Sorry, it was the second pitch, after ball 1. So back to back walks, 1-0 count, and Victor swings.

[Guest]

Blake in the 2 hole is more aggrevating to me.

[Steve Buffum]

Peralta homers to center, 9-3

[neoleo]

Back to back, bases loaded, walks....and Victor swings at the first pitch. Don't know if there is anything more aggrevating then that.


Edit: Sorry, it was the second pitch, after ball 1. So back to back walks, 1-0 count, and Victor swings.

At least it wasn't the same pitcher for all three at bats, but I agree.

[swerb]

Nice! Been too busy to even listen.

12-7 sounds nice though. Especially after that sweep in NY.

[DarNoor]

I like Choo. He's swinging the bat well and playing some good defense.

[neoleo]

I like Choo. He's swinging the bat well and playing some good defense.

I agree. I get the same feeling with him as I do with Garko. I just don't see how you can keep him out of the lineup. He instantly becomes our 3rd best running threat, he has the best arm of any outfielder on the roster, and he has been getting clutch hits.

[Steve Buffum]

(Choo) instantly becomes our 3rd best running threat...

True, he is fast, and I can't speak for his advancing on hits, but his base-stealing sense is lousy. He needs an aggressive 3rd base coach to tell him to stay put, or he has to get better reads or jumps ... I dunno what it is, but he t'ain't good at it.

[neoleo]

What year is it? How does Sammy Sosa hit two home runs in the same game?

Oh, now I see, he actually didn't as the ball hit the yellow line. The umps still count it though.

[neoleo]

(Choo) instantly becomes our 3rd best running threat...

True, he is fast, and I can't speak for his advancing on hits, but his base-stealing sense is lousy. He needs an aggressive 3rd base coach to tell him to stay put, or he has to get better reads or jumps ... I dunno what it is, but he t'ain't good at it.

Granted he becomes the third best runner by default, but at this point I'd take a cheetah batting second just so he can score from second on one of Hafner's many hits.

[MadThinker88]

I wonder if Pronk will be walked for the 3rd time today?


Crude. Inning ending DP instead.

[Get_Wedge_Out_NOW!]

here comes the heart attack finish

i say they get at least 2 runs lol

[MadThinker88]

I have a feeling that JD is pitching himself right out of town. The question is to where.

[Get_Wedge_Out_NOW!]

ok now DP to end it


lets go

[Steve Buffum]

Man, Davis drives me crazy.

Nice K of Cat, though.

[Get_Wedge_Out_NOW!]

I have a feeling that JD is pitching himself right out of town. The question is to where.

he must have heard u say that

[Get_Wedge_Out_NOW!]

tribe wins!!

[MadThinker88]

I wonder what Willis told JD on the visit to the mound. Maybe he said "anyone scores, and your outta here!"

At least we didn't need to bring in anyone else to finish the game.

[pup]

I'll tell you what, for everything this team has gone through so far this year, 12-7 is a pretty freakin good start.

The snowout series, playing home games in Milwaukee, the Yankee debacle (which would have ruined them in recent years), giving up leads but fighting back.

If you would have shown pieces of this season and not told anyone the final results, I would have put them at about 7-12.

They can't go on all season winning games like this, but they haven't really even started to hit.

I am feeling better about this team than I have at any time in the Shapiro/Wedge era.

[Hoover]

I'm feeling good about the bullpen, except for Borowski. He throws too many meatballs over the plate. His speed is slow, slower & slowest, which would be OK if he located well. But he hasn't. His ERA is monstrously high.

He's been lucky to save all these games. Bring him in for a close game, he'll blow it like he did last night. Shapiro needs to look for a good closer on the trade market. Or consider F Cab for the job. If we don't get somebody else, Borowski will blow lots of games down the road.

Other than that, the rest of the team is solid so far. Choo is gonna be a real addition to the team with his cannon arm & good bat. Let's hope he doesn't get sent down when Marte comes off the DL.

Peralta & Barfield are showing signs of coming out of their slumps. Barfield is a way better fielder and hitter than Tongue Man Belliard. Peralta will get his share of HRs, if he quits lunging at balls in the dirt. He'll never make anybody forget about Omar in the field, but he can get to most easy chances.

The team is playing better than last April. I'll take any little improvement, let's see if they can keep it up.

[pup]

I can't really disagree with that, except he has gotten the job done most of the time. Forget tracking his ERA. After the Yankee debacle and the one game earlier, he will have to throw a boatload of shutout innings to make it respectable.

[consigliere]

I'll tell you what, for everything this team has gone through so far this year, 12-7 is a pretty freakin good start.

The snowout series, playing home games in Milwaukee, the Yankee debacle (which would have ruined them in recent years), giving up leads but fighting back.

If you would have shown pieces of this season and not told anyone the final results, I would have put them at about 7-12.

They can't go on all season winning games like this, but they haven't really even started to hit.

I am feeling better about this team than I have at any time in the Shapiro/Wedge era.

That's what I was srot of referring to last night with my post on them playing so lousy.....yet winning.

They have guaranteed a winning April.....only four games left, so worst they can be is 12-10. I'd like to get another series win against B-more and finish 14-8.

Think about it. We have played seven series this year....and won six of them. The only series we lost was the three gamer to the Yanks. We are 6-1-0 in series so far. That is consistency. We are 12-4 against everyone else but the Yanks, and more importantly are 6-2 in our division.

And, as I mentioned before, we are not playing well yet.

Hammy made a great point today: Could some of the lousy, sloppy play we saw the past few weeks been a byproduct of sitting and the bad weather? I mean, they were snowed out and didn't play for 4-5 days....the weather has sucked for the most part....and he mentioned that in Tampa it was the first time in weeks they could take BP and work on some things in the field....and since then, you have seen a much better approach at the plate and better defense.

[Hoover]

I can't really disagree with that, except he has gotten the job done most of the time. Forget tracking his ERA. After the Yankee debacle and the one game earlier, he will have to throw a boatload of shutout innings to make it respectable.

When a closer has an ERA of 9.90, you can't ignore it. It's like trying to ignore a bull in a china shop.

Let's hope he gets it together. But he really has never been a great closer, even in the NL. Now he's facing much tougher hitters on a daily basis. He's gonna have major problems in the future.

There are still faults with this team, even though they're winning now.

[pup]

Borowski has appeared in 11 games and the Tribe is 10-1 in those games.

He has come into 2 games that were not save situations (even though the Yankee game should be).

In those 2 games, he has given up 8 earned runs in 1 2/3 IP with 1 strikeout. That is an ERA of 43.37. Not good.

In the 9 games with a save on the line, he has thrown 8 1/3 innings, allowing 3 earned runs with 11 strikouts. That is an ERA of 3.24, with 8 saves.

So don't put him in games without a save situation and we will be fine.

As for the small sample size, I get to use it to my advantage when it proves my point. I will rip apart a small sample size argument though if it is meant to make be believe Paul Byrd is anything more that sporking spam.