Mother's day belated game thread

[StewieG]

Bottom 3, 2 outs, 5-3 Cleveland.

Lee pitching.

Tribe has already made Oakland pitcher throw 70+ pitches thru 3, so he won't be around much longer.

Lee struggling this inning. 2 runs in, bases loaded, 2 outs. Bobby Crosby at the plate, some little kid doing the PA announcing. Shouldn't they get a mom today? Just sayin.

[StewieG]

Lee K's Crosby with bases loaded, tribe leads 5-3. Lee's already thrown 62 pitches, so if he can go 2 more innings, I think Wedge will take it at this point. I'd hope for 3 innings, but we'll see.

[StewieG]

Red Sox score 6 in the bottom of the 9th to beat Baltimore 6-5. Guthrie was Baltimore's starter.

[StewieG]

Ellis with a really nice play to rob Vic of a base hit. Mid-4, 5-3 Tribe still.

[MadThinker88]

I don't like how this game is going. The Tribe had some great opportunities to score multiple runs in the 1st and 2nd but only scored 1 run.

Now Cliff is bring knocked around and the 5-1 lead is down to 5-4.

Hopefully the Tribe can hold on but I wouldn't bet on it at this point.

[StewieG]

Bot 4:

Cust doubles (I thought it was gone when he first hit it)
Ellis flies out to left, Cust to 3rd. Nixon almost got him on the throw, but it was late.
Kendall grounds out to 2nd, Cust scores. 5-4 Cleveland
Stewart singles on a ground ball to center field.
Swisher singles to right (another ground ball), Steward to 3rd
Chavez flies out to shallow center on first pitch.

End 4. 5-4 Cleveland

[StewieG]

Lee isn't locating his pitches right now. Especially the fastball. He won't last more than 1 more inning. Wedge better have someone warming up in the pen.

[StewieG]

Top 5

Nixon grounds out to first.
Which is worse? Gooden's neck critter, or Gaudin's chin critter? That is some hideous facial hair. Although at least people are supposed to grow hair there.
Garko doubles to left.
Both hitters this inning worked the count full.
Dellucci (I can't believe Gaudin is still pitching - the lefty is ready in the pen) struck out.
Barfield hits infield single. Couldn't see what happened, because STO missed action showing highlights of another game. Yay. Garko to 3rd.
Pitching change: Marshall on, Gaudin out.

Will continue in a minute with another post...

[StewieG]

Top 5, con'd

Rouse grounds out to pitcher. Would have liked to have seen Peralta pinch-hit.

[StewieG]

Bottom 5

Bradley pops out to Barfield in shallow right on first pitch. Nice play by Josh. Back to the infield, fighting the sun.
Johnson pops out to Rouse on 2nd pitch.
Crosby grounds out to SS
Lee's made 90 pitches, so he should be back for the 6th.

End 5, 5-4 Tribe.

[StewieG]

Top 6

Sizemore singles to left
Blake doubles to left, Sizemore scores. Close play at the plate, I thought he was out. Replay says: out. Never got the foot on the plate. Legit beef for Oakland. Blake to 3rd on the throw to the plate. 6-4 Cleveland.
Hafner singles to left, Blake scores. 7-4 Cleveland
Martinez flies out to CF.
Nixon lines out to SS. All lefties have tried to go the other way against this guy.
Garko lines out to 2nd.

Cleveland scores 2, 7-4 Tribe.

[StewieG]

Bottom 6

Cust walks on 4 pitches
Pitching change: Mastny in, Lee out. I finally agree with a Wedge move! Good time to take out Lee. He's struggled most of the day, best not to wait for him to implode.
Ellis strikes out
Kendall GIDP

End 6

[StewieG]

Top 7:

Dellucci grounds out to 1st
Barfield grounds out to 3rd
Rouse grounds out to SS.

That was quick.

[StewieG]

Hah, STO goes to commercial, then comes back real quick. All you hear is Underwood ask "What happeend?" in an irritated voice, then some girl goes "I'm sorry!" then it cuts to commercial real quick again.

STO really needs to work on their program. They've got a long way to go before it's even adequate. And Underwood isn't that good. I hope he's gone next year.

[StewieG]

Bottom 7

Stewart flies out to right
Swisher flies out to right
Chavez Home Run to center. 7-5 Cleveland
Bradley singles to left, past a diving Rouse
Pitching Change: Fultz in, Mastny out
Bradley steals 2nd. Vic had a nice throw, but had no chance. Breaking ball, and Fultz wasn't paying attention to Bradley.
Johnson flies out to left.

End 7, 7-5 Tribe

[StewieG]

Top 8

Pitching change: Embree in, that other guy out.

Sizemore K's on full count
Blake, who's had a really nice road trip, grounds out to SS
Hafner grounds out to 1st.

[StewieG]

Bottom 8:

Pitching Change: Betancourt in, Fultz out
Shoppach in at Catcher, Vic to 1st, Hafner out of game

Crosby flies out to left
Cust strikes out (looked really bad doing it, too...Betancourt owned him)
Ellis singles to right
Travis Buck PH for Kendall
Buck grounds out to 2nd

End 8, 7-5 Tribe

I'm talking to myself, lol...

[StewieG]

Top 9:

Martinez singles to left
Michaels PH for Nixon
Michaels K's on full count
Garko singles up the middle, Vic to second
Dellucci, having just missed a run-scoring double (it was foul by about an inch), K's
Pitching Change: Witasick in, Embree out
Barfield K's

Borowski time, muthafuggazzz

[Wahoot]

You know, I realize that Borowski has X many saves in X many +1 chances, but the truth is, the man's got a 7.80 ERA and batters are hitting .306 off him (.467 with RISP). That's our CLOSER?

[Wahoot]

Wow, Wedge yanked him. Haven't seen that before.

[StewieG]

Bottom 9:

Pitching Change: Borowski in, Betancourt out

Stewart lines out to first
Swisher pops out to SS
Chavez singles to right past a diving Barfield
Bradley Homers to right. 7-7.
Fuck me. Borowski was cruising, got the first two, had Chavez down 0-2, and couldn't put him away. Shit.
Johnson singles up the middle.
Crosby singles to left. We don't deserve this one.
Pitching Change: Cabrera in, the Fuckhead out.
Cust homers. I'm done. Fuck this.

[Wahoot]

Wow. I may need some kind of counseling after that.

[Wahoot]

Just for the record, and because I don't feel like re-editing my previous post, Crust's HR pushed Borowski's ERA up to 9.

[hermanfontenot]

This team = worthless, useless bunch of losers.

[FUDU]

You know, I realize that Borowski has X many saves in X many +1 chances, but the truth is, the man's got a 7.80 ERA and batters are hitting .306 off him (.467 with RISP). That's our CLOSER?

If he continues this trend and living dangerously with the "stuff" he is throwing he won't be for much longer.

Tribe is entering upon a critical point of the season, b/c they cannot afford to waste their good start and I think 35 games is a good enough sample size to know what a team is and what it is not.

After 35 games this team appears to be less consistently potent on offense then advertised, despite all the "potential" that we feel they have.

Seeing as the offense has failed this team more than the pitching the powers that be might be forced into a move or two they do not want to make.

Borowski getting removed from his role being one of them.

Unless something changes with the offense this team cannot afford to be so fragilely balanced and have potential wins hanging by a thread every night.

Especially considering we are in the toughest division in baseball now.

[dpdad]

Borowski simply does not have an out pitch he can go to in crunch time. High 80's fastball at best is just not gonna make it. I know he's got 12 saves out of 14 so far, but that stat is deceiving. Shoppach threw out a runner and Michaels made that circus catch to get two of the saves.

I just can't see this guy staying as the closer for the entire season. The Indians are living on the edge with Borowski as the closer. But there is no one else in the organization that I can see to replace him.

[hermanfontenot]

But there is no one else in the organization that I can see to replace him.

Nasty Mastny or F-Cab might do.

[Charboneau]

But there is no one else in the organization that I can see to replace him.

Nasty Mastny or F-Cab might do.

I don't see either of those guys being any better than Borowski. I saw all of Mastny I needed to see (in person) down in Baltimore. He's a set up guy and nothing more in my opinion. F-Cab has good stuff but he is very average as well. I'm not sure if that HR he gave up at the end today has landed yet.

[Hoover]

But there is no one else in the organization that I can see to replace him.

Nasty Mastny or F-Cab might do.

I don't see either of those guys being any better than Borowski. I saw all of Mastny I needed to see (in person) down in Baltimore. He's a set up guy and nothing more in my opinion. F-Cab has good stuff but he is very average as well. I'm not sure if that HR he gave up at the end today has landed yet.

It was a good pitch on the outside corner. It happens. The A's have destroyed a bunch of good relievers this year.

Cust is doing HGH.

[leadpipe]

But there is no one else in the organization that I can see to replace him.

Nasty Mastny or F-Cab might do.

I don't see either of those guys being any better than Borowski. I saw all of Mastny I needed to see (in person) down in Baltimore. He's a set up guy and nothing more in my opinion. F-Cab has good stuff but he is very average as well. I'm not sure if that HR he gave up at the end today has landed yet.

It's not that they are any better, it's that they can't be any worse. Doesn't that make it a no lose situation? Maybe someone steps up. Look, I got a little heat a few weeks back, and pro Borowski guys are going to throw 12-14 or whatever the hell it is. I stand by what I see. If you are a major league hitter and that guys stuff if coming at you in the ninth, I think your feeling pretty fortunate. I've seen it done with mirrors before, but I would prefer stuff and talent.

[Charboneau]

But there is no one else in the organization that I can see to replace him.

Nasty Mastny or F-Cab might do.

I don't see either of those guys being any better than Borowski. I saw all of Mastny I needed to see (in person) down in Baltimore. He's a set up guy and nothing more in my opinion. F-Cab has good stuff but he is very average as well. I'm not sure if that HR he gave up at the end today has landed yet.

It's not that they are any better, it's that they can't be any worse. Doesn't that make it a no lose situation? Maybe someone steps up. Look, I got a little heat a few weeks back, and pro Borowski guys are going to throw 12-14 or whatever the hell it is. I stand by what I see. If you are a major league hitter and that guys stuff if coming at you in the ninth, I think your feeling pretty fortunate. I've seen it done with mirrors before, but I would prefer stuff and talent.

Good points. I consider myself pro-Borowski but that view has started to slip a bit. I agree he doesn't really have the good hard stuff to bring. I'll leaning toward F-Cab because he brings it. The question is - if you transition Borowski at some point and go with another closer - how many games are you willing to blow while the new closer breaks in? It's risky - but to your point if Borowski is going to get shelled - you're going to lose those games anyway.

This team is very close - but we still have some questions to be answered to contend.

[intenso]

It was a good pitch on the outside corner. It happens. The A's have destroyed a bunch of good relievers this year.

Cust is doing HGH.

Yeah but that one Browoski grooved to Bradley wasn't a good pitch. The whole point of being the "closer" is having the mentality to not throw THAT pitch to THAT guy in THAT situation.