Okay, tonight's game bothered me

[consigliere]

You win some and lose some, it happens. But, games like tonight are the ones that really piss the hell out of me.

Roll the tape:

1. Jason Michaels, dude, come on. Two nights in a row he gets thrown out on the bases ruining a potential big inning. Absolutely no reason you get throw out at 3B with NO ONE OUT AND HAFNER COMING TO THE PLATE.

2. And, another stupid baserunning blunder in the 6th when Michaels lined to 3B with one out and Blake got DOUBLED UP OFF 3B. Unreal. A line drive hit right IN FRONT of Blake....yet he fucking runs. Didn't they spend oodles of time in ST on baserunning? For God's sake, they have regressed!

3. WTF happened? The team appeare to be cruising through 4 innings......then all hell broke loose. Johnson completely lost it all at once....Betancourt, Mota, and Sauerbeck couldn't throw strikes, and Cabrera looks lost out there.

4. Speaking of which, we allowed NINE walks the final 5 innings. Nine. That is absurd....and a bad trend. We sure are walking a lot of hitters....namely the bullpen and Byrd.

5. Why is Broussard hitting against a LHer EVER? I called it. He'll take strike one down broadway, foul off the next pitch, and then watch strike 3 go right down the middle. Where was Perez in that at bat? 2 outs, a runner at 2B and we were down 7-5.....absolutely no reason NOT to PH for Broussard there and bring in Perez.

[pup]

I am only take a stab at one, because the others have me sooooo pissed off I don't even want to try to come up with answers.


#5 - Let me introduce you to our manager, Eric Wedge. I know most people might not know who he is, because he doesn't lime to do things like MANAGING. He does not want to make changes. I am willing to bet, with no clue as to the actual numbers, but the Indians use less pinch hitters than any team in the AL over the last couple of years.

[Goozer]

Seriously.

What bothered me about last nights game was the fact that over 8,000 locals decided to walk up and purchase tickets. That in and of itself isn't a bad thing. In fact it's about as polar opposite as bad as can be.

What was ludicrous was that as I was walking through the plaza at 7:30 (i.e. 25 minutes after first pitch), I would easily estimate there were more than 1,000 people waiting in line to buy tickets ... and it wasn't because they were necessarily fashionably late ... it was because only about 1 in 6 ticket windows were open. Now I understand that walk ups aren't normally like this, as evidenced by the record throng last night. But c'mon Larry, what's it cost to have someone man a window for 4 hours?

[gnati]

great.

Now we can turn this board into a DIACF circle jerk.

happy, happy, joy, joy.

[Goozer]

I call 'em like I see 'em and before you rant and rave about this being circle jerk stuff let me state for the record that it is a fact that the Indians have cut gameday operations and various support staff over the past couple of years.

There were hundreds of unhappy patrons last night. And rightfully so. Should they have arrived earlier? Yeah, probably so. But if the experience of waiting in line for 45 minutes to buy a ticket turns off just 50 peeps to think twice about coming next time, then it's a financial loser from the Indians perspective.

Maybe the peeps who were supposed to be working the booths, were in the tv truck trying to make sure that the Sports Time Ohio switches didn't fail for the 43rd time in 10 days?

Maybe leaner is better in the Indians business model especially with the downturn in their revenues since '01. I don't doubt that and I can understand chopping some heads. But at the end of the day, cutting a couple hundred grand a year in game day operations and behind the scenes staff is kind of silly if you consider what we're paying the likes of Vazquez, Graves and Hollandsworth when those slots could (and should have been) be allocated to the likes of Phillips/Brown/Davis/Gutierrez, et. al.

At the end of the day, professional sports is about entertaining your customer and with the STO hiccups and with what I witnessed first hand last night, this management team is not doing itself any favors with the marginal fans that make the difference in drawing 2.0m versus 2.5m. A lot of it is perceived to be about winning only (or fireworks to you), but this organization is falling short in delivering a seamless product that ultimately drives their bottom line, IMO.

[gnati]

I call 'em like I see 'em and before you rant and rave about this being circle jerk stuff let me state for the record that it is a fact that the Indians have cut gameday operations and various support staff over the past couple of years.

.

I heard they ran out of hot dogs too, that cheap fuck Larry.

I stand corrected...45,000 for a 3 game series for a first place team...I just hope there are enough Docs in Cleveland for all of the anticipated arm hurting from people patting themselves on the back. I would hate for people to have to wait in another line.

[Jumbo]

Last night's game was more frustrating than Wednesday's. So Paul Byrd has a bad game and the team has an unhealthy fascination with Danny Graves. (To be repeated again, once Davis is sent down to make room for Carmona.) Ok - it is what it is. But last night's game was more painful, watching walk after walk pile up...especially after scoring runs off Felix early and Johnson's strong first few innings.

BTW, the Aaron Boone Watch continutes: another 0-4 last night, down to .250/.289/.417.

Oh well. Tribe's still in first; but it's important to get back on the right track against Detroit tonight, who has lost four in a row.

I am willing to bet, with no clue as to the actual numbers, but the Indians use less pinch hitters than any team in the AL over the last couple of years.

According to ESPN's sortable team stats:
In 2005: The Indians were 7th in the AL in PH ABs. (11th in PH OPS, .578)
2004: 11th (6th, .753)
2003: 9th (14th, .422)
2002: 8th. (8th, .590)

So, they've been consistently in the bottom half in both ABs and production, and only the lowest in 03 OPS. Something else interesting: pinch hitters are usually weaker hitters since they are not starting, and apparently there's a statistically significant reduction in performance when someone hits as a PH vs. as a starter...but, given the fact that they usually come in for a platoon advantage, the worst PH teams each year have some pretty awful numbers.

The worst: Baltimore, 2002: .144/.163/.200 (90 AB, 1 RBI.)

[gnati]

5. Why is Broussard hitting against a LHer EVER? I called it. He'll take strike one down broadway, foul off the next pitch, and then watch strike 3 go right down the middle. Where was Perez in that at bat? 2 outs, a runner at 2B and we were down 7-5.....absolutely no reason NOT to PH for Broussard there and bring in Perez.

This one is enough for me to go Hayden Fry mental anguish.

If the situations were reversed...if Perez had started and they brought Dan Quisenberry back from the dead and Seattle signed him, then you can be damn sure that Broussard would pinch hit. It is as if Broussard gets a pass and plays against all righties and will not be removed from a game regardless of the pitching changes, while Perez is only allowed to play against lefties and will be removed anytime a right handed pitcher appears regardless of appearance.

I get the Broussard may be better defensively (whatever the hell that means at first base) but can the difference in defense between Perez and Broussard for a couple innings really offset a guaranteed out when Broussard bats against lefties...especially with that sitation of having guys in scoring position?

A head scratcher.

[consigliere]

The walkup of 8000 was nice last night....although they mentioned 5000 of the walkup was for the college ID night promotion for 1/2 off tickets.

By the way, where are the fans? The knock last year that attendance usually takes a year to catchup, but I see no change yet:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/attendance

23rd in avg game attendance. That isn't good.

[pup]

By god, we live in Cleveland Ohio. Most people are not making plans around going to a baseball game when there is a good chance that it will either be rained out or you will sit through a snowstorm. If attendance is still down in June, we will talk about it.

[swerb]

1. Jason Michaels, dude, come on. Two nights in a row he gets thrown out on the bases ruining a potential big inning. Absolutely no reason you get throw out at 3B with NO ONE OUT AND HAFNER COMING TO THE PLATE.

Jason Michaels is to the Indians as Drew Gooden is to the Cavs.

He just doesn't appear to be very smart. Even at the plate, he just looks dumb.