ESPN.com’s Baseball Tonight Clubhouse says that this streak of starting pitching from the Tribe could be the turning point of the Tribe’s season. Here is a makeshift version of the chart they showed on their page:
Current six-game homestand
May 14 C.C. Sabathia vs. Athletics IP: 9 R: 0 Note: Sabathia: 6th career shutout
May 13 Paul Byrd vs. Athletics IP: 7.1 R: 0 Note: Byrd: 99th career win
May 12 Cliff Lee vs. Blue Jays (Game 2) IP: 9 R: 0 Note: Lee: 4 starts this season with 0 R allowed
May 12 Fausto Carmona vs. Blue Jays (Game 1) IP: 9 R: 0 Note: Carmona: 3-0, 2.51 ERA
May 10 Aaron Laffey vs. Blue Jays IP: 7 R: 0 Note: Laffey: 1st start with 0 runs allowed
May 9 C.C. Sabathia vs. Blue Jays IP: 7 R: 1 Note: Sabathia: 7-3 career vs. Blue Jays
That last one was the worst performance of any of them. That is stupid crazy.
Oh yeah, not that you didn’t know but…THE TRIBE IS IN FIRST PLACE.
Here is what Craig thinks needs to happen to jump start the Tribe’s offense.
"They really need to make a deal for a bat .. most likely a 3rd baseman.
I mean I know our record is around .500 now but this is probably the best shot we have at a WS. We are not going to have a better pitching staff or as much depth as we have now. I think they can win the division as constructed but we need another bat .. deal Sowers or Lofgren or even Miller just not Laffy. Teams are always looking for pitching so it shouldn’t be that hard to make a deal."
So, the Indians have shutout three straight opponents, and this seems like something straight out of a videogame. It is almost unprecedented, and they do have a record within striking distance (knock on wood). Here are my thoughts:
Well, C.C. was absolutely dominant, finishing the game with a complete game shutout. That is the C.C. from the regular season last year, and he was just filthy last night. Mike Sweeney said "If he pitches like that the rest of the year, the contract Johan Santana signed will look cheap". He somehow managed $137.5 million look like pocket change.
Good thing the pitching is so good, because the offense isn’t. I’m not really sure if they’re ever going to come around. This is going to come back to haunt them.
Jhonny Peralta was 2-4 to "snap out" of an 0-15 slump. I HATE when people say that. No, he didn’t break out of a slump. He’s still 2 for his last 19. I say from now on we can’t say you’re out of a slump until you consistently produce for at least three games. Deal?
So the Tribe’s starters have pitched 43 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings, dating back to last Friday. 54 is the record. Can they do it?
Well I have good news, I have bad news, and I have absolutely terrible news. The good news: Jake Westbrook is coming back soon. The bad news: it’s gonna shake up the flow of the pitching staff now. The worse news: Joe Borowski could potentially come back next week.
I don’t get it. For some reason Eric Wedge maintains that he is the closer of the team. Rafael Bentancourt certainly isn’t the end all be all, but he’s a hell of a lot better than JoBo. I really hope he doesn’t come back. We need someone to cut his Achilles like that prison guard from "Oz" (ok that’s terrible…they just don’t need him in the back of the bullpen).
Well I’m back all day, sorry for no posts yesterday, I had meetings from 8-4 yesterday. Let me know what you think about da Tribe.
Watch this video from what appears to be some minor league baseball game. Either the father put some juice or something in the bottle, or he is just flat out the worst dad ever. Judging by his haircut, I’m gonna go with the latter:
Ok, here’s the video of Asdrubal Cabrera’s unassisted triple play (I’m really tired of typing that):
My friend Bryan pointed out in a comment that it is very probable he traveled the least amount of distance a triple play has ever covered, and I think that’s probably true.
Also on Saturday, my dude Chad called Asdrubal "Ass-Dribble" Cabrera, which at that point I found hilarious
Hey underpar, how do you spell #10’s name on the Cavs?
Well, it seems as though MLB has pulled every video online of Asdrubal Cabrera’s unassisted triple play, at least one you can pull from another page. So here’s a weird video that is pretty much devoting this person’s love to Victor Martinez and Asdrubal Cabrera (didn’t know people felt this strongly about him):
Here is the "Baseball Tonight" crew dissecting Asdrubal Cabrera’s unassisted triple play. I didn’t know he was only the second second (?) baseman to do it:
This has nothing to do with baseball, but this is hilarious.
This hot Kristen Heigl somewhat look-a-like would never date this weasel loser who looks like a cross between Breckin Meyer and that other guy from "Road Trip":
FoxSports.com’s Dayn Perry released his "25% Mark Awards" for MLB baseball. Guess who he has at MVP? None other than Cliff Lee. Here’s what he had to say:
"AL MVP — Cliff Lee, Indians
Before we get busy justifying this one, a few words on MVP criteria … Some fans and voters get hung up on the inane idea that an MVP must come from a contending team. The ballot instructions specifically say that this isn’t the case, and common sense will tell you that, too. After all, dismissing the superior player because his team isn’t successful is, in essence, penalizing him because his teammates aren’t doing their jobs. The only objective stand is to give the MVP to, you know, the best player. Importing any other standard to the process is silly and illogical. Moving on …
As you might surmise, Lee has been the best pitcher in the American League this season, and he’s also been the best overall player (thus far, it’s been a down year for individual offensive performances in the AL). Sure, position players are generally more valuable than pitchers, but on occasion that’s not the case. The 2008 season to date is just such an occasion. Consider Lee’s numbers: he’s got an RA (runs allowed per nine innings) of 1.01 (!), he’s struck out 39 against only two walks (!!), and he’s given up only one home run in 44.2 innings of work. Certainly, he’s not going to be able to keep runs off the board at such an amazing clip, but it’s quite possible that Lee’s long-awaited breakout season is upon us.
That’s pretty chill, pretty poetic if you ask me, or Tommy.
