...The faster it leaves. How appropriate is that on the 70th anniversary of Mel Harder handing Joe DiMaggio the only only silver sombrero of his career? As heartening as yesterday's win was, tonight's walk-off classic is the sort of effort that inspires a team on to victory in the games that follow. The Tribe did nearly everything right tonight, thank goodness they dug out to the W to show for it.
The Starter
Josh Tomlin rebounded from a rough outing in the Queen City to deliver his best start in nearly two months. This evening we saw the guy that we expect every 5th day on the bump. Sure, there age going to be the starts where the opposition socks a couple of squarely hit balls over the fence, but 8 baserunners in 6 and 2/3 is a helluva lot closer to the Tomlin of 2011 than we have seen since he returned from the disbaled list. Josh shaved nearly half a run (5.56 to 5.12) off his ERA with his performance and, more importantly, saw his team pick him up in both the 7th and in the 10th for the win.
The 'Pen
We'll begin with Esmil Rogers, the dude that stranded 3 Redlegs by fanning Devin Mesoraco to finish that 7th inning. I don't know if you have confidence in this guy yet. Heck, I don't even know if I have confidence in him yet, but I do know that the dum-dum pulling the strings is willing to throw the guy into the fire. Postgame, woManny quipped that the Indians were trying to avoid using Joe Smith following a couple of longer outings for the sidewinder over the past few days. Still, Acta could have picked anyone to throw to the young Reds catcher and he went with a guy who had pitched for the team all of three times. Rogers was up to the task, hitting 98 on the gun twice during the at-bat and dropping a nasty hook to catch Mesoraco fishing for strike 3. He even showed a 91 MPH slider for a strike. I like this guy more and more every day.
While Chris Perez and Vinnie Pestano (0.68 ERA since May 14th) deserve our applause, they have been so outright dominant that a scoreless inning apiece has become the status quo. I will give CP some respect for keeping his head on straight in a non-save situation. Perez's ERA coming in was signficantly higher (3.86 vs 2.49) without the adrenaline of nailing down a win, so his 1-2-3 9th shows a bit of positive growth.
Nick Hagadone is in a monster truck style rut (16.62 ERA over his past 6 games) and the two wild pitches tonight didn't help. Frankly, I think more pitchers should force Joey Votto to pick up his feet now and then. Still, the resulting run and looming loss would have been crushing to Nick, who instead ended up with his second big league win. Hopefully that can be the spark that reignites the Hagadone that we saw in April and May.
Defense
And though Joe Smith did his best on the mound to hand over the game to Cincinnati (he gave up a double to a .100 hitter), he also turned in a defensive gem, gunning Willie Harris out at third. Only a player with true athleticism can make that play and Joey showed that he's got the goods.
Then there's Michael Brantley diving into the wall mirror-Griffey style. And Casey Kotchman laying out into the first base stands on a foul ball. And Jack Hannahan (error aside) fielding a ball whilst a shattered bat spun through his 5 hole and having the presence of mind to get the lead runner at second.
Words can only go so far with defense, so go watch the highlights because those four alone are worth the price of admission.
The "Bats"
(Pause now to bow to Asdrubal Cabrera, "we're not worthy" style, it might help him to learn English).Three more hits for Shin-Soo Choo, who's back to an even .300 in the leadoff spot. I would still prefer those hits to drive home some runs, but you can't argue with the bloop-and-a-blast strategy.
Jason Kipnis is hitless in the series versus the Reds (0-for-his-last-9 overall), which makes the two victories even more impressive.
Kotchman's two knocks raised his average to .228, his high water mark for the season. Although CK is batting .308 (12-for-39) with 3 bombs and 10 ribs over his past 13 games, he would have to bat .359 over the rest of the season to match his average form last year. And that, my friends, is not going to happen.
How the Indians have managed to average 4.36 runs a game this season is beyond me. In recent days, both woManny and Chris Antonetti have admitted that the team needs to make additions before the trading deadline if they expect to seriously contend down the stretch. The problem is that there is no one to be had. Josh Willingham is seemingly not on the block with an Ubadlo-esque trade package needed to sway the Twins. Regardless of their current skill level, it would take either a similar group of young players or the assumption of mucho deniro to bring Kevin Youkilis or Alfonso Soriano to town. Also, forget about Carlos Quentin. If he's healthy, he will be the most bid upon of the bunch and we all know that the Tribe won't win that sort of war. To reitterate to anyone who is listening, the Tribe needs to make some internal moves. When Travis Hafner comes back, one of the Triad of Futility (Shelley Duncan, Johnny Damon, & Aaron Cunningham, batting a combined .193) must absolutely go. As I have previously stated, drop one now and try to bottle some of Russ Canzler's lightning (he homered again tonight). Finally, if Slater is here to be a defensive replacement and bat .194, the hell with it, show me Tyler Naquin. Our 2012 1st round pick is said to be "polished" and known for his defense. I am not kidding, skip the minors. He cannot possibly look as bad at the dish as AC. Seriously, at this point I think we might be indelibly damaging Cunningham's psyche by subjecting him to such constant failure.
We're a mid-market team with below average talent, we do not have the luxury of playing by the rules.
Now allow me to look into my crystal ball. The Indians will make... one of those moves... at most. And the Indians will... be the only AL club not to make the postseason.
For now, welcome back to 1st place.
Roll Tribe.
Cheers.
P.s. Kosuke Fukudome, the Tribe's big trade deadline bat of 2011, was demoted to AAA by the ChiSox today.
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