I'm writing this in the 5th inning as the game is, for all intents and purposes, over. Two days ago, I suggested that Jeanmar Gomez was one more poor start from being shipped out in favor of Zach McAllister. Today, I have to say the same is true of Josh Tomlin. Josh, who set a Major League record by pitching at least five innings in the first 37 starts of his career, failed to do so for the third time in his past 10. In fact, today's 4 innings were the shortest MLB outing ever for Tomlin. Despite a solid appearance in St Louis, he has a 6.95 ERA and a 1.73 WHIP over his last 4 starts. The opposition is batting .295 against him in 2012 and his BB/9 (2.1) is almost double his league leading average (1.1) of last season. In 2011, Tomlin found success by limiting baserunners, placing 7th in the AL with a 1.08 WHIP. This year his 1.43 WHIP ranks him 42nd (of 53 qualifiers), just ahead of teammate Justin Masterson. Consistency is all important for pitchers and we often discuss repetition of delivery as a key for effective MLB hurlers. This season, fighting his way through a wrist injury, Josh has been forced to throw to 3 different catchers already. His numbers pitching to Carlos Santana are strong (4.30 ERA, .276 OBA, 1.26 WHIP), but he has been knocked around pretty well with Lou Marson behind the plate (6.85 ERA, .333 OBA, 1.70 WHIP). It's a correlation for sure and probably impossible to prove as a causation, but, if I was Josh Tomlin, I would be asking for Big Smooth behind the dish my next time out.
Day #2 for Esmil Rogers was not as lights out as his first, but I still have seen no reason that the guy cannot be an effective piece in the Indians' bullpen. 17 of 28 pitches for strikes isn't 10 of 11, but it's not walking the bases loaded either. Even on a back-to-back day, Rogers got it up to the plate at 97 and showed some length by giving the Tribe an inning and 2/3 of solid relief. He did throw a wild pitch, but he also struck out two more. Esmil looked as if he couldn't get comfortable on the mound, frequently stretching in between pitches. Still, he was undoubtedly the team's most productive reliever of the series and has earned himself the opportunity to remain in the bigs.
Scott Barnes has not. With an ERA that exploded to 8.31 after he allowed 7 baserunners and 5 earned runs in today's 5th inning, Scottie likely does not make it back to the lakefront. The Indians are carrying 13 pitchers right now, so a relief arm will have to be dropped so that a hitter (Jack Hannahan? Jason Donald? Jared Goedert?) can be added before Friday's tilt with the Bucos. Prior to Barnes' night terror on the mound, all signs pointed to Tony Sipp. Now the Gasman with 9 lives seems like he will survive to fuel another late inning rally for the bad guys. I swear, the sequence of events that have led Sipp to miss getting cut 4 times already in 2012 is so unlikely that I'd like to ask Tony for some lotto numbers. On April 23rd, the Tribe sent Nick Hagadone back to AAA although he had posted a 2.70 ERA and fanned 4 in 3.1 innings. Sipp's ERA was 11.57 in 7 outings to that date. Four days later, Sipp had lowered his ERA to 7.71 and Rafael Perez (and his 79 MPH fastball) went on the disabled list. Tony exhales again. On May 16th, with Hagadone back in the fold, the club DFAed Dan Wheeler. Sipp's ERA was 6.94 (compared to Wheeler's 8.76) and he had just escaped putting 4 men on in 2 innings without allowing a run. Fingers crossed, Tony lives to pitch another month. Now this. If we're the sort of team that keeps a reliever with a 6.65 ERA around all season, we can give up all hope of snaring one of those 13 playoff spots.
Speaking of Indians left-handed relievers, here's their final line from the Reds series: 2.1 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 3 HR, .500 OBA, 4.29 WHIP, 27.00 ERA, just 58.5% of their pitches for strikes. One of 'em has to go.
The four guys on the Indians bench this afternoon were Lonnie Chisenhall (.214), Casey Kotchman (.212), Shelley Duncan (.205), and Johnny Damon (.176). That doesn't even count left fielder Aaron Cunningham (.188). In my humble opinion, all of them (save maybe Kotchman until a real first baseman emerges) need to go, especially Slater. I'm not quite sure which scout assured the Indians that AC was a Major League caliber player, but that dude needs to get axed as well. The Indians have now lost 12 of 18 since sweeping the Tigers in Cleveland. We need a bat, probably two bats. I had recently advocated acquiring Kevin Youkilis, but the word on the street is that the Sox want a bunch and Youk is plagued with "diminishing skills" syndrome. The price for Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Quentin or Josh Willingham will be too high. Sadly, the Indians simply do not have any nice trade bullets in their gun at this point. Some think that McAllister and David Huff would supply some value, but what could you possibly package one of them with? With the starting struggled detailed above, can we even afford to part with one of the two? As fans, we're going to have to dig in for a long summer and hope that the club makes the right moves internally to put the best 9 on the field. At this point none of the five above qualify.
Brandon Phillips for the series: 8-for-13 (.615), 2 HR, 7 RBI, 1.720 OPS and about 7 dazzling defensive plays.
Esmil Rogers has a nice swing. Let's DH him against Pittsburgh.
Have you noticed that Joey Votto never leaves the batter's box? That takes me back to the grand old days of the OHSAA when you would get charged a strike if you stepped out.
Enough.
Roll Tribe.
Cheers.
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