The Rumble Of the Pennsylvania Railroad

Sometimes you run into a guy that's just locked in.  Sometimes there's nothing you can do about it.  Pedro Alvarez hit as many home runs in two weekend games against the Indians as he did in 74 MLB games in 2011.  Alavarez, the #2 overall pick in the 2008 draft, has struggled through inconsistency and admonishment in parts of 3 big league campaigns, including this one.  He came into the series against the Indians hitting .192 with 8 homers and 25 RBI in 55 games.  In three contests against the Tribe, he hit .455 (5-for-11) with four dongs and 9 ribs.  The talking heads praised Pedro for attacking fastballs early in the count.  I caution them not speak too loudly as that seems like an profoundly sound strategy against the Indians pitching staff in general.  In fact, coming into today's game, the opposition was batting .332 against the Tribe on the first pitch of an at-bat.  So, yeah, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

And, yes, I understand that his defense (C'mon Asdrubal!) didn't do him any favors and he ran into the Pennsylvania Railroad (Get it? Pedro Avalrez, PA Express, etc), but, for me, Jeanmar Gomez has run out of opportunities.  Zach McAllister pitched another dandy (6 IP, 2 ER) for Columbus this afternoon and had better Major League numbers (1-1, 3.96) than Gomez as well.  There is no compelling argument to be made in favor of keeping Jeanmar.  Over his past 5 starts, Gomez is 1-4 with an 7.92 ERA and a 1.92 WHIP.  Yuck.  I won't contend that his days of contributing to this club are over, but it is certainly time to take a step back.

Even in a 9-5 loss, even in dropping a home series to the (ugh) Pirates, there were some bright spots today.    

• Johnny Damon (what?) was 2-for-4 and actually played like the guy the Indians thought that they were signing back in April.  Even if Jack Hannahan (who broke an 0-for-17 slump with a 5th inning single) wanted to punch him in the mouth after a 1st inning collision, the 2nd inning sequence was exactly what we all expected of JD.  He began with a punch single to left, followed it up with a stolen base and scored with some aggressive base running on a (debatable) single by Casey Kotchman.  Damon is still a smart, if not any longer talented, ballplayer.  
• Jason Kipnis provided 3 hits, included his 11th home run, and also stole his league leading 17th base.  I still doubt he can overtake Robby Cano to earn the starting nod at second in the Midsummer Classic, but, barring a colossal collapse over the next month, he will be in the dugout in Kansas City.   
• Lou Marson single and walked twice.  Three weeks ago, Lou-Lou had compiled an .074 average over his first 12 games of the season.  Since, he has batted .406 (13-for-32) in his next 12 and supplied some actual productivity to a bottom of the lineup that rarely contributes in any way.

I did not have high hopes for Esmil Rogers when the Tribe bought him from the Rockies.  Still, Rogers has given me no reason to doubt his ability to retire Major League hitters.  Yeah, Alvarez tagged him for a three run homer, but Pedro is so hot that he probably jerks that ball off of Sandy Koufax in his prime.  Esmil gave the Tribe a strong 2 and 2 thirds this afternoon after Gomez failed to make it through the 5th inning.  Over 5.1 frames thus far, Rogers has posted a 1.69 ERA, a 0.56 WHIP and 6 punch outs.  With a live fastball and a deceptive delivery, at the very least he supplies a change of pace from the other members of the middle relief corps.  I don't know if he can keep it up, but it would be a significant boost if he could.

See, glass half full.

Roll Tribe.

Cheers.