My first win!

Finally my blog has experienced an Indians win. When Travis Hafner was interviewed after the game, he stated: "We called a pre-game meeting and decided to win this one for the Ranting Tribe Fan. Just the thought of him inspires all of us." Well... thanks Pronk.... I appreciate it.

When asked about his second-inning dive into third, Jody Gerut responded: "Yes... I learned most of my baseball skills from watching Who's the Boss?, in addition to many other movies and TV shows. For instance, when I have to try to knock over the catcher, I emulate George Costanza charging into Bette Midler. In order to not lose my job to an up-and-comer, I always play with reckless abandon in the outfield, just like Bump Bailey." You can read Jody's blog here.

Thanks to the TribeTracker for posting a link to this site yesterday.

Following up to my last post, here is another article from the News-Herald on just how bad the pen has been. Warning: These numbers may cause severe vomiting and diarrhea. View at your own risk.

I’ve listed the tribesmen I feel most comfortable with up at the plate with runners on and their corresponding batting averages in pressure situations.

Player	BA	w/RISP	Close & Late
Victor Martinez	.286	.280	.217
Omar Vizquel	.302	.340	.333
Matt Lawton	.320	.295	.207
Travis Hafner	.283	.267	.136
Ronnie Belliard	.343	.343	.333
Jody Gerut	.288	.196	.222
Ben Broussard	.246	.241	.100
Lou Merloni	.273	.400	.000
Alex Escobar	.228	.276	.200
Casey Blake	.243	.235	.258
Coco Crisp	.233	.273	.333

Conclusions? Well... I guess I don't really have any. It's pretty obvious why Jody only has 22 RBIs. It seems as if his hitting approach totally breaks down when there are runners in scoring position (does anybody else notice this?). Yet... as a whole, he's batting .247 with the bases empty and .308 with runners on base (which means he's getting many of his hits with a runner only on first). Strange.

How is it that Casey Blake isn't batting under .100 with runners on? Is it just me or does he strike out looking every time there's a runner on third with less than 2 out?

Another strange conclusion drawn: How is it that Ronnie Belliard has only 12 RBI? About half of his at bats are in the leadoff spot.... but he's gotten plenty lower in the batting order as well. Yet his RBI numbers are incredibly low. Wacky wild stuff.

How 'bout Omar scoring from second on that wild pitch last night? Did that remind anybody of anything? C'mon people..... the similarities are staggering!

May 27, 2004	Game 6 ALCS, 1995
Vs. Seattle	Vs. Seattle
8th Inning	8th Inning
Dan Wilson catching	Dan Wilson catching
Indians win by 4 runs	Indians win by 4 runs

You'd think Dan Wilson would've learned his lesson and run hard after those wild pitches.

I'll be unbloggable this weekend while traveling. I know.... why start it if I'm just going to ignore it for 3 days? My answer: I felt like it.

Bullpen

Sure.... the topic of the bullpen has been beaten like a dead horse. But let's beat it a little more anyway. As my analogy explained in my previous post... I'd rather have good starting pitching, good hitting, good (ok... average at best) defense and a terrible bullpen than have an all-around bad team.

If you take a look at the save percentages of other teams in the American League, you'll see just how bad our pen really is. The Indians, at 26.7%, are over 20 percentage points below the second worst team, the Royals, and almost 60 percentage points below the best, Boston.

Now... this year's pen was thought to be a strength before the season started. In retrospect, we were more deluded than Homer after he ate the hallucinatory chili peppers at the Springfield Chili Cook Off.

These numbers were much more staggering before the current losing but... if the pen converted the same percentage as the Royals, they'd be 21-23. If they were in the middle of the American League, they'd be 24-20 and 1.5 games back of the White Sox in the Central. I'm not even going to bother putting what our record would be if we led the league.

I know what you're all thinking..... that it's unfair to think of it that way. In your heads, some of you are saying: In the 18 games we've won, we're undefeated. But that's the way I'm thinking about it.... so BACK OFF!


In the second inning, did I see Jody Gerut dive into third just like Tony Danza in the opening sequence of Who's the Boss?

Separated at Birth?

Tomorrow morning I'm going to list the guys I most want up with runners in scoring position. Stats aside... who do you feel most comfortable with at the plate when there are ducks on the pond?

It's been a good start to tonight's game.... let's see if we can finish it off and get into the W column.

7 in a row....

Alright..... I was hoping that the creation of this blog would somehow manifest enough luck to bring the Tribe out of their 6 game losing streak. Either it brought no luck at all..... or there were TWO Mariners fans that created blogs yesterday to counteract me. We may never know the answer to this.

Did anyone else have the feeling before last night's game that we were finally going to get to Jaime Moyer? How has the guy so totally owned us over the last 4 years? I always hate it when they show what a guy with a long career has done against a certain team. A completely worthless statistic. Take Roger Clemens for instance. The guy has a great career record against our Tribe.... but does anyone really think that he gets more excited and determined against the Indians than against any other team? Why should it matter that he went 11-0 (or whatever his real numbers were) versus the Indians from 1984-1993? Does it really matter that Brook Jacoby and the gang couldn't hit him 15 years ago?

Anyway... I don't understand why Jaime Moyer has such success with us. I really hope we have one game against him (before he breaks his hip and retires) where we just pound him and he gets pulled in the first couple of innings.

In other news... the Tribe has decided to demote Scott Stewart. I'm not even sure what to say about this except he's being replaced by a guy by the name of Pote. If either Ryan Church or Maicer Izturis ever amount to anything..... ugh. This could turn out to be a reverse Jody Gerut/Josh Bard for Jacob Cruz deal.

How much does it hurt our lineup when both Alex Escobar and Coco are in there at the same time?

Jimenez now the closer. I actually like this idea. There's no doubt that Betancourt is our best reliever and he needs to pitch. If I were a manager.... my "closer" would be the guy I bring in towards the end of the game when I'm facing the toughest part of the lineup. For instance.... if I'm leading the Chicago White Sox by a couple of runs and they've got Ordonez, Thomas and Carlos Lee coming up in the 8th inning, I want my best reliever in there. Why bring in the "set-up" guy to face the other team's best? I know, I know.... you want a guy with the "mentality" to be out there in the 9th inning. But I'd rather have my best guy face the best hitters from the other team. Why bring in your best guy to face Ross Gload, Jose Valentin and Aaron Rowand? I think it's just baseball people always doing what their predecessors did. I expect this rant of mine to do to the bullpen what Moneyball did to scouting and statistics. Now... if only I had some readers.........

Question of the Day - This one's for all you hack golfers/tribe fans out there (like me). Would you rather have a good drive and a good short iron right onto the green only to double bogey because you four-putted? Or would you rather just have an average drive (with my patented slice), decent iron to near the green, a duff into the sand, an ok chip on, and then a two-putt? They're both the same score.... but isn't the first one much more frustrating?

I'm sure you see what I'm getting at (hopefully the analogy is obvious enough). At the end of the day, I'd prefer the first scenario because at least MOST of my game is working. There is still something to feel good about...... except for the pain in my knee after having snapped my putter over it.

First Entry

Hmmm.... what should I say here? It's not unlike Billy Crystal's character, Larry Donner, in Throw Momma From the Train. A strong and thought-provoking beginning is the key to any successful literary effort. However, in this case, there is no beautiful and awe-inspiring Anne Ramsey to help me out. Sadly, there's actually a website showing pictures of her grave. Well... it appears as if the beginning has begun (however morbidly) and, as I write (mostly about my beloved Indians) over the coming months (any maybe years), you may already have a good impression of the type of blog I'll be running.

I plan on updating this at least a couple of times a week, but knowing me, I'll update it everyday for a month and then take a two week break. I may comment only on the Tribe and its players in general or I may comment on specific plays from a recent game. Those of you who become frequent visitors will quickly recognize my inconsistent arguments and general randomness. I do not plan on having nearly the amount of reliable info or writing skills found at the Cleveland Indians Report. But, as one of the worst sayings ever created states: "It is what it is."

Unfortunately, I start this blog with the Indians riding a 6 game losing streak and back to back extra innings losses. Although many see this team as a perennial cellar dweller and infinite rebuilder, I am more positive. I believe myself to be a realistic and well-informed fan. I'm aware of the Indians weaknesses, not just their strengths.

More info on me: I'm a Cleveland native and have been an Indians fan for some time. I watch virtually all of the games on a digital cable package from my home in Chicago. Even though I wasn't around during some of the leanest years, I was a fan well before the "bandwagon of 1995" rolled through.

Alright.... enough intro. Over the next few days, I'll be discussing a few things:

Casey at the bat
Alex Escobar/Coco Crisp
Why I'm disappointed in Jody Gerut
Eric Wedge/Mark Shapiro- Why it's too early to judge

Game played Tuesday, May 25th.
Seattle 5, Cleveland 4 - 12 innings

How come none of the papers this morning mentioned Victor's block of the plate in the 11th inning? That was an unbelievable play! The runner was there in plenty of time. I didn't think there was any way they could get him. Even though we went on to lose... it was good to see such a good defensive play by V-Mart.

Another play that appeared to be mostly missed by the announcers and beat writers: Jose Jimenez racing Ichiro to first base. Yes, it was mentioned. But it was clear in the replays that Jimenez was running right next to him for about two full strides. Why didn't he just tag him? Was he afraid of Ichiro's bulky, BALCO-ed, buff body knocking him over? How is it that you play baseball your whole life and this doesn't occur to you? Amazing.