Ranting Tribe Fan

That's Enough

2004-06-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

That's enough of Jose Jimenez. I know many fans have been calling for his head for some time now... but I think last night was the end of it. It's time to get rid of this guy. He's given up runs in four straight appearances and walk-off homers in two of those. His ERA is at 8.42 and rising. He's been getting his *ss handed to him worse than this high school girls basketball team.

I'm not sure why I didn't, but how many of you turned off the TV when they brought in Jimenez for the 11th? Are you like me.... regardless of past performance... do you always think but maybe this time it'll be ok? You'd think I'd learn....

Hindsight is always 20/20... but how much better would this team be if the Guillen/Vizquel trade had actually happened and if we'd actually signed Ugueth Urbina? You never know what type of an impact in the clubhouse those two guys would've had.... but... on paper.... we'd be in first place. Let's compare:

	Avg.	OBP	RBI	Slugging %	Homers	Errors
Omar Vizquel	.280	.342	34	.369	4	10
Carlos Guillen	.318	.381	52	.556	11	8

	Wins.	Losses	ERA	Sv	Bl Sv	BAA
Jose Jimenez	1	7	8.42	8	3	.297
Ugueth Urbina	3	2	4.50	11	1	.226

Interesting, huh?

Links and other stuff

As part of ESPN's 25th birthday, Page 2 has a piece on "Major League," which they've put in the top 25 sports movies of all time.

Jeff Angus runs a blog comparing business management to baseball. In a recent column, he explored the Indians' management style under John Hart.

I'm going to keep it short today because I'm still a little nauseous from last night. I had nightmares of Jose Jimenez throwing beachballs on the shores of Lake Erie.

Trivia Question of the Day

Which one is Jose Jimenez?

Miserable Day in Chicago.....

2004-06-25T08:36:00.000-05:00

UPDATE!! 2:40 pm
Boone signing almost official, AP reports. According to the report, Boone must pass a physical this weekend and could be ready to play in a few weeks. RTF was the first to announce it here on this very site. It took two days for all other media sources to pick up on it.

Well... I was hoping to come on here and report about how the Tribe took 3 out of 4 from the White Sox on a warm sunny afternoon in Chicago. Unfortunately, it was cold, rainy, and the Tribe's bats were quieter than the woman who designed the puffy shirt.

The designer of this shirt and these bats had something in common yesterday
Jon Rauch, who looks like a monster on the mound, somehow held the hitters to 6 hits in 5+ innings. Every time someone came to bat with RISP, they looked a little drowsy. They hit more popups in the infield than I've ever seen. It was the first win for a White Sox fifth starter since last August 22nd! It really felt like the Indians just didn't feel like playing a game. Granted, it was chilly and rained the whole game, but that's no excuse. I would've like to have ended the road trip on a higher note. Having said that, a 5-5 trip throught New York, Atlanta and Chicago should certainly be considered a success.

The biggest disappointment yesterday for me was Ben Broussard. I was hoping he'd use that grand slam from Wednesday night as a springboard to turning things around. Unfortunately, he followed up the first Indians' pinch-hit granny since 1986 with an 0-4 day with a strikeout, two popouts and a weak fly ball to left field. Getting that type of production from a first baseman is becoming very painful.

MLB All Access
On a completely unrelated note... I'd like to talk a little bit about MLB.com's All Access. You can receive it virtually free for the rest of the season by using this offer here from MSN (expires June 30). It's a must have for a big baseball fan... especially for you Tribe fans that don't live in Cleveland (like me). This gives you access to:

MLB.tv-- Live video feeds of almost every Major League Baseball game, every day and archives of virtually every game for the last two years

Gameday Audio-- Live and archived audio feeds (both home and away) for every single game

Video & Highlights-- A couple of hours after a game is completed, they'll have extended highlights and a condensed game (one play from every batter). In addition, they'll have an interactive boxscore where everything can be clicked on. For instance, let's say Travis Hafner went 2 for 4 with 1 homer and 2 strikeouts. You can click on the "2" to see both of his hits, the "4" to see all of his at bats, etc. And... for you fantasy fans out there... you can customize what you want to see each day and have them email it to you or access it online. For instance, you can see every atbat for Javy Lopez, the homers of Jim Thome, the strikeouts of Milton Bradley, etc.

Baseball's Best-- Lastly, Baseball's Best provides both audio and video of some of baseball's best all-time games and performances. For instance, you can listen to the audio broadcasts from all of the games of the 1948 World Series or you can watch Game Three of the 1997 ALCS against the Orioles.

I strongly recommend getting it for the final three months of the season if you haven't already. It's free with MSN Premium (along with increased Hotmail storage and some other perks).

Links

Gary Miller reports on Eric Wedge, Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner in his latest Clubhouse Confidential.

Eric Neel doesn't think the Indians can hang in there with the Twinkies or Sox in the Central.

The Tribe is number 19 on both SI's and ESPN's Power Rankings. We never get any credit in either one of these things.

Let's hope the Indians can get back on track this weekend against the Rockies. The pitching matchups certainly look to favor us (which they usually would against the Rockies).

Another Great Night to Be in Chicago...

2004-06-24T08:33:00.000-05:00

It was another lovely evening at the Joan (With the exception of a few raindrops) as the Tribe easily handled the White Sox 9-5. Yet again, there were quite a few Tribe fans at the park to support the team. I've been very impressed with the amount of people showing up. Considering the fan support has been down over the last few years and couple that with the fact that many fans who can't follow the team on a daily basis are "casual" fans, the turnout has been great. I hope to see a few more this afternoon.

Before I talk about anything else... there was one defining moment in last night's game. As much as I'd like to say it was Broussard's granny or any other play the Tribe made last night, I believe it was Carlos Lee's long single. If I were his teammates or his manager, I'd have some choice words for him. If that happened on the Indians, you can be sure Wedge would bench that player. But... I don't believe that would happen on the Indians, now with Milton Bradley gone.

Modern Day Version of White Sox vs. Indians?
I wrote quite a bit about Ken Griffey Jr. when he did virtually the same thing against us. Its so completely inexcusable. In this case, you could make the argument that Carlos Lee's (or... "El Caballo" as hawk named him) lack of hustle cost the White Sox the game. Interestingly enough, neither of the major Chicago newspapers even mentioned this. Typical.

Does anyone still think Shapiro and Wedge did the wrong thing with Milton now? Don't get me wrong, I had my reservations at first... but I'm not sure this team plays this way with Milton as one of the "leaders." Here's an interesting article from Terry Pluto in today's ABJ about how the Tribe is fun to watch. I'm just not sure they'd be playing with the same hustle, enthusiasm and teamwork if gameboy was around.

If I were constructing a team, I'd want no part of guys like Carlos Lee, Ken Griffey Jr. and Milton Bradley.

I wouldn't mind if these four took a ride together

Which brings me to my next point about Aaron Boone. Although I'm not convinced that his potential addition brings much to the table, I think I know why Mark Shapiro is making such a strong pitch for him. Remember 2002 spring training when Jeff Kent broke his hand while doing wheelies on his motorcycle? He tried to tell the team that he broke it while "washing his truck." Eventually.... the truth came out and everyone knew what kind of a guy Jeff Kent was (his contract could've been voided if they found out he broke it while riding a hog).

Well... that brings us to Aaron Boone's situation. Although Aaron could've kept his mouth shut after getting injured playing basketball, he opted to be forthright with the Yankees and tell them exactly what happened. Well... they voided his contract. And... as soon as Boone sacrificed several million dollars in the name of honesty, Mark Shapiro fell in love with him (not that there's anything wrong with that).

I think US Cellular Field got even quieter last night after Benny's grand slam than the night before after we overcame the eight run deficit. Its a great feeling to be sitting in the middle of "enemy territory" and, despite being drastically outnumbered, you can only hear Tribe fans going nuts. Somehow I haven't gotten into any verbal sparring matches yet in the first few games. Well... don't worry... there's always today's game.

I was hoping Cliff Lee would build on his last start against Atlanta and throw more strikes. But it seemed like he was still nitpicking a lot and not going right after the hitters. I'm not complaining.... he pitched well... I'd just like to see him become a little better with his pitch count. But.... if it ain't broke....

Great article on SportsIllustrated.com about our surprise Indians.

Here's a short article about Dan Denham's younger brother, Jason, who just signed with the Indians. The Denham family has a lot of good things to say about the Indians organization.

There are some thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon here in Chicago. But, weather permitting, I'll be reporting on today's game once I get home. Let's go Tribe!

What Would I Have Preferred?

2004-06-23T08:42:00.000-05:00

UPDATE!!!-- 12:30 am

We Win!!!!
I just got back from my third straight game at "The Joan." I'll report on everything tomorrow morning. Another great game.....

UPDATE!!!-- 6:15 pm

Boone to be signed by Tribe?
Rumors are swirling that Aaron Boone is close to agreeing to terms with the Cleveland Indians. Although nothing has been finalized yet, terms may be announced soon. Stay tuned. Here's a link to Aaron's career major league stats.

Really... what's better? To have led and lost or to never have led at all? As I slowly try to piece my heart back together, I keep asking myself that.

I'm gonna keep this one short as the memories are still too fresh to relive so soon. I'm sure many of you are saying: "Let's look at the positives. We came back to take the lead. Blah, blah, blah." But, this one was painful. In the last series here in Chicago, we blew a 4 run lead in the ninth to lose and now this. Instead of a long, dragged out entry about what went wrong, what went right, who screwed up, etc., I'm just going to add a few comments.

Victor Martinez would never have the type of game Casey Blake had. Just not possible. I was never able to see replays... but (even though he was called out) wasn't that guy at second safe on Casey's lackadaisical throw in the second or third inning?

Unbelievable at bat by Matt Lawton. Fouled off a bunch of pitches... had to wait while the umpire regrouped... fouled off another.... then goes yard. Great job.

I don't think these White Sox have a lot of heart. Even though they came back to win it, their celebration just didn't seem all that exciting. Despite the fact that this team has the most talent in the division, I think the Central is either the Tribe's or the Twins' for the taking (and... unfortunately... probably the Twins).

Interesting article from the Chicago Tribune this morning praising our young team. You may have to register to read it but its worth it.

Although I'm sure many of you have already watched this since last night's debacle, here's a link to put you in a good mood. Not all great comebacks end in disappointment.

This always puts a smile on my face

Although Matt Miller was credited with giving up the tying run.... that guy's got hitters way off balance. I think its time to give him a more prominent role in the pen.

David Riske is good again. Jose Jiminez still isn't.

Lefties are now hitting .318 with an OPS of over 1.000 against Cliff Bartosh. I think its time for him and Scott Elarton to start looking at new career paths. Perhaps they'd be accepted into the Crochet Guild. I certainly don't want 'em anymore.

Its going to be tough to go to the game again tonight. But I'll be there cheering us on. I'll probably keep posting throughout the day.... so make sure you check back.

A Heavenly Evening...

2004-06-22T08:29:00.000-05:00

Wow! What a beautiful evening at the ballpark it turned out to be. It was raining all day in Chicago until about a half hour before game time, when the baseball gods decided that it was finally time for our beloved Indians to reach the .500 mark. The skies cleared, the sun briefly shined, the Tribe played an inspired game and, with the exception of a brief appearance by Satan (in the form of the home plate umpire), all was well in the world. I felt as if I had been dipped in magic waters.

Alright, alright.... maybe that's a little too dramatic. If you read yesterday's entry, you'll know how much I ripped on Sox fans for their low turnout. And you probably realized that the ballpark had almost 30,000 fans last night. What you have to take into account is that last night was "Pepsi Half Price Night" and that all those people very little to attend. Having said that, it was a good crowd.

As soon as I sat down about 15 rows right behind home plate, Ronnie took Scott Schoenehoweveryouspellit yard. I immediately heard some Tribe fans clapping and was pleasantly surprised to see an old friend of mine that had 10th row seats between the plate and third base. Because he received the tickets last minute, he had 5 (yes 5!) extra tickets. Now... typically I sit in those types of seats anyways because there are always open seats at the "Joan," but I don't usually have the ticket stub to make sure I don't get kicked out. So it was a nice surprise to be able to openly root for my Indians without fear of retaliation.

Unfortunately, at my angle I couldn't see just how much C.C. was getting squeezed by Timmy Timmons. I watched the highlights later and you really gotta wonder what was going through that ump's mind when he made those calls. Frankly, I'm just glad the Sox didn't swing at them because they were straight down the pipe.

Following up to my comment from yesterday regarding the White Sox announcers..... you gotta watch the highlights from yesterday's game on MLB.tv. Click on "Plays of the Game" (its free) and listen to Ken Harrelson announce Casey Blake's homer. Could he be worse than Monte the Colorman?
Who's the worst announcer? My vote goes to the guy wearing the hat with his own name on it. Who does that?

As you all know, the game went about as well as possible. C.C. made one mistake and settled down from his 2nd inning confrontation to pitch a beautiful game. Johnny Mac made two errors at short even though only one was actually scored an error. How much of a homer call was that? Even the Sox fans around me were complaining that that hot shot by Aaron Rowand was a play that needed to be made. Terrible call.

After the game C.C. and VMart were being interviewed by different members of the media. When they were both done, they gave each other a HUGE hug. It seemed to have all the emotion of the Maverick/Iceman embrace. I thought I overheard the following scenario:

Victor: "You can be my batterymate anytime."
C.C.: "Bullsh!t! You can be mine."

Worst pitching matchup of the series tonight. Hopefully Elarton can build on last week's rain-shortenend start. Let's see if we can sneak away with tonight's game. I'll bring all the action again tomorrow about the same time.

JD Silences His Critics

2004-06-21T08:24:00.000-05:00

Jason Davis went seven strong innings yesterday to bring the Indians, again, to one game under .500. Hopefully, with CC on the mound tonight, we can finally bring ourselves to the break-even point. Unfortunately, the weather here in Chicago calls for rain. But, don't worry, the Ranting Tribe Fan will be in attendance for all four games this week at the dump formerly known as Comiskey.

A quick note on White Sox fans
These people are truly the worst fans in baseball. In addition to drawing only the 22nd most fans in baseball (in a city of 8 million people), these fans are by far the dumbest group since this family in Tennesee. These are the types of fans that'll talk trash when their team is down by 12 runs.
Go to the "Joan" and you'll see about 21,822 people like this
Yes... they call Cellular One Field "The Joan" now because Joan Cusack is the cellular company's spokesperson.

Things you might overhear at "The Joan":

Who's this Magglio guy?
Ozzie Guillen's our manager?!?!? I thought he was still playing shortstop!
Carlton Fisk is sure calling a good game tonight behind the plate!

But... by far and away the most annoying thing about the White Sux.... their TV announcers. Ken "Hawk" Harrelson and Darrin "DJ" Jackson are quite possibly the worst announcers in the history of broadcast media, much less baseball. These guys will say things that will make you think they've never watched a game of baseball in their lives. For nine straight innings... all they will do is root for the White Sox. In many cases, they won't even say anything when the other team scores... they'll just sit there in silence. Its a travesty.

Anyway... as I said, I'll be at each and every game this week and I'll try to report on things that are "outside the box score" each day. Let's see if we can take at least three of these games.

In other news.... one guy we definitely don't want back for the bullpen, Jason Boyd, has been in the headlines a little too much since he left the Tribe. First, he was arrested twice in the offseason, and now he's out two months because he slammed and broke his hand on the pitching rubber in frustration after giving up a game winning homer in the minors. What a moron. Read more about that here in Jayson Stark's Wild Pitches.

Clifton's Gem

2004-06-19T09:45:00.000-05:00

UPDATE!
Cliff Lee suspended 6 games.... yes 6 games for the Griffey pitch. I hope the next time they face Griffey.... they actually hit him. He deserves it. But that suspension is ridiculous. Just a pure and blatant double standard. Was Pedro ever suspended for his actions in the ALCS last year? Was Roger Clemens ever suspended for throwing a splintered BAT at Mike Piazza? Granted, Cliff Lee is no Rocket or Pedro, but the same rules should apply. This angers me.

How 'bout that game last night from Clifton Phifer Lee? After the first couple of batters it looked like it was going to go the way of his last start against the Reds. Thankfully, with the exception of Furcal's homer in the third, he was awesome for the next six innings. Let's further dissect his performance:

No 3 Ball Counts
He never once went to a 3-ball count on a batter. Now this is pretty good for ANY pitcher, but for Cliff, it's unbelievable. This is a guy who's given up the third most walks in the league. He's always been touted as a command pitcher, but never really pitched like it with the parent club. Having said that, the strike zone last night was definitely pitcher-friendly. Speaking of strike zone sizes, how painful is it to think of Game Six of the 1995 Series? The strike zone for Tommy Glavine that game was bigger than Jabba the Hut. Still makes me mad.
'95 Strike Zone was bigger than Jabba's cousin Pizza
1 for 3 at the Dish
How great did he look at the plate? We hear all this talk about how good C.C. is with the lumber, but Cliff looked a lot better. He could've easily been 2 for 3 if Hampton hadn't made that great play on the ball up the middle. Don't forget, lefties bat almost 100 points lower against Hampton than righties. Was anyone else surprised by how quickly he got down the line on his groundout? That boy has got some speed.<

How is it that Lou Merloni is only batting .271? Doesn't he hit the ball on the nose every single at bat? That guy has gotta have more tough outs than anyone else on the team. Speaking of tough outs, Johnny Mac was robbed twice last night by the Braves' middle infielders. How unbelievable would it have been to see him get six straight base hits. What would be next? Me thinks it might be armageddon.

You'll have to dodge these guys when Johnny Mac goes 6 for 6
I was getting the Turner South feed last night for the game so I wasn't able to hear what the Tribe broadcasters were saying..... but it's really disappointing that we're not going to be able to face Jaret Wright in this series. The Braves' broadcasters kept talking about how he was their best and most reliable starter. That's good to hear. Let's all wish Jaret the best.

Bullpen's been great....

I like the way the team celebrates after a win. They all seem to really enjoy getting a W. Often times, you see a team that is very businesslike.... but I like to see the excitement. They seem to get along very well and that's always important for a young team growing together.

Let's see if we can finally get to .500 tonight. Let's see if Jake can have as good of a performance as last time out.....

Five Hundy Here We Come....

2004-06-18T18:07:00.000-05:00

As I write this, our Tribe is only 2 games under .500. I know... I know... why haven't I written for so long? Answer: I didn't want to jinx anything. But.... after losing 2 of 3 to the pathetic New York Mess, I figured it didn't matter any more.

Thoughts on last weekend's series against the hated intra-state rival Cincinnati Reds:

Ken Griffey Jr. is a cancer (and I don't mean that's his zodiac sign-- he's a scorpio). In the first game of the series, he hit two balls off the wall both of which he stood and admired for a while before he decided to jog. On one of those, he was held to a single because of his lack of hustle. On other occasions, he was barely speed walking on routine ground balls. All this attitude from a guy batting only .259. This isn't the Ken Griffey Jr. I remember from the Mariners of the 90s. I'd rather have a roids-infested Jose Canseco on my team.
Two Peas in a Pod?

Why did Cliff Lee throw at Ken Griffey? Did he just want to be sure to not give up his 500th homer? I found that a little strange. I'm not sure how they can suspend him for that. Hopefully they don't.

C'mon... seriously... does anybody really care about this "rivalry". It's not quite Yankees/Mets, Cubs/White Sox or Andy Kaufman/Jerry Lawler. It's more like Expos/Blue Jays or Cleveland Force/Kansas City Comets.

Now That's a rivalry

Yes... its very preliminary to look at it this way... but if the Indians are close to winning the AL Central, it'll be interesting to look at the Interleague play records. Based on winning percentages of opposing teams when interleague play began, the Indians have the fifth hardest schedule in baseball and the Twins have the fourth easiest. Based on 18 interleague games played, this would (statistically) mean a difference of 2 games..... pretty substantial. Just something to think about.

I just reminded myself of Jose Canseco..... what a joke that guy was. Pathetic waste of talent.
Anybody remember who hit that ball?

Weak start to tonight's game versus the Bravos. Hopefully the sticks comes alive. Cliff Lee has hit the hardest ball so far for the Tribe. Boy... he looks like a hitter. Slogan for this series....Whaddya think? Revenge is nigh for '95!

Alright, its stupid.

Thank Goodness....

2004-06-11T13:29:00.000-05:00

Victor's OK. I can deal with missing him for 4-5 games. But if he had missed a month or more, I don't know if I could've gone on. The incredibly unfortunate part of the day-to-day injury is that the heart and soul of the best bullpen in the league, Lou Pote, was released. I mean, how can we afford to let this guy go? His ERA is under 10.... what more can a bullpen like the Tribe's ask for? In ten years, when you look at the roster of the 2004 Cleveland Indians, you're going to say: "Lou Pote? Who the heck was that?" I can't imagine anyone having a much more forgettable Indians career. Kinda like looking at the 1991 roster and seeing the name Ever Magallanes. The name doesn't even sound familiar anymore.

Not a lot to say about the game last night. Pavano was awesome. JD was pretty much himself. Was anyone remotely surprised he gave up the dong in the 6th? Saw that coming from a mile away. I was a little shocked when he came back out for the 7th.... I thought for sure they'd pull him. Even the outs in the 6th were hard hit. But it was good to see him settle down and pitch a strong 7th. It sure hurt when Trav popped up that 3-0 pitch. Could've had two runners on with none out. The Tribe is now hitting a resounding .200 this year when the count is 3-0 (ok... they're only 1 for 5 but still).

How long is it going to be before Shapiro and Wedge put their heads together and decide to immediately bring back Stanford, Tallet and Traber as right-handed pitchers? Would the bullpen be any worse off?


Billy Traber	Jason Stanford	Brian Tallet

Future Right Handers?
As a reminder, Jeremy Sowers will be pitching tonight on ESPN against Texas for the right to get into the College World Series. It'll be interesting to get a good look at the young southpaw.

New Guys

2004-06-10T11:53:00.000-05:00

Thankfully, I don't have a lot of negative things to say about last night's game. Jake did a great job to stop the losing streak at one. Isn't is weird to only have a one game losing streak? Is that even considered a streak. I mean, you have to go back almost a full month to the last time we had a losing streak that short (June 11).

It's great to see Casey mashing the ball and Broussard breaking out of his slump. But.... with only one homer so far this year, isn't it obvious that Broussard is only keeping first base warm for Michael Aubrey who is murdering Carolina League pitching? Everyone always complains about how Hafner's a butcher in the field, but with a couple of big dropped popups, is Broussard that much better?

Speaking of Michael Aubrey, I found this interesting link of him with his family on draft day. Kinda funny.
This guy's gonna be our 1st baseman?!?!

This year's first pick, Jeremy Sowers, is the topic of a lot of conversation. Hopefully his minor-league career is a little smoother than Jeremy Guthrie's has been. Here are a few links to Jeremy:

Story in Louisville Courier-Journal

It turns out Jeremy has a twin who isn't quite the ballplayer that his brother is. That's gotta hurt.

Here's an interesting article from a few years ago when Cincy drafted him.

By the way, you can watch Jeremy pitch in the Super Regionals against the number 1 team in the country, the Texas Longhorns, tomorrow at 7:00 pm on ESPN. If Vandy wins that game, they'll go on to the College World Series in Omaha. If you ask me, I hope Sowers goes seven strong innings and gives up one unearned run with Vandy losing 1-0. He's already thrown 119 inning as a Junior in college and the less he throws now, the better.

All for now, maybe more later.

I don't want to talk about it.

2004-06-09T08:04:00.000-05:00

No. I mean it. I can't handle losses like this. I don't care if its after a 15 game winning streak. I just can't take it. Is it wrong to want to gouge out my own eyes with a bic pen? Will that make me feel better?

Speaking of missing eyes... I must highly recommend a movie I recently saw called Donnie Darko. If you like movies where you have no idea what's going on until the end. And then, at the end, you're more confused than ever..... you'll like this one. It's along the same lines as some of Charlie Kaufman's stuff (Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine, et al.). If you like his stuff, you'll probably like Donnie Darko.

There a pretty decent chance that Ken Griffey Jr. will hit his 500th dong against our Tribe this coming weekend. If he does indeed light up the tribe's bullpen like a Christmas tree, he'll become the 4th guy to do so. Ted Williams, Babe Ruth and Rafael Palmeiro have already accomplished the feat.
The bullpen will be lit up like a big, bright Christmas tree for Kid Griffey

In my last entry, I discussed the odds of a fugitive being caught by his parole officer while on the jumbotron in Cincy recently. Jim Caple of ESPN.com's Page 2 discusses this and other ballpark etiquette.

Yes. The previous "Question of the Day" was the bald spot of none other than our own "Little O."
Our little Omar is getting a little O-veraged

Omar in his younger days

Well... this has been a fun little diversion. But, unfortunately, I keep coming back to the fact that we keep blowing leads in the late innings. But... c'mon.... we all saw this most recent one coming, didn't we? I mean... did anyone read Hoynsie's article in the PD yesterday? To quote: "In theory, if all things are cyclical, perhaps the big bullpen wheel in the sky has started to rotate in the Indians' favor." If that wasn't one of the all time jinxes, I don't know what was. That was paramount to a manager going to the mound with two outs in the ninth while a pitcher is throwing a perfect game and saying:

"Are you aware you haven't given up a hit or a walk yet? In addition, do you realize that your defense has made every single play so far and there has yet to be a single baserunner? I just thought you'd want to know."

So, in retrospect, I don't blame Rafael Betancourt or Jose Jimenez for last night's travesty, I blame Paul Hoynes.

Weird Things....

2004-06-02T18:23:00.000-05:00

Not a lot of positive things to discuss right now for the Indians. They're now 3-7 in extra inning games. Let's take a look at a few of the extra-inning numbers:

Date	Result	Innings	RF/RA*
4/5	Loss	11	-3
4/6	Loss	15	-1
4/10	Loss	10	-1
4/27	Win	10	+4
5/1	Win	13	+1
5/7	Loss	10	-1
5/14	Win	10	+1
5/23	Loss	10	-1
5/25	Loss	12	-1
6/1	Loss	12	-1

*Runs For/Runs Against

Let's take a more in-depth look at some of these numbers. In extra innings the Indians staff has thrown 20 and 1/3 innings for an ERA of 3.98 (not that bad, eh?). Our opponents pitchers have thrown 17 and 1/3 innings for an ERA of 3.11. Now, although those numbers are almost a full run apart, there's not THAT huge of a difference. Before I calculated these numbers, I was expecting to see how bad the bullpen has been in the bonus frames but the lackluster offense has been mostly to blame (especially if you take into account that 4 of our 6 runs came in one game).

This makes me think a little bit about the Pythagorean Winning Percentage developed by Bill James. It calculates what a team's record should be by comparing runs scored to runs surrendered. The 2003 Indians should have been 73-89, a full 5 games better than they actually were. This is to be expected for a young team. So far this year, the Indias should be about 1.5 games better than they are (how do you win half a game?). Perhaps I'm looking a little too hard for a silver lining to this somewhat dreadful season but I can still derive some hopefulness from what I've seen.

By the way, the Tribe is on pace for 32 extra inning games. That'd have be some kind of record, right?

Trivia Question of the Day
What is this a picture of?
The answer will appear in the next entry

Curb Your Enthusiasm
Weird things can happen at the ballpark. A man in Southern California was recently proven innocent by footage filmed by the HBO Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm. Not only is this show one of the best on television, but now it's solving murder mysteries too? Is there anything Larry David cannot do?

How 'bout the guy caught by his parole officer while on "Kiss Cam" at a Reds game? What are the chances of that? No.... really. The chances that he gets on the big screen, his parole officer is there, sees him, and recognizes him have got to be less than Lloyd Christmas' chances with Mary Swanson.

Anyone know of any other strange occurrences at the ballpark? These boggle my mind.

I Shouldn't Have Come Back....

2004-06-01T15:17:00.000-05:00

Casey at the bat
Alright.... I spent some time last week talking about how terrible Casey Blake is. Then... of course... he hits 3 homers in the last week. But he still has a terrible approach at the plate. Isn't it obvious that he goes up there looking for one pitch and one pitch only? If he doesn't get it.... he can look really bad. I don't have a problem with a guy doing that early in the count or when he's ahead in the count, but Casey does it when it's 0-2, 1-2, etc. How often does the opposing pitcher just lay in a belt-high curve in the middle of the plate and Casey lets it go by for a called third strike? Answer: too often. He's GOTTA change his approach when he's got two strikes. I'm not sure why he frustrates me so much when you've got Escobar and Crisp doing an even worse job at the plate.

If you haven't looked at Ford lately.... continue ignoring them
Is anyone else jumping for joy because Ford changed their ad slogan (and advertises a little less during Indians broadcasts) since last year? Who was the ad wizard who came up with that one? That commercial used to be the first one on EVERY SINGLE COMMERCIAL BREAK FOR A FULL YEAR!!! You know... "If you haven't looked at Ford lately, look again." I vowed never to look again at a Ford after that fiasco. Did anybody else notice this? Then, later in the year, they just kinda changed the jingle around and made it even more annoying.

Nicknames
On another topic.... Is anyone else getting annoyed with the terrible nicknames being given to the Tribe by the beat writers/fans? Can't a society that puts a rover on Mars and creates babies from 21-year cryopreserved male "fluid" come up with something better? I mean... Team Streak?!?! Hellpen?!?!?! These are the worst nicknames since all the mean kids called Corey Haim Leukoplakia in quite possibly the best film ever made.

This poor kid and Indians have some things in common

The Youppers
I was in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan this weekend (the U.P. to those familiar) and thus quite out of touch with what was going on. I was lucky enough to pick up AM 1100 during my drive up on Friday night to listen to the end of the game.... and even luckier that Tom Hamilton was calling the game at the time, not Matt Underwood (his homerun call needs some work). For those of you who've never been to the U.P., it's kinda like New York City in that scene in Vanilla Sky when Tom Cruise is running through the empty streets. Except, instead of skyscrapers, there are thousands and thousands of trees.

By the way, if you ever find yourself without radio or TV access and need an instant update.... try TELL ME. Just dial 1-800-555-TELL and follow the voice activated prompts. It's always good to have when you need a quick update.

Day Game Tomorrow
I wonder how much the productivity of Cleveland workers drops when there's a weekday day game. I don't know about all of you, but I'm going to spend three straight hours watching MLB Gameday. If someone comes walking by, I'll just use the Alt-Tab combo to quickly transfer to some pseudo-important document I'm not really working on. By the way, I've found that MLB.com Gameday is by far the quickest and most comprehensive game tracker online. I highly recommend it.

At some point soon, I'm also going to spend some time discussing why every big baseball fan should have a subscription to MLB.com's ALL ACCESS.

Other Stuff
Here are a couple of other links to Indians-related stories:

Buster Olney of ESPN.com talks about just how terrible the Indians' bullpen has been
Peter Gammons comments on the possibility of Omar going to the Cubs
John Sickels of ESPN.com compares Michael Aubrey and Ryan Garko
Is this Ben Broussard's cousin stalking Halle Berry?

That's all for now. For those of you afraid that me watching the game tonight will jinx our winning streak, I have two words: "SUE ME."

My first win!

2004-05-28T08:49:00.000-05:00

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

2004-05-27T18:10:00.000-05:00

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....

2004-05-27T08:11:00.000-05:00

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

2004-05-26T15:45:00.000-05:00

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.