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Do IT this week: Layering
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 07:02 p.m. EDT, Apr 23, 2009
CLEVELAND: Three errors. Sixteen batters between baserunners. One player thrown out at the plate. Third baseman Mark DeRosa playing right field. Ladies and gentlemen, here are your Cleveland Indians.
Losers again? Losers for the 11th time in 16 games? Not on your life. It was just another win for a Tribe roster filled with players who were expected to challenge for the Central Division championship.
Nothing unusual about Thursday afternoon's final score at Progressive Field: Cleveland 5, Kansas City 2. But how it got that way was a little atypical.
For one thing, the Indians had no clue how to make Gil Meche resemble a mere mortal pitcher. For seven innings, Meche held baffled Tribe batsmen to two hits, both in the second inning, when he gave up a run, thanks to a throwing error by catcher John Buck, who tried to keep Shin-Soo Choo from stealing third.
Meche retired 16 batters in a row through the seventh. Then the cloudless blue sky fell on him, soon after he had reached 100 pitches.
''He's always tough,'' Ryan Garko said. ''Every time I face him, it seems like he comes up with something new.''
The defining blow of the game came one batter after Meche left, as Grady Sizemore lit into a hanging slider from Ron Mahay and sent it soaring into the seats in right for a three-run homer that triggered the win.
''It was just a good pitch to hit,'' Sizemore said. ''I saw Mahay warming up, so I was prepared for that.''
Manager Trey Hillman picked Mahay because he is left-handed; so is Sizemore. But that didn't matter. Sizemore has six home runs and 17 RBI to rank among the top 10 in the American League in both categories. Against lefties, Sizemore is 4-for-11 (.364) with two homers and seven RBI.
It was Garko who started the eighth-inning rally with a ringing double to right-center. Manager Eric Wedge went to his three-man bench seeking a pinch runner. He came up with Tony Graffanino, who was off and running on a sacrifice bunt by Ben Francisco.
The bunt was a little too good to be a sacrifice. Meche hustled to pick it up and threw it past the first baseman. Graffanino sprinted around third and headed for the plate, to the disappointment of third-base coach Joel Skinner, who tried to hold him.
Second baseman Alberto Callaspo was backing up the play at first and threw to catcher John Buck, umpire John Hirschbeck calling Graffanino out.
''There were so many guys out there around first base, I don't think Tony saw the second baseman,'' Garko said, probably correctly.
If you're looking for a tortured piece of logic, if Wedge hadn't inserted a pinch runner, the play at the plate never would have happened, because the slow-footed Garko would not have tried to score on Meche's wild throw.
Garko smiled when he was presented with that theory but added: ''Just because we didn't do anything for seven innings, didn't mean we were done. Finding a way to win these kinds of games is what good teams do. That's why this win was important.''
At 6-10, the Indians can't make a case for themselves as a good team. Not yet. But maybe this was a start.
''First and foremost, we won a series, and that means a great deal to us,'' Wedge said. ''I think we've been more consistent as a club since that last game in Kansas City.''
Since beating the Royals to avoid a sweep, the Tribe is 5-3 but had not won a series. And even Thursday's win was flawed.
Choo let a double elude his glove for an error that put a runner on third with one out in the eighth. Francisco dropped a fly ball in left that led to a bases-loaded situation in the fourth, and Garko committed a third error in the fifth inning.
''We made some mistakes, but Anthony Reyes overcame that,'' Wedge said.
Reyes did not get credit for the win, but he worked six good innings, giving up two runs and four hits, and walking four.
That meant the bullpen also had to help. Jensen Lewis delivered two solid innings, giving up a one-out double in the eighth that Choo's error turned into three bases.
Kerry Wood earned his third save of the season, retiring the side in order and striking out two, throwing 97 mph fastballs.
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at http://www.ohio.com/tribematters. Follow the Indians on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ABJ_Indians.
CLEVELAND: Three errors. Sixteen batters between baserunners. One player thrown out at the plate. Third baseman Mark DeRosa playing right field. Ladies and gentlemen, here are your Cleveland Indians.
Losers again? Losers for the 11th time in 16 games? Not on your life. It was just another win for a Tribe roster filled with players who were expected to challenge for the Central Division championship.
Nothing unusual about Thursday afternoon's final score at Progressive Field: Cleveland 5, Kansas City 2. But how it got that way was a little atypical.
For one thing, the Indians had no clue how to make Gil Meche resemble a mere mortal pitcher. For seven innings, Meche held baffled Tribe batsmen to two hits, both in the second inning, when he gave up a run, thanks to a throwing error by catcher John Buck, who tried to keep Shin-Soo Choo from stealing third.
Meche retired 16 batters in a row through the seventh. Then the cloudless blue sky fell on him, soon after he had reached 100 pitches.
''He's always tough,'' Ryan Garko said. ''Every time I face him, it seems like he comes up with something new.''
The defining blow of the game came one batter after Meche left, as Grady Sizemore lit into a hanging slider from Ron Mahay and sent it soaring into the seats in right for a three-run homer that triggered the win.
''It was just a good pitch to hit,'' Sizemore said. ''I saw Mahay warming up, so I was prepared for that.''
Manager Trey Hillman picked Mahay because he is left-handed; so is Sizemore. But that didn't matter. Sizemore has six home runs and 17 RBI to rank among the top 10 in the American League in both categories. Against lefties, Sizemore is 4-for-11 (.364) with two homers and seven RBI.
It was Garko who started the eighth-inning rally with a ringing double to right-center. Manager Eric Wedge went to his three-man bench seeking a pinch runner. He came up with Tony Graffanino, who was off and running on a sacrifice bunt by Ben Francisco.
The bunt was a little too good to be a sacrifice. Meche hustled to pick it up and threw it past the first baseman. Graffanino sprinted around third and headed for the plate, to the disappointment of third-base coach Joel Skinner, who tried to hold him.
Second baseman Alberto Callaspo was backing up the play at first and threw to catcher John Buck, umpire John Hirschbeck calling Graffanino out.
''There were so many guys out there around first base, I don't think Tony saw the second baseman,'' Garko said, probably correctly.
If you're looking for a tortured piece of logic, if Wedge hadn't inserted a pinch runner, the play at the plate never would have happened, because the slow-footed Garko would not have tried to score on Meche's wild throw.
Garko smiled when he was presented with that theory but added: ''Just because we didn't do anything for seven innings, didn't mean we were done. Finding a way to win these kinds of games is what good teams do. That's why this win was important.''
At 6-10, the Indians can't make a case for themselves as a good team. Not yet. But maybe this was a start.
''First and foremost, we won a series, and that means a great deal to us,'' Wedge said. ''I think we've been more consistent as a club since that last game in Kansas City.''
Since beating the Royals to avoid a sweep, the Tribe is 5-3 but had not won a series. And even Thursday's win was flawed.
Choo let a double elude his glove for an error that put a runner on third with one out in the eighth. Francisco dropped a fly ball in left that led to a bases-loaded situation in the fourth, and Garko committed a third error in the fifth inning.
''We made some mistakes, but Anthony Reyes overcame that,'' Wedge said.
Reyes did not get credit for the win, but he worked six good innings, giving up two runs and four hits, and walking four.
That meant the bullpen also had to help. Jensen Lewis delivered two solid innings, giving up a one-out double in the eighth that Choo's error turned into three bases.
Kerry Wood earned his third save of the season, retiring the side in order and striking out two, throwing 97 mph fastballs.
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at http://www.ohio.com/tribematters. Follow the Indians on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ABJ_Indians.
Comments
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Kent, OH
Posted 07:52 PM, 04/23/2009
Only Sheldon can put a negative spin on a win. You can only wonder if he wrote an article about the Cavs winning the NBA championship, he would most likely find the negative items to write about. His life must stink to be negative all the time.
Posted 08:30 PM, 04/23/2009
Cuddy, this article isn't negative at all. Did we read the same one? Ocker reported on a couple rather unusual plays/circumstances. He gave us the facts of the game. This isn't negativity at all.
Posted 09:54 AM, 04/24/2009
Good win for the Tribe. Let's hope the bullpen can hold up and we can string a couple wins together. Only four games away from .500 and being back in this thing.
Farragut, TN
Posted 11:17 AM, 04/24/2009
Tonight's game will be a possible turning point. The Indians have had a very difficult time winning two games in a row. Meanwhile, the Twins are on a losing streak, and they are playing without Joe Mauer. Obviously, both teams want a win very badly. The pitching matchup, Carmona vs. Blackburn, doesn't give us much of a clue; both of them have struggled. If the Tribe wants to be taken seriously as a contender, they have to find a way to get over .500, and tonight's game could be the first step in that journey.
