Tribe: 3-7
Steven Hubbard
Well . . . slow group lately. Here's some unresearched cannon-fodder for
discussion . . .
The Indians now have the same record through 10 games as they did last
season which puts them in reach of the 7-20 start they had last season.
The bullpen . . . outside of Betancourt and Cressend, they've been so bad it
defies description. They virtually HAVE to get better.
The starters . . . we've heard how great they've been while pinning losses
on the bullpen, but is that true? 2 trips through the rotation isn't much,
but . . . CC and D'Amico have WHIPs of 1.07 and 1.02 respectively . . .
pretty good. Davis, Lee, and Stanford have WHIPs of 1.62, 1.84, and 1.55.
That's a LOT of baserunners . . . either the WHIP will come down or the ERAs
will go up. They've had a lot of nifty double plays bailing them out so
far.
The hitters . . . fair-to-middlin' so far. Casey Blake, despite an odd fit
batting 4th, has had a very nice 10 games at 326/408/442. Belliard and
Hafner are really carrying the show though. My big concern . . . through 10
games, only 31 walks. Hopefully a big reason for that is that they've faced
Brad Radke twice.
Gerut . . . hasn't hit much, but 8 walks says that good things might be
coming. This is unlike Escobar who hasn't given anyone a reason to throw
the ball in the strike zone yet.
Martinez . . . hasn't hit much outside of his 2 HRs, but I still like his
chances. He's fun to watch because his swing looks so slow, BUT when he
actually hits the ball hard, you can see how quick his wrists are.
Hopefully it's those quick wrists that let him make the adjustments he made
last year in Buffalo. We'll see . . . I'd like to see him take a few
pitches, but I think it's coming.
Bob Collins
reply with their name so we can figure out who's here.
bc
"Steven Hubbard" <steven...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:8hRfc.1999$uF3.810@lakeread04...
Nancy Koebel
>season which puts them in reach of the 7-20 start they had last season.
Despite the "talk" about starting out well, they aren't. They looked much
better last week, when they lost a couple of close ones in extra innings
(although they shouldn't have gone that long). They easily could be 3 wins
higher save for the bullpen blowups.
This week is another story - two games against the Twins at home and they had
NO offense to speak of.
>The starters . . . we've heard how great they've been while pinning losses
>on the bullpen, but is that true?
Both CC and Davis should have two wins. Stanford has done well. D'Amico isn't
the kind of pitcher who keeps players off the bases, but manages to come out
with wins. His last outing featured some defenseive errors that cost him runs,
and the bullpen blew up again (especially Stewart).>The hitters . . .
fair-to-middlin' so far. Casey Blake, despite an odd fit
>batting 4th, has had a very nice 10 games at 326/408/442. Belliard and
>Hafner are really carrying the show though.
Gerut is the victim of pitching - they either walk him or pitch around him. He
really needs someone better behind him than Blake, but at least Blake is
getting on base.
I am afraid they'll start pitching around Hafner too.
Baserunning mistakes cost them both Wed. night and last night, despite their
claim that it's a priority.
What few good players they have are spread too thinly with people like Victor
and Broussard, who this week are off to a slow start.
They can't afford to get any more behind. I'm hoping they can beat up on the
soon to be down to Earth Tigers.
Bob Collins
above career norms....I just hope that kid we got for him is ready soon) Run
Bradley 3rd, drop Gerut to 4th, Hafner, then Blake.....Belliard and Lawton
up top. I can live with that lineup.
There are some things that are encouraging. Belliard has been a surprise.
Hafner is clearly someone we can love.
Lawton has shown signs although it's VERY troubling that he only has 2
walks. OBP is his whole game and 2 BBs and 12 Ks is pretty odd.
Stanford has surprised me. Davis just needs consistency and we have
Sabbathia... Lee has been very good. Hell, check that out! That's 4 young
starters who look reallygood...and there's still a bumper crop coming behind
them. So this year we'll shake out a few and presumably we can cash in some
of them for some thump.
I don't think the start of this year is -- despite what the record says --
feels at all like last year. I can see real progress ahead.
BC
"Nancy Koebel" <nlko...@aol.comnospam> wrote in message
news:20040416172721...@mb-m15.aol.com...
Mickey Ferguson
> You know, we should do thread where people who even READ this group just
> reply with their name so we can figure out who's here.
I'm here! :-) I gather there are about a dozen or so who actually
post, not counting the spammers. :-( About a half dozen are regular
contributors, a few are sporadic (including myself in that category),
and one or two of rather questionable value (though their passion for
the Cleveland teams is not being questioned).
Some of us don't get very good turnaround time because we don't have a
direct news server where we can post directly. I have to use Google
Groups to read and post, and my postings typically take a long time to
show up. (For example, I'm typing this at 4:08 PM PDT on Friday.
We'll see when it actually shows up. Google Groups claims it usually
takes anywhere from 3-9 hours to appear.)
If anyone knows of a news server I can use directly, I would greatly
appreciate being updated.
Mickey
res0d5fs
Groups, not to be posted to the news group, because I see it here already.
(I'm on another account I where I can temporarily use a news server
directly.)
"Mickey Ferguson" <MickeyF...@alumni.carnegiemellon.edu> wrote in
message news:c1fe9a30.0404...@posting.google.com...
SWeick
>You know, we should do thread where people who even READ this group just
>reply with their name so we can figure out who's here.
Well, I posted a reply, but it's disappeared into
cyberspace.
Stephen Weick
Take heart amid the deepening gloom that your dog is
finally getting enough cheese. - Deteriorata
T
>
> I'm here! :-) I gather there are about a dozen or so who actually
> post, not counting the spammers. :-( About a half dozen are regular
> contributors, a few are sporadic (including myself in that category),
> and one or two of rather questionable value (though their passion for
> the Cleveland teams is not being questioned).
questioning the value of other people's posts. Things would improve if
when you actually appear, your comments focused on Cleveland sports
instead of your opinion of others.
Steven Hubbard
> Stick Milton Bradley in that lineup, perhaps. (BTW, so far this season
he's
> above career norms....I just hope that kid we got for him is ready soon)
Run
> Bradley 3rd, drop Gerut to 4th, Hafner, then Blake.....Belliard and Lawton
> up top. I can live with that lineup.
Gutierrez, after a couple of multi-hit games is now at 406/457/531. 4 of
his 13 hits are doubles -- over the next few weeks, I hope he can estrablish
a 40% extra-base hit rate because that 406 BA isn't likely to hold up. He
is playing CF. Sizemore, off to a slow start (200/333/240), is also playing
CF.
I doubt Gutierrez gets a regular gig in Cleveland before mid-2005. By the
end of 2005, the OF could be Sizemore, Gutierrez, Gerut. How quickly can
Aubrey get to Cleveland?
The Kinston Indians are 8-0. The pitchers have been okay, but not great.
The hitters are MASHING though
> Lawton has shown signs although it's VERY troubling that he only has 2
> walks. OBP is his whole game and 2 BBs and 12 Ks is pretty odd.
Yes -- it is surprising and hopefully doesn't continue. I don't think the
Indians will be able to trade him this year (but maybe). If he keeps his
OBP up though, he could certainly be moved in 05 if the kids are ready.
Bob Collins
Pretty surprising, but just goes to show the problem isn't offense, per se.
It's timliness.
bc
"Steven Hubbard" <steven...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:3Pvgc.4743$uF3.1457@lakeread04...
Nancy Koebel
> I think the Tribe is something like 4th or 5th in hitting in the league.
> Pretty surprising, but just goes to show the problem isn't offense, per se.
> It's timliness.
>
> bc
They lead in starting pitching.
Mickey Ferguson
I'll only dignify this reponse once: Anyone who has read cle.sports
for any length of time knows that my post-to-evaluating-other's-posts
ratio is extremely high. I was simply responding to someone's
observation that the group was very quiet for a while. I think it's
safe to state that most everyone else on this group would my
contributions to the group as valued.
Note also that I did not, and will not, advocate your withdrawal (or
anyone else's, not counting the spammers) from the group. Everyone
has a right to express their opinions. But by doing so, we're also
open to criticism of those opinions.
Now back to our sports discussions...
Bob Collins
It's a much better list when you don't even SEE the kid's posts.
BC
"Mickey Ferguson" <MickeyF...@alumni.carnegiemellon.edu> wrote in
message news:c1fe9a30.04041...@posting.google.com...