When the Cleveland Indians built their outfield of center fielders, most of us were thinking about defense, and how it would benefit the pitching staff.  On Friday, at the corner Carnegie and Ontario, a couple of those center fielders did all they could to reward Justin Masterson, Cody Allen, and Joe Smith for their efforts, but not necessarily with their play in the outfield.  With Jason Kipnis at the plate, and two runners on in a one-run game, the table was set for a walk-off of a dirtier variety than the long ball.
Facing Fernando Abad, with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, the former Cincinnati Red, Drew Stubbs went the other way with a 2-1 fastball.  Seeing as how it was a tie game in the home half of the final frame, he actually set himself up to be the hero.  Stubbs and Michael Bourn executed a perfect hit and run, one that raised more than a few eyebrows when Steve Lombardozzi, the Nationals second baseman broke to take the throw, allowing Bourn’s ground ball to roll through the void left on the right side of the infield.
If you are like me, you cannot help it- you mentally catalogue people by the iconic images of them that you hold. When particular individuals come to mind, those images are what you ‘see.’ Sometimes they are like still photos; speaking for myself, the images are often the mental equivalents of .gif files, or short video clips.
You have to think that something might be wrong with your baseball team when a first inning home run, let alone two back-to-back, spells doom for your club like no other 1-0 or 2-0 lead in baseball history.ÂÂ Once upon a time, Scott Kazmir was supposed to be what David Price ended up being, a top-of-rotation southpaw that shys away from the word "crafty".ÂÂ These days, the former Sugarland Skeeter is just trying to hang on to his job in a Major League rotation, and serving up two 1st inning home runs to the Nationals on Saturday did nothing to help his cause.ÂÂ However, Kazmir was spared his fifth loss of the 2013 season when the bats bailed him out in the middle innings of Saturday's 7-6 loss to the visiting Washington Nationals.
In 2010, the Indians were trade deadline sellers. They sent the often underappreciated Jake Westbrook to the Cardinals in a three-team trade that included Ryan Ludwick and received a Double-A right hander from the Padres named Corey Kluber. Around that same time, they traded Austin Kearns to the Yankees for a player to be named later. That player to be named later became Zach McAllister on August 20. At the time, the ceiling for both was to pitch in the back end of the rotation. That was the best case scenario.
Watching Tony Randazzo work during the Yankees/Indians series, and call one of the worst games I’ve seen in a while, (and that’s saying something), it dawned on me how inept most Major League umpires are. I always knew there were some that were bad and some that were good, but the gap between good and bad is both growing larger and growing disproportionally in the wrong direction. I used to be sympathetic to those who want to keep the “human element” in Major League Baseball, but I’m over it. There are far too many blown calls, too much inconsistency, and entirely too many guys who are too comfortable in their role as a Major League Baseball umpire.