Morning Rundown: Death, Taxes, and Adam Dunn Homers

And the Indians did their best, but it was simply not enough to overcome whatever Adam Dunn eats for breakfast.

In addition to his solo-shot early in the game, Dunn would then have the hit of the game, clobbering a three-run shot in the bottom of the eighth off Vinnie Pestano to give the White Sox a 5-3 lead. Pestano simply said, "I go in there and blow it."

I tend to have to side with Manny Acta however. He's been so good that you can't really get upset over one bad outing for him. He just made a mistake in this one.

Pestano says that he was trying to throw in and get him to move a little bit having been up on him 0-2. But he simply just missed and he missed badly. Dunn, who says he's been struggling a bit as of late said he just happened to get into it.

Credit where credit is due.

That hurts, it hurts to see a game go like that, and it hurts even more to see the comeback in the ninth fall short. Add in the fact that Zach McAllister pitched, what I would say, is a brilliant game from his end. He too was just basically victimized by a mistake to Adam Dunn in his six innings, giving up two runs off four hits and two walks. He struck out seven White Sox and looked impressive doing it. He was efficient, he was moving the ball around, elevating his fastball where guys couldn't touch it, but still wanted to swing at it.

He looked impressive out there against a REALLY good hitting team in Chicago. 

It is rather encouraging after what we talked about after his last start, how he needed to consider making adjustments and needing to be the guy that changed his game now that the opposition has changed their game toward him. It isn't fatigue or number of innings, it is simply the game of baseball with McAllister, and he understands how to play it. 

That probably more than anything is the thing you have to take away from this game as a real big positive.

Heck, he out-pitched Chris Sale, who the Indians made work extremely hard in his seven innings. He gave up just the three runs, but he gave up 10 hits and threw 25+ more pitches than McAllister did. McAllister looked good and I was really impressed with what he showed out there.

That being said, there were a few blown opportunities to score a few more runs against Sale. There was the first inning when they started a two-out rally and had runners on first and second, but in that instance, more than anything it was good to make Sale work and throw a lot of pitches. 

Cabrera doubled home the first run in the third, then Santana walked with two outs, setting up the identical situation from the first inning with Canzler at the plate, two outs, and Cabrera/Santana at second and first. He couldn't come through both times, but the two-out hit is hard. It isn't anything compared to the fifth when Zeke and Choo lead off the fifth with singles, Kipnis gets half-good results with his bunt, getting Zeke to third but Choo being out at second. The problem there was Cabrera's double play the next at-bat.

So yeah, they had a few opportunities to do something more than three runs. The ninth inning was also painful considering they had three hits, including a double, normally that would be good for a few runs, but Kotchman's first pitch single off Matt Thornton was quickly erased on Lou Marson's double play. Then after Zeke singled, Choo was able to drive him home with a double down the line.

Good for show, but not enough for the win.

Random Details...

If some of those hits had only come through with guys on, the box score would look even better. Canzler had several opportunities to cash in with the two-out hit, but he did come through with a two-run homer in the sixth inning to sort-of make up for it. 

Carlos Santana was a machine, 1-for-1 with three walks. They simply just avoided him like the plague.

Choo, Kipnis, and Cabrera all had two hits. It was Kipnis mainly who couldn't come through with his hits when it mattered.  The lack of big hits for the Indians, despite scoring four runs, is evident in the 0-for-6 number with runners in scoring position.

One of my biggest pet-peeves is manager's not challenging their young hitters. I understand Acta is trying desperately to win the game, and Kotchman got a hit, so he pushed the right button.

But at this point in the season, I would rather lose the game with Lonnie Chisenhall failing than winning with Casey Kotchman succeeding. That's just me. I'd like to see Chisenhall hit in that scenario. It is a perfect situation to give him a MEANINGFUL at-bat. We talked about him getting meaningful big league at-bats in him returning earlier than expected from his broken arm.

Well that's a meaningful at-bat. Against a left-handed pitcher in Matt Thornton, in a game you are down two. Challenge him to come through. Again, I know Acta is trying to win the game, but I just hate it when there is a situation to give a young hitter a chance to grow, and you take it away from him.

Joe Smith was lightning in his seventh inning. He struck out the side with a little vinegar there. Any doubts about him being capable of handling a part-time eighth inning rule have been eliminated as far as I'm concerned. He is up to the challenge if the Indians can have a left-hander to pair him with so that it isn't the same guy every time.

How about the relay that pegged De Aza at home? I don't know if Rottino was trying to throw to Chisenhall, but if he didn't mean to, then Chisenhall made an excellent play to grab the ball and give a nice throw to home. Yeah De Aza was probably safe, but the result was that he was out. Again, at least it isn't a replacement ref.

And one note on Adam Dunn. He's like death and taxes. Only homers and strikeouts. He homered twice, struck out twice. Death and taxes. Always a given.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

I feel like Anthony Castrovince needs punched in the face for penning such a heart-breaking, yet beautifully written piece of fiction that could have been reality. 

Even making Adam Miller healthy!

Give it a read, unless you want to hate yourself even more for seeing the team that is on the field right now. It is a brilliant mix of "What If", comedy, and evaluation of the Indians moves in the past three-to-four years.

Instead of Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale, and Adam Miller, we're stuck here wondering if David Huff has turned a corner. I'm really not going to entertain the thought, because I'm simply tired of doing just that. Sure "he feels good" but he's made a few starts, he's pitched a few innings. He largely struggled at Columbus this year and like with Matt LaPorta, we've been down this road before.

And perhaps maybe he struggled because he didn't want to be there. That's fine, no one wants to be in Triple-A when they have been in the big leagues. But he injured himself in spring, he had no other place to go and maybe the injury contributed. He said he developed bad habits through it, but honestly here's my thought.

If you don't want to be in the minor leagues, that's fine. But pitch to show you shouldn't be there. That to me is better than just throwing your mitt on the field and hoping for the best, or only going 50% because you don't feel like you should be where you are.

I'm not saying that is what David Huff did, but I just get the feeling like... We shouldn't bother to find out or not. We've been down this road before. It's time to move on. David Huff isn't winning this team a World Series next year, or the year after, so really, why bother?

Jason Donald took batting practice on Monday. He's "hopeful" to play in the final homestand this weekend. But we'll see about that. He has a week left to get in there, but if he doesn't, it won't be the end of the world.

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