Written by Steve Buffum

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The Indians used two stellar performances by starters and one by Johnny Wholestaff to take 3 of 4 games this weekend, including two from the Reds to clinch the Battle of Ohio at 5 games to 1.  As the team rolls toward the All-Star break, Buff looks at which starter was most impressive, briefly notes which was leat impressive, expresses complete flabbergastization at the heroes of Monday night’s game, praises the bullpen, and makes fun of Texas manager Ron Washington.  Huzzah!

 

 

FINAL	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Indians (43-37)	0	1	3	0	4	0	0	0	0	8	12	0
Reds (42-41)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	5	0

W: Masterson (6-6)                    L: Arroyo (7-7)

 

FINAL	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Indians (44-37)	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	8	0
Reds (42-42)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	9	1

W: Herrmann (1-0)         L: H. Bailey (3-3)            S: Pestano (1)

 

FINAL	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Indians (44-38)	0	2	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	5	7	1
Reds (43-42)	0	3	0	3	1	0	0	0	X	7	11	0

W: Leake (8-4)               L: Talbot (2-5)                S: F. Cordero (17)

 

FINAL	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Famine (50-33)	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	3	4	0
Indians (45-38)	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2	X	6	6	1

W: Tomlin (10-4)            L: Burnett (8-7)              S: C. Perez (20)

 

Just the way we planned it!

 

1) Vaulted ceiling

 

Consider what I said in my last column with respect to Josh Tomlin:

 

I think this is Josh Tomlin’s ceiling.  I think Josh Tomlin can pitch Exactly This Well.  He may have some differences based on chance fluctuations, but I think Tomlin is a Finished Product. 

 

So there you have it: Josh Tomlin’s ceiling is a guy who can take a no-hitter against the most potent offensive lineup in baseball into the 7^th inning after retiring 18 hitters in a row.  How droll.

 

This, of course, is completely absurd.  I did not realize this, but the last guy to no-hit the Yankees by himself did it before I was born and is now in the Hall of Fame.  Obviously that’s a lot of incarnations of Yankees to go through, but it doesn’t take all that astute of a fan to recognize that the Yankees have had a premier offense for at least the last decade and a half, and to throttle them like that takes some real ability.

 

Here’s what I noticed as much as anything about Tomlin’s performance last night: every pitch appears to have a purpose.  When he pounds Mark Teixeira inside, it is not solely because he thinks this is the best way to retire Mark Teixeira.  In later plate appearances, he threw pitches that looked like they might bore in on Teixeira, then faded away instead.  He would sometimes go to a spot several times in a row, then switch up and go there only once.  He threw some pitches out of the strike zone that looked like he MEANT for them to be out of the strike zone.  Will you swing if I put it just a little bit outside?  Will you swing if I put is just a little MORE outside?  No?  Well, how about if I throw it THIS hard?  What if I only throw it THAT hard?  I firmly believed while watching Tomlin that he knew WHERE he wanted to throw WHAT and HOW he wanted it to get there THIS time so that he could throw ANOTHER pitch NEXT time.

 

Now, obviously, Nick Swisher beat him on a ball for a two-run double, and he did actually walk a guy for the first time in a month or so.  Tomlin is not The Perfect Pitcher.  But he might have the perfect APPROACH to pitching: whether his arm can catch up to his brain might dictate whether he is Brian Bannister or Greg Maddux (whom I consider the ends of the spectrum of Thinking Pitchers: there are a lot of Brad Radkes and Randy Joneses and John Tudors and Eric Shows in between).  In a sense, though, his most impressive inning was probably not something in the 2^nd-through-6^th range when he gave up nothing whatsoever, but rather the first, when Derek Jeter reached on a gaffe by Lonnie Chisenhall and Tomlin wanted little part of Curt Granderson with a runner on base.  With two men aboard, all Tomlin did was saw through Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and Robinson Cano, who are, by the way, pretty good hitters.  When he did that, I relaxed CONSIDERABLY.

 

So, apparently, did Tomlin.

 

2) Blue Moon Special

 

A funny thing happened on the way to another Justin Masterson loss: the Cleveland Indians SCORED RUNS.

 

Masterson, of course, didn’t alter his approach very much: he hasn’t given up a third earned run since June 3^rd and has lowered his ERA from 3.28 to 2.85 in that span.  Without taking the excitement factor of six no-hit innings into account, it’s reasonable to say that Masterson’s start was even better than Tomlin’s, since it involved one more inning with one fewer run allowed.  Tomlin gave up three hits to Masterson’s four, and both men walked 1 against 5 punchouts.  The big blow against Tomlin came with two runners aboard, while Masterson’s was a solo homer.  (Masterson did hit a batter.)  Masterson put 14 balls on the ground to 6 in the air, and this marked the third time in nine starts that he completed the 8^th inning.  Although Tomlin gets justified praise for going at least 5 innings in each career start, meaning he’s never been simply rocketed out of a game early, it’s Masterson who best fits the “Workhorse” moniker that C.C. Sabathia wore for many years.  But even though it sometimes looks like Masterson misses the zone and throws a lot of extra pitches (especially since he still strikes out 6 1/3 per 9 innings), I was surprised to see that he doesn’t really: he averages 105.5 pitches per start, and his three 8-inning outings were 115, 104, and 102 pitches.  This bodes well for the season, increasing the likelihood that he won’t wear down and can finish the year with 200 innings.

 

3) Who needs a starter?

 

I’m thinking; if Fausto Carmona ever gets to a point where the Indians aren’t going to re-sign him to an extension and he hits the free agent market, he should seriously consider staying in the American League.

 

After an awkward jaunt down the first base line in which he stumbled, fell, and managed to pull a quadricep muscle (all while, if I’m not mistaken looking at the replay, failing to actually touch first base).  I hope Carmona spends the minimum on the DL while fully healing, but really, if Carmona misses a start in favor of Some Schmoe, it may be hard to tell the difference.

 

No, the real hero (in the abstract sense) of Saturday’s matchup was the collective wave of pitchers the Indians sent at the Reds.  Frank Herrmann did a masterful job on short notice, expecially given that he hadn’t pitched in nearly two weeks.  Raffy Perez was effective in a one-hit, one-K outing that featured 11 strikes in 14 pitches.  And Chad Durbin chipped in a tremendous couple of outs with two runners on in a 3-1 game.

 

Past that, of course, it was a case of the eye of the beholder throwing up at trying to make the beauty of the end result blot out the ugliness of the process getting there.  Yes, Joe Smiff pitched a scoreless inning, but he game up two hits and a walk to load the bases before doing so.  Yes, Tony Sipp recorded his team-leading 16^th “Hold”, but not before coughing up a solo homer, a booming double, and walking a guy.  Yes, Vinnie Pestano recorded his 1^st save on the season filling in for bereaved Chris Perez, striking out the side to do it, but not before yakking up a hit and a walk to put the tying run on base.

 

But still, you’re talking about 7 innings of one-run ball by the best bullpen we’ve had since the Raffy and Raffy show of 2007, and as we’ve seen in Cleveland, the fortunes of the team are eerily linked to the performance of the bullpen.

 

4) Database humor!

 

For those of you who have ever worked with SQL on a database like Oracle, Informix, or SQL Server:

 

Q: Why is Mitch Talbot in the rotation?
A: The FIFTH_STARTER column has a NOT NULL constraint.

 

At this point, we must ask if Talbot is actually on the list of Valid Values.

 

5) The Best Plate Appearance in the World

 

With two outs and a man on first, rookie Lonnie Chisenhall came to the plate to face A.J. Burnett.  Burnett’s game had closely matched that of Tomlin: although he’d given up a couple of hits and a few walks, he’d matched zeroes with Tomlin and now stood to win the game as Tomlin had given up two in the top of the 7^th.  Burnett crossed the 100-pitch mark, and although he’d walked Grady Sizemore, he struck out Orly Cabrera on three pitches and could hardly be considered to be out of gas.

 

Chisenhall ended up seeing 8 pitches in the AB: by my rough estimation, he swung at four pitches that were in the strike zone and did not swing at four pitches that were not.  He fouled off each pitch he swung at.  Now, it should be noted that Chisenhall was very lucky that the Keystone Klods did not catch one of his foul pops.  Of course.  And 8 pitches is not really THAT many pitches: it’s not enough to push Burnett over the edge by itself.

 

But I really think that kind of persistence and ability to stay alive, especially when combined with Shelley Duncan’s subsequent 7-pitch 3-foul AB that ended in an opposite-field single, is what set Burnett up to fail in the end.

 

6) Dept. of No Friggin’ Way

 

And that, of course, is what Burnett did on a 1-0 count to Austin Kearns, who to this point in the season could not buy a hit with Tony Gwynn at his side and a sack of five-dollar bills in his hand.  I swear it looked like Kearns wound up like a guy at a Long Drive competition, but by golly, he hit the ball hard and he hit it where it was pitched, and 361 feet later, the Indians led 4-2, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

 

I’m not going to try and fool you by saying “I knew he would do it” and “Now I support him” and all that rot.  I did NOT think he would do it and I STILL don’t think he’s a valuable member of the roster.  But he certainly did a great job and he deserves credit for doing it.

 

7) Chicks dig Bronson Arroyo

 

There are three reasons for this: first, he plays the guitar, which makes him mysterious and arty.  Second, he can give them experienced hair care tips.

 

But third is that chicks dig the long ball, and no one serves ‘em up quite like Arroyo.  With shots by Grady Sizemore, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Carlos Santana, Arroyo didn’t do much for his chances of winning the game, but was surrounded by throngs of women after it.

 

Note that the Tribe scored 7 of its 8 runs with two outs, suggesting that Bronson Arroyo is not very good.

 

8) Blind Squirrel Dept.

 

Mike Brantley spent the four-game long weekend going 3-for-16, and although he got a hit in each of the games in Cincinnati, 3-for-16 is pretty crummy.

 

However, one of these hits was a three-run blow immediately after Fausto Carmona channelled his inner Yugoslavian ski jumper, which effectively won the game, especially in light of the fact that the Indians spent the rest of the game doing very little offensively indeed.

 

Brantley now sports a .327 OBP, which is no longer decent for a leadoff hitter.  He may not have turned into a newt, but he certainly at least resembles a thecodont.

 

9) Rubbing it in

 

After the Yankees pulled within 4-3 on Curtis Granderson’s 23^rd homer of the season, Travis Hafner beat out an infield single to second off Cory Wade, who had yet to give up a run this season.  Wade is a pretty good reliever, but got worked pretty hard by the Dodgers and is only now healthy enough to pitch.

 

Instead of remaining the owner of a 0.00 ERA, Wade now sits at 2.00 because Carlos Santana lined a shot down the left field line for a two-run homer to push the lead to 6-3, still within the Save Zone, but a more comfortable one.

 

10) Positive Sign

 

Although Travis Hafner clearly hated touring the N.L. West, as he spent most of his time getting single plate appearances here and there, he did reach base in his last three games against N.L. teams and two more times against the Yankees.  He remains at .341/.421/.558 on the season, which is parsecs away from what could have been reasonably expected at the beginning of the season.

 

11) Managerial Head Scratcher / Stats Corner

 

Vinnie Pestano has struck out 38 right-handed hitters in 20 innings of work against them.  This is madness.  Complete and utter insanity.  Do you know who records two-thirds of his outs via the strikeout?  Nobody, that’s who.  It doesn’t happen.  This is crazy.

 

However, Pestano, while still effective against lefties (.214/.267/.429) has 5 Ks in 11 innings against left-handers.  This isn’t to call him a ROOGY or a right-handed specialist or anything, but it’s noteworthy, I think.

 

So after Tony Sipp retired the left-handed Brett Gardner in the top of the 8^th, it was odd to see Pestano called out to face Derek Jeter, who does not deserve platoon-splitting at this stage of his career.  Jeter can no longer hit effectively.  I wouldn’t have worried about Sipp facing Jeter.  I *was* concerned about Pestano facing the left-handed Granderson, and sure enough, Grandy took Pestano deep before Vinnie retired Mark Teixeira.

 

I assume part of the thinking here was that Teixeira isn’t as good this year against right-handed pitching, and Alex Rodriguez, a right-hander, follows Teixeira.  If you can just avoid Granderson, a righty has the advantage.

 

But … can’t you just leave Sipp in to face the punchless Jeter, have HIM face Granderson, THEN bring in Pestano for Teixeira and Rodriguez?  What was the rush?  Besides Sipp being terrible in his last appearance, I mean…