Written by Steve Buffum

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The Indians picked right up where they did not leave off, beating the Orioles soundly with good hitting, solid defense, and tremendous bullpen work, exactly those things that were missing from the Tribe’s weekend set with the Blue Jays before the All-Star break.  In today’s B-List, Buff looks at the fickle nature of support, the value of a flying start, the last five Oriole hitters, and a short discussion of just what it was that bothered him so much about the three-game losing streak the Indians broke.

 

FINAL	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Indians (48-42)	3	0	1	0	0	4	0	0	0	8	11	0
Orioles (36-53)	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	4	8	0

W: Masterson (8-6)                      L: Guthrie (3-13)

 

I am thinking this “Buck Showalter Magic” thing might have been overstated.

 

0) Playing catch-up

 

After winning the first game of the 4-game set against the Jays, Cleveland managed to drop the next three in ways ugly, heartbreaking, and stupid.  The reason that the games seemed so disheartening was because they were in direct contrast to the team we’ve enjoyed so much in the first half of the season.

 

For example, one of the Hallmarks of the First Half was the Late Inning Heroics.  And sure enough, Saturday’s matchup seemed to be another chapter from thatr same book, when Travis Buck managed a two-out double to tie the score in the bottom of the 9^th.  However, the very next inning, the Indians coughed up the lead and went down meekly in the 10^th, suggesting the magic may not have an inexhaustible supply.

 

Another Hallmark of the First Half was Quality Start Josh.  Actually, technically, Josh Tomlin DID have a Quality Start on Saturday, in that only 3 of the 4 runs he allowed were earned.  Still, for the first nine games to start the season, Tomlin floated through the season never allowing a fourth run, and it was jarring to see him drop that form against the Jays at home, especially since it seemed like he’d righted him ship from his three-start ackage.

 

Carlos Carrasco’s Emergence as potential Ace was a third Hallmark, and his outing Sunday was just as poor as the outing he’d had before that.  After impressing mightily with his long scoreless-inning streak and his pair of 1-0 wins, Carrasco’s last two starts could hardly have been more worthless if he’d been named Mitch Talbot.

 

But the most troublesome failures of the weekend came from the unit that might have been the single most important component of First Half Success: the bullpen.  While no bullpen is flawless over an entire season, and there is no doubt that the ‘pen’s success this year has come from many different people over a very long time, the bullpen was flat-out awful on Friday and not partiularly good in any of the matchups.  Yes, they only gave up one run on Saturday … the WINNING run.  And they only gave up two on Sunday over six innings, which isn’t bad at all.  But Friday really WAS bad, including a meltdown by Vinnie Pestano that was his third terrible game in a row (6 runs allowed in 1 2/3 IP total).  He recovered to strike out the size on Sunday, leaving a glimmer of redemptive hope, but the group managed to take a huge strength and make it look like a moderate weakness.

 

To get back on track, most of these things have to break right for the Indians.

 

1) Return to form

 

And so, let us consider the work by the bullpen on Thursday night against the Orioles.  Are the Orioles an elite offensive team?  They are not.  But they have some quality hitters in the lineup, and three innings is a significant time to hold the fort.

 

Joe Smiff’s four-pitch walk of Nick Markakis does not qualify as a “quality matchup,” insofar as it was atrocious.  However, Smiff has a low arm slot, Markakis is left-handed, and is arguably the best hitter in the Baltimore lineup (at least in terms of AVG: his power has somehow become a wistful memory at this point).  Anyway, no harm, no foul, and Smiff finished his scoreless inning without giving up a hit.

 

Pestano rushed into the game in the 8^th, and could hardly have looked more overpowering.  While striking out Mark Reynolds is not noteworthy except for its non-noteworthiness, Pestano did get a fly out and a pair of swinging Ks to continue his success of Sunday’s outing.  While it’s as premature to suggest that Pestano is “definitely back on track” as it was to declare him “finished for the year” after three bad outings, it was certainly encouraging, as Perstano has now struck out five of the last six hitters he’s faced.

 

And then with a four-run lead preventing the use of All-Star Chris Perez, Tony Sipp sauntered to the mound, allowed exactly two foul balls in 17 pitches, and struck out the side (2 swinging) to end the game.

 

For those of you counting at home, that is 10 batters, 1 walk, 0 hits, and 5 Ks.

 

2) Stats Interlude

 

Vinnie Pestano’s 2.88 ERA is the highest of the four pitchers used in last night’s ballgame.  The sum of the four pitchers’ ERAs is 0.16 higher than the ERA of Mark Hendrickson.  Baltimore closer Kevin Gregg and his 3.31 ERA would arguably be a sixth-inning matchup guy in the Cleveland bullpen.  Also, Jason Berken is bad.

 

3) Welcome back!

 

Zeq Carrera returned to the Cleveland outfield while Mitch Talbot was sent to the DL with “back thingies.”  This prevents Talbot from being sent to Home Depot for some left-handed screws while the team bus leaves town without him.  Carrera got to wander around in right field some last night.

 

Lonnie Chisenhall returned to the lineup after breaking his nose.  He accomplished nothing whatsoever except keeping Luis Valbuena off the field for as long as he could, which he did splendidly.

 

4) Greed is greedy

 

So, how awesome is it that I can look at Justin Masterson’s third straight win in which he allowed 4 runs in 6 innings and posted an 8:1 K:BB ratio and proclaim this a “disappointment?”  Pretty cool, right?  Because not only does this speak to the high expectations I’ve developed for Masterson, but we actually gave him enough run support that 4 runs wasn’t a death knell for his chances of winning the game.

 

Truth be told, there was a lot to like about this start.  Masterson kept the ball in the park.  He struck out 8 guys in 6 innings.  He generated 15 swings-and-misses.  And while he did allow four doubles, he pitched out of a second-and-third with one out jam without a popout and a swinging K, and overcame an uncharacteristic flyball tendency that led to only 3 groundball outs, a ridiculous sum for Masterson.

 

On the other hand, four doubles is a lot of doubles, and he gave up two runs on a walk and two singles precisely because he uncorked a wild pitch before the second single.  Still, we’ve talked in the past about going ahead an pitching aggressively in the strike zone when you have the lead, and that’s what I’m chalking the 2 runs in the 6^th up to.  That, and sitting on the bench for an hour and a half as the Indians paraded around the bases in the to half of the frame.

 

I guess the point is, were Justin Masterson a gift horse, I’d be looking him in the mouth at this juncture.  I admit this may be crass.  Is it so wrong to have high expectations for a guy with a 2.80 ERA, though?

 

5) Two cylinders firing long

 

Asdrubal Cabrera proved thtat playing the All-Star game was such an emotional drain that it took him TWO pitches to hit a home run.

 

Carlos Santana decided that he would show Cabrera how it was done and homered on the FIRST pitch he saw.

 

And just like that, thanks to Captain Longball, the Indians were staked to a 3-0 lead they would never relinquish.

 

6) Two cylinders firing short

 

These three runs were actually one fewer than the Tribe managed in the 6^th inning, when the lads collected a total of four runs without a single extra-base hit (and only one walk).  The last three of these came on consecutive two-out singles by Mike Brantley, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Travis Hafner.

 

7) What is this “out” thing of which you speak?

 

Hafner reached base five times on the day with a pair of singles, a pair of walks, and a bruised ball.

 

8) Top-heavy

 

The 1-through-4 hitters in the Cleveland lineup went 8-for-17 with 2 walks, 5 runs, and 7 RBI.

 

The 5-through-9 hitters … did not.

 

(Actually, Grady Sizemore did get on base three times with a single and two walks, so he should probably be included in the “top” portion, but the original motivation here was a glance at the box score and seeing all those “2’s” in the H column.)

 

9) Minor quibble

 

Orly Cabrera grounded into a double play with the bases loaded and one out to end the 3^rd inning.  In other news, Charles Dickens dangled a participle in “A Tale of Two Cities.”