Sam Hentges was broken as a starter in 2021. Reshaped himself as a dominant reliever in 2022. Now gives you three scoreless extra innings to win a postseason series. 7 whiffs on curveballs. Amazing.
Lost in the Naylor shuffle:
- Andres Gimenez solo HR and go ahead double in the 10th
- Jose Ramirez’s game saving diving play in the bottom of the 9th
- Owen Miller putting a textbook swing on 99 up to give Naylor the opportunity
The kids, they are fun
Kluber, Carrasco have been ineffective/injured. Clevinger has been injured. Bauer has been ineffective.
25% of their games have been started by Rodriguez/Plutko/Plesac/Civale.
The Indians have the 5th best ERA in baseball. Astonishing.
#Indians
records through 28 games under Terry Francona:
2013: 14-14
2014: 11-17
2015: 10-18
2016: 15-13
2017: 15-13
2018: 15-13
2019: 16-12
Perspective!
So, you got 19 innings of 1-run ball from three rookie pitchers against a really good offense and went 1-2
The 2023 Guardians keep setting the bar higher.
Jose Ramirez up to 3.5 fWAR, leading the American League. Matching Aaron Judge’s output at the plate and doing a bit more on the bases and with the glove. JRam now has 35 extra base hits and only 16 strikeouts in 2022.
One Indians playoff homer that doesn’t get enough love is the Coco Crisp job that essentially iced the 2016 ALDS at Fenway. Definitely DID NOT see that one coming.
There are 122 qualified hitters since the beginning of the 2022 season.
Myles Straw’s 66 wRC+ is 16.4% worse than the 121st best qualified hitter in that timespan.
Terry Francona has pinch hit for him approximately 0 times.
They fought. 15 fucking hits. Deflating HR blows. Looked poised to leave a small village on base. Contact ruled tonight, even if it took 26 outs. Amazing.
Michigan invited 7 players for official visits for the OSU game. Two of these players ended up at OSU and none of them at UM.
Things are going swimmingly in Harbaughland.
The Bieber vs Civale debate essentially comes down to… do you want a guy who has had recent shoulder issues taking on a short rest game knowing his efficiency will likely be severely impaired by said short rest?
More I sit on it, short-leash Civale has to be the play.
there is a significant complex that Cleveland has with national broadcasts, it’s wild. even most the inane commentary is perceived as a slight, I don’t get it. Costas/Darling have been entirely respectful of the Guardians.
Tyler Freeman isn’t some mediocre prospect. He’s a freaking blue chip that has shown glimpses through intermittent opportunity. Have no flipping clue why he’s being treated like he’s Max Moroff.
@Brandon_Warne
Cleveland opponents commit an error every 35.62 balls in play
Minnesota opponents commit an error every 35.58 balls in play
So Minnesota has had better error luck?
become kinda numb to the “MLB NEED BIG MARKET CLUB CUZ RATINGS” trash articles, but Heyman went above and beyond with this “cute midwestern story” garbage.
Jason Benetti claiming that Austin Hedges has a “Fuck yeah” button on his pitch com device that he presses when the pitcher makes a good pitch. Tremendous stuff.
Next At Home with Baker Mayfield commercial concept:
Baker and Jed Wills walk around the stadium in full pads booing ticket takers, ushers, and concession workers when they screw up
if you want to give up on Gabriel Arias, fine.
but don’t have him on the roster if you aren’t pinch hitting him for Myles Straw there. It’s a waste of a spot.
I’m not even a big Arias guy, just tired of seeing Myles Straw bat in late inning trailing situations.
So, Angel Hernandez incorrectly called a non-catch a catch, confusing Andrew Benintendi enough that he just waffled in between bases until he was tagged.
Umps convene and ... award Andrew Benintendi third base! After he was tagged out. Umpiring top notch in 2021.
How good is José Ramírez? Since 2016 FanGraphs values:
Offensive - 98th percentile
Defensive - 84th percentile
Baserunning - 99th percentile
Elite in every aspect of the game.
This is why only Mike Trout and Mookie Betts have more fWAR since 2016.
The truly epic part of all of this is Josh Naylor coming back with a 3-run homer 2 innings after SHUSHING the Chicago crowd after his 9th inning grand slam to tie the game.
I’m not even sure I believe what I just typed and I just watched it occur.
I am just not that pessimistic about the state of Cleveland baseball. They’ll take some lumps this year, as they have. But guys like Kwan, Miller, Gimenez are exciting developments for April…
16-6 with a +52 run differential. Maybe the schedule has been light, but it doesn’t matter. The path to winning a division title is beating up on bad teams and splitting against good teams. Couldn’t ask for a better Guardians start.
Tony La Russa just intentionally walked Oscar Gonzalez with 2 outs and a 1-2 count. This guy should coach the White Sox FOREVER. Hysterical ineptitude.
Browns fans spent the last two decades contorting themselves into believing the football team had a chance. And are now extremely worried about how a team played while winning by 20.
remaining Guardians games are all important, but Tues/Wed/Thurs at Chicago are king
- get swept: let White Sox control their destiny, in essence
- win 1/3: in the driver’s seat due to h2h tiebreaker
- win 2/3: doing your job, making it very difficult on CHW
- sweep: end them
If Jose Tena improbably makes it as a big leaguer, the best piece of trivia ever will be that his MLB debut was pinch running for Jose after he dropped Tim Anderson.