I didn't get to watch much of the White Sox series over the weekend,
because it was Memorial Day and since I am based out of Indianapolis, it
was Indy 500 weekend. So the Indians got swept by those evil White Sox,
and the losses weren't the biggest part of the weekend. Yes getting
swept pulled Chicago to within a half game of first. However, let me
share the other losses of the weekend.
Jack Hannahan - 15 day D.L (Calf) - Saturday
Carlos Santana - 7 day DL (Concussion) - Saturday
Asdrubal Cabrera - Day to Day (Hamstring) - Friday
Travis Hafner - Day to Day (Knee) - Thursday
Lou Marson - Day to Day (Hit by pitch in the face) - Sunday
And just like that, what was going along smooth as a fairly healthy
season has changed, and now the depth of the Indians roster will be
tested. All season I have said, as long as the Indians are healthy they
can contend, well the good news is that other than the Santana
concussion, none of these injuries should be lingering for the rest of
the season, and they are all relatively short in duration. Before we
discuss the Royals game on Memorial Day, let me introduce you to their
replacements.
Catcher - Luke Carlin - I know very little about this guy, but he was in
Columbus the last few seasons, so he will be familiar with Tomlin,
Masterson, and Gomez when their turns in the rotation happen. Good news
is that Marson could have played on Monday, but he did get hit in the
face by a pitch, so an extra day was needed.
SS - Juan Diaz - Called up from AA Akron to spell Cabrera at SS. I am
guessing Jason Donald is hurt or out of options because I would have
assumed he would get the call-up from AAA, however the Indians went with
their AA SS. Bold strategy, he is really tall, and plays solid defense.
Showed some good offense as well with solid A.Bs and seems to be getting
better the more times he is at the plate. Defensively, he is MLB ready.
3B - The Manahan missing time just means more starts for Jose Lopez. I
am ok with that, he is right handed and has pop.
DH - The Indians tried the struggling Shelley Duncan and Johnny Damon at
DH against the White Sox, and when that didn't work, on Monday they
called up a VERY INTERESTING player named Lonnie Chisenhall. Chisenhall
is also rocking a fumanchu as well, so that means he could be up here to
stay.
Now to the game...
The Monday home opener vs. Kansas City was a big one for the Indians,
the White Sox just swept us and pulled within a half game, Josh Tomlin
was making his first start since May 7th, and the Indians lineup looks
like it was patched together with scotch tape. For example, Jose Lopez
was our cleanup hitter, and Grimmace is hitting 5th. I LOVE the 1-3
order though, Choo - Brantley - Kipnis. Those are our three hottest
hitters(and really only MLB regulars), and Kipnis is hitting .500 over
his last 6 games, so he is an RBI machine right now. This game proved
no different, Kipnis and Lopez combined for 5 RBIs in the Indians win.
That's the way you want the lineup to work, the top guys get on, and the
3-4 hitters hit them in.
The scoring started in the 2nd inning when Josh Tomlin walked Jeff
Francoeur, and the next hitter was Eric Hosmer who took a good pitch
over the wall in RF to make it 2-0 KC. Josh Tomlin has been the same
pitcher ever since his call-up, and has really only one flaw to his
game, and that is the long ball. Last season he allowed A LOT of solo
HRs, this year he is lucking out with solo HRs again, but this time was
one of examples that you have to be careful with Tomlin, if he walks
guys(which he rarely does) runs can pile up on him in a hurry.
Tomlin would get out of the 2nd, and the the Indians were unable to
respond until the bottom of the 3rd when Lonnie Chisenhall made his
return to the MLB team. On his first swing he sent a laser into the
Royals dugout to make it 2-1. Yes he was rocking amazing 70's dirty
movie facial hair, and while he was in AAA to work on his patience, he
really looked great on that swing. Chisenhall would go 2-4 yesterday
with no K's, and looked really comfortable at the plate. I am not
saying he is going to stay up here when everyone gets healthy, but The
Manahan needs to get off the DL fast, because Lopez and Chisenhall look
pretty close to everyday starters.
The inning wasn't over yet, as Royals starter Luke Adcock would get into
more trouble with walks and singles by Carlin, Choo, and Brantley. With
the bases loaded a single by Jason Kipnis made it 3-1(scoring Carlin and
Choo), and then a funny play happened. Jose Lopez bounced a ball off
the plate and sent it high into the air, he was safe at 1st, Brantley
scored(4-2), but Kipnis took a long turn at 2nd thinking 3B Moustakas
would throw to first, instead Moustakas held the ball and caught Kipnis
in a rundown, Kipnis barrel rolled under the glove of Moustakas and made
it to third. Clearly, Kipnis didn't not escape the tag, but the umpire
must have been out of position because he didn't see it apparently, and
all runners were safe. It was a break for the Indians, and Grimmace
capitalized singling on the next A.B and scoring Kipnis to make it 5-2,
and it also sent Adcock to the showers.
Tomlin had been cruising when we get to the top of the 5th inning and
then his command would get shaky yet again. It started with a Bryan
Pena HR on a hanging changeup (5-3), and then Jerrod Dyson would line a
pitch into the RF corner for a triple, but Choo loves his arm and
decided to air mail the throw all the way to 3rd, but it was offline and
bounced into the stands behind 3rd, so Dyson scored on the errant
throw(5-4). The Indians were able to respond in the bottom of the 5th
though, and Jose Lopez lined a ball off of the LF wall scoring Kipnis
from 2nd, but Lopez was gunned down trying to get a double(6-4). First
of all, it should have been a double, but Lopez started out of the
batter's box slow thinking he hit a HR, and Alex Gordon is too good to
make that into a double when you don't run hard.
After the 5th, the Indians shut down Tomlin just to be cautious since he
didn't make any rehab starts, and they turned the 6-4 lead over to the
bullpen who once again had no problems. Yes I am not giving a lot of
insight about the 6th inning on, but our bullpen is really good, and a 2
run lead is plenty for them. Perez iced his 17th straight save, and we
sent the best of the mafia out too, Joe Smith, Nick Hagadone, Vinnie
Pestano, and Perez.
Indians win 8-5
Hahn Thoughts:
- Lonnie Chisenhall gets some starts for the short-term, and if he hits
the ball well he will still go back to AAA. What that will mean though,
is the Indians could use his good play as a reason to trade Jose Lopez
if there is a person of interest out there for them to acquire. Moving
Lopez opens the door for Chisenhall to take over at 3B should Manahan
struggle upon his return, or remain injured.
- I am very worried about the Santana concussion. It is a concussion,
and he takes a lot of head shots as a catcher. Grimmace is playing a
lot better offensively, so you figure Santana won't get as many starts
at 1B like he did last season, so he has to catch.
- Carlin, Diaz, and Chisenhall all look like guys who could serve roles
in the MLB. Carlin and Diaz would make fine back-ups, and Chisenhall
should be a starter eventually here in Cleveland.
- Choo, Brantley, and Kipnis have to carry this team offensively while
we have the other guys out of the lineup, and luckily for us they are
all hitting their best right now, and Choo can carry any offense when he
gets it really going.
Hitters AB R H RBI BB SO #P AVG OBP SLG
S Choo RF 4 1 1 0 1 1 22 .268 .385 .408
M Brantley CF 3 2 1 1 1 0 15 .273 .311 .377
J Kipnis 2B 4 2 3 2 0 0 18 .285 .343 .461
J Lopez 3B 4 0 2 3 0 0 15 .260 .299 .425
C Kotchman 1B 4 0 1 1 0 0 12 .220 .298 .327
J Damon LF 3 0 0 0 0 0 13 .152 .239 .228
A Cunningham LF 1 0 1 0 0 0 5 .208 .300 .245
L Chisenhall DH 4 1 2 1 0 0 11 .500 .500 1.250
L Carlin C 4 1 2 0 0 1 15 .500 .500 .667
J Diaz SS 4 1 1 0 0 1 23 .273 .385 .273
Totals 35 8 14 8 2 3 149
BATTING
HR: L Chisenhall (1, 3rd inning off N Adcock 0 on, 0 Out)
RBI: L Chisenhall (1), J Kipnis 2 (30), J Lopez 3 (14), C Kotchman (16),
M Brantley (20)
GIDP: J Diaz, L Carlin
Indians RISP: 6-12 (M Brantley 1-1, L Chisenhall 0-2, S Choo 0-1, J
Lopez 2-3, A Cunningham 1-1, J Kipnis 1-1, J Damon 0-1, C Kotchman 1-2)
Team LOB: 5
BASERUNNING
SB: J Kipnis (9, 2nd base off L Mendoza/B Pena); M Brantley (8, 3rd base
off J Mijares/B Pena)
FIELDING
E: J Kipnis (3, throw)
DP: 2 (J Diaz-J Kipnis-C Kotchman, J Lopez-J Diaz-C Kotchman).
Cleveland Indians
Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR PC-ST ERA
J Tomlin
(W, 2-2) 5.0 4 4 4 2 4 2 81-53 4.99
J Smith
(H, 8) 0.2 1 0 0 0 1 0 9-7 3.86
N Hagadone
(H, 1) 1.1 1 1 1 1 0 0 20-14 2.35
V Pestano
(H, 13) 1.0 1 0 0 1 2 0 19-10 2.18
C Perez
(S, 17) 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 9-9 2.66
Totals 9.0 7 5 5 4 8 2 138-93
PITCHING
First-pitch strikes/Batters faced: J Tomlin 14/20; J Smith 3/3; N
Hagadone 4/5; V Pestano 2/5; C Perez 3/3
Called strikes-Swinging strikes-Foul balls-In Play strikes: J Tomlin
12-5-22-14; J Smith 3-1-1-2; N Hagadone 4-1-5-4; V Pestano 3-3-2-2; C
Perez 5-0-2-2
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: J Tomlin 7-4; J Smith 1-0; N Hagadone 4-0; V
Pestano 0-1; C Perez 2-0
Game Scores: J Tomlin 45
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