3 Games + 4 Runs = 1 Win

There isn't a lot to say about the final two games of this series, as the Tribe was awful on offense all series.  Going into the series the goal was to get to the struggling Astros bullpen, but instead we let their starters go deep into the games, rest their bullpen, and maybe help them moving forward the rest of the season.  Let me give you three lines that will sum up this series.

           IP  H  R ER BB SO HR PC-ST ERA
J Happ
(W, 6-7)    7.0 4  1 1   2  5 0 111-71 4.83
D Keuchel
(W, 1-0)    9.0 6  1 1   1 3  1 108-70 1.29
L Harrell
(L, 6-6)    7.0 2  1 1   3 9  0 104-59 4.77

The book is officially out on the Indians offense, and that is to throw lefties at them.  I know this isn't a new stat or crazy idea based on what we have seen the last few years, but since going into the season we featured a lineup with 2 switch hitters, one righty, and 6 lefties, I am guessing that right handers are the minority on the market, or somebody is just being really stubborn.  I mentioned in the opening game recap, that opponents can sometimes open their swings a bit trying to crank a ball in Minute Maid, but over three full games this is really bad.  Now you got to take a poor offensive series and forget it as you travel into Yankee Stadium where in order to win you HAVE to score.  Tough pill to swallow, but the offense needs short memories.  How about the two Astros I said to watch before the series started, here are their offensive stats.

Hitters      AB R H RBI BB SO  AVG
J Altuve 2B  10 1 2   1 0   2  +.001
C Johnson 3B 12 3 7   5 0   1  +.012

That's right, Altuve(who left Sunday early with an injury) and Chris Johnson equaled the runs scored of the entire Indians offense for the series, had more RBIs than the Indians and maybe even more hits too.  I am not saying I want these two guys over Kipnis or one of our 3 third basemen, but we need to have answers to players who you know going into a series will do some damage.  The Indians answered against every run the Reds scored, and we won those games, we got leads in every game of this series and could only win one of them.  Grimmace had a good series, and so did Choo, and A-Cab, but we need more.  Kipnis is slowing down, and that's ok, but somebody has to be able to pick him up the way he picked up the offense when Pronk/Santana went down.  Brantley is still hot at the plate, but it won't last forever, so where will runners come from?  Our walks are at a much slower pace than early in the season so maybe the book is out on us to pound the strike zone?  So be it, who can swing at a first pitch fastball and hit it hard?  The last game against the Astros we had 5 total hits, one of which was a bunt single by Derek Lowe.  Another was a single by pinch hitter Carlos Santana, so only 3 total hits by the starters.  Hold on, two of those were by Grimmace, so really only one starter not named Grimmace got a hit.  That's not going to do it.

Short memories guys, Monday starts a new day, and a meaningful series.  This could be a playoff preview, so lets ramp it up and see where we stand.  The Indians could have been looking ahead to NYC, which they shouldn't do, but it can happen.  This next series will show us how we fare against the playoff caliber teams, and with it where our biggest weaknesses are before the trade deadline.


By Daniel Hahn