A Quest Called Tribe

Well, now the Indians have lost five of six.  I could talk about how pathetic they have been at the plate.  During the span the team is hitting .212 (40-189) and has struck out significantly more often (51 times) than they have gotten a hit.  Or I could cite the starting pitching.  The rotation has taken every decision, so they are 1-5, but more staggering is how awful the five have been in doing so.  Over 32 innings they have allowed 33 earned runs.  That equals a 9.28 ERA.  Opposing batters have rapped out 49 hits in 133 official at bats.  That is a .368 OBA.  Add in 10 walks and just 19 strikeouts and the WHIP shakes down to 1.84.  Ugh.

One would think that these numbers could accurately relay just how bad a team could play, just how bad the Indians have been playing for the last week.  That is to say, the boys certainly could not have been performing worse than the statistics indicate, right?  Sadly, yes they could, yes they can, yes they have.  I am going to boil this down to just one play.  Stop me if you've heard this one.  Bases loaded, one out.  Your "ace" (we'll get back to that) has let four runs in, but your team is only down three and it's still early.  Let's say your team has lost, oh, four of five and sorely needs a win.  A tailor-made double play ball, the kind that would end the inning, kill this rally, is batted right to you.  Whoops, you bobble it, but you can still get one.  Whoops, you drop it and the ball rolls a foot away.  Ok, that's only one more run.  What do you do now with the opposition's fleetest afoot rounding third?  If your name is Orlando Cabrera you lazily scoop up the ball and toss it from hand to hand.  Also, and this is the most important part, no matter what else happens, keep your back to the infield.  Never for a second consider that Rajai Davis is jogging home and embarrasing not only you, but your entire team as the score gets out of hand.  That, my friends, is what the last six games have felt like, that play, that one play, for 54 innings.

So, if coming into the game, I had told you that one team was sending its nominal ace to the hill versus a guy who had not won a game since June of 2008, a span of 28 starts.  Who would you have given the edge to?  The key word in the question is "nominal."  In case you are wondering, because I had only a vague understanding of the term for years, it means "in name."  Like House of Payne is called a "situation comedy," but I have never laughed while watching it.  That is to say, Fausto Carmona is not an ace.  He does not compare well to the aces of other teams and I would go so far as to say that he is not the best starting pitcher in the rotation (we'll save the debate on who is for another time).  Fausto's record dipped to 3-6.  One way to look at that is that he is only three games under .500.  Another way is to say that he has lost twice as many as he has won.  His ERA has ballooned to 5.31.  Some will say that these are poor measures of a pitcher's performance, that there is too much luck involved. I say baseball is about winning games and the easiest way to win a game is to score more runs than the other guys.  Maybe it's time to call Fausto something other than our ace.

Have I mentioned recently that I hate losing?  Remember that guy who had not won a start since the Bush administartion?  Well, JoJo Reyes threw the first complete game of his career and limited the Tribe to a single run.  But at least Chad Durbin got to give up a couple of garbage runs.  That keeps his season long streak of crappy pitching alive.  Nice.

Let's get those kids up.  Super two concerns should be moot by week's end.

Cheers.