DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum The 2016 Indians

And there's a 1pm Sunday afternoon game in Cleveland on tap with nice weather predicted and the Tribe's ace Cory Kluber starting.

And against the Mets. A team I get on my TV here in CT.

And a six pack of kielbasa in my fridge. (along with potato hotdog buns, muenster cheese, Dijon mustard and chips)

And a chance to go TWO games over .500 - something not done since 2014.

Yep, only one more ingredient for a perfect Sunday, April 17th afternoon.

Mats was a beast today for the Mets, that kid is just another great young arm we have to send out there.

I'm beginning to think it's not the "Cleveland Curse".

It's me.

I get all set-up: chips, cheese, hot peppers, tuna fish. I put on channel SNY ("Sports New York" - Mets baseball).

I'm gonna watch ace Cory Kluber go to town.

And right off the get go - he gives up 3 runs in the first and 3 more runs in the second (just in case I thought the Indians could easily recover from a 3 run deficit).

And of course the Tribe is shut-out.

Maybe I should renounce my Cleveland fandom and let the rest of you enjoy Cleveland sports.

Well, the important takeaway there is that the rest of us now know who to blame and hold accountable.

Tell ya what.

For $50, I'll start rooting for the Steelers.



rockyhillshesteel
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Rocky Hill, CT 06067

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This is the hardest part.

After being spoiled the first two weeks of the season (Indians vs. Red Sox, Mets - 5 TV games here)(and 2 games postponed)

The next certain Indians TV game here in CT (vs Red Sox) is May 20th.

My AC will surely run by then.

Great win by the Tribe tonight.

Tomlin is pitching well in his limited starts. Anderson will likely be moved out of the rotation if he continues on his current path.

Sanatana in the lead-off spot. I believe Dave mentioned this before the season. Tito listened.

Can't wait for Brantley to get back. i'd like to see Chisenhall relegated to late inning defensive substitutions and limit his plate appearance when possible.

Cleveland - 2 Detroit - 1

What an important win for so many reasons:

1) The recent 1-3 slide was halted (something that didn’t happen last April)
2) Stops the fall into the “below-.500 April abyss”. (that happened last April)
3) Tomlin continues to pitch well
4) A win from the bottom of the rotation bodes well as the “big 3” start the next games
5) The Tigers decimated us last April. Winning 5 out of 6 games.
6) We beat Verlander who has 18 wins against the Tribe.
7) Verlander pitched a good ball game (10 strikeouts, 2 runs allowed)
8) Road win against divisional opponent.

There were so many “reasons” to lose this game. But we didn’t.

Last night had an old-time feel to it for me. I remember being a kid watching Sam McDowell, Luis Tiant, and Sonny Siebert dueling with Denny McClain, Mickey Lolich, and Earl Wilson from old Tiger Stadium. I remember them going to extra innings in a pressure packed Friday night game, with the end coming on a Willie Horton bomb in the 11th or 12th. Like back then, I was waiting for the roof to cave in last night - but it didn't. Tomlin was masterful, and for a change, the bullpen did its job. Quality save for Cody Allen, getting Miggy, Victor, and JD Martinez in the 9th. I'm starting to believe in Tomlin, but will withhold judgement until he makes a second trip through the division. Indians have the Klubot going today and Carrasco tomorrow, so a good chance to win the series, or even to sweep.

Indians up 8-0 in the 3rd.

Nice way to get the offense going.

Hopefully this gets Kluber going too.

Kluber goes 8 dominant innings, with 10 K, for his first win of the year (1-3). Indians abused Anibel Sanchez with 7 runs on 9 hits in 2-1/3 innings for the series win, and a shot at the sweep tomorrow (Carrasco vs Greene).

We've only lost one series so far this season. We just need our bullpen to settle down, and for Cody Allen to find his stuff again.

Rookie Tyler Naquin is pacing the offense with his team leading BA of .310.

This is what that tells me - there's going to be a lot of frustrating losses this year.

Was it 12 shutouts last year?

Doesn't mean the Tribe won't do well. It's all part of Francona's plan to win as many games as possible with a below average team salary.

Here’s a few of the things I see as part of The Plan (I think):

1) Bypass expensive 30+/year home run hitters,
2) Eye pitchers with potential,
3) Develop good habits in young pitchers and play veteran pitchers to their strengths.
4) Manage the team to finish strong in September. (I think this is much more dynamic than it seems and Francona is very adept at posting winning records in September)

Indians' September record the last three seasons: 49-32. That's exactly 1/2 season (81 games) and "annualizes" to a 98-64 record.

Speaking of September records.

I think the FO bet on players they know can get streaky, show moments of productivity, and then return to their career average. Brantley's due back soon, too.

Also remember that the .300 of the juiced hitters era really is unsustainable. .280 is now the target for a good batting average.

You're exactly right. There were 20 hitters who batted .300 or above last year, and ironically, of those 20, 2 were Indians. (Brantley at .310 and Kipnis at .303) We also added Lindor, late last year, and he hit .313 after he came up to the Majors. There is reason to expect that he will stay around that area as a hitter. Ramirez looks like he has overcome his problems of last year, and continued his approach at the plate from last year after the All Star break, where he hit .259. That is encouraging as well, as he is only 23, and appears to be figuring it out at the plate.

We brought in 3 veteran hitters this year, Napoli, Davis, and Byrd, and so far each is doing about what their career numbers would indicate they should do. Well, we also brought in Cowgill, but he is already back in the Minors.

We will improve, offensively and defensively, when Brantley returns. With our pitching staff, we don't have to score 6 runs/game to win games.

I also think that this experiment of hitting Santana lead off could be interesting. I am curious to see if he continues to walk a lot as the lead off man, or if we gets into bad habits, trying to "get out of that spot" by trying to kill every pitch. If he continues to walk a lot, he could be a really interesting lead off man, with some pop. If it doesn't work, then drop him back into the bottom of the lineup.

Well, 4.5 runs-per-game-scored average so far. That's pretty middle-of-the-pack.

Last year we averaged getting shut-out every 13.5 games. This year so far, 1 shutout in 17 games.

The worst day in many years was Sunday, June 28th, 2015. The Tribe was shut-out in both games of a doubleheader in Baltimore.

What a tough Monday.

Omar Vizquel, on Francisco Lindor:

And Carrasco is down on the field. Has to be helped off the field. Hopefully only a hamstring and not the knee. Tom Hamilton sounds grim. Bauer taking over.

Sweep.

Carrasco headed back to C-town for an MRI. Best case is its a pulled hammy. Worst case is its torn. Fingers crossed, expecting the worst. Its the Cleveland way.

Early reports are they putting him on the 15-day DL. Hope he can make a quick recovery. Bauer is going to get his shot back in the rotation.

Great sweep of the Tigers!

I sure hope Tito doesn't send Naquin down when Brantley comes back.

Let's go sweep the Twins!

"Let's go sweep the Twins!"

That's the spirit MM! Don't let up. No mercy.

We lost more games to the Twins last year than any other team (12 losses).

Let's return the favor.

Cleveland Indians @Indians

NEWS: Cookie will be out 4-6 weeks w/hamstring strain.

He's been placed on DL; Michael Brantley has been activated.

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Tough loss tonight.

We battled back to tie the game in th 8th, only to watch McAllistar, one of our better relievers this year, give up a GWHR to a guy who had previously been something like 0-6 with 4 K prior today against him.

Ugh.

Just keep winning series. That's all we need to do.

Yep. I just like the chances of winning a series more when we take game 1. lol

j/c

Watching Cody Anderson labor through innings this season is frustrating. He needs some more time in AAA.

Also, Tito's has been a batter too late to make the call to the bullpen on several occasions and it's hurt the team on a few occasions.

This bullpen has some serious problems.

Two walkoff loses back-to-back. Ugh.

The Indians thought the same thing, too.

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Indians option Anderson to Triple-A, recall LHP Kyle Crockett. Wrote on this possibility and reasoning last night

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Tough finish to April 2016.

But still:

…………..April 2016….April 2015
…………...10-11………..7-14

Maybe we’ll start May with a bang.

We need “Hats for bats.”

looking like another typical indians season, steal a few but mostly can't compete due to being seriously bereft of talent.. yet the FO keeps their jobs.. The best thing that could happen to this team is a sale

It's been a month.

Our biggest issue is the bullpen. We can turn this around.

Ouch, don't get swept

Going into tonight’s game:

Josh Tomlin 4-0
Corey Kluber 1-3

Do you think Tomlin is giving Kluber advice?

“You need to lower your leg kick, shorten tour stride, grip the ball a litle tighter on your change-up, throw more curves early in the…”

I bet Kluber would appreciate that. Here’s some more 2016 stats:

…..….……..ERA……Opp, bat ave…….IP……..SO………...walks……….run support/9IP
Tomlin….…3.13…….…..258.…........23……..16……….…..2……….……….5.8
Kluber…….4.24.………..263….......…34……..35……..…….5…….………….3.1