DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Indians 2021

Yay Reds!!

We need to start talking about the name change,

I’m with Guardians, it’s close to the word indians, call me naive but

I hope Cleveland baseball retains some sort of Native American influence.

I don't disagree, but in this case it was a dink move.

I don't disagree with that either. Unless a player has a verified injury, they shouldn't be able to wear that stuff.

To me, the batters box is lined 6 inches off the edge of the plate. To me the pitchers should be given that space. If a player gets hit in that space, the batter shouldn't be given the base. A ball should be called. Heck, maybe even call it a out.

We did discuss it briefly last December on the Indians 2020 thread:

https://www.dawgtalkers.net/ubbthreads.ph...ued#Post1827373

But feel free to make suggestions. I'm on record (as if anyone cares) as despising "Spiders". I'd be okay with one of the following:

Buckeyes
Bulldogs
Captains (Caps)
Cobras
Comets
Condors
Cougars
Coyotes
Lumberjacks (Jacks)
Monarchs

Jokingly I like the Cleveland Vampires. Bat night at the stadium would be Vampire bat night, And when they play bad we could yell "You Suck!"

On a serious side, I like the Cleveland Thunder.

Cleveland Thunder? Painesville teen wants to honor Native American ancestor with intriguing historical tale

Here is the link, the article is long.

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/...rical-tale.html

Someone not named Dave should compile a list of possible new names for the Indians from the 2020 thread and this thread and then post a poll in the K-9 Consensus forum.

History for Bieber with another 10-K effort

https://www.mlb.com/news/shane-bieber-makes-strikeout-history


Add some space in the Major League Baseball record books, because Shane Bieber needs some room to write his name beside yet another unprecedented achievement.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Bieber became the first pitcher to record at least 10 strikeouts in each of his first four starts of a season since 1893 in the Indians’ 6-3 victory over the Reds at Great American Ball Park on Sunday. And even though he had 13 K’s in eight innings, Bieber said he had no idea he had that many when he walked off the mound.

“Today was one of those days where it kind of just happened,” Bieber said. “I guess once you feel that rhythm and get the momentum moving forward, good things are gonna happen and, you know, I guess that's where everything kind of started stacking up.”

But no Bieber start can end with just one mind-blowing stat. On Sunday, he also became the first pitcher in franchise history to record six consecutive double-digit-strikeout performances, dating back to Sept. 17, and the 25-year-old right-hander found a way to join some elite company. His baker’s dozen of K’s brought his total to 48, which ties Nolan Ryan (1978) for the most through the first four appearances of a season since at least 1906.

“It's really fun to sit there and watch, especially now playing center field getting to see his pitches move and where they're moving,” outfielder Jordan Luplow said. “It's impressive. I'm glad I'm not in the box.”

Cleveland was in desperate need of two things: a break for its bullpen and a win. And when those two items are on the to-do list, there’s no one better to be able to take the field than Bieber.

“That's why you call guys 'aces,'” manager Terry Francona said. “And he's certainly lived up to that. He's really accountable for what he needs to do. It's nice when you had a tough night last night and you wake up this morning and you see him running out to the bullpen. That makes you feel a little better.”

Since Bieber’s last outing, the Indians have been on the wrong side of a no-hitter, had two starters get knocked out of the game before making an out in the third inning, had a triple play turned against them and lost because of a ninth-inning error. So, Bieber was determined to right the ship, and he did exactly that by turning in his fourth quality start of the year, allowing three runs on six hits and two walks with 13 strikeouts in eight innings.

“Sometimes you really and truly do need to give the other team credit,” Reds manager David Bell said. “Today there is no question that [Bieber] deserves some credit. That was outstanding. He is pretty special.”

Bieber ended the seventh inning with 10 strikeouts on 89 pitches. After his last start in Chicago, when he threw 113 pitches in a stellar nine-inning effort, it seemed safe to assume that he’d catch a little bit of a breather by ending his day right then. Instead, Bieber trotted back out to the mound in the eighth, recorded three more strikeouts on another 15 pitches (with a solo shot by Tyler Naquin mixed in) and saved the overtaxed bullpen from working an extra frame.

“The guy's just a damned good pitcher,” Reds left fielder Jesse Winker said. “He did his thing."

Bieber had his entire arsenal working for him once again. But even though he threw 38 heaters, it wasn’t until the last two batters he faced in the eighth that he recorded strikeouts on the four-seamer, on the verge of marking his first start since Aug. 9 (when he had eight strikeouts) that none of his K’s came on a fastball. Instead, his breaking pitches did the heavy lifting, as his curveball induced a 63% whiff rate and his slider prompted a 56% whiff rate.

“It's always nice knowing he's on the mound, that's for sure,” Luplow said. “He gives us a good chance to win every day.”

Cleveland’s offense provided some run support for its ace, giving him a four-run lead, which helped him grind through an extra inning of work in the eighth. Backed by homers from Luplow, Roberto Pérez and José Ramírez and yet another strong start from Bieber, the Indians are ready to put their 3-4 road trip behind them.

“Just on this road trip alone, we've been punched in the mouth a little bit,” Bieber said. “So, happy with how we've bounced back, responded, and it was a tough-fought road trip. We’re gonna continue that momentum, especially from today.”

wahoo! Biebs was rough and a joy to watch. Glad to see us win one. Reds are tough this year.

Indians will increase attendance capacity at Progressive Field in May, from the current 30% (approx 11,500) to 40% (approx 14,000).

https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2021/04/...40-for-may.html

The Indians really, really need to dump Jake Bauers. He's proudly holding that impressive .148 batting average, (and it may be even lower following today's game) and 1 single shiny RBI. He also has zero, yes zero runs scored. The only other Indians players with no runs scored ... are all pitchers.

I know they felt that he was going to be a big piece of the team's future, but unless we're playing some sick version of "Major League", he's not.

Ugh.

With a ton of hard work, he has that average down to an amazing .129. Wow!

You seem to be missing one of the most important things about Bauers - he grinds really hard.

He's ground my last nerve down to a nub.

I don't totally disagree, but at this point a players at bats are fairly limited. It doesn't take all that many hits to bring the average up in a big way in a fairly short period of time. By June you have a pretty good idea of where a player is going to be unless you are counting on that player having a scorching 2nd half to the season.

I'd give it 3-4 more weeks with Bauer, though I don't have big hopes. Unlike football, baseball is a marathon. I don't think April is the best look at a player.

If it was Bobby Bradley, I'd agree he needs more AB's before deciding whether he was going to hit, because Bradley has less than 50 AB's in the bigs. But Bauers has 726 AB's in the majors, a career BA of .211 and an OPS of .687, so I have a pretty good idea about his future prospects.

I agree.

Plus, yes, baseball is a marathon, and you can't win it all in the 1st couple of months, but you can lose it.

Bauers is scorching along at a .121 clip. Wow!

Team is hitting .207, dead last. Id send all our hitters except JRam and Reyes down to Columbus and bring up a whole new line-up of hitters. Couldn’t do any worse.

Who is/was worse Jake Bauers or Andrew Sendejo?

@Indians
RPs James Karinchak & Emmanuel Clase thru first 22 G of 2021:

JK: 0.00 ERA, 9.2 IP, 2 H, 2 BB/20 K

EC: 0.00 ERA, 10.1 IP, 7 H, 3 BB/12 K

*combined, the duo have allowed 2 XBH all season: a 2B (JK) & 3B (EC)

Average vs them: 9-for-71 (.127)

7 inning game folks

https://twitter.com/JLEWFifty/status/1387247066733232132

In between those HRs was a screaming grounder right over the pitching rubber into center field. Every hit was on the first pitch; 3 pitches, 2 HR and a single.

Buddy got us tickets to the Reds/Indians game next Saturday. We will be in section 128 row r, if anyone else is going and wants to meet up and grab a beer.

Remember when we thought the Indians' starting rotation was a team strength? No longer. Bieber has been great, Civale solid, Plesac hot and cold, while McKenzie and Allen have been hammered. Maybe trading Plutko for cash wasn't such a good idea.

Random:

I’d give my left arm to be ambidextrous.

https://twitter.com/Buccigross/status/1389024804473298946

Man, Frankie really struggled here last year, and he's struggling badly at the plate for the Mets. Mets just fired their hitting and assistant hitting coaches. I'm sure that they expected him to hit better than Jake Bauers.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mets-...t-vs-cardinals/

The struggles of New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor continued apace on Monday night as he went 0 for 4 with a pair of strikeouts and six runners left on in a 6-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals (box score).

While Lindor did manage a walk in the ninth off St. Louis closer Alex Reyes, he was hitless for a fifth straight game. He's now batting .163/.284/.209 with only home run and one double. In matters related, Lindor is now 0 for his last 21. That's the second longest hitless streak of his career, in terms of both games and at-bats. Not long after the game went final, the Mets announced the firing of hitting coach Chili Davis and assistant hitting coach Tom Slater. The safe assumption is that the struggles of Lindor played at least a small role in that decision.

Suffice it to say, this is well shy of what was expected from Lindor after the Mets in January acquired him via blockbuster trade with Cleveland. Compounding those expectations is that just before Opening Day, new owner Steve Cohen signed him to a $341 million contract extension, which gave Lindor the biggest contract ever for a shortstop.

Coming into the 2021 season, Lindor boasted a career slash line of .285/.346/.488. Throw in his stellar fielding at the vital position of shortstop and his worth on bases, and he's been one of the most valuable players in baseball over the course of his career. The sensible position is that he's eventually going to find his level, and 100 plate appearances of bottom-tier production isn't enough to change his near-, mid-, or long-term outlook. Negative perceptions are magnified because the struggles have happened at the outset of the season and because this is his first season with the Mets. Absent some unreported injury, he's going to be fine.

That said, you don't have to look to hard to find sources of concern. Consider:

He ranks in just the 40th percentile in MLB for average exit velocity off the bat.
Just 2.8 percent of his batted balls have graded out as "barrels," or the ideal combination of exit velocity and launch angle off the bat. That figure is in the 12th percentile in MLB.
While Lindor's expected batting average and slugging percentage are better than his actual batting average and slugging percentage -- how could they not be? -- he still ranks in the 32nd and 19th percentiles, respectively, in those measures.
His percentage of batted balls classified as "weak" is 8.3 percent, which is more than double the league-average figure.
Lindor's groundball rate is substantially higher than his career norms, and his pull percentage is substantially lower than career norms.
All this paints a picture of a hitter who's struggling badly to hit the ball with any authority. While the small sample size is again duly noted, many of those indicators above become meaningful pretty early in the season. This is deeply out of character for Lindor, who over the previous six seasons averaged 40 doubles and 29 home runs per game. At age 27, Lindor shouldn't be experiencing any sort of steep decline on this front.

j/c...

Credit where do (blind squirrel finds a nut)...

That was a wild game yesterday. Entertaining game and watching three Royals getting ejected.

Hrs, ejections, defensive errors, a balk, a Ramirez possibly getting intentionally beaned but it backfired and so on

Well they won again today 4-0, taking over the lead in the AL central, and the 4th best record in baseball, and Lindor is batting like .158.

Heck of a sweep

This was the first time in the 48-year history of Kauffman Stadium that the Indians swept a four-game series at the park. The last time Cleveland swept a four-game set in Kansas City, it was against the A’s in Municipal Stadium in 1960 — Tito Francona, the father of Indians manager Terry Francona, totaled five hits for Cleveland in that previous sweep.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ml...weep/115972818/