Stanek wasn't kidding: the Indians have indeed been good so far this season. (I have a habit of causing sports teams to hit slumps by being confident they are better than so and so and will win, so I am attempting to keep this post in the past tense and will refrain from making predictions). Today they just finished a 3-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds, not too shabby of a feat by itself. And in that series we saw a little bit of everything. Tomlin won a pitching duel yesterday against Homer Bailey, dealing him his first loss of the season; today they jumped on Volquez's shaky outing and didn't quit when the relievers came in, soundly beating the Reds to make up for Carrasco's below average start; and they didn't give up Friday with their comeback victory despite being down four runs into the sixth inning.
The series against the Reds typified Cleveland's season as a whole: they have found ways to win the game. On days where their offense wasn't stellar their pitching stepped up, and vice versa. Pitchers like Tomlin and Masterson have really found a groove and have had surprise years so far, and Carrasco and Carmona are keeping us in games (with a few exceptions). The lineup is producing when they need to, which has been occurring pretty much across the board - made all the more more important with Choo's struggles early on and the DL issues we've had with Grady Sizemore and now Travis Hafner. There have been a lot of pleasant surprises (especially with the lineup), and even more importantly it seems to me like they are working as a team, finding ways to win even if their go-to guy isn't doing it that night.
They've had their share of good luck and weak opponents, but we were supposed to be one of those weak teams too. Our age is another reason for optimism - we have a lot of young players who are learning early on that even in the majors the game isn't over until the final out. How will the season end up? Well it's a hell of a long road to October, and I refuse to predict how the next months will go and end up ruining another team's chances of winning (I'm only sort of kidding). But the past two months have been fun regardless of the end result.
The series against the Reds typified Cleveland's season as a whole: they have found ways to win the game. On days where their offense wasn't stellar their pitching stepped up, and vice versa. Pitchers like Tomlin and Masterson have really found a groove and have had surprise years so far, and Carrasco and Carmona are keeping us in games (with a few exceptions). The lineup is producing when they need to, which has been occurring pretty much across the board - made all the more more important with Choo's struggles early on and the DL issues we've had with Grady Sizemore and now Travis Hafner. There have been a lot of pleasant surprises (especially with the lineup), and even more importantly it seems to me like they are working as a team, finding ways to win even if their go-to guy isn't doing it that night.
They've had their share of good luck and weak opponents, but we were supposed to be one of those weak teams too. Our age is another reason for optimism - we have a lot of young players who are learning early on that even in the majors the game isn't over until the final out. How will the season end up? Well it's a hell of a long road to October, and I refuse to predict how the next months will go and end up ruining another team's chances of winning (I'm only sort of kidding). But the past two months have been fun regardless of the end result.
Well TJ, I blame you for that unfortunate showing today.
ReplyDeleteThat was... definitely an unfortunate showing. My bad, everyone!
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