The Chicago White Sox sweep of the Cleveland Indians over the weekend means the Tribe has now lost nine of their last ten games, and is now only two games over the .500 mark at 47-45. That’s the bad news. The good news is the team is still only three games out of the American League Wild Card chase.
As usual, it is much too early to look at the Wild Card standings on a day by day basis. But, it is too early to write off the Indians because they lost four games to the team with the best record in baseball. I don’t think Major League Baseball will deny Cleveland entry in the playoffs because they have a bad record against good teams. Much has been made about the White Sox 30-5 record against the Central Division teams. The Indians have pinned three out of the five losses on the Pale Hose. That means the Twins, Tigers, and Royals are a combined 2-20 versus Chicago. Why is there no hand wringing about the Twins lack of success against the Sox?
What was disturbing about the four straight losses at home by Cleveland was the lack of hitting. The Tribe scored just three runs off the White Sox starters in the four games. Manager Eric Wedge and GM Mark Shapiro can play Dusty Springfield records ("Wishin’ and Hopin’) all they want, but he still is not getting any offense at three positions. Jody Gerut has apparently been benched in right for Casey Blake, who has less RBI’s on the season than Aaron Boone. Gerut has not shown much pop this year, but he does get on base. Perhaps moving him to the leadoff spot and dropping Grady Sizemore into a run producing spot would jump start the offense.
Ben Broussard looked feeble at the plate during the series, and is hitting just .210 since the end of May. If Shapiro can’t get a first baseman in a trade, perhaps the recall of Ryan Garko is imminent.
Wedge gets a lot of flack for not bunting, but you have to get guys on base with no one out to do that. The past few games, any rally the team starts is with one or two outs. It is up to the players to get runs home. Ronnie Belliard knows to get a run home with less than two outs, but isn’t patient enough to wait for a pitch he can elevate.
This team still needs to do the things listed in a previous blog. There is still plenty of time left to do it, and who knows, a week from today, the Indians could be just a game out of the playoffs. The big picture says the Tribe is still a playoff contender.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 