With all the hoopla regarding the Cavaliers first trip to the NBA Finals, the focus of the sports fan in Cleveland (as well as Cleveland Sports Perspective) has been on the wine and gold. However, our baseball team is in first place, too. The Tribe currently holds a one game lead over the defending AL Champion Tigers in the Central Division, despite a recent slump that has seen a 6-9 record in their last 15 games. Don’t look now, but the Indians are contenders.
There are several reasons for the Tribe’s recent struggles, but the biggest one is that the hitting has gone into a collective slump. In fact, the only Indians who have swung the bat consistently in June are Victor Martinez, Casey Blake, and Josh Barfield. Travis Hafner hasn’t had this much difficulty since he emerged as one of the game’s top sluggers in 2005. Ryan Garko is in a 2 for 37 slide. The left handed outfield platoon of Trot Nixon (3 for 35) and David Dellucci isn’t contributing, except for a couple of big hits by the latter in Cincinnati and Miami. The big banging Indians have hit just three home runs in their last eight games.
What has kept the Tribe afloat has been the dominant performance of C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona. When the offense isn’t clicking, you need to win the 1-0, 3-2 games and those two starters have done that often enough to keep Cleveland in first place. Jason Stanford also gave the team a huge lift holding the Marlins to one run in six innings to defeat Dontrelle Willis, 3-2. Good starting pitching keeps you away from long losing streaks, and that’s what has occurred for the Tribe.
One thing Eric Wedge can do to cure the offense is to bunch up the players who are hitting. It may just be the time to move Barfield into the #2 spot in the order, behind Grady Sizemore. Since the second baseman has been hitting over .300 since the middle of May, it would be a natural fit despite Barfield’s free swinging ways. It would also put two speedsters at the top of the order. The Indians also could give more playing time to Jason Michaels and Franklin Gutierrez who have been hitting better than the left handed counterparts. One has to be concerned about Nixon in particular because of his back problems and the declining production over the past few years.
The bullpen continues to be a concern as well. If the Tribe continues its winning ways, Rafael Betancourt’s arm may fall off by August. Betancourt is the only reliever Wedge will trust in a key situation. The only other guy the skipper has any faith in is Tom Mastny. The rest of the ‘pen is a question mark, although lefty Rafael Perez has done a great job in long relief. I think Wedge wouldn’t mind using Matt Miller, but he’s a Buffalo because he has options remaining. GM Mark Shapiro is furiously looking for more relief help and here’s hoping he will find a solution by the July 31st trading deadline.
Hafner and Garko will start to hit because their track record says so. However, how long can Martinez continue to put up numbers like he has. He will cool off at some point, as will Casey Blake. The pitching will hopefully get a boost when Jake Westbrook returns to the rotation, but the organization has to be a little nervous the way he has hurled in his rehab starts. The outfield and the bullpen are the biggest areas of question for the Cleveland Indians. Keep an eye on what happens in those spots. They will determine how far the 2007 Indians can go.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 