On July 4th, the Cleveland Indians sat on top of the AL Central Division with a 51-33 record. Today, they still have a 1/2 game lead, but they have gone 11-16 since our nation’s birthday. That’s how the last 1/6 of this season has gone. Included in the 16 defeats are three by a 1-0 score, including yesterday’s game at The Metrodome. In this span, the Tribe ranks 10th in the AL in runs scored ranking ahead of only Oakland, Toronto, Texas, and Minnesota. This is not a one or two week thing. This has gone on for a month now, and there is no light on the horizon.
In their last four games, the Indians have allowed 0, 2, 3, and 1 run. You have to win all these games if you want to make the post season. The pitching staff did their job. However, Cleveland has won just two of those games, dropping the last two. How many times in those games did the "little ball" fail them. Getting guys to second with no one out and stranding them there. It occured twice yesterday as Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner lead off the fourth with singles, but Ryan Garko struck out, Trot Nixon fouled out, and Jhonny Peralta flew out. Then in the sixth, Garko doubled, and then Nixon, Peralta, and Barfield failed to advance runners. Again, these are mistakes contenders cannot make.
It’s time for a shuffling of the lineup. With Kenny Lofton aboard, Grady Sizemore should hit lower in the batting order. The Indians’ best hitters are in no particular order: Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner, Sizemore, and Ryan Garko. Lofton can still get on base. Those guys should be together in the batting order. I must also reiterate our plea for Franklin Gutierrez to play everyday. The ballclub scored five runs off of lefties (including Johan Santana) on Thursday and Friday with the young outfielder contributing. They have to get him in there on an everyday basis.
Also, Eric Wedge’s stubbornness with regard to Casey Blake must end. The team is scuffling and Wedge puts Blake in the #3 spot, usually reserved for a team’s best hitter. Let’s be perfectly clear about this: If Casey Blake is hitting in the middle of your order, YOU ARE NOT A GOOD HITTING TEAM!!!! Hitting him second does make some sense since he takes a lot of pitches and can hit the ball to the right side. But, he shouldn’t hit third, fourth, or fifth for that matter. It seems that whenever the skipper sees something wrong with the batting order, Blake is the cure.
Here is the lineup I would use going forward:
LF Lofton
RF Gutierrez
CF Sizemore
C Martinez
DH Hafner
1B Garko
3B Blake
SS Peralta
2B Barfield
If Mark Shapiro doesn’t get a leadoff hitter over the winter, you can still move Sizemore back in spring training. Also, if you are going to sit Lofton against southpaws, then slide Gutierrez into the top of the order (he lead off at Buffalo) and put Jason Michaels in the #2 hole where he hit all last season. If nothing else, this move would shake up the squad, something that is needed to jolt the Indians out of their month long malaise.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 