The Cleveland Indians had a pretty good home stand, winning a pair of series, one over the Minnesota Twins and the other against the San Diego Padres, both taking two out of three. The biggest reason for the resurgence is the offense, which seems to be showing signs of life, getting more than four runs in four out of the six games played at Progressive Field. How and why is this happening?
It seems odd to say this, but the elimination of the injured Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner from the lineup has helped. Martinez was an all-star last season, and one of the best offensive catchers in the game over the past four years, but with his injured elbow and hamstring, he was a shell of his former self. Since Kelly Shoppach replaced Martinez, he has hit two home runs, two more than Victor has hit all season. Since the beginning of May, Victor Martinez has been virtually a .200 hitter with no power. What Shoppach did this week is indeed an upgrade offensively.
Having Pronk out has opened the door for more playing time for Shin-Soo Choo, and so far he has responded with 8 extra base hits and 8 walks in 14 games. Hafner had 13 extra base knocks and 23 walks in 46 games played. Therefore, Choo is already close to Pronk’s power numbers in less than one-third of the playing time. The last two games against the Padres featured Franklin Gutierrez in the lineup over David Dellucci even though San Diego threw two right-handers.
Another reason for the improvement at the plate is that Asdrubal Cabrera and his .180 batting average is no longer in the batting order. It was reported that Eric Wedge had to be convinced to send the youngster to Buffalo, because the skipper loved his defense. Once again, it doesn’t matter how good someone is defensively, they cannot play regularly in the big leagues batting .180. Jamey Carroll is now hitting .280, which is 100 points higher than Cabrera. That makes a big difference to the Tribe, or any big league team for that matter.
Basically, at this point, the Indians have replaced three dead spots in their batting order with three people who are hitting average to above average in the last week. That’s one third of the lineup. This is not to say the Indians are once again the team to beat in the AL Central. However, it does put them just 5-1/2 games behind the White Sox. Heck, even the Tigers have played themselves back in the race in this division where no one can put together any consistency.
Now, can someone please explain to us why Edward Mujica is still on the roster, let alone pitching with the game on the line Saturday night? The young man might have a lot of potential, but right now, he gives up base hits by the carload. Even in games’ where he doesn’t allow a run, he still usually gives up a couple of hits. Why wouldn’t Wedge use Rick Bauer, who saved 15 games in AAA in a 3-3 game in the 10th inning? This is just another case of the skipper having no confidence in Bauer, so he gets ignored.
Can the Indians keep hitting this week on the road against the Rockies and Dodgers? We shall see. The issues to watch this week are the pitching of Paul Byrd and Jeremy Sowers. Byrd leads the AL in homers allowed, and will pitch in Coors Field. Sowers has been struggling but has had some odd circumstances (like a 2-1/2 hour rain delay or two extra days of rest) in his last two outings. We also get to see C.C. Sabathia bat in Los Angeles next weekend.
KM
Cleveland Sports Perspective 