It’s interesting to note the Indians PR department is no longer charting the standings from some arbitrary date. This is probably because the Tribe has lost 12 of their last 15 games since August 30th, confirming the fact that they are, indeed, a bad baseball team.
The Indians are now 21 games below the .500 mark and a 90-loss season is becoming more of a reality everyday. They also received bad news on the power arm said to be the key to the Cliff Lee trade, as young right-hander Jason Knapp will need arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder to clean out some “loose bodies”.
Knapp may wind up being what the Tribe thought when they acquired him, but it’s another blow to a management team that quite frankly hasn’t had a good year the past couple of seasons.
Especially when you figure in that the front office has been very smug lately, dismissing critics with an attitude of “you don’t have a clue what you are talking about”. This is the same front office, which has given fans dog seasons three of the last four years.
Another example of this is the non-recall of Jordan Brown. The Indians have said they are not a “rewarding organization” in their defense of not bringing up the Columbus first baseman. Actually, they are correct about that. They haven’t rewarded their fans with a consistent winner since 2001.
Brown may not ever turn into an everyday major league player, but he deserved to get some playing time based on hitting .335 at the AAA level. However, it’s another example of the Tribe brass thinking they are the only people who know baseball.
The Colorado Rockies, who turned their season around with a managerial change, have been the focus of many media stories because of this turn around. When quizzed about the revival, Jim Tracy said he told his club to be more aggressive, and he decided to go with a set lineup. A set lineup? What a revelation! This is the opposite approach to the Indians, who seemingly have a different lineup everyday.
Look at how many first basemen this team has used this season as starters: Victor Martinez, Ryan Garko, Mark DeRosa, Matt LaPorta, Chris Gimenez, Andy Marte, and Niumann Romero. Keep in mind that Eric Wedge also mentioned Jhonny Peralta playing there as well.
At one point this season, it appeared the manager threw the names into a hat and pulled out a position and a name to make out the lineup. As recently as a week and a half ago, the skipper was still moving Shin-Soo Choo around from right field to left field depending on the ballpark they were playing in.
On another note, there was much ado about Derek Jeter breaking Lou Gehrig’s hit record for the fabled New York Yankee franchise. Would there be as much hubbub if it were the Tribe team record falling? The Indians current franchise hit leader is Napoleon Lajoie, who had 2026 hits while wearing a Cleveland uniform. This record wouldn’t get as much coverage.
It does point out how teams like the Indians can’t hold on to its star players. Surely, Lajoie’s record, as well as most of the team’s batting marks for a career would have been surpassed had guys like Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez played the balance of their baseball in an Indians’ uniform.
Lajoie was a great player, but these kinds of moments are just another thing fans of mid-market franchises are denied. It’s the sad side of the game.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 