Guardians Failing In All Aspects Right Now

The Cleveland Guardians are close to reaching the 1/3rd point of the season, so claims that it is “still early” are ringing hollow. Right now, there are more negatives about certain facets of the ballclub than positives.

The offense has been abysmal, ranking last in the American League in runs scored, behind even to woeful Oakland A’s, and a quarter run per game behind the next lowest squad the Detroit Tigers.

The league average OPS is 721 and the Guards have exactly one player above average, their perennial all-star Jose Ramirez. The players who rank behind Ramirez(804) are Steven Kwan (678) and Josh Naylor (670).

That is, of course, unless you count Tyler Freeman in his 20 plate appearances. Freeman sits at 771 in a very, very small sample size.

As a team the Guardians are last in OPS and slugging percentage and are 13th in on base percentage. It doesn’t take a genius to tell anyone that if you don’t get players on base and once they are on, you cannot move them, you are going to have a problem scoring runs.

They pride themselves on making contact, but too often they aren’t very patient at the plate. Last night, Will Brennan’s first plate appearance involved Cardinals’ pitcher John Flaherty making five pitches to get him out, and not one was a strike.

The pitching staff is respectable, ranking 7th in the AL in staff ERA, but the bullpen has been a big issue as of late, and the signs tell us Terry Francona is losing a bit of faith in his relief corps.

Last Sunday, he allowed Shane Bieber to go the distance in spite of having a jam in the bottom of the 8th inning. Bieber also stayed in perhaps one hitter too long Friday, walking an extra hitter, before Trevor Stephan came on.

Stephan had to be relieved in the bottom of the 8th after getting into trouble, but thankfully, Enyel De Los Santos got a double play grounder.

James Karinchak has walked 16 in just 21.1 innings. So, he can’t be used in a close game unless there is absolutely no other option.

Closer Emmanuel Clase leads the league in saves with 17, and also he’s not walking people (5 in 25 IP) and not giving up the long ball (just 1 HR allowed), his strikeouts are down (18) and the balls put in play are finding holes.

Cleveland relievers are giving up the long ball in bunches, and last weekend’s series in New York was a microcosm, as home runs allowed changed the course of two games.

There is an old baseball axiom the says, you show me a bad bullpen and I will show you a bad team.

The defense also hasn’t been up to par. Amed Rosario has messed up some routine plays and the wild pitch epidemic continues, the Guardians were 11th in this category a year ago, and sixth this year.

And in trying to create time for Gabriel Arias, he’s playing rightfield and let’s just say the inexperience shows every so often.

Also, because the hitters cannot get on base, Cleveland cannot use the running game. The Guardians had two stolen bases twelve times in their first 27 games. In the last 23 contests, they’ve done it just once.

Right now, the Guardians are lacking in every aspect of the game. Yet, they are still just 4.5 games out of the division lead. We are getting to the point in the season where patience and stubbornness is becoming one.

Lots Have Gone Wrong For Guards, But They Are Hanging In

This season certainly hasn’t been easy for the Cleveland Guardians so far. The offense has sputtered, ranking last in the American League in runs scored per game.

They are last in the AL in home runs and aren’t really close to the team with the second least dingers, the Detroit Tigers (Cleveland has 23, Detroit 31). They don’t strikeout but are only eighth in the league in walks.

Terry Francona’s teams are usually second half teams and if the 2023 Guardians are going to make the playoffs and/or win the Central Division title, they will have to be that again.

The hitting did show signs of life over the weekend, well, at least Josh Naylor and Amed Rosario did. Still, the Guardians need Andres Gimenez, Josh Bell, and that duo to get hot over a period of longer than three games.

The Guards have had 28 of their 40 games decided by one or two runs, a whopping total and one that, if it continues will take a helluva toll of the bullpen and also cause ulcers for many of their fans.

Getting a few more players other than Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan contributing to the offense would certainly help in providing more than one or two run margins at times.

It has been tough for Cleveland to get come from behind victories this year because the bullpen hasn’t been able to hold opponents if they get out to an early lead. The relievers have given up 17 home runs, almost the same total as the starters (20), need we remind you the latter pitch a lot more innings.

The defense hasn’t helped either. The Guardians are ninth in the league in errors with 21, and defense has been more important this season because the pitching staff ranks at the bottom of the AL in striking hitters out, so more balls have been put in play.

The catching, a position viewed organizationally as a defense first spot, hasn’t been up to last year’s standards, allowing the most passed balls with five and the pitching staff ranks fifth in wild pitches. Last year, Cleveland catchers had just two passed balls and ranked fifth last in wild pitches.

In the past, the organization has sacrificed offense for defense, but if you aren’t getting the defense, why not take a look at Bo Naylor, hitting .256 with nine homers at Columbus and has a 925 OPS because he’s walked 32 times.

By the way, the last hit by a Cleveland catcher? Try April 29th.

Rightfield has become a large hole. Oscar Gonzalez hit .192 with just four extra base hits and was sent back to AAA. Will Brennan is hitting just .193 with five extra base hits, and is being platooned with converted infielder Gabriel Arias, who has struck out in 26 of his 61 plate appearances.

You have to wonder if Tyler Freeman is the next middle infielder to get a try in RF. Freeman has 11 big league at bats with four hits, including a double, and was hitting .329 (950 OPS) at AAA.

Despite all of these problems, the Guardians are sitting just two games below the .500 mark. Hopefully, Triston McKenzie and Aaron Civale will be back by the end of May, adding depth to the starting rotation.

And let’s also hope what we saw over the weekend is the start of the offense being more consistent.

By the way, some easy wins would be nice for Francona and the coaching staff and the fan base.

Close Games Equals More Burden On Guardians’ Bullpen

The Cleveland Guardians have played 36 games this season and a whopping 22 of them have been decided by two runs or less.

Cleveland is 8-9 in games decided by a single tally, and 5-2 in those decided by a couple of runs. Overall, the Guardians are 13-11 in these games and 4-8 in the other contests.

First, all of these close games are going to give a collective ulcer to the die-hard fans of the team.

Second, playing this many close games means it will be interesting to see what kind of toll it will take on the pitching staff, particularly the bullpen.

We know that Terry Francona has sort of the “caste system” for his relief pitchers. When the Guards are in the lead, he prefers to use James Karinchak, Trevor Stephan, and now that he is back, Sam Hentges to set up closer Emmanuel Clase.

He uses Eli Morgan with a lead if one of the above needs a day off. He will use Nick Sandlin and/or Enyel De Los Santos after that group. That’s his current arrangement.

But in checking the American League leaders in appearances, you will see that Clase leads the league pitching in 20 of Cleveland’s 36 games and Karinchak is tied for second at 19.

Stephan is 21st appearing in 16 contests.

With the Guardians treading just below the .500 mark early in the season, we understand their need to put as many games in the win column as they can, so Francona wants to use his best guys, and maybe the best closer in the league to lock down a W.

And despite Clase’s “struggles” this year, this shows how good he is. He hasn’t pitched at the dominant level he did a year ago so far, but he still has a 1.86 ERA, allowing just 15 hits and five walks in 19-1/3 innings. Oh, and he leads the AL in saves with 13.

Clase led the junior circuit in games pitched a year ago with 77, but right now, he’s on a pace to pitch in 90 of them. Now, we know that’s not going to happen, and Clase is also pretty economical in the number of pitches he throws. In his last five appearances, he’s thrown no more than 13 pitches.

Two things need to happen if the Guardians keep winning. First, it would be a huge help if they could win games by four or five runs over the next few weeks. That would enable Francona to lessen the workload of his primary bullpen guys, using them just enough to keep them fresh.

Adding Hentges to the mix has helped lately.

Or the skipper may have to expand the late game usage for pitchers like Sandlin and De Los Santos. We understand though they have to earn the confidence of the manager. Sandlin, in particular needs to command the strike zone and throw quality pitches.

The starting rotation seems to have picked it up over the last couple of weeks, covering at least six innings on most nights. But playing this many close games will take a toll on the Guardians’ relief pitching.

Just another reason to hope the offense comes out of the collective funk it has been in over the last four weeks.

Sputtering Offense Plaguing The Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians’ offense started off this season much like they ended last season. Not a lot of home runs, but a lot of base hits.

After Seattle’s Luis Castillo, one of the best pitchers in the game, held them to four hits in the season opener, the Guards had nine hits or more in six of the next nine contests and drew at least three walks in all of them.

In the next 23 games, Cleveland has had nine hits in just six games, and drawn at least three walks in just a dozen of them. When you aren’t hitting home runs, and Terry Francona’s squad is last in the American League in round trippers, if you aren’t getting men on base consistently, it is tough to have people cross the plate.

The Guardians averaged five runs per game in the first 10 games, since then, they’ve scored just 70 runs, an average of just over three per contest. It’s tough to win any games at any level, when you are getting just three runs per night.

Cleveland was 6-4 after ten games, and just 9-14 afterwards.

Bill James contended if you had a .350 on base percentage and a .450 slugging percentage, you were a very good offensive player. Not even Jose Ramirez can lay claim to those statistics, although he is close, with a .371 OBP and a .447 slugging average.

The Guards only have one hitter getting on base at a 35% clip and that is Steven Kwan, who has a .358 on base average. Besides Ramirez, they don’t have anyone even close to the .450 slugging percentage. The next closest is Mike Zunino at .397. More about him later.

Looking at the Guardians from a WAR standpoint, Zunino’s slugging is about all he is contributing as once again, Cleveland catchers rank last in the AL in this category.

Guards’ pitchers were 11th in the AL in wild pitches a year ago, and they are 2nd this season. And the catchers are second in the league in passed balls behind only the White Sox.

Also, Zunino’s back up, Cam Gallagher is just 2 for 27 with a bat in his hand, with two RBI, both coming in the first week of the season in Oakand.

The next worst position this year for Cleveland is shortstop. Amed Rosario is a slow starter, hitting .177 in April 2021, and .211 in April 2022. This year was no different as he batted just .227.

However, his strikeout rate is the highest since his rookie season (28.7%), and he’s leading the team in grounding into double plays, which he did a year ago. He’s also leading the Guardians in errors with six.

Hopefully, Rosario will start to get hot in May and resemble the hitter he was last season. He’s never going to walk a lot, but he did have 180 hits last season, and with the new rules aiding the running game, his speed could be an asset.

Remember, the Guardians went through a 13 game stretch at the end of August through early September a year ago where they scored just 26 runs. Hopefully, they will come out of it any day now.

The starting pitching seems to have come along with the starters consistently giving the team at least five innings. That has lessened the burden on the bullpen, which is still leaking oil a bit.

You know what would really help the pitching? Getting some runs early and then adding on.

First Checkpoint For The Guardians

Tomorrow is May 1st, and yesterday evening, the Cleveland Guardians played their 27th game of the season, the 1/6th point of the year. That’s the time we take our first overall view of the team.

Under Terry Francona, this first part of the year is the “feeling out” period. Look at Cleveland’s record at this point over the last six seasons:

2023: 13-14
2022: 13-14
2021: 14-13
2020: 17-10
2019: 15-12
2018: 15-12

The best record came in the pandemic shortened season of 2020. It’s an old baseball adage that you can’t win a pennant (now, post-season berth) in April, but you can lose one, and the Guardians certainly don’t screw up a season at the beginning.

So far, it’s the offense that hasn’t lived up to expectations. The Guards are currently 12th in the American League in runs scored at 3.85. The home run power, which the front office tried to address with the signing of Josh Bell, hasn’t materialized yet, as Cleveland ranks last in the league in round trippers.

What the Guards do well is walk, ranking second in the AL in bases on balls. They are 8th in on-base percentage, and 13th in slugging percentage. They get doubles and triples but no long balls.

Individually, only the great Jose Ramirez and Mike Zunino have performed up to expectations with the bat. The latter has struck out a ton, as advertised, but he’s walked a higher rate than ever.

Steven Kwan has gotten on base (.358 OBP), but so far, he hasn’t driven the ball, with only four extra base hits (three 2B, one 3B).

The players counted on for middle of the order production have all got off to slow starts. Josh Naylor is hitting .214 with 3 HR and 15 RBI (619 OPS). Bell is at .214, 3 HR, 13 RBI (714 OPS), and Oscar Gonzalez is at .188, 1 HR, 4 RBI (509 OPS) and is now sharing time in right field with Will Brennan.

Naylor is starting to look like a platoon player, going 2 for 22 vs. southpaws this year and his career mark vs. LHP is .199 with a 538 OPS. Unfortunately, right now the Guardians don’t have a right-handed hitting alternative.

The pitching ranks 7th in ERA, but the starting rotation has been riddled by injuries to Triston McKenzie and Aaron Civale. McKenzie has been out all year, while Civale has made just two appearances.

Compounding the injuries has been the relative ineffectiveness of Cal Quantrill (1-2, 5.40 ERA) and Zach Plesac (1-1, 7.59). Quantrill has made two solid starts, but also two poor ones, while Plesac has just one good one, his second outing vs. Seattle.

On the year, he has pitched 21-1/3 innings, and allowed a whopping total of 37 hits and 18 earned runs.

Last week saw the promotion of two of the Guardians’ top pitching prospects, lefty Logan Allen and right-hander Tanner Bibee. Both pitched very well, and if they continue to do so, the organization is going to have to make a decision.

The strength of the team has been pitching and the rotation is the backbone. Francona depends on the starters to eat innings, lessening the burden on the relief corps. The Guardians need Quantrill to pitch like he did a year ago, and Allen and Bibee to hold down the fort.

The ‘pen has been sporadic, but over the last week have started doing better. They have been allowing too many home runs. James Karinchak in particular has struggled, but Eli Morgan has pitched like he did early last season.

The Guardians need to get the offense going more consistently and have the starters pitch much better. It’s still early and history says Francona’s teams get better as the year goes on.

Hopefully, history repeats itself.

More On Guardians’ Bullpen And Arias

The good news for the Cleveland Guardians last week was when they played one game in a day, they were undefeated, going 2-0.

However, because of our beautiful springtime weather, the Guards were forced to play two doubleheaders and were swept in Detroit by the Tigers and at home by the Marlins.

The offense was the main culprit as in the five games played prior to Sunday’s 7-4 win over Miami, Cleveland scored a total of nine runs. It’s hard to win averaging less than two runs per contest, but the Guardians did it once, winning the series finale in Motown, 3-2.

The pitching hasn’t been bad, allowing 20 runs in the six games, just a shade over three per game. So, as has been the case in pretty much every game in 2023 thus far, the result of the game was in doubt all the way to the bitter end. Only the 6-1 loss in game one Saturday was not in doubt when the ninth inning started.

Home runs continue to be a problem for the bullpen crew, as both Trevor Stephan and James Karinchak gave up solo shots in the win over the Tigers and the latter served up a three-run bomb on Sunday to make what was a commanding 6-1 advantage into a close game.

Cleveland pitchers have allowed 21 homers this year, and a dozen of those have been served up by the relievers. The only bullpen members who have been unscathed by the long ball are Eli Morgan and Enyel De La Santos.

There was some good news as southpaw Sam Hentges made two rehab appearances in Akron last week and is getting closer to returning to the big league roster. That’s needed as rookie Tim Herrin hasn’t been effective, allowing two dingers and four walks in his eight innings of work. He has a 7.45 ERA.

Karinchak has allowed four bombs in 12 innings of work, and probably will not be used in the eighth inning until he cures that issue.

Here’s our current bullpen confidence rankings–

Clase
Stephan
De Los Santos
Morgan
Karinchak
Sandlin
Curry
Herrin

Sandlin gets ranked lower because he still has control issues, walking five in 9-2/3 innings and he seems to fall behind in the count an awful lot.

Hopefully, the offense will continue to come out of the doldrums, but one player who worries us right now is infielder Gabriel Arias.

Arias has always had strike zone judgment issues in the minors, his career numbers in 494 minor league games are 539 strikeouts vs. 145 walks, and he wasn’t outstanding at AAA, a 768 OPS.

However, thus far this season, he’s made 40 plate appearances and has struck out in 18 of them, drawing four walks. He’s batting .167 (6 for 36) with a home run and a double.

We understand it is difficult for a young player to adjust to not getting regular playing time, but that’s the lot he drew with the Guardians. Terry Francona has tried to spot him vs. lefties, but he is just 4 for 24 with 13 Ks against them.

If he was hammering southpaws, we are sure Francona would be more anxious to put him in there against left-handers, particularly because Josh Naylor is a career .202 hitter (544 OPS) against them.

It will be interesting to see if Tyler Freeman, who was up for a handful of games last week (2 for 7 with a walk), starts getting some time at 1B in Columbus to see if he can take Arias’ spot on the roster.

A tough gauntlet is coming up for the Guards, a weekend series in Boston and then a trip to Yankee Stadium before coming home for a clash with the division contending Twins.

We will learn a lot about this year’s group in those nine games.

Close Games For Guardians Mean Added Pressure For Bullpen

At the end of last season, the Cleveland Guardians knew if they had a lead after six innings, the game was effectively over. Their bullpen was dominant, led by closer Emmanuel Clase. Trevor Stephan and James Karinchak combined to take care of the seventh and eighth, and Terry Francona had Sam Hentges, Enyel De Los Santos, and Nick Sandlin if needed to bridge from the starter to the set up men and closer.

It is also said the most volatile part of any team is the relief pitching, and just because it happened a year ago doesn’t mean it will happen again.

It’s still early, so Francona and Carl Willis are still trying to decide how to use some of the pieces of the ‘pen and integrate a couple of new hurlers into the mix.

Last season, Cleveland relievers threw the fifth least innings of any bullpen, the third least in the American League behind only Houston and Seattle. The non-starters pitched 37.7% of the innings played by the Guardians.

So far this season, that number is up to 43%. There are several reasons for the high total, and one of them is the Guards have played four extra-inning games to date, which is 25% of their schedule.

Another reason is right now, Cleveland has two inexperienced starting pitchers in the rotation. Hunter Gaddis has made three starts and pitched into the sixth inning just once, while Peyton Battenfield made his first career start last week and threw just 4-2/3 frames.

Add in Zach Plesac’s one inning outing in his season debut, and Cal Quantrill getting into the sixth for the first time in three starts in his last outing, and the relievers have had to soak up a lot of the workload.

We have always maintained there are two things a relief pitcher cannot do: Walk people and give up home runs. Cleveland pitchers in total have walked 44 batters in 2023, 25 of them have come from the bullpen.

Clase, who walked just 10 hitters all last season, has already issued four in nine innings this season. De Los Santos has issued four free passes in ’23, after allowing only 17 all of 2022.

The home run numbers are similar. Guardians’ hurlers have allowed only 14 homers this season, a total that ranks tied for 5th in the AL for the fewest coughed up. Unfortunately, the relievers have allowed eight of the blasts, with Sandlin and rookie Tim Herrin each giving up a pair.

We think De Los Santos should be the secondary set up man if the normal three who close out games (Clase, Karinchak, and Stephan) are unavailable because any of them have worked two days in a row. We have the most confidence in him out of everyone else.

Sandlin still falls behind too many hitters and Herrin is a rookie, but he does have electric stuff.

Another thing that magnifies the results of the bullpen is that the Guardians have only won one game this year by more than two runs, the 9-4 victory against Seattle on the second day of the season. There isn’t much room for error for a guy like Herrin to work with.

It takes time to develop a bullpen and having all the close games means the growing pains that go along with it get closer looks.

In the meantime, mixing in a few 6-1 or 7-2 victories would really help the principal relievers get some needed rest.

Guards’ Last Week In Our View

We are sure he wasn’t the first to say it, but former Indians’ broadcaster, the late Mike Hegan used to say if a team can win three out of every five games, they will be doing just fine. If a baseball team plays at this pace, they win 96 games and now, with the expanded playoffs, will be playing in October.

The Cleveland Guardians have done just that after 10 games, winning six of them. The odd thing and probably a bit troubling is four of the six victories have come in extra innings.

The good thing is they still count.

If not for the extra-inning games, the bullpen would be rested after the second run through the rotation as all five starters gave Terry Francona at least five innings, with Zach Plesac giving the Guards seven on Sunday. The shortest outing was Cal Quantrill’s five on Saturday night.

Hunter Gaddis really helped out in this regard with six one-hit innings in the west coast trip finale in Oakland on Wednesday. He will get a bigger (and better) test tonight against the Yankees.

Offensively, the Guardians continue to put pressure on opposing pitchers because they get men on base, leading the AL in walks in the young season.

The middle game vs. Seattle was frustrating because the Guards only scored two runs, but they had nine hits and six walks in that game, and more often than not, if you put 15 men on base, you will score more than two runs. They just couldn’t come up with the big hit.

Sometimes the big hit is a home run, and the Guardians ranked second last in the American League in long balls last season, and unfortunately, that hasn’t changed through ten games this year. Cleveland is tied with Detroit for the least homers with just five.

No doubt part of that is the Guards haven’t exactly played in balmy weather this far, whether it be in Seattle, Oakland, or Progressive Field. Cleveland is fourth in doubles and lead the league in triples but are still fourth from the bottom in slugging percentage.

Part of that is Josh Bell’s slow start (3 for 35). Bell was signed to give the Guardians some much needed power, but right now, it hasn’t shown up. On the plus side, Bell has drawn eight walks, so hopefully the home runs and extra base hits are on the horizon.

One troubling area thus far is the lack of blocking pitches by the new catching trio. Hopefully, it is just a matter of the newcomers not working with the pitchers until spring training, but the Guardians lead the Junior Circuit in wild pitches with 11.

Last year, Shane Bieber had five all season. He has three in two starts in 2023. Emmanuel Clase had four in 2022, he has two already in ’23. We mention both of those hurlers because the wild pitches cost them both a run in the past week.

Bieber’s success is dependent on getting ahead in the count and then throwing a wicked breaking pitch in the dirt. If the catchers can’t block that pitch, it’s a big issue. Hopefully, as Mike Zunino, Cam Gallagher, and Meibrys Viloria work with the staff more, this number will start to go down. And Zunino did do a much better job last night.

Cleveland pitchers aren’t wild. The leaders in walks allowed are both relief pitchers, with Clase and Enyel De Los Santos each issuing four.

When it starts costing the team runs, it gets magnified, and as we said two of the wild pitches came back to haunt the team this past week.

Shining A Spotlight On Plesac

The Major League Baseball season is still young, very young in fact. However, if you are a player with a poor recent track record, you still start the season with something to prove.

That’s the way we feel about Guardians’ starting pitcher Zach Plesac, whose first start on Monday didn’t go as well as he wanted, no doubt, and we are sure the coaching staff and front office were disappointed as well.

Plesac burst on the scene somewhat unexpectedly in 2019, after just 14 starts at the AA and AAA levels. That season, he made six starts at Akron, compiling a 0.96 ERA, and then was promoted to Columbus, where in four starts, he went 3-1 with a 2.73 ERA.

He made his major league debut in Fenway Park on May 28th, throwing 5-1/3 innings allowing just one run, and finished the year with an 8-6 record and 3.81 ERA in 116 innings.

The following season was the COVID shortened year, but Plesac pitched well, going 4-2 with a 2.28 ERA in eight starts. However, there was an incident where he broke the virus protocol by leaving the team hotel in Chicago after a Guardians’ win.

Since then, the right-hander has made 50 starts, going 13-18 with a 4.58 ERA, and that includes a 3-12 mark last season. Plus, he’s suffered self-inflicted injuries the past two seasons, both from letting his temper get away from him.

We figured when he broke a bone in his hand punching the mound in Seattle last August (it was done in a very good start), the front office would make a move during the off-season to give the pitcher a fresh start somewhere else.

But a move wasn’t made and the Guardians are trying everything to salvage him as a quality big league starter.

The Guardians seem to have a profile for their players. They like solid humans, who grind it out, putting the team above all else. We don’t know Plesac personally (obviously), but he seems like he doesn’t fit that mold.

Breaking the COVID protocol, injuring yourself twice, those things don’t exactly fit being a good teammate, and in his first outing he was visibly upset when Amed Rosario lost a pop fly in the twilight, a ball that could have given Plesac a scoreless first inning.

He gave up a hit to allow a run right after, and then came out in the second and basically gave up five straight bullets off of Oakland bats. Did his teammates show displeasure when he did that?

To us, he’s also become a bit of a nibbler, falling behind in counts and then having to make too good of a pitch.

It’s not the one bad start in 2023, it’s the last 50 starts that put Plesac on watch. With Triston McKenzie’s injury, the Guardians don’t really have an option to replace him in the rotation, but if he has more outings like Monday or when McKenzie is ready to go, he could wind up being the odd man out.

We are sure the organization doesn’t want to rush Gavin Williams or Tanner Bibee either.

Hopefully, Plesac can start his turn around Sunday in his next start. If he is to have a future in Cleveland, he needs to pitch better and be mentally tougher.

Impressions Of A Great Opening Weekend For Guardians

We were very impressed that the Cleveland Guardians went into Seattle, a playoff team a year ago, and took three of four in their opening series.

Especially because the Guards had all kinds of problems scoring runs vs. the Mariners last season. They scored just 11 runs in the seven contests against Seattle last season.

There were several positive things that caught our eye in baseball’s first weekend of the season, and yes, we know it’s just four games.

Guardians’ fans have to be impressed with Aaron Civale’s debut, throwing seven, two-hit innings at the Mariners. The right-hander was on a track for an all-star berth in 2021, when he was leading the AL in wins at the time of his injury (he was 10-2 with a 3.44 ERA).

He made just 20 starts a year ago with a variety of injuries and threw just 97 innings. Getting back to his ’21 form would be a big boost to the starting rotation, particularly since Triston McKenzie could miss as much as two months.

What about Tim Herrin’s major league debut on Sunday? The 26-year-old southpaw faced four batters and struck them all out. It’s the ultimate small sample size, but if he can give Terry Francona and Carl Willis another left-handed option when Sam Hentges returns, that would be outstanding.

One of the things Cleveland lacked the past few years is any offense at all from the catching position. Mike Zunino isn’t a great offensive player either, but what he does more frequently than Austin Hedges or Luke Maile, is run into a pitch every once in a while, and sends it over the fence. He has 147 career homers.

Sunday, his three-run dinger gave the Guards a temporary lead. His lifetime batting average is just .201 and he strikes out, a lot. But the power does play.

Oh, and by the way, Bo Naylor went 5 for 13 over the weekend with two homers at Columbus.

The bullpen was also very impressive over the weekend, with James Karinchak’s hiccup on Opening Night the only blemish. In total, the relievers soaked up 14-2/3 innings, allowing just three earned runs.

That heavy toll can’t continue, but again, it’s only four games.

As for Karinchak, we don’t think it was a pitch clock issue to blame for his first outing, it was more that he couldn’t throw his curveball for a strike, and the Mariners took advantage.

Newcomer Josh Bell didn’t have a big weekend at the plate, going just 1 for 12, but he did walk six times, and avoiding making outs is a very good thing. We are sure the hits will start coming.

The only issues to keep an eye on are Zunino’s ability to block pitches, Cleveland had six wild pitches in the series (they had just 49 all last year). That’s something Hedges was outstanding at and it is easy to overlook.

We are sure Sandy Alomar Jr. will work with him on that.

Hunter Gaddis kept the ball in the park Friday night (he gave up 7 homers last year in 7 innings), but he also only gave Francona 3-2/3 innings, and Cal Quantrill couldn’t get out of the fifth.

We aren’t concerned about the latter because of his track record, but the Guards need some length out of Gaddis, if he’s going to stick around for a while.

It was a great opening weekend to be sure, but it’s a long, long season ahead of the Guardians. We are sure everyone prefers to be 3-1 rather than 1-3.