A Quest Called Tribe

Jim Thome is expected in uniform tomorrow.

I do not want to talk about yesterday's game.  It was not televised and nothing positive happened anyway.  Instead, as your Cleveland Indians sit 6 full games back at 63-64, I shall throw some numbers at you to explain what exactly went so horribly wrong after a 30-15 start.  I have officially given up.  That is not to say that I will not cheer on the Tribe, but that sense of hope and joy, the expectation of winning that arose during April has now completely evaporated.  How did our magical season degrade into another of the North Coast's well-worn exercises in disappointment and futility?

Let us tackle this in chunks --

May 24 (30-15, 7 games up) to June 12 (34-29, tied for 1st)

Blame this on the bats.  Batting average: 227, Runs per game: 2.89, OPS: .633, K-to-H: 146-to-136.  As this was the first rough patch, we have all been apt to throw the offense under the bus, regardless of what has gone wrong.  But, wait...

July 3 (44-37, 1.5 games up) to August 7 (56-56, 4 games back)

Hang this on the bullpen with their 7 losses and 4.82 ERA.


Everyone was culpable -

C Perez: (07.09-08.06) 0-2, 2/4 SV 8.64 ERA .333 OBA
Pestano: (07.06-08.02) 0-1 8.00 ERA .308 OBA
Smith: (07.18-08.07) 0-2 5.23 ERA
R Perez: (07.10-08.05) 1-1, 6.00 ERA .297 OBA
Sipp: (06.28-08.02) 3-2 6.17 ERA .283 OBA [(06.28-07.20) 1-2 9.95]

That is an unbelievably rocky stretch for a 'pen that has only dropped 17 games all season while posting a 3.28 ERA.   Every single member simultaneously forgot how to pitch.

August 19 (62-58, 1.5 games back) to August 24 (63-64, 6 games back)

You guessed it, the starting five.  These numbers boggle the mind.  0-5, 9.61 ERA, 1.93 WHIP, .362 OBA, 1.034 OOPS.   Oops is right.

In a nutshell, everything (except for the defense, the Tribe is still 2nd in the league) went to shit.

Here's to the boys pulling up their bootstraps and giving us a September ride.

Cheers.