As the title says, we're one game over .500 and now 3 games back of the Tigers -- good for second place in the AL Central. This upcoming series with the Rangers is absolutely huge, not only because Ubaldo is pitching for the first time, but because the Tigers happen to be playing the Royals and if they sweep (which is a real possibility), and we only win 1 game, we'll probably be in deep you-know-what. I'm glads that we're still in the race, but I'd like to keep it that way.
Here's the deal about that Boston series -- were you really expecting to win more than 2 games there? Anytime you can go away for a 4 game series with a team as good as the Red Sox and come away with a series split, I think you have to call that a success. The fact that we were in each and every game is just gravy to me. I think it's fair to say that the starting pitching in that series was excellent.
Even though Tomlin gave up 5 runs, he kept the Indians in the game. Dave Huff has totally made a believer out of me with his 3 starts, especially going 5, 3-hit, shutout innings against the Red Sox. Even though Carlos Carrasco has looked like a man about to implode in his last few starts, he really got the job done, going 7 innings with 3 runs -- only 2 earned. And then Justin Masterson was dominant last night, striking out 9 in 6 innings, and giving up 3 earned runs.
So what does that all mean? Well, first off it means that we got 2 quality starts out of 4 games. If David Huff had gotten some defensive support behind him, I'm sure he would've been able to go another inning and get that notch on his belt. Maybe I put too much stock in quality starts, but I think with our bullpen if the starter can hold the opposition to 3 runs or less in 6 innings, we'll be in a great position to win.
The problem comes when we can't score more than 3 runs -- and that happened in our two losses to the Sox. Tuesday we only scored from the solo blasts of Kipnis and Chisenhall, relying on rookies in a penant race is never going to work. Wednesday, we managed 3 runs off of the knuckleballer Wakefield, but then the Red Sox 'pen shut us down.
And what do those numbers mean? Ehh, not very much other than the simple saying "You can't win, if you don't score."
Will we get help from Choo and Sizemore when they return in a few weeks? Well sure, it would be very nice, but I just don't think we can expect that. I don't think we should expect that, based on what they'd been doing the rest of the year. I think both players put a lot of pressure on themselves to play to the best of their abilities, and neither was doing a particularly good job of it this year. I think Sizemore was terribly plagued defensively too, sometimes looking clueless out in center rather than a former gold glove winner.
But those guys won't be playing in Texas. It's really going to be up to A-Cab, Hafner, Brantley and the finally-getting-hot Santana to carry the offense down in super hot Texas. Tim Cowlishaw just tweeted that it's 107 degrees down in Arlington, so I bet the ball will be carrying. The Rangers are 3rd in runs scored, 2nd in batting average, and 2nd in slugging percentage -- numbers that mean all our pitchers better bring their A-games.
And yes, that menas you Ubaldo.
Go Tribe!
~MAS
No comments:
Post a Comment