Cleveland 0
Cincinnati 5
Yahoo Box Score
Bad.
Ugly.
Terrible.
I think last night falls somewhere in between ugly and terrible. Where do I even start? No runs on eight hits? TWENTY FIVE runners left on base? Allowing a rookie with a 5+ ERA to throw for 6.1 innings and give up no runs?
I'd love to blame this loss on a bad pitching matchup, but the truth is, Paul Byrd looked like Greg Maddux compared to the rest of the Cleveland Indians (6 innings, 4 earned runs). Rafael Perez hiccupped another run, while Elarton and Mujica combined for 2.1 innings of shutout baseball. The bullpen had a decent outing.
So where do we pin a 5-0 loss? Simple, the offense. The score might as well been 15-0, because without runs, Cleveland will never win. I'm sick and tired of making average pitchers look like all-stars. Cueto is a great future talent, but the rookie came in with an ERA above 5.
Let's take a look at the list of pitchers that came in with an ERA above 5 and feasted on Cleveland's lineup in 2008. The starter's ERA entering the game is listed.
Johnny Cueto (6/28) 5.01 ERA
Barry Zito (6/25) 6.32 ERA
Jorge De La Rosa (6/19) 6.89 ERA
Jeff Francis (6/18) 5.49 ERA
Greg Reynolds (6/17) 6.69 ERA
Kyle Davies (5/31) first start of the season, 6.07 career ERA
Doug Mathis (5/25) 10.13 ERA
Gil Meche (5/04) 7.22 ERA
Luke Hochevar (5/03) 5.91 ERA
Not pretty. I'm not sure why the offense has gone into an eternal funk. Maybe it has something to do with Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner, and Josh Barfield going to the DL, but those guys weren't hitting well when healthy.
Is there a solution?
Grady Sizemore, Jamey Carroll, Ben Francisco, and Casey Blake appear to be the only players that know how to hit. I'd start by taking Jhonny Peralta out of the cleanup spot, where he has recently been playing, and replace him with Blake.
My Lineup:
Grady Sizemore CF
Jamey Carroll 2B
Ben Francisco LF
Casey Blake 1B
Shin Soo Choo DH
Jhonny Peralta SS
Franklin Gutierrez RF
Kelly Shoppach C
Andy Marte 3B
Message to Eric Wedge: Forget the power. Jhonny Peralta's 11 home runs cannot save a .241 AVG and a .213 AVG with RISP. Don't start him at cleanup. At this point, I'd settle for some clutch singles. I'm tired of leaving guys at 2nd and 3rd.
Second Message to Eric Wedge: Stop starting David Dellucci. I don't care about his career average against right handed pitchers. He looks terrible at the plate. Just look at the stats: .227 AVG against righties in 2008, .240 AVG against righties in 2007. Dellucci is a sunk cost. Please cut his playing time.
The Tribe takes on Cincinnati in the rubber match today at 1:05 Eastern. Aaron Laffey is on the mound for Cleveland to counter Reds' Bronson Arroyo.
