by Jack Cobra, Cobra Brigade
The Cleveland Indians have finally grown up and now it's time for the rest of the American League to watch out. With their 3-1 victory over Detroit yesterday, Cleveland not only won their series with Detroit, but also pulled 2 1/2 games ahead of the Tigers in the AL Central.
This series against Detroit was supposed to be the defining moment of the season for the Indians and it was exactly that. With their series victory Cleveland has shown that they have the toughness to go with the talent to win their division and push into the playoffs. Once they get into the playoffs, they will be a very dangerous team.
It was just last season that the Indians faded and failed to make the playoffs after they were supposed to be the 'breakout team' of 2006. They have bounced back with a vengeance this season. With an offense led by Victor Martinez and Grady Sizemore and a pitching staff led by C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona, the Indians are not only young and talented, but they are very good and very dangerous. Travis Hafner, Ryan Garko and Jhonny Peralta help to anchor an offense that can strike at any time with the long ball but still manufacture runs when needed. If the Indians can get any type of help from their bullpen they very well could make a long run in the playoffs and become a clone of the 2004 Red Sox or the 2005 White Sox.
Entering the season there were a lot of questions about this Cleveland squad. Was last season just a fluke or could the team take it to the next level? The Indians management put a lot of time, effort and money into stockpiling their minor league system with talented players and it seems that those players are finally taking the Indians places where they've always wanted to go.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Cleveland Beats Detroit.....Puts American League on Notice
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10 comment(s):
Umm, what?
We won in 10 innings by barey eeking out a win with our closer. Not to mention this "potent" offense put up 0 runs in 9 innings. A stat that doesn't include the fact that we've averaged under 3 runs since the All-Star break,and have been shutout 9 times.
I'm not sure who we're putting on notice, as we are winless against the Yankees and almost the same against the Red Sox.
As much as I'd like to believe it, this is a team that's won only their second series since the break, and the recent 5-out-of-7 win streak is against the Devil Rays and slumping Tigers.
"Was last season just a fluke or could the team take it to the next level?"
This sentence doesn't make sense...I know their run differential was very good, but the Indians won 79 games last year- that's not an either or situation, the Indians needed to prove his year that last year *was* a fluke, and that they could take it to the next level this year. You may be thinking about two years ago, when the Indians won 93 games but lost 6/7 in the last week of the season and finished two games beyond the Red Sox/Yankees for the wild card.
"If the Indians can get any type of help from their bullpen..."
This is probably where you should mention that Betancourt has a 1.57 ERA and a 53-5 K/BB ratio in 59.1 innings, and Rafael Perez has come out of essential nowhere and thrown 44 innings with a 1.84 ERA and lefties hitting .113/.176/.161 off him.
At one point it could be said that the Tribe's offense could strike at any time, but they've scored 3.5 runs a game for the last month, so not so much right now.
Also, as Hermano pointed out, winning 2 out of 3 against Detroit isn't "putting the AL on notice"...it's winning a series against a team that has now lost 20 of 29.
Look, you guys are complaining about your own team...I don't get that. Next, they did put the AL on notice because they now have a 2 1/2 game lead in the AL Central when just a few weeks ago their own manager was complaining about their lack of 'toughness'. Third, they have Joe Borowski as their closer and he hasn't exactly been 'lights out' all season long. They could use some consistency out of him and the rest of the bullpen. Fourth, you have one of the top CF's in the AL, one of the best SS's offensively in the AL, you have Pronk who should come out of his slump any day now (hopefully), Garko who is proving to be extremely valuable and then you have the best hitting catcher in maybe all of baseball in Martinez....I'm not sure what else you really want?
You guys in Cleveland really are miserable...
Senior Cobra,
It's not about that, or the fact that we don't want it to be true. I so sorely want it to be true, but who exactly are they putting on notice?
They are some 2.5 games behind in the wild card. Also, they're winless against the Yankees, and 2-6 against the Red Sox. They've split a couple with the Mariners and the Angels. So, who exactly are they putting on notice?
Ask how Boston feels about their 4 run lead, or the Angels feel about theirs. Angels almost swept the Yankees, banging them around, why aren't they putting the AL on notice.
While all the stuff you mentioned about Borowski, Sizemore, Peralta, Pronk, Garko, Martinez (there's more, but I won't go on) is true, you totally missed the point on their recent performance. Performance, by all counts, that should be considered miserable, since two of those are the top-4 strikeout leaders in the league.
Was this a big series/game? Sure, it was, and 2.5 games is a nice cushion at this stage in the game. But they aren't blowing anyone away with performance. The headline and article is misguided that shows some kind of rolling juggernaut.
Re Cobra: Trust me, if you'd watched this team every night for the last month, you'd be miserable too.
Re Peralta: He was one of the best SS in the league...two years ag o. This year he's probably 6th (behind Jeter, Guillen, M. Young, Tejada, O. Cabrera)
Re Bullpen: Borowski sucks, but Perez and Betancourt have been models of consistency.
Re Pronk: He's hurt, he's been hurt, and he'll most likely continue struggle for the rest of the year. His hand is all scrwed up.
Re Hermano: Somewhat off topic, but fuck Trot Nixon.
Was this a big series/game? Sure, it was, and 2.5 games is a nice cushion at this stage in the game
....they went into the home of the reigning AL Champs and took two out of three, I'm not sure what else you want from them. They have won, they are winning and they will continue to win. They can't worry about the Red Sox, Yankees, Angels, etc....because they aren't in the same division, so who really cares?
There were a lot of people wondering how this Cleveland team would fare in Detroit for this series, that is where the title comes from. They came, they saw, they conquered..
Vegas Watch: I couldn't agree more with your assessment. This is a guy who should no longer be in the league. Also, I hate Wedge.
You mus understand, Cobra, if you had watched this team over the last two weeks, you'd see that they have no fans because they're about to hang themselves.
Dude...I'm a Cubs fan, don't talk to me about jumping ship just because a team struggles. It's like I'm arguing with you guys to get YOU to believe that YOUR OWN team is good. That really doesn't make sense to me. Fill the stadium for this team, yo.
Oh, I'm not jumping ship. But I will continue to complain about them.
Although, you guys have had a longer drought, so you definitely get the pedestal. As I'm sure you understand after watching your team, it's hard to follow sometimes.
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