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Clobbering Time: Indians Find Strange Success Against Former Cy Young Winners

Kyle Downing — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:00:26 +0000

At the top of the list of highlights for the Tribe this season has been their astounding success against former Cy Young Award-winning pitchers. So far this season, the Indians have had the unfortunate luck of having to face members of this elite class in more than one out of every five games they’ve played. In those seven match ups, they have produced some astounding results, dealing losses to six of those pitchers and slapping them with a colossal 8.10 combined ERA.They’ve tagged them for a whopping 33 earned runs on 52 hits, including 9 home runs, dealing the pitchers a dismal average game score of 37.

If those numbers don’t already make your jaw drop, there’s more. (more…)

Series Preview: Cleveland Indians vs. Philadelphia Phillies

Merritt Rohlfing — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:06:22 +0000

Twenty-one runs scored, a shutout, a low-scoring affair, the Indians got a little bit of everything with their trip to Kaufman. The Royals are looking good even as the Tribe split with them, they sit at 13-10 to the Indians’ 10-13. What did we learn? The Indians are consistently inconsistent, the Royals are better than some thought and might actually contend this year, and Ryan Raburn is more than just a springtime flash in the pan. In all, capped by the Ubaldo Jimenez performance on Monday (seven innings, no runs, two walks) it was a good trip to a boring place.

So now the “bizarrery” begins in earnest. After a taste of the New MLB a few weeks back with a series against American League-mates the Houston Astros, which seemed real odd, here’s the first taste of Interleague Play the Indians will see this season as they host the Philadelphia Phillies. I’m not against the whole Interleague thing, I like those teams and in this series in particular we get to see some pretty compelling players. It’s just different, and as baseball fans, even those of us as forward thinking as they come, change is scary. The real strangeness is that it’s a two-game series in the middle of the week. It seems so shoehorned in, forced just because it has to happen, and it’s strange. Though they’re not a top-flight team right now, I consider the Phillies a big draw, at least because of that pitching. So naturally, like the Yankees, the Indians get them in April. It’s only fair.

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What if the Indians Had an Infinite Payroll Starting from 2007?

Merritt Rohlfing — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:30:37 +0000

It’s a pastime of any wishful thinking baseball fan: what if I had a few billion dollars and could buy my favorite team? What would happen? Well, that’s a great question. The Dolans are far from poor, but the revenue streams the Indians have coming their way are all too minimal. So let’s have some fun, let’s spend some time re-breaking hearts and opening old wounds, let’s imagine the Indians signed a distribution deal with Fox Sports in, say, 2007 for more than what the Dodgers just did. How would that be different? Where would we be today? (more…)