Tribe Report

MLB Headlines

MVN - a Cleveland Indians blog

Game #38: Cliff Lee and unassisted triple-play not enough to beat Blue Jays

By James Pete | May 12th, 2008

E-mail | Print | Share

Toronto

CLEVELAND

W: B.J. Ryan (1-0) L: Rafael Betancourt (1-2) S: Scott Downs (4)

Cliff Lee was out-dueled by Shaun Marcum, who overcame an unassisted triple-play by Asdrubal Cabrera to defeat the Cleveland Indians 3-0 in the night-cap of a twi-night doubleheader in Cleveland.

Cliff Lee pitched nine scoreless innings to lower his already incredible league-leading ERA to 0.67. It wasn’t without a fantastic defensive effort from the Indians. The first big play was the Indians first unassisted triple-play for a Cleveland player since the 1920 world series, and the third in team history. Kevin Mench and Marco Scutaro led off the inning with back-to-back singles, putting runners on first and second. With the runners moving, Lyle Overbay hit a line-drive up the middle that Asdrubal Cabrera made a diving, back-handed catch. He then stepped on the bag at second, forcing out Mench, and tagged Scutaro, who had already rounded the bag.

Lee helped himself out in the seventh inning, after giving up a one-out double to Scott Rolen. Lee struck out Kevin Mench, then outbattled Marco Scutaro, finally striking him out after nine pitches to end the inning, and the threat.

There was more adventure for Lee in the ninth inning. Shannon Stewart walked to lead-off the inning. Aaron Hill sacrificed Stewart to second. Alex Rios then lined a shot down the first base line. Victor Martinez, playing first base in the second game, back-handed the line-drive, then held Stewart at second base. Scott Rolen then got on base with an infield single, and Stewart moved to third. Kevin Mench then launced a drive to the gap in right field, that Franklin Gutierrez snared to end the threat.

Unfortunately for Lee, Shaun Marcum was equal to the task, and the Indians offense wasn’t. Marcum left in the eighth inning, having only given up two hits. Cleveland did put some early pressure on Marcum in the second inning. Gutierrez hit a one out double. Travis Hafner found another way to get on base other than walking, with catcher’s interference. After a Kelly Shoppach fly-out, Franklin Gutierrez advanced to third on a passed ball. Jason Tyner would walk, loading the bases. Andy Marte, trying to earn his stripes, failed to bring a run home with a fly-out to center. Marcum would give up a lead-off double to Victor Martinez in the fourth inning, but would strand him on third.

Rafael Betancourt would come in in the tenth inning to keep things even. He gave up a lead-off single to Matt Stairs. He then got drilled in the left-elbow by a line-drive up the middle by Lyle Overbay. Betancourt would get looked at, but would stay in the game. Gregg Zaun bunted the runners over, and then walked Brad Wilkerson intentionally to load up the bases hoping for a double-play. Shannon Stewart hit a sacrifice fly to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead. Aaron Hill followed with a single that scored both Overbay and Wilkerson for the final 3-0 score.

Cliff Lee is pitching well, but did anyone hear what he had to say after the game? Look, the guy can say just about anything as long as he keeps pitching the way he is right now, but you can certainly see the marked differences between a guy like Sabathia and Lee. Sabathia is always team first, talking about how the hitting will come sooner or later, and sharing blame, even when he shouldn’t. Tonight, Lee said,

“It’s out of my control. I did what I was supposed to do. I put up zeroes.”

Of course, he’s right, but it does accentuate Lee’s tendency to wear his attitude on his sleeve. It is the same attitude that has probably made him the best starter in the league so far.

Jeremy Sowers will be making a spot start this week to cover the rain-out. Sowers will be called up on Friday to start against the Reds in Cincinnati. Sowers being called up is a given. With Tom Mastny being sent down, and only six pitcher in the bullpen, could Sowers be coming up for good? Might there be a move in the mix, involving a trade? I’ll be watching Paul Byrd’s start tomorrow very closely.

Paul Byrd is on the hill going up against Oakland’s Justin Duchscherer.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 10:09 pm and is filed under Rafael Betancourt, Franklin Gutierrez, Kelly Shoppach, Travis Hafner, Jeremy Sowers, Paul Byrd, Cliff Lee, Asdrubal Cabrera, Justin Duchscherer, Tribe Loss, Jason Tyner, Shaun Marcum, Oakland A's, Marco Scutaro, James Pete, Victor Martinez, Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, Kevin Mench, Andy Marte, Lyle Overbay, Cincinnati Reds, Scott Rolen, Aaron Hill, B.J. Ryan, Matt Stairs, Scott Downs, Gregg Zaun, Alex Rios, Shannon Stewart, Tribe Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Game #38: Cliff Lee and unassisted triple-play not enough to beat Blue Jays”

Geoff Beckman says:

May 13th, 2008 at 8:09 am

James, your comment about Lee is noted. My opinion about his personality really has not changed, and I think it will be interesting to see how he performs when his brush with the minors wears off– and he decides that the only reason he pitched badly last year was that he was hurt in spring training.

Which isn’t to say he won’t continue to pitch well, but it might play into his willingness to listen to advice if he struggles.

The good news about last night: it was game 38. By the end of the Oakland series, we’ll have passed the 40 game mark– the 25% of the season where the front office would take the results seriously and begin to explore options.

The bad news is that the Indians (a) are only 1.5 games back, (b) they have scored more runs of late and (c) they’ve brought up Ben Francisco and Jason Tyner. Any or all of these factors might be considered reasons not to act, e.g.,

A. “We’re still in this, so we don’t feel we need to make changes– we just need to execute better.”
B. “We’re working hard and we’re making progress and we’ve seen progress. We believe you’re going to see even more in the next few weeks.”
C. “We’ve already made all the changes we can make internally, and there isn’t anyone available to us outside the system.”

All of which might prove to be true– but there’s no reason to think that any of it will be. Other than Franklin Gutierrez getting things turned around, anything you could say about the offense now was also true in early April.

Well, maybe one thing– Jason Tyner is one of the most useless players ever to don a Cleveland uniform. The guy is 31– nearly as old as Jason Michaels– and he makes J-Mike look like Mickey Mantle by comparison:

1. He’s played 1,358 career at-bats in the majors– two full years– and he’s hit one career homer. He has only four career homers in professional baseball.

2. His career on-base percentage is .314, and he strikes out twice as often as he walks.

3. He has 28 career sacrifices (bunts plus flies) and 29 GIDPs. That is, he takes more men off base than he advances.

4. He has never played a position in the majors other than outfield and DH. He has played 239 games in left field, 93 in center and 46 in right, suggesting that his managers feel he ain’t too hot with the leather.

I think a fair assessment of Tyner would be “a pathetically inept and fundamentally worthless ballplayer.”

Tyner’s one credential: he has stolen 61 career bases and been caught 15 times. In his only chance to play even semi-regularly (for the 2001 Devil Rays, who went 62-100) he went 31-8.

Every so often, people post a comment to the effect of “The people running the Indians know many things that we are not privy to and cannot possibly understand.” I would love to see one of those folks step up on this issue. Here are my top ten reasons that he is on the team and Jason Michaels is not:

10. The Indians plan to use him solely as a pinch-runner, on the infrequent occasions that Ryan Garko and “Punk” reach base.

9. Michaels has intestinal parasites resulting in chronic flatulence, which makes him unsuitable for the dugout and undesirable in the clubhouse.

8. Duane Kuiper is retired.

7. Tyner is holding a place for Shin-Soo Choo, and the Indians felt it was best not to pick anyone they might get attached to.

6. Michaels juggles chainsaws in his spare time and his hobby was starting to intrigue members of the rotation.

5. Ben Broussard hasn’t cleared waivers yet

4. Tyner has evidence of a relationship between a member of the front office and Ashley Alexandra Dupre.

3. Front office wanted be sure they had a player who could never be accused to taking performance-enhancing drugs.

2. Needed a better hacky-sack partner for Andy Marte than Tom Mastny.

1. They’re showcasing Tyner for Ozzie Guillen.

I’m not actually this bent out of shape– just having fun at various people’s expense. Mastny wasn’t getting into any games, either, and it’s not like anyone else in Buffalo is more deserving of a spot. I wouldn’t bring up Josh Barfield unless I were going to play him every day– and I’m not close to giving up on Asdrubal Cabrera yet.
max power says:

May 13th, 2008 at 9:08 am

I heard a rumor that Tyner was up so that they could “showcase” him (if you call that game a showcase) and then DFA him on the next move for Sowers.

Cause, really, he serves no purpose on the team, except maybe as that guy who “takes one” for the team, as in taking a DFA to clear up a roster spot.
Geoff Beckman says:

May 13th, 2008 at 11:18 am

Max, I should add a footnote to my ridicule. Michaels was released due to the following factors, although not in this order:

1. There was some feeling that he’d had a real drop in level of ability.

2. His best chance to get his career back on track seemed to be with a fresh start for another team

3. Ben Francisco offered comparable talent and the chance to improve.

4. It would show concern and be popular with the fans and media.

None of that explains why Tyner was chosen to replace him, however– not that they are in any way linked.

I’m not as good on transaction rules as I used to be, but there would be no earthly reason for the Indians to bring Tyner to the majors to DFA him. Technically he belongs to Buffalo– if the Bisons wanted to keep him, they couldn’t just order them to cut him.

But I see no reason why Buffalo would want to keep him. They don’t need him any longer because the Indians signed Bronson Sardinha (25 year old outfielder, former #1 pick). And Buffalo’s contract with the Indians is up after this year, and there are rumors that the Indians intend to relocate in Columbus (an hour closer, bigger city and you could visit Akron on the way to or from). I doubt the Bisons would want to antagonize Cleveland.

I would not assume that his presence is the precursor to anything, by the way. Remember, during the winter everyone was sure that the acquisition of Jamey Carroll had to mean a deal was in the works. That never happened.

It is most likely that (a) they like Mastny and didn’t want him getting stale and (b) they didn’t want to play with 24 players and (c) they didn’t want to jerk anyone who could play around and (d) Tyner was the only non-pitcher they had in AAA.

It makes my head hurt to think about the guy even being in the majors. I was getting to the close to point where I could forgive the Indians for Rick Dempsey and Kane Davis– and then they do something like this.
Tribe No 1 Fan (Jeremy Swick) says:

May 13th, 2008 at 6:51 pm

Clifton Phifer Lee can say whatever he wants as long as he continues the amazingness. In my opinion, the first 9 innings of this game made it the best game of ‘08 thus far. I really don’t ever remember being interesting in pitchers duels, but I was totally into this one.

Marcum pitched outstanding, and Cliff had another great start for us. Victor’s snag at first base shocked me, and I screamed so loud after Gut’s amazing diving catch. That was sick.

Betancourt, just mehhh..