Dunn walk-off homer ends Kobayashi dreams
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLEVELAND | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 2 | ||||||
| Cincinnati | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 0 | ||||||
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Masa Kobayashi entered tonight’s game with two-outs in the eighth inning looking to put a stranglehold on the vacant Indians’ role as closer. He left tonight’s game in the ninth-inning after giving up Adam Dunn’s three-run, walk-off home-run as the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Cleveland Indians 4-2 in Cincinnati.
Kobayashi came into the game in the eighth, after Rafael Perez got the second out of the inning, to face Mr. Revenge, Brandon Phillips. He got Phillips to fly out to center to end the inning. Kobayashi’s ninth inning wasn’t so simple. Joey Votto led off the inning with a single, and Edwin Encarnacion was hit by a Kobayashi pitch to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Slugger Adam Dunn threatened to bunt, but with with two strikes, he swung away. He took a 2-1 Kobayashi pitch to deep right, and ended the game abruptly. He may also have ended Kobayashi’s bid to be the Indians sole closer.
Eric Wedge stated that the Indians would work with a bullpen by committee. It’s believed that Wedge was simply trying to keep Rafael Betancourt from completely losing his mind. Betancourt has been less than stellar this year, and judging from how he’s reacted after bad innings, it’s not a surprise that Wedge just didn’t come out and give the job to Kobayashi after two saves in his only two chances. Now, Wedge can hide behind his committee after Kobayashi failed to get an out in the ninth. Who should close for the Indians?
At this point, Jorge Julio might have to be in the equation. Of course, whenever Julio has been mentioned as a closer in the past couple of years, he imploded nearly before he’s taken the mound. Right now, he’s excelling in the early innings hold situations, and my bet is that Wedge doesn’t want to screw around with him, since the rest of his relievers are pitching like they have multiple-disorder personalities. Of course, this was really Kobayashi’s first struggle, so let’s not jump the gun that much.
You have to think that if the Indians could have managed a big hit at any point in this game, the closer’s role would be a moot point. Unfortunately, this seems to be a year in which the closer will be one of the most important roles on this club. Of course, we’ll hear from a large group of fans who still say the closer doesn’t deserve any attention.
I wonder what those fans thought today.
Fausto Carmona was again brilliant today, showing more control today than he has in a long time. Carmona went 7 1/3, giving up only four hits, with no walks and four strikeouts. Carmona has averaged four walks a game, and today’s seemed to be a turning point. Carmona’s only run given up came in the sixth inning after a Jerry Hairston Jr. double. He advanced on a Carmona wild pitch, and scored on a Brandon Phillips single. He had allowed a runner to third in the fifth inning after Edwin Encarnacion singled, and advanced to third base on a couple of groundouts. Carmona go out of the inning by striking out pitcher Aaron Harang. Carmona was taken out in the eighth inning with one out, after hitting Jerry Hairston Jr. with a pitch. He had only thrown 99 pitches, and was showing good control for the most part. He should have tried to finish the inning. One hit batter does not make an end-game. If Wedge was true to his word, Perez would have been used against Dunn. Dunn was 0-4 lifetime against Perez.
Carmona’s start was wasted again.
Cleveland’s offense had 10 hits today. Of course, they could have used the three solo shots they had last night. They only mustered one homer and two runs in those ten hits. Ben Francisco had given the Tribe a 2-1 lead with his eighth inning blast, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
Tomorrow, Cliff Lee looks to continue his brilliant season. The way this series is going, he may have to figure out how to get his ERA in the negatives to ensure a win. He goes up against Cincy phenom Edinson Volquez. Volquez is 6-1 with a 1.12 ERA. It could be a long day for the Indians’ offense tomorrow…again.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 5:11 pm and is filed under Mark Shapiro, Ben Francisco, Eric Wedge, Edinson Volquez, Masa Kobayashi, Jerry Hairston Jr., Tribe Loss, Aaron Harang, Cliff Lee, Fausto Carmona, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Brandon Phillips, Edwin Encarnacion, Joey Votto, James Pete, Adam Dunn, Tribe Report.
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2 Responses to “Dunn walk-off homer ends Kobayashi dreams”
May 18th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Eric Wedge made the correct call, James. It’s not a decision he always makes, but it is an old baseball rule that most successful managers have followed: Once you reach the seventh inning, never let the starter pitch to the winning run. Thinking being:
1. If he pitched well enough to be in a position to win, don’t allow him to throw it all away.
2. If he put the tying run(s) on base, he’s probably losing his stuff.
It’s not an ironclad rule– if (say) the tying run reaches base because the hamhanded shortstop screwed up an easy grounded, you give him a chance to work out of it. Or if he gives up a bloop hit, you let that go.
But Carmona put the runner on base– and Griffey is hitting .170 against lefties this year. That’s a pretty easy decision.
Why he replaced Perez with Kobayashi… there you have me. I can’t remember the last time that Wedge has asked his “closer” to pitch more than an inning to get a save. Unless someone has gotten a save for pitching three innings of a 7-3 win, it might be the first multi-inning save attempt since Wedge was hired.
Perez was a little wild, and maybe Wedge figured “let’s go with the veteran.” Or maybe he planned to use Kobayashi for an inning and let Betancourt try to regroup by getting the last batter.
Whatever he intended, it didn’t work. Kobayashi didn’t have his command either. Phillips nearly won the game in the eighth, and then Dunn did.
If pushed, I guess I am one of the people saying “They shouldn’t trade for a closer”. Yeah, I think it’s a problem– but it pales before this punchless offense.
I agree that it’s bad when the bullpen fouls up two games in a row, but in both cases, the winning team scored four runs. If the bullpen gives up runs late in the game– when the offense has little (or in these cases) no chance to
come back– they’re a major factor in the loss.
But here’s a statistic that should boggle everyone’s mind:
The Indians are 1-3 in games where they allow opponents to score four runs.
Here’s another fun fact– Cleveland is 4-2 when they hold opponents to three runs. And in one of those losses, the opponent needed extra innings to get three runs.
And this is mind-boggling: The Indians are only playing .500 ball when the opponent scores two runs. They’re 3-3– and two of those games went to extra innings.
They even managed to lose a game where an opponent scored only one run.(5-1). Here’s the full chart:
Opponent scored 0 runs: 7-0
Opponent scored 1 runs: 5-1
Opponent scored 2 runs: 3-3
Opponent scored 3 runs: 4-2
Opponent scored 4 runs: 1-3
Opponent scored 5 runs: 0-2
Opponent scored 6 runs: 1-5
Opponent scored 7+ runs: 1-5
In the critical range (4-6 runs allowed) the Indians are 2-10. Those are games you can call the pitching “more or less average”– they didn’t exactly deserve to win, but the lineup didn’t need to do that much to get the team a “W”.
The lineup has bailed the pitching out– won a game where they gave up 7+ runs– once. They have screwed the staff– let the pitching take a loss even though they held opponents to three runs or less– six times.
A light-out bullpen probably swings 6-8 games into the win column– but so would a couple of guys hitting .275 with 5 homers.
If every game weren’t a low-scoring, one-run battle– where the guys on the mound know they can’t afford to make even one mistake– the bullpen might be doing better.
Kobayashi looked a little spooked out there. It seemed like he didn’t have his best stuff, so he was trying to be too fine– to make every pitch perfect. 8 of his 16 pitches were balls; it seemed like he was aiming for the corners and missing.
Four writers or broadcasters said “Boy, this really makes you miss Joe Borowski.” What they’re missing (aside from a functioning brain stem, maybe) is that Borowski entered the game with at least a two-run lead in 40 of his 69 games last year.
Borowski allowed a run (or more) in 22 games last year– nearly 1/3 of his 69 appearances. He was able to get a save in 10 of those games– nearly half the time– because the offense gave him some margin for error. He could make a mistake (sometimes more) and still get a save. Even in the eight games where he allowed 2+ runs, it he turned a win into a loss three times.
Even if Borowski regains 100% of his 2007 form (which is doubtful), the Indians wouldn’t see the same results. With this offense, every time he allowed a run, he’d blow a save.
The Indians could try to put together a deal for Mariano Rivera, but they’d be better off looking for Mariano Duncan– a mediocre player whose .268 career average and .688 OPS would be an improvement over half the players on the roster.
Worrying about the bullpen first is like a restaurant that keeps getting cited by the Health Department thinking that they need to get better waitresses.
BTW: The “Clueless Player Of The Month” award goes to Jhonny Peralta. He’s 6-20 with two doubles and two homers since he moved into the #2 spot– because he’s seeing a steady diet of fastballs with Grady Sizemore on base and Victor Martinez behind him. And yet he told writers that he doesn’t think the switch has anything to do with his surge
Runner up would be Ben Francisco, for saying he thinks he’s hitting .357 (OPS of .970) since being recalled because he’s just in a good groove.
Not to be mean, but he’s played 13 games. 13 games into his 2007 season, Francisco was hitting .312, with a 1.041 OPS. From that point–until the time he was sent down– he hit .167.
I hope he keeps hitting, but the likelihood that Francisco just hasn’t made it onto most teams’ advance scouting reports– with instructions on how to get him out– is pretty high.
June 18th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
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