This lineup is good. They are not going anywhere. Figuratively of course, they will not regress or take a nose dive, or fizzle out.
They won't score 12 runs every night, but if you are sitting there thinking that the offense may not b...
This lineup is good. They are not going anywhere. Figuratively of course, they will not regress or take a nose dive, or fizzle out.
They won't score 12 runs every night, but if you are sitting there thinking that the offense may not be for real, you are going to be mistaken, especially if you watched this club last night.
I can't definitively say that about the pitching. We saw Ubaldo struggle, and who knows if Zach McAllister will be brilliant all year. You still have to wonder about Masterson staying consistent and yada yada, you can make claims about the pitching, with no argument from me.
But I defy you to make an argument about this team's offense. Last year's offense had no staying power, was charged by a couple of hot streaks and a few consistent players.
This year's offense is charged by a lineup full of productive players and you saw that last night.
INDIANS - 12 | RED SOX - 3
W: Zach McAllister (4-3)
L: Ryan Dempster (2-5)
S: Scott Barnes (1)
[BOXSCORE]
Even Boston's manager John Farrell took a moment to praise the Indians, who beat his team into oblivion on Thursday night, a completely different result than when the BoSox came to Cleveland last month.
"They've got a very good team," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "They're in first place for a reason. They've got a very good lineup. They're balanced, they've got good pitching, a very good bullpen. They're not in first place by accident."
Photo - Getty Images via Zimbio.com
Very good!
In all seriousness, this offense has found its groove and Francona has found the right combination to put out there on a daily basis. He is getting incredible production from just about every spot on the diamond and it isn't really a "one guy" show. There's guys who help out at different times, which means that individually, you can go through a rough stretch and the team will be okay. Mark Reynolds for instance..
Earlier this month he went through a stretch in eight games where he was 3-for-23 with only five RBI (only, hah!) and no home runs. Did the offense suffer? Well, they won five of their eight games. But they also averaged 4.25 runs per game, which is just down one run then what they normally average for the entire season.
They are MLB's second best offense to only the Tigers at this juncture, both in the statistics and in the lineup they are putting out there every night. Talk about Trout-Pujols-Hamilton all you want, but the lineup isn't getting it done right now and you have to wonder what is behind them.
From the leadoff guy in Michael Bourn to the the nine-hitter in Drew Stubbs, this lineup is deep. So deep that they're trying to play their backup catcher even more because he's such a Yanimal.
And on Thursday night, they showed just how potent a lineup they can be, without the home run ball.
"Homers have been known to be rally killers," Reynolds quipped. "You keep having guys on base, it keeps pressure on the pitcher and it makes him be precise. We were just able to get big knocks with guys on base out there."
We can specifically talk about the sixth inning, which was good for six runs, a doubling of the score entirely. The previous six runs were nice, but this inning was simply a textbook version of how you want to play offensively.
Carlos Santana walked to load the bases and from there the Indians would follow with four hits, a single, a double, a triple and then another single. All of it with less than two outs. That is what is SUPPOSED to happen when you have the bases loaded. A grand slam would have been cool, but it would have been four runs and who knows then if the rest of the inning goes on to occur.
The point is, when you load the bases with no outs, you need to come away with not one or two runs, but you need to make that inning last and be damaging to the point of ending the game before it is actually over. And the Indians offense did that, something I don't