Author: Tim Russo (Page 66 of 89)

That collective groan you heard all over Cleveland about 4pm Saturday afternoon occurred when Travis Hafner’s blast in the 8th inning of today’s 4-3 loss to the White Sox hit the wall for a double instead of going out of the park.

Everyone knew Jhonny Perralta, the tying run, would not be waved home from third. Everyone knew that Chicago would then walk Victor Martinez to load the bases with one out. Everyone knew that the next batter, Ronnie Belliard, would either hit into a double play or pop out…he did the latter. And then everyone knew it didn’t matter who the hell the next batter was, nor how loaded the bases were, or how many outs there were. The game was over.

That’s the difference between a home run and a double. Pretty much the difference between the Indians winning and losing. Making the playoffs and not.

Let’s see, about a billion strikeouts tonight, 1 run scored in 13 innings (oops, sorry 2 in 13, how could I forget such stunning offensive output), 0 for 25,348 with runners in scoring position, and about 800 arms left laying all over the infield after Indians batters nearly swung them out of their sockets.

Gonna say it again. This team lived by the home run, and it is currently dying by the home run having left the building. The 9th inning, when the Tribe tied the game with some actual situational hitting, is the only inning tonight out of 13 that the Tribe actually looked like a baseball team rather than a sports bar softball team staffed with beer-bellied neanderthals who spend every smoking break at Swings N’ Things attempting to tear the skin off 15 mph meatballs.

These guys simply do not know how to shorten their swing, make contact, and just plain hit. If they ever did, they’ve certainly forgotten now. They look for a home run pitch, and if they don’t get it, they don’t swing, and they strike out looking. Or else it’s the big fat guy softball team show, with guys swinging so hard they almost knock themselves over.

And in the supreme irony of the evening, Ronnie Belliard uncorks one of those gargantuan swings in the 13th for an actual home run, as opposed to the invisible ones the Tribe thought they were gonna hit every time they struck out. Only it wasn’t enough. It was never gonna be enough for the Tribe to just hit home runs. And it won’t be enough to get them to the playoffs, or get them very far should they get there.

WCPN jumps on the Tribe bandwagon, and like all things NPR, it has to be somewhat intellectual. They had a sports psychologist on who works with the Browns and Indians. Interesting exchange.

Some old timer called in to argue, like every curmudgeon who thinks all young people are a bunch of fools, that Grady Sizemore was more interested in his appearance with sunglasses out in center field than catching the fly ball he dropped in the KC game. That he should have worn eye black, and how typical it is of this “younger generation” that he was instead wearing designer sunglasses.

What. Ever.