The CC Sabathia trade…even now the mere mention of that debacle still stings. It was that event that signaled the end of my season, where I lost hope and said, “fuck it.” Sure, I watched games and followed as usual, it’s just that my zeal was diminished as that was when the Indians ownership basically said, “screw you fans, you got your shot for a winner, and it’s not working so we’re going to absolutely gut the team as Lord Lurie hath taught.”

In that move, ownership told us not to bother. The Dolans realized that we wouldn’t pack the stadium in this economy to see a team that wasn’t winning so they traded their most expensive, tradable asset that would get the most in return. They didn’t want to spend the extra money, like always, and all of the sudden, their promise to spend when the team looked ready to contend’s deal expired, leaving us in the lurch, feeling like the jaded fans at the beginning of Major League.

But, strangely enough, Cliff Lee didn’t get that message, that he was supposed to give up because the ownership said the season was over, Vikings don’t give up that easily, no sir. As the Indians endured a 10 game losing streak and their heart and soul gets traded for a great unknown, Cliff Lee never gave up even though that essentially was the death knoll. See, Cliff Lee didn’t sign up for this bullshit, work his way back from being demoted to AAA an unbelievable YEAR ago and being all but given up on come the regular season.

But here we are, mired in the dog days of summer with the team showing signs of life, that last year wasn’t a fluke and there’s something to look forward to next year, and the crown jewel of this forgettable season just put another cherry on top of what has been the best season by any starting pitcher in all of MLB. Going from background music and being fun as hell to watch again and root hard for. Fuckin’ Cliff Lee is making major league hitters look like amateurs, back-to-back impressive dominations of two of the stronger offensive teams in the league. Read the rest of this entry »

We all know the Indians can’t keep this up. Sure, they swept the Rays over the weekend, bringing the Rays’ losing streak in Jacobs Progressive Field to 13 games, but there’s no way they can keep this up, is there?

Well, sure there is. Which is why I’m setting this ultimatum…if the Indians aren’t in 3rd place in the AL Central by the trading deadline, or at least win 2/3 of their games until that date, I’m officially rooting for another team…and I don’t find anything wrong with that.

The reasons are twofold…one, I will have some rooting interest in baseball rather than hanging upside down from my ceiling, carving the days until I get to see Joe Thomas’ God-blessed pass protection skills in an actual football game that counts on my right arm and the days until Ohio State vs. USC on my left. Sure, I’d be counting up, but I’d be insane, which was my point. The adopted team would be my team to invest my emotional well-being into, which would be very good for my baseball soul. Whoo-sah.

Two, I’d have something to contribute here, because these days, just mentioning Cleveland Indians brings me to imagining wild scenarios in my head regarding the gruesome death of Paul Dolan. But since I don’t voice the sick images in my brain, I’m not one of those crazy fans which people always warn you about. Nope.

So, I’m naming my potential bandwagon team right now, for reasons that are as good as any for me, and that team is…DAH-DU-DAH!!! Read the rest of this entry »

In response to Spencer’s post yesterday about the Hall of Fame (which I thought would be filled with things such as facts, my bad) I have prepared my counter argument, why Bert Blyleven is an undisputed Hall of Famer. Some of the more stubborn people out there I’m sure won’t be convinced, but then again I think you could take Roman into outer space and he’d still believe the Earth was flat. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you have any idea how good Grady Sizemore is?

MWAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA…we suck.

I’M A FUCKING SOLDIER.

I might have to amend the title of this post at some point simply because I don’t think the Phillies suck but for right now, I’ll leave it as it is. During yesterday’s discussion of NL Cy Young candidates, it was brought to my attention that I omitted a serious pitcher. So I went over the numbers and it turns out that they were right. Cole Hamels deserves to be mentioned among Cy Young candidates for several reasons…right now.

Right now, Hamels looks amazing. He’s got an ERA of 2.61 and a WHIP of 1.02. He strikes out more than 8 per 9IP and is averaging more than 7IP per start which is a nice feature to have in a pitcher. Compare that to Edinson Volquez (a pitcher I like) who is only averaging about 6IP per start with Dusty Baker as his manager (?!?). His K/BB is over three and opposing hitters are only hitting .206 off of him. Seriously, I messed up big time by not mentioning Cole Hamels yesterday. In my defense, I don’t think of the Phillies as even having starting pitchers. With their offense, I just assumed they threw a pitching machine out there every night until Brad Lidge was ready to come and close. I guess that’s why Hamels is such a perfect fit for this feature because I underestimated the entire Phillies staff. Whoops. [Editor's note: The Phillies are actually 6th in team ERA out of the 16 teams in the NL]

My only concern about Hamels is that his current numbers might not reflect his end of the year outcome. Right now his BABIP is around .257 which is low for him. Last year it was .287 and the year before that it was .300. Interestingly, each year, his overall numbers have improved along with his BABIP except that his K/9 have gone down. In 2006, he struck out 9.7/9 and now it’s down to 8/9IP (coorelation/causation or coincidence?). At any rate, even if his BABIP does correct a bit, Hamels will still be far above average. Maybe not a Cy Young winner but a hell of a good pitcher. I apologize for not mentioning him yesterday.

I might have to amend the title of this post at some point simply because I don’t think the Phillies suck but for right now, I’ll leave it as it is. During yesterday’s discussion of NL Cy Young candidates, it was brought to my attention that I omitted a serious pitcher. So I went over the numbers and it turns out that they were right. Cole Hamels deserves to be mentioned among Cy Young candidates for several reasons…right now.

Right now, Hamels looks amazing. He’s got an ERA of 2.61 and a WHIP of 1.02. He strikes out more than 8 per 9IP and is averaging more than 7IP per start which is a nice feature to have in a pitcher. Compare that to Edinson Volquez (a pitcher I like) who is only averaging about 6IP per start with Dusty Baker as his manager (?!?). His K/BB is over three and opposing hitters are only hitting .206 off of him. Seriously, I messed up big time by not mentioning Cole Hamels yesterday. In my defense, I don’t think of the Phillies as even having starting pitchers. With their offense, I just assumed they threw a pitching machine out there every night until Brad Lidge was ready to come and close. I guess that’s why Hamels is such a perfect fit for this feature because I underestimated the entire Phillies staff. Whoops. [Editor's note: The Phillies are actually 6th in team ERA out of the 16 teams in the NL]

My only concern about Hamels is that his current numbers might not reflect his end of the year outcome. Right now his BABIP is around .257 which is low for him. Last year it was .287 and the year before that it was .300. Interestingly, each year, his overall numbers have improved along with his BABIP except that his K/9 have gone down. In 2006, he struck out 9.7/9 and now it’s down to 8/9IP (coorelation/causation or coincidence?). At any rate, even if his BABIP does correct a bit, Hamels will still be far above average. Maybe not a Cy Young winner but a hell of a good pitcher. I apologize for not mentioning him yesterday.

From time to time we will be taking a look at some of the few bright spots on bad teams or highlight guys who deserve more recognition than they are currently getting. To kick off the series, who better than Tim Lincecum? The only reason I’m not starting with Edinson Volquez or Aaron Harang is because they’ve gotten some run lately. We’ll get back to them later in the year.

If he didn’t play for the Giants or look like the main character from Kids then maybe he might get more run, but he does on both counts so there’s really no getting past it. Lincecum has the second best ERA in the league behind Volquez in eight more innings of work.

Lincecum is only 23 years old (he’ll be 24 next month) and he is simply dominating the competition. And consider this: his BABIP is high (.321) right now so there’s a chance that he could get even better as the season goes on and that reverts to the mean. Volquez’s BABIP is .287.

Another amazing sign that this isn’t a fluke: Lincecum’s K/9 rate is 9.48 which is great but the fact that he doesn’t rack up a lot of walks either (3.22 BB/9) is a real testament to his control. To put it in context, Nolan Ryan’s career K/9 was 9.7 but his BB/9 was 5.0. When Ryan was 23 his rates were 8.8 and 6.7 respectively. A high strikeout to walks ratio is a giant signifier that this kid isn’t going anywhere.

And it’s not like his record is poor. He’s sitting at 5-1 which should get the traditional stat guys to take a look at him. In his eight starts so far this season, he’s given up 3 ERs only once and suffered a 3-2 loss to the Rockies. In his two no decisions this year, he gave up 1ER and 0ER. If his team had any offense in them whatsoever (15th out of 16 in the NL), he could be 8-0.

He needs to improve his GB/FB ratio, especially when he’s on the road, but considering that he’s not giving up a ton of homeruns, it shouldn’t be an issue so far. He’s got an HR/FB ration of 6.4%. Roy Oswalt’s ratio is 25% (?!?).

Again, if this kid’s team didn’t suck so much (the Giants are 16-22 in what is arguably the worst division in baseball), Lincecum would be a star.

From time to time we will be taking a look at some of the few bright spots on bad teams or highlight guys who deserve more recognition than they are currently getting. To kick off the series, who better than Tim Lincecum? The only reason I’m not starting with Edinson Volquez or Aaron Harang is because they’ve gotten some run lately. We’ll get back to them later in the year.

If he didn’t play for the Giants or look like the main character from Kids then maybe he might get more run, but he does on both counts so there’s really no getting past it. Lincecum has the second best ERA in the league behind Volquez in eight more innings of work.

Lincecum is only 23 years old (he’ll be 24 next month) and he is simply dominating the competition. And consider this: his BABIP is high (.321) right now so there’s a chance that he could get even better as the season goes on and that reverts to the mean. Volquez’s BABIP is .287.

Another amazing sign that this isn’t a fluke: Lincecum’s K/9 rate is 9.48 which is great but the fact that he doesn’t rack up a lot of walks either (3.22 BB/9) is a real testament to his control. To put it in context, Nolan Ryan’s career K/9 was 9.7 but his BB/9 was 5.0. When Ryan was 23 his rates were 8.8 and 6.7 respectively. A high strikeout to walks ratio is a giant signifier that this kid isn’t going anywhere.

And it’s not like his record is poor. He’s sitting at 5-1 which should get the traditional stat guys to take a look at him. In his eight starts so far this season, he’s given up 3 ERs only once and suffered a 3-2 loss to the Rockies. In his two no decisions this year, he gave up 1ER and 0ER. If his team had any offense in them whatsoever (15th out of 16 in the NL), he could be 8-0.

He needs to improve his GB/FB ratio, especially when he’s on the road, but considering that he’s not giving up a ton of homeruns, it shouldn’t be an issue so far. He’s got an HR/FB ration of 6.4%. Roy Oswalt’s ratio is 25% (?!?).

Again, if this kid’s team didn’t suck so much (the Giants are 16-22 in what is arguably the worst division in baseball), Lincecum would be a star.