A Quest Called Tribe

Two hours ago I would have said, "Don't worry about Carlos Santana."  In fact, I did.  After watching him take three consecutive fastballs to make the 27th out of a 5-4 loss, I have changed my tune.  Shin-Soo Choo had just walked to force in the penultimate run and the young slugger strode to the dish with a chance to play hero against a struggling closer.  Instead, Joakim Soria sent three straight heaters over the outside corner and we have to deal with losing to the GD Royals.  Take the bat off of your shoulder, Carlos!

As opposed to every game over the past ten days, tonight I sat down and I was scared.  Having heard from a variety of sources that the league now has a book on Jeanmar Gomez and that he would have to make significant progress to sustain major league success, I was quite wary of the recall.  And rightly so.  Gomez delivered the first awful GS since the second game of the season.  Jeanmar looked pedestrian, a certifiable AAAAer, in surrendering all five KC runs on nine hits over four and a third.  I never thought that I would be calling for David Huff, but "Call up David Huff!"  We can hope that Mitch Talbot will miss only one more start (he'll probably miss 2 or 3).  We can hope that Tim Belcher can help Gomez with some adjustments (likely won't happen).  We can even concede that one game in five (ugh), but I don't have to like it.  So, straight to Jeanmar Gomez, "Boo!"

Given the 5-0 deficit, the offense made a laudable effort at a comeback.  And who got the clutch hit?  Lou-Lou Marson.  I'll give the dude credit.  He said that he was going to hit and, in the early going, hit he has.  In a game where three of your highest profile players look foolish in the late innings, after 17 games during which the #3 & 4 hitters are barely hitting .400 combined, the .357 from Marson in a pleasant surprise.  Five stolen bases allowed is not.

One more tidbit of note.  As we lament the poor production of several key offensive cogs, we have to recognize that American League batting averages are way down so far this season.  In 2010, only one AL team hit under .247.  So far in 2011, only six teams, including the Indians at .269 coming into tonight, are batting above .247.  The likelihood is that these numbers will regress to the mean as the season progresses.  So, for now, let's take our 12-5 first place record and assume that Santana (.203) and Choo (.215) and others will eventually hit.


Cheers.

P.S. Quick shout out to Chad Durbin, who tossed 2.2 scoreless in relief tonight.  Alas, the team lost.  Durbin still has done nothing to help them win.  ;-j  Just kidding, Chad.  Nice outing.