It is difficult to chastise the guy whose solo home run accounted for exactly all of the Indians' runs scored, but, yes, I am going to do that. I am sick of Matt LaPorta, utterly disgusted with him. Yeah, Matty's first home run since June 2nd was great, it gave us hope, but it does not forgive his other 3 at-bats. In the second inning, with a man on, he popped out to short on a 3-1 pitch, not putting anything vaguely resembling a good swing on the ball. With two on in the 4th, he flied out to center. The STO boys tried to make it sound as if LaPorta (.238) had come up just short of a home run. The ball did not even reach the track. Then, the ninth, oh mon dieu, the ninth. I was poised to write the complete antithesis of this paragraph, highlighted by the sentence "Every time I am about to completely give up on Matt LaPorta, he does something that compels me to give him another chance." While it was a great at-bat to work the count full, Amy Winehouse could have put a better swing on the 3-2 pitch. To compound the problem, Matt put himself so badly out of position with his attempt that he was doubled up at first. C'mon man!
Do you thing I am done ranting on this one? Not. Even. Close. It may be that Manny Acta is outstanding at bringing young talent along, at transitioning them into successful big league pros. What he is rarely proficient at is making in-game decisions. Sure, there were a few well-played situations earlier in the year, particularly involving the squeeze play, but, over the past month, Manny has hurt more than he has helped. Tonight was one of the worst, as he made not one, but two unconscionable calls. First and worst came in the third inning. With Jason Kipnis on third, Ezequiel Carrera on first and Michael Brantley at the dish with one out, Acta chose NOT to put Carrera in motion. Let me be perfectly clear, Zeke is fast (35/39 SB's at Columbus). The only tool that propelled him into the big leagues was his speed. Kipnis, who does have above average speed (9 AAA 3B), is smart on the base paths (12/13 AAA SB's). On the first pitch to Brantley, you put on the take (the lineup took pitch 1 all night anyway) and send Carrera. Hmmm, what might happen? A) Jeff Mathis holds the ball and you have two runners in scoring position. B) He throws through and Kipnis comes home with the game's first run against a guy with a 1.84 ERA. C) Maybe Zeke is even safe and the inning rolls right along. What is the worst case scenario? I guess it is that one of the middle infielders cuts the ball and gets Kip at home. That would take two great throws in quick succession plus the intelligence and awareness to make the return play. Unforgivable. Even if I could give Acta the benefit of the doubt for that blunder (which I cannot), he gaffed again in the all-important top of 7. He asked Josh Tomlin, who had thrown just 18 pitches out of the zone to that point, to throw four wide to Howie Kendrick. Although, I get the logic, Mark Trumbo had looked clueless in his first two AB's, the decision to break the rhythm of a man who had allowed 3 base runners all night is just plain stupid. Sure, the pitch selection to Trumbo could have been better. Still, let the your horse do his job, do not take the ball out his hand and give him time to think about what is going on around him. If Acta cannot recognize that this something that one absolutely cannot do, especially to a young pitcher, perhaps he is not as good at player development as some would have us think.
I feel a bit better now. Allow me to give Josh Tomlin his props. In a game where the pressure to be perfect must have been immense, Josh (11-5, 4.01) showed up for the challenge. Pitching a full 8 innings for the first time this season, and only the second of his career, he threw first pitch strikes to 25 of 28 hitters (including the IBB) and delivered five 1-2-3 innings. Tomlin has said recently that his cutter had been flat of late and somewhat difficult to control. It did not show tonight. That may have been because he threw more curveballs than normal, which worked well for the most part, until, sadly, he left one up against Trumbo. This was a great outing from Tomlin and what did he get, what did we get? A loss. Thanks, Manny and thank you, Matt LaPorta.
Enough.
Here's to not having to decide whether to watch the game tomorrow. It is not televised. ;-j
Cheers.
