The Cleveland Indians have played 109 games so far this year. They are 61 and 48, 1.5 games out of first place. They are in the middle of a pennant race. Or are they????? Of the 109 games played, the Indians have played 36 games against teams over .500 with a record of 17-19. In the month of August so far they have played 5 games against Oakland and Seattle and are 1-4. They have 25 games remaining in August 21 of them against teams over .500. The Indians pitching staff is in shambles. Steve Woodard started yesterday?s game and was pulled in the 4th inning with Seattle winning 3-2. If anyone watched the game Seattle should have been ahead at least 7-2. After he was pulled Cleveland went through 5 relief pitchers over the next 5 1/3 innings, giving up 4 runs and 5 hits. Friday night C.C. Sabathia pitched and lasted 3 innings giving up 7 runs. He is one bright spot for the Indians. He has pitched well all year but he is a rookie, and he may be getting a bit burned out because of the length of the season. After Sabathia was relieved the Indians used 2 relief pitchers that gave up 10 runs and 13 hits over the next 6 innings.
Chuck Finley is hurt and on assignment at AAA. Charles Nagey is still trying to come back from last years injury has not been effective, Jaret Wright only pitched a handful of games all year, Bartolo Colon is up and down, and Dave ?gasoline? Burba hasn?t pitched well all year even though he started out the season 8-2. His record looked good but he had an ERA of about 5.70 at this point. Now he is 9-8 with an ERA of 6.21.
The Indians offense is sputtering. Juan Gonzalez has had nagging injuries and is still out, Ellis Burks is showing his age and should not be relied on as an everyday player, Kenny Lofton is batting .238 with 11 stolen bases, Omar Vizquel is batting .265 with 13 stolen bases, Russell Branyon has played in 82 games, has been to bat 249 times and struck out 102 times. Alomar and Thome are having solid years but the two of them will not carry this team.
With this tough month of August I look for the Indians to lose 15-17 of the next 25 games, and Minnisota to take command of the Central Division. Have fun watching them on ESPN tonight??????.
------------------
Tito
I used to have a handle on life.....but it broke!
[This message has been edited by Tito (edited 08-05-2001).]
Chuck Finley is hurt and on assignment at AAA. Charles Nagey is still trying to come back from last years injury has not been effective, Jaret Wright only pitched a handful of games all year, Bartolo Colon is up and down, and Dave ?gasoline? Burba hasn?t pitched well all year even though he started out the season 8-2. His record looked good but he had an ERA of about 5.70 at this point. Now he is 9-8 with an ERA of 6.21.
The Indians offense is sputtering. Juan Gonzalez has had nagging injuries and is still out, Ellis Burks is showing his age and should not be relied on as an everyday player, Kenny Lofton is batting .238 with 11 stolen bases, Omar Vizquel is batting .265 with 13 stolen bases, Russell Branyon has played in 82 games, has been to bat 249 times and struck out 102 times. Alomar and Thome are having solid years but the two of them will not carry this team.
With this tough month of August I look for the Indians to lose 15-17 of the next 25 games, and Minnisota to take command of the Central Division. Have fun watching them on ESPN tonight??????.
------------------
Tito
I used to have a handle on life.....but it broke!
[This message has been edited by Tito (edited 08-05-2001).]
