Cleveland's schedule down the stretch

[DBAHO]

And alas the Indians wasted another good oppurtunity to get a game on us losing to the D-Rays today, thanks to Jake Westbrook.

 

Their starting pitching is still quite iffy to me. Westbrook's struggled for the majority of the year, Sabathia's had a bad year (5.10 ERA), Elarton is a #5 nothing more, Cliff Lee is a notorious 1st half pitcher, and can Millwood keep up the way he's pitched so far.

 

They've got a great bullpen though. Fernando Cabrera has come up and dominated (watch out for this guy in the future), while guys like Miller, Rhodes, Wickman, well basically everyone in their pen have all had a real good year.

[witesoxfan]

And alas the Indians wasted another good oppurtunity to get a game on us losing to the D-Rays today, thanks to Jake Westbrook.

 

Their starting pitching is still quite iffy to me. Westbrook's struggled for the majority of the year, Sabathia's had a bad year (5.10 ERA), Elarton is a #5 nothing more, Cliff Lee is a notorious 1st half pitcher, and can Millwood keep up the way he's pitched so far.

 

They've got a great bullpen though. Fernando Cabrera has come up and dominated (watch out for this guy in the future), while guys like Miller, Rhodes, Wickman, well basically everyone in their pen have all had a real good year.

 

To go along with a solid, but streaky offense.

 

Sounds a bit like the Angels, doesn't it?

[DBAHO]

To go along with a solid, but streaky offense.

 

Sounds a bit like the Angels, doesn't it?

Yeah, except the Angels pen hasn't been as good as in previous years. Donnelly's got a 3.99 ERA, while the likes of Yan, Peralta, Woods and Gregg all have ERA's above 4. Yes, Shields and K-Rod, are great, but besides those 2, they haven't been all that good, not Cleveland good anyways.

 

With their offense, quite simple really, shut down Vlad and Garret in the middle of that lineup, they'll struggle to score runs. The Jeff Davanon's (who's always a crowd favorite), Juan Rivera's, Steve Finley's (based on his season so far) etc. don't really strike much fear into opposing pitchers.

[Rowand44]

Yeah, except the Angels pen hasn't been as good as in previous years. Donnelly's got a 3.99 ERA, while the likes of Yan, Peralta, Woods and Gregg all have ERA's above 4. Yes, Shields and K-Rod, are great, but besides those 2, they haven't been all that good, not Cleveland good anyways.

 

With their offense, quite simple really, shut down Vlad and Garret in the middle of that lineup, they'll struggle to score runs. The Jeff Davanon's (who's always a crowd favorite), Juan Rivera's, Steve Finley's (based on his season so far) etc. don't really strike much fear into opposing pitchers.

Even Krod and Shields have been having some problems as of late. It seems Donnelly's season went down hill after the finger licking incident at the cell.

[DBAHO]

Even Krod and Shields have been having some problems as of late.  It seems Donnelly's season went down hill after the finger licking incident at the cell.

Yep they're spluttering down the stretch, and in the 2 games that I saw against Seattle when I went, they didn't look good at all.

 

They do have some damn good prospects though, so the future is rosy. And Figgins and Erstad are a damn good 1-2 punch at the top of that lineup.

[Rowand44]

Yep they're spluttering down the stretch, and in the 2 games that I saw against Seattle when I went, they didn't look good at all.

 

They do have some damn good prospects though, so the future is rosy. And Figgins and Erstad are a damn good 1-2 punch at the top of that lineup.

To me they have lost a lot of their intimidation I guess you can say. They were tough to deal with before cause they could basically play a 6 inning game and then you knew you were toast, this year... not so much.

Edited August 13, 2005 by Rowand44

[Soxpranos]

3 vs. Tampa

3 vs. Texas

3 vs. Baltimore

4 @ Tampa

3 @ Toronto

3 vs. Detroit

3 @ Minnesota

3 @ Detroit

3 vs. Minnesota

3 vs. Oakland

3 vs. KC

3 @ Sox

4 @ KC

3 vs. Tampa

3 @ Sox

 

Whoa...ten against the D-Rays? 7 against the Royals? 15 more against the scuffling Orioles, Tigers and Twins? The only playoff bound teams are Oakland, who they have at home, and us.

 

Wow, they could go on a serious roll here...maybe this division isn't as secure as we thought...

 

EDIT: sorry, slightly off...forgot one royals game

 

Looks like our schedule in the 1st half of the season.

[the People's Champ]

Ok

 

take this as you may, but, this so called easy schedule is filled with teams that arent going to make the playoffs. Which means that they have nothing to lose. A lot of times you will hear people talk as if these games are actually tougher to play because of that reason. These team's seasons are basically over so their main motivation comes from beating contenting teams, so they take on the "spoiler" role. They have no pressure on them because they are expected to lose. Whereas the Sox or the Red Sox or what have you have the pressure to not blow it down the stretch, which can make it tougher to win games. I don't know, Im not going to get worried until our lead dwindles to like 5 games or so.

Edited August 14, 2005 by the People's Champ