Momentum in the AL Central...

[caulfield12]

So the Twins and Royals have teams better suited to their particular stadiums...

 

I guess I can buy that. Maybe another element is the White Sox have lost some of their home field advantage as the lack of winning has led to lower and lower attendance figures.

 

It was also pretty obvious that those Twins' teams weren't well suited for that new outdoor stadium of theirs from the get-go.

 

ANd it's just as obvious when you play in a stadium like USCF with an average or below average offense you have to have elite pitching (starting and bullpen) as well as defense and fundamentally-sound to offset the difference. You simply can't have single digits in homers from LHBers at this point in the season, not in that stadium.

 

That still doesn't explain the success of the Tigers (well, Ilitch's money) and Indians (better at developing pitching than the Sox, at least recently?) The thing that stands out with CLE are all their Latin American studs....Salazar is one of the best pitchers in the AL, Carrasco isn't too far behind, Lindor in many ways is a better player than Carlos Correa, Jose Ramirez has been a revelation this year, Gomes is a competent catcher at worst and was a dynamic offensive player before his injury, Carlos Santana's OBP and power, plus they've got Kipnis, so up the middle they're extremely strong and also a pretty young team in terms of its core.

 

Brantley has been an off and on again MVP candidate the last 2-3 seasons (reminiscent of Grazy Sizemore, in that the injuries have sidetracked his career). Kluber kind of came out of nowhere (like Keuchel) to get on the Cy Young radar...Tomlin as well, is like a RH version of Buehrle. Doesn't throw extremely hard, but he's got great control, a repertoire of pitches and somehow he just gets the job done because of his "moxie." Perhaps the most talented two guys in the bunch (after Salazar), Anderson and Bauer, can't even get footholds in that rotation.

 

 

Edited June 7, 2016 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

Tigers lose, Zimmermann continues to struggle with his stuff.

 

With a Sox win, Indians' loss and also a loss by KC...you'd have a pretty remarkable (considering how they all arrived at that spot) three way tie for 2nd at 2 1/2 games GB.

 

Three teams at 1 game over (KC would have a seven game losing streak) and the Indians at 6 over.

[Texsox]

Confidence, momentum, expectations, bad luck. It can change in a blink of an eye.

 

But usually not, and I just don't see it right now with this team.

[Balta1701]

Confidence, momentum, expectations, bad luck. It can change in a blink of an eye.

 

But usually not, and I just don't see it right now with this team.

Did anyone see the rapid collapse suddenly hitting? No matter how much I doubted this team even I didn't think that "lightswitch off" moment was possible.

[Texsox]

Did anyone see the rapid collapse suddenly hitting? No matter how much I doubted this team even I didn't think that "lightswitch off" moment was possible.

 

It seems way easier to have it turn off than on.

[caulfield12]

There was GOOD reason to believe those two wins against the Mets (especially the Albers Miracle Double Game and trip around the basepaths with his double chin flying in the breeze ala Colon) were the end of the slide.

 

It definitely FELT that way. But, as Eaton said, if it wasn't the Rangers, it definitely was blowing those 3 consecutive against the Royals. Like taking two uppercuts and two crosses from Mike Tyson.

 

So it will be interesting to see how the team and Shields himself reacts to instantly being thrown into a "must win" game against Scherzer to prevent the slide from continuing below the .500 mark. Mentally, that will be another huge blow to the team's collective psyche. It has almost been like that mark has been a magnet pulling the entire (now seemingly anomalous) 23-10 start back to "normal."

Edited June 8, 2016 by caulfield12

[Balta1701]

It seems way easier to have it turn off than on.

One thing I can say with confidence is that this team is not "THIS" bad. They're 6-19 in their last 25 games. Barring a whole bunch of injuries I have confidence this team will not remain a sub-.250 winning percentage team the rest of the year. Chris Sale will not win only nine games - as of tomorrow it will be 3 weeks since his last win. That won't continue the entire year. Jose Quintana will win at least 4 more to get himself to his usual 9 wins. At some point this will flip back to more "normal" in at least some ways. That may not make them a competitive team, but they're not the worst team in baseball.

[Texsox]

One thing I can say with confidence is that this team is not "THIS" bad. They're 6-19 in their last 25 games. Barring a whole bunch of injuries I have confidence this team will not remain a sub-.250 winning percentage team the rest of the year. Chris Sale will not win only nine games - as of tomorrow it will be 3 weeks since his last win. That won't continue the entire year. Jose Quintana will win at least 4 more to get himself to his usual 9 wins. At some point this will flip back to more "normal" in at least some ways. That may not make them a competitive team, but they're not the worst team in baseball.

 

Agreed. I also don't expect them to have another super hot streak like they did to start the season. I expected them to compete into September, I still believe they can.