Zeke up...
2 for 3 tonight...

Count at 1 and 1...
foul...
down to his last strike...
ball 2, as Chiz steals 2nd...
Almost hit him..full count...
another foul...
and another...
and another...
weak chop to first..
Ballgame!

One run games tell the story. We're just plain gutless.

How can you have a closer who has no idea where the ball is going!

Yeah wow that was very anticlimatic...look at the bright side.....it's not even 10:30 EST.......won't have to stay up till two in the Morning to watch us lose tonight...

Our closer pitches better with a lead than with a tie.

Known fact.

Charlie T. wrote:...I would bet that the Indians have been one of the worst home teams in baseball since June 1.

Starting with that one horrific series against the Rangers at the beginning of June, the Indians have gone 10-20 at home. Just awful.

That gigantic lead they built up at the beginning of the season would have cushioned them against all but the most hideous collapse, but our boys were up to the task!

I'm close to throwing in the towel, but I'm going to the game tomorrow afternoon.

Tribe brass insist they are watching the waiver wire closely. Then why did they let Detroit get Delmon
Young? Is Young not a righthanded hitting outfielder. He is hitting well for the Tigers.

loufla wrote:Our closer pitches better with a lead than with a tie.

Known fact.

It doesn't make a lot of sense to me that someone can somehow forget how to pitch in a tie game once he's anointed as the closer. Perez was in plenty of them in his set-up days, and if he had been this bad then, he never would have gotten the top job. Not hitting batters is pretty elementary no matter when you come into the damn game.

The bottom line is that the save percentage has covered up the fact that Perez just hasn't been as effective this year. You're not going to find many closers who strike out fewer than 6 batters/9 innings, which is where we are at now with Perez. Even Joe Borowski fanned 7.95/9 innings in 2007. The dramatic dropoff in Perez's strikeout rate, coupled with inexplicable wildness like we saw tonight, is the worst of both worlds.

The Indians should definitely hold an open audition for the closer job next spring, and should possibly even consider not offering Perez arbitration, if the money saved might allow them to do something like finding a major league-caliber first baseman and/or left fielder. I doubt they will, of course.

Perez has been out of control for some time. Don't blame Acta for using him but your closer should be able to pitch in any situation. Not be successful in everyone but certainly not to be his own worst enemy. All Perez does is close his eyes and throws the ball off balance as hard as he can.

VT'er wrote:

we are putting our California house on the market ... Just to see what happens

Sounds sorta like non-irrevocable waivers

I don't know about the "non-irrevocable waivers," but it sure is a lot of work....for me....to get it ready. I had a paint crew in here all day today, and they'll be arriving again at 7AM tomorrow. Part of our deal is that I patch all the picture holes and supply the materials and do the clean up and transport to "the recycle center."

It sure would be much easier if our Cleveland Indians win two on Tuesday, with Detroit taking a loss.

As I have said before, Pestano could probably close.

Hope Mrs. Choo had the kid and dad can get back to work. We have too few hitters to spare and he's been looking OK at the plate since his return. What an awful lineup we fielded yesterday with Choo, Hafner, Kipnis, Sizemore all out that lefty heavy strength was all gone.

Yes, the problem is still the lack of hitting, not the lack of pitching.

What is our record in 1-run games? I was willing to criticize Wedge in this area and I'm willing to criticize Acta the same way.