Not likely, I'm afraid, Casey's HR totals over the last five years:
11 14 7 9 10
He's drawn more than 50 walks only once.
Career OPS is 730. At his age and stage of career he's not likely to deviate too far from that mean. Last season's OPS of 800, his best in 4 years, is the best we can hope for.
Re: GameTime!™
7263Cleveland Indians continue to travel well with 4-3 victory over A's at Oakland
Published: Saturday, April 21, 2012, 1:31 AM Updated: Saturday, April 21, 2012, 11:50 AM
By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer
OAKLAND, Calif. — Ubaldo Jimenez and the walking Indians just might decide to stay on the road for a long time.
Jimenez won his second straight start and the Indians drew nine more walks Friday night in a 4-3 victory over Oakland at the Coliseum.
The Indians are 6-1 on this nine-game trip through Kansas City, Seattle and Oakland.
"The locker room has a good vibe to it," said second baseman Jason Kipnis, who scored what proved to be the deciding run. "We're getting used to winning. That's what you need to do. You need to have a winning environment around here so when you lose you know it was a mistake or something went wrong."
What Indians victory of late would be complete without a contribution from Jack Hannahan? He drove in their first three runs with a sacrifice fly and two-run double against yet another of his former clubs. On Thursday, Hannahan's two-run single in the ninth beat his former club in Seattle, 2-1.
"Jack is a very confident hitter right now," said manager Manny Acta. "Lefty, righty, it doesn't matter who's out there."
Jimenez (2-0, 4.00) made it through six innings and had his usual best-of-three falls with the strike zone.
"Tonight I didn't have anything," Jimenez said. "I threw my split, they hit a home run off a hanging split.
The change-up was my best pitch. I threw it two times for a strike. I didn't have my slider. I didn't have my curve. I didn't have anything."
How did he make it through six innings?
"I wasn't pitching good, but I was able to fight," Jimenez said. "The guys made it real easy for me. They scored some runs and played really good defense.
"I definitely have to find a way to get better."
Jimenez allowed two runs on six hits in six innings. He walked five and struck out three in 107 pitches.
The Indians, who lead the American League with 66 walks, drew five against rookie right-hander Graham Godfrey (0-3, 5.06), but could only turn two of them into runs. The extra pitches Godfrey threw, however, limited him to five innings.
For the game the Indians put 18 runners on base, but only four scored.
"We had a lot of traffic on the bases, a lot of quality bats," Acta said. "We just couldn't find the big hit to do more damage."
Oakland, the lowest-scoring team in the American League, pushed the Tribe in the late innings. A triple by Jemile Weeks -- left fielder Shelley Duncan saved it from being a home run -- and Yoenis Cespedes' single made it 4-3 in the seventh. That's when the Indians bullpen took over.
Joe Smith, with the bases loaded, retired Kila Ka'aihue on a grounder to third to end the seventh. Vinnie Pestano gave up a two-out double to Weeks in the eighth, but left him stranded. Chris Perez followed in the ninth, retiring the heart of the order, for his fifth save.
Four of Perez's saves have come on this trip.
"Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez slammed the door," Acta said.
The Indians took a 1-0 lead in second on Hannahan's sacrifice fly after Godfrey loaded the bases on walks to Carlos Santana, Travis Hafner and Casey Kotchman.
Hannahan made it 3-1 with a two-run double in the fourth following a single by Hafner and a walk by Duncan.
The biggest run of the game came in the fifth and involved a head-first slide into the plate by Kipnis. It was the kind of slide that managers dread.
Godfrey hit Kipnis with one out. Kipnis, hitting just .167, couldn't believe he was actually on base.
"I had a lot of adrenaline going," he said. "I didn't even feel it. I was so happy to be going to first base than back to the dugout."
Kipnis stole second, beating Godrey's pickoff attempt to first. When Shin-Soo Choo singled to right, Kipnis put his head down and headed home.
Right fielder Josh Reddick made a strong throw home, but Kipnis dove around catcher Anthony Recker's legs and slapped the plate with his hand as he skidded past for what proved to be the inning run.
"We don't encourage anyone to do that," Acta said. "It's not something we teach because it's very dangerous.
"It's just something that happens in the heat of the moment because guys just want to score. That was a very nice slide. A great throw by Reddick, but the slide was fantastic."
Said Kipnis, "It was closer than I thought."
Reddick hit a two-out homer off Jimenez's hanging split-finger fastball in the third to make it 3-1. The A's made it 4-2 in the fifth on Cespedes single.
Published: Saturday, April 21, 2012, 1:31 AM Updated: Saturday, April 21, 2012, 11:50 AM
By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer
OAKLAND, Calif. — Ubaldo Jimenez and the walking Indians just might decide to stay on the road for a long time.
Jimenez won his second straight start and the Indians drew nine more walks Friday night in a 4-3 victory over Oakland at the Coliseum.
The Indians are 6-1 on this nine-game trip through Kansas City, Seattle and Oakland.
"The locker room has a good vibe to it," said second baseman Jason Kipnis, who scored what proved to be the deciding run. "We're getting used to winning. That's what you need to do. You need to have a winning environment around here so when you lose you know it was a mistake or something went wrong."
What Indians victory of late would be complete without a contribution from Jack Hannahan? He drove in their first three runs with a sacrifice fly and two-run double against yet another of his former clubs. On Thursday, Hannahan's two-run single in the ninth beat his former club in Seattle, 2-1.
"Jack is a very confident hitter right now," said manager Manny Acta. "Lefty, righty, it doesn't matter who's out there."
Jimenez (2-0, 4.00) made it through six innings and had his usual best-of-three falls with the strike zone.
"Tonight I didn't have anything," Jimenez said. "I threw my split, they hit a home run off a hanging split.
The change-up was my best pitch. I threw it two times for a strike. I didn't have my slider. I didn't have my curve. I didn't have anything."
How did he make it through six innings?
"I wasn't pitching good, but I was able to fight," Jimenez said. "The guys made it real easy for me. They scored some runs and played really good defense.
"I definitely have to find a way to get better."
Jimenez allowed two runs on six hits in six innings. He walked five and struck out three in 107 pitches.
The Indians, who lead the American League with 66 walks, drew five against rookie right-hander Graham Godfrey (0-3, 5.06), but could only turn two of them into runs. The extra pitches Godfrey threw, however, limited him to five innings.
For the game the Indians put 18 runners on base, but only four scored.
"We had a lot of traffic on the bases, a lot of quality bats," Acta said. "We just couldn't find the big hit to do more damage."
Oakland, the lowest-scoring team in the American League, pushed the Tribe in the late innings. A triple by Jemile Weeks -- left fielder Shelley Duncan saved it from being a home run -- and Yoenis Cespedes' single made it 4-3 in the seventh. That's when the Indians bullpen took over.
Joe Smith, with the bases loaded, retired Kila Ka'aihue on a grounder to third to end the seventh. Vinnie Pestano gave up a two-out double to Weeks in the eighth, but left him stranded. Chris Perez followed in the ninth, retiring the heart of the order, for his fifth save.
Four of Perez's saves have come on this trip.
"Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez slammed the door," Acta said.
The Indians took a 1-0 lead in second on Hannahan's sacrifice fly after Godfrey loaded the bases on walks to Carlos Santana, Travis Hafner and Casey Kotchman.
Hannahan made it 3-1 with a two-run double in the fourth following a single by Hafner and a walk by Duncan.
The biggest run of the game came in the fifth and involved a head-first slide into the plate by Kipnis. It was the kind of slide that managers dread.
Godfrey hit Kipnis with one out. Kipnis, hitting just .167, couldn't believe he was actually on base.
"I had a lot of adrenaline going," he said. "I didn't even feel it. I was so happy to be going to first base than back to the dugout."
Kipnis stole second, beating Godrey's pickoff attempt to first. When Shin-Soo Choo singled to right, Kipnis put his head down and headed home.
Right fielder Josh Reddick made a strong throw home, but Kipnis dove around catcher Anthony Recker's legs and slapped the plate with his hand as he skidded past for what proved to be the inning run.
"We don't encourage anyone to do that," Acta said. "It's not something we teach because it's very dangerous.
"It's just something that happens in the heat of the moment because guys just want to score. That was a very nice slide. A great throw by Reddick, but the slide was fantastic."
Said Kipnis, "It was closer than I thought."
Reddick hit a two-out homer off Jimenez's hanging split-finger fastball in the third to make it 3-1. The A's made it 4-2 in the fifth on Cespedes single.
Re: GameTime!™
7267They just showed a shot of the Tribe bullpen, and the first 2 rows of fans behind it. I couldn't spot CALI, though. We head to the 9th, Indians up 5-1.
Re: GameTime!™
7269I was first row about 5 seats first base sidenof pen.J.R. wrote:They just showed a shot of the Tribe bullpen, and the first 2 rows of fans behind it. I couldn't spot CALI, though. We head to the 9th, Indians up 5-1.
Nice series clinching win.
Re: GameTime!™
7270
Today was the ceremony honoring the 1972 World Champion A's. I didn't arrive at the Coliseum as early as I wanted so only caught the tail end of the words of the field ceremony (very nice words about Catfish Hunter and a donation by the vets of $22,000+ to fight ALS). I arrived at my seat as the World Champions circled the stadium in convertibles to applause.
Chris Perez made it a point to leave the pre game bullpen and shake hands with just one of the 1972 A's. It was hard for me to make out the names on the gold jerseys in the bright sunlight, but I think it was Gene Tenace that Perez went out of his way to greet.
The above vids aren't great and total about 60 seconds. Just click on each pic to start if desired.
Re: GameTime!™
7271Cold, snow and high wind for Cleveland coming.
That won't be fun for Tribe players returning from the unseasonal warmth here in the Oakland area this series.
That won't be fun for Tribe players returning from the unseasonal warmth here in the Oakland area this series.
Re: GameTime!™
7272Tribe Fan in SC/Cali wrote:Cold, snow and high wind for Cleveland coming.
That won't be fun for Tribe players returning from the unseasonal warmth here in the Oakland area this series.
You can assume that it will be very cold in Cleveland when the tribe comes back and with all the excitement over the west coast trip they will lay a giant egg in their first game back.
Re: GameTime!™
7273kenm wrote:Tribe Fan in SC/Cali wrote:Cold, snow and high wind for Cleveland coming.
That won't be fun for Tribe players returning from the unseasonal warmth here in the Oakland area this series.
You can assume that it will be very cold in Cleveland when the tribe comes back and with all the excitement over the west coast trip they will lay a giant egg in their first game back.
You can assume kenm is only ever going to post doom and gloom, negative, critical comments.
Re: GameTime!™
7275Well, there goes the streak of winning on Sundays. Even with this loss coming off the road trip winning each series is a bonus....just hope they can get the job done at home.
Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.