I'm Back, Hopefully for Good
The writing bug seems to have returned so I’m back. I’m not really sure what happened, I just didn’t feel like writing anything, hopefully it will be here to stay and I’ll continue to update here on a regular basis.
I think this team is finally starting to come together. We’ve won 9 of the last 10 and picked up 2 ½ games on Baltimore in that stretch and are now only ½ game out. Okay, so the competition wasn’t the best during that stretch, we swept the hapless Reds (one of the worst teams I’ve seen play in a long time), took 2 of 3 against a very young Pittsburgh team and swept the Indians. But we’re supposed to win those games.
The Indians have a lot of young talent, pitching and hitting, have one of the best bullpens in the league, and were on a ten game winning streak before we marched into Cleveland and gave them a shot of reality. And we looked very good doing it. Everything clicked, starting pitching, bullpen getting us out of some jams, timely hitting, including late when we were down against a good bullpen.
It’s been this way for the last couple of weeks, since Sunday night in Chicago. The real test is coming up in July when we play some tough teams, Toronto, Texas, Baltimore, NY, Chicago, Minnesota, but I really think this team is on the verge of something and about to start playing the way they are capable of regardless of the competition.
Manny seems to back, as are Millar, Mueller, and Renteria. The rest were all hitting all along anyway and hitting was never a problem. Manny was actually hitting too, he just didn't have his average where it normally is.
The starting pitching seems to be turning it around. Clement has been everything we could possibly want and more, he should easily make the All-Star team. I think Miller is building up his stamina, confidence, and command, and is about to become the pitcher he was back in Houston. Wells is doing exactly what we need him to do. He’s a little inconsistent, but he’s showing signs of being the solid innings eater he’s capable of being. Wake is back on a good stretch, we can’t worry about him, we know he’ll be there in the end like he always is. Arroyo seems to have gotten over his bad stretch and is pitching well again.
And we still have Schilling on the horizon. I really feel like he’ll come back (either right before or right after the All-Star break) and be a very good pitcher for us. He may or may not be the dominant pitcher he’s been in the past, but with the way the other guys are going, we don’t really need him to be.
What we really need is the bullpen to continue on its recent trend. Foulke seems to be okay now and seems to have worked out his problems. Timlin has just been awesome and I don’t see any reason for it to stop. With the exception of Myers (who’s been very helpful), we haven’t seen any much needed consistency from the rest of them.
Mantei and Halama have not been very good, and I’m not sure it’s even possible for a Major League pitcher to pitch any worse than Embree has been pitching. I think Mantei will be okay. In my opinion, part of his problem is that he wasn’t being used enough by Francona. You can’t expect to give a guy only 1 or 2 innings a week and have him come in with great command. I know he needed to be coddled a little because of the arm problems, but now it’s time to get him some consistent work.
I think Halama and Embree are still question marks. Embree has been pitching better of late and got us out of that bases loaded no outs jam on Wednesday night, which really saved the game for us. He seems to have gotten some of his velocity back and says he’s just he’s going to abandon the breaking stuff and go back to just locating his fastball and that should straighten him. Hopefully he’s right.
I really don’t know what to make of Halama, he was really never much better than an average left-handed pitcher anyway, and now he’s just not good.
We definitely could use another arm in there, and this could be addressed at the trading deadline, but personally I think we have the solution right here. When Schilling comes back, someone has to go to the pen. I think Arroyo is the man. Not because I don’t think he deserves to start, but because I think he is best suited for the role right now. He could take a little of the load of off Timlin which will be beneficial down the stretch, and he can give us middle innings if we need them and Halama doesn’t come around.
Of course if Embree and Mantei don’t come around we will still need to do something at the trading deadline or before, but if we can get these 2 guys doing what they’re capable of and get Schilling back, we may not need to make any kind of move.
It looks like Baltimore may finally be starting to fade. I’ll give them credit, they hung around longer than I thought they would, and they still might stick it out for a while longer, but I think many of their pitchers (both starters and relievers) have been pitching a little over their heads and are now starting to come back down to earth. Their offense is great and their pitching still isn’t bad, so they will probably hang around for a while and end up with a decent record, maybe even second place depending on what kind of moves the Yankees make.
As for the Yankees, I don’t know what’s going on over there and what they’re planning on doing about it, but I will say this. I’ve never been a fan of the “Yankees Suck” chant, in fact I hate it and have never been involved in chanting or even uttering the words, but after watching them lose 3 of 4 to the lowly D-rays in which nothing went right for them, starting pitching, bullpen, defense I can honestly say the they are not very good right now, in fact, dare I say it, Yankees Suck. It probably won’t last for very long though, although I did read an interesting comment by Brian Cashman recently in which he stated that he didn’t know whether the Yankees would be buyers of sellers in July.
I find it very hard to believe that George would be willing to throw in the towel that early, or ever for that matter, particularly after all the money he spent this year. Although they’re farm system is completely depleted and they do need to address that issue sooner or later. They’re certainly not going to fill it back up just from the draft, they’ll have to dump some players as well. I just don’t see it happening but we’ll see.
That’s if for now. I’m not making any promises, but I hope to continue updating here on a regular basis again.
I think this team is finally starting to come together. We’ve won 9 of the last 10 and picked up 2 ½ games on Baltimore in that stretch and are now only ½ game out. Okay, so the competition wasn’t the best during that stretch, we swept the hapless Reds (one of the worst teams I’ve seen play in a long time), took 2 of 3 against a very young Pittsburgh team and swept the Indians. But we’re supposed to win those games.
The Indians have a lot of young talent, pitching and hitting, have one of the best bullpens in the league, and were on a ten game winning streak before we marched into Cleveland and gave them a shot of reality. And we looked very good doing it. Everything clicked, starting pitching, bullpen getting us out of some jams, timely hitting, including late when we were down against a good bullpen.
It’s been this way for the last couple of weeks, since Sunday night in Chicago. The real test is coming up in July when we play some tough teams, Toronto, Texas, Baltimore, NY, Chicago, Minnesota, but I really think this team is on the verge of something and about to start playing the way they are capable of regardless of the competition.
Manny seems to back, as are Millar, Mueller, and Renteria. The rest were all hitting all along anyway and hitting was never a problem. Manny was actually hitting too, he just didn't have his average where it normally is.
The starting pitching seems to be turning it around. Clement has been everything we could possibly want and more, he should easily make the All-Star team. I think Miller is building up his stamina, confidence, and command, and is about to become the pitcher he was back in Houston. Wells is doing exactly what we need him to do. He’s a little inconsistent, but he’s showing signs of being the solid innings eater he’s capable of being. Wake is back on a good stretch, we can’t worry about him, we know he’ll be there in the end like he always is. Arroyo seems to have gotten over his bad stretch and is pitching well again.
And we still have Schilling on the horizon. I really feel like he’ll come back (either right before or right after the All-Star break) and be a very good pitcher for us. He may or may not be the dominant pitcher he’s been in the past, but with the way the other guys are going, we don’t really need him to be.
What we really need is the bullpen to continue on its recent trend. Foulke seems to be okay now and seems to have worked out his problems. Timlin has just been awesome and I don’t see any reason for it to stop. With the exception of Myers (who’s been very helpful), we haven’t seen any much needed consistency from the rest of them.
Mantei and Halama have not been very good, and I’m not sure it’s even possible for a Major League pitcher to pitch any worse than Embree has been pitching. I think Mantei will be okay. In my opinion, part of his problem is that he wasn’t being used enough by Francona. You can’t expect to give a guy only 1 or 2 innings a week and have him come in with great command. I know he needed to be coddled a little because of the arm problems, but now it’s time to get him some consistent work.
I think Halama and Embree are still question marks. Embree has been pitching better of late and got us out of that bases loaded no outs jam on Wednesday night, which really saved the game for us. He seems to have gotten some of his velocity back and says he’s just he’s going to abandon the breaking stuff and go back to just locating his fastball and that should straighten him. Hopefully he’s right.
I really don’t know what to make of Halama, he was really never much better than an average left-handed pitcher anyway, and now he’s just not good.
We definitely could use another arm in there, and this could be addressed at the trading deadline, but personally I think we have the solution right here. When Schilling comes back, someone has to go to the pen. I think Arroyo is the man. Not because I don’t think he deserves to start, but because I think he is best suited for the role right now. He could take a little of the load of off Timlin which will be beneficial down the stretch, and he can give us middle innings if we need them and Halama doesn’t come around.
Of course if Embree and Mantei don’t come around we will still need to do something at the trading deadline or before, but if we can get these 2 guys doing what they’re capable of and get Schilling back, we may not need to make any kind of move.
It looks like Baltimore may finally be starting to fade. I’ll give them credit, they hung around longer than I thought they would, and they still might stick it out for a while longer, but I think many of their pitchers (both starters and relievers) have been pitching a little over their heads and are now starting to come back down to earth. Their offense is great and their pitching still isn’t bad, so they will probably hang around for a while and end up with a decent record, maybe even second place depending on what kind of moves the Yankees make.
As for the Yankees, I don’t know what’s going on over there and what they’re planning on doing about it, but I will say this. I’ve never been a fan of the “Yankees Suck” chant, in fact I hate it and have never been involved in chanting or even uttering the words, but after watching them lose 3 of 4 to the lowly D-rays in which nothing went right for them, starting pitching, bullpen, defense I can honestly say the they are not very good right now, in fact, dare I say it, Yankees Suck. It probably won’t last for very long though, although I did read an interesting comment by Brian Cashman recently in which he stated that he didn’t know whether the Yankees would be buyers of sellers in July.
I find it very hard to believe that George would be willing to throw in the towel that early, or ever for that matter, particularly after all the money he spent this year. Although they’re farm system is completely depleted and they do need to address that issue sooner or later. They’re certainly not going to fill it back up just from the draft, they’ll have to dump some players as well. I just don’t see it happening but we’ll see.
That’s if for now. I’m not making any promises, but I hope to continue updating here on a regular basis again.
posted by Bob at 6/24/2005 10:48:00 AM
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