Second Thoughts: Game #95-Orioles 4, Indians 3

Player of the Game: Zach Britton (6 innings 4 hits 0 ER 2 BB 5 SO)

The Leadoff

What if? For the Indians, the real reason behind the slogan “What if?” may have officially ended as the sunset on Sunday night, as the Tribe dropped their fourth consecutive game 4-3 against Baltimore and now sit with a record below the .500 mark. What seemed like another day where the Tribe bats were on ice ended too little too late, as the Indians rallied for three runs in the ninth inning but ultimately fell short of the comeback.

Indians starter Josh Tomlin settled in nicely giving up just a two-run homer to J.J. Hardy eight pitches into the game. The Tribe’s little cowboy went six innings strong innings giving up just the two runs on eight hits, but picked up his seventh loss of the year due to yet another performance by the Indians stagnant offense.

The Bottom 9

• Below .500. The loss puts the Tribe below the .500 mark for the first time since April 14. No, you didn’t read that wrong…April 14! That was way back when the Indians had just a 3-4 record through the first seven games of the season. Cleveland NEEDS to avoid falling further below the even mark with the first place Detroit Tigers next up on the schedule.
• Can’t win if you can’t score. Yes, pitching wins games, but contending teams score more than six runs over their past four games. Take away the three runs scored in the bottom of the ninth and the Tribe would have been outscored 23-3 over the four game losing streak. Wow.
• Continue to struggle with runners in scoring position. It amazes me how many times I note this as one of my key points in my game column from week-to-week. The Tribe went just 1-for-8 with RISP on Sunday, stranding Carlos Santana on second base after hitting a leadoff double in the fifth inning, and also stranding the bases loaded one inning later in the sixth. That’s your ballgame right there.
• 1st inning struggles continue for Tomlin. What is it about Tomlin and the first inning? Through his first 30 pitches of a ballgame, the opposition is batting .294 with 14 doubles, eight homers and 26 RBI off the Indians right-hander. Pitching for a team that continues to struggle to score runs, this is no doubt a recipe for disaster.
• Loss against another lefty. If fans didn’t know any better judging by yesterday’s game, many would guess that Zach Britton would be a candidate for the American League Cy Young Award this season. The Tribe is now 10-20 against southpaw starters in 2012.
• Choo and Cabrera go hitless. There’s no question the Indians struggled to string together hits on Sunday to get back into the ballgame. The first two hitters in the lineup in Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera certainly did not help, going a combined 0-for-8 in the game with two strikeouts. The Indians are successful when their first three hitters in Choo, Cabrera and Kipnis can put the bat on the ball and drive in runs. That didn’t happen yesterday.
• Lineup vs. a lefty. Is it just me or does the Tribe lineup seem pretty weak against a left-handed starter? Like I mentioned earlier after noting the team’s struggles with RISP, after Santana doubled, it was up to Shelley Duncan, Lou Marson and Aaron Cunningham to drive him in. To no avail, neither one of them hit the ball out of the infield. Think for a second how many contending teams have a bottom of the order like that. Yeah, I couldn’t think of any either.
• Roberto Hernandez (Fausto Camona) back with the Tribe. Yes, it is good for the now 31-year old Hernandez to be back in Cleveland after finally gaining his U.S. Visa, but what is he really going to bring to the club? Tribe fans know he has not been the same pitcher since 2007. I wish him nothing but the best of luck, but if Chris Antonetti or Mark Shapiro think for one second that Hernandez could be the pitching upgrade and not go out and make a trade for a starter because of his return, they are 100 percent wrong!
• How has Acta, Fields and Radinsky all gotten a pass? Let me start off first by saying I like Manny Acta as the Indians manager. Should the Tribe fire him during this season? Absolutely not. But, I will say that if Cleveland continues to fall out of the race, I would have to think Acta would be a candidate for the hot seat when the season is over. I am by no means excusing the players for the frustrating year it has been, but when the ship sinks, the captain naturally goes down with it. Listen, the Tribe front office brought in Acta back in 2010 because he was good at developing players when he was the skipper for the Washington Nationals. Well, the Indians are not developing players anymore are they? The Indians are still (believe it or not) a contender, but Acta has yet to have a winning season as a manager in the big leagues. He needs to greatly step his game up along with the other 25 guys on the roster if they have any chance to be in the playoff race in September. What still amazes me is how Scott Radinsky is still the pitching coach of this team. Just the difference to where starters like Justin Masterson and Tomlin were at one season ago when Tim Belcher was the pitching coach is absolutely shocking to me. The Tribe sits 13th in the American League and 27th in all of baseball in pitching with a 4.56 team ERA.

The Top ???

Normally even after a loss I would highlight a few high points of the game, but besides a late ninth inning rally and a 3-for-4 game from Santana, there was nothing. To me, nothing good comes from a below .500 team that had much higher expectations for the 2012 season. No team can even think or talk about the playoffs when they have a losing record. So until the Indians can get back on track (yes, I still have faith) no high points will be written by me for the time being.

Closing Time

With the Tribe loss and a Tigers win yesterday, the Indians (47-48) now sit 4.5 games in back of Detroit in the Central Division, their largest deficit so far this season. Not only do the Indians have three starters with ERA’s above 5.00, but three with losing records as well. The Tribe has now had a record below .500 through the first 95 games in four of the last five seasons, and in eight of the past 11.

Up next for the Indians: Cleveland will try to avoid losing their fifth straight in the  series finale on Monday, as it will be Justin Masterson (6-8, 4.29 ERA) vs. Tommy Hunter (4-4, 5.71 ERA) at 7:05 pm. In his last start against Baltimore on July 1, Masterson went seven innings giving up just earned one run on five hits, walking none and striking out seven for the victory. Hunter went just 1 2/3 innings in his last start against the Tribe back on June 30, where he gave up five runs on eight hits. With the red hot Tigers coming to town for a three game series starting on Tuesday, Monday’s game is no doubt a must win for the Indians.

Follow Jim on Twitter @JBirdman27 or he can be reached via email at jberdysz27@gmail.com.