Manny Acta's optimism for 2011? Perhaps it wasn't so cockeyed:
cleveland.com
By Terry Pluto
The Plain Dealer
April 30, 2011
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Manny Acta saw it coming.
OK, not this. Not the Tribe heading into Saturday night's game at 17-8. But the manager insisted the Indians would be a much better team in 2011, partly based on the team being 35-39 after the All-Star break.
Acta was especially encouraged by the Indians having a 3.89 ERA after the 2010 All-Star break, fourth best in the American League. He told me all this in January. I politely listened, but my soul was yawning as I wrote a column about it.
I was thinking back to 2008, when the Indians were 40-28 after the All-Star break to finish at 81-81. How did that team play in 2009? Try 65-97 in the final season for manager Eric Wedge. And yes, the Indians did improve in the second half of 2010, but their final record was 69-93.
So Acta was telling me about a team that had lost 97 and 93 games the previous two seasons. It was entering 2011 with the lowest payroll in the American League without any splashy free-agent signings.
It was a team that planned to open with top prospects Lonnie Chisenhall, Cord Phelps and Jason Kipnis in the minors. They announced that before spring training. And these guys were supposed to win more than they lose?
But if you go back to the 2010 All-Star break, the Indians had a 52-47 record heading into Saturday night -- their 100th game. There have been some amazing games, such as Friday's stunning 9-5 victory over the Tigers -- Carlos Santana winning it with a grand slam in the ninth.
As Keith Allie emailed: "Wow! What a way to win a game. I was clapping and screaming so loud that my cat ran under the couch. She won't come out."
But it's the pitching that has revived the franchise. That 3.89 ERA in the second half of 2010 is 3.69 this season.
Consider that since the 2010 All-Star break, Justin Masterson is 8-5 with a 3.08 ERA. Chris Perez has converted 22 of 23 saves with a 1.16 ERA. Josh Tomlin is 10-4 with a 3.95 ERA, pitching at least five innings in all 17 of his starts.
Here are more numbers from the 2010 All-Star break until now: Tony Sipp (2.72 ERA), Raffy Perez (1.89), Carlos Carrasco (3-3, 4.25 ERA in 12 starts), Fausto Carmona (7-10, 4.26), Jeanmar Gomez (4-6, 4.97 in 13 starts). All of these pitchers are between the ages of 23-29, the prime of their careers. Who know how good they can become, but the pitching doesn't appear to be a fluke.
Here's another good news nugget: Travis Hafner is a .333 hitter since that 2010 break. That covers 231 at-bats, in which he has nine homers and 32 RBI. Hafner is not all the way back to his 1.000 OPS form of 2006, but he is productive.
Obviously, there can be a collapse. The Indians haven't even hit the quarter pole of this 162-game marathon. Injuries can decimate any pitching staff. But if the last 100 games are an indication, the Indians really are trending in the right direction. |
