[Postgame Thread] Guardians @ Pirates – July 19, 2023

36 comments

1. Positives from today’s baseball:

   Even the old Dick Mountain isn’t able to stop the offense today, as the bats rack up 5 runs off of 10 hits, a walk, and 3 SBs courtesy of Straw and Kwan. Plus, you play the hand your dealt, but Fry and Freeman both had contact that were homers in a lot of parks (Freeman 14 parks, Fry 23 and 15). Welcome to the new slap power hitting Cleveland Goblins!

   Myles Straw and Josh Bell both are getting the job done, as Bell goes 3/4 with a solo homer and 2 RBI, and Straw goes 2/3 with a double and 2 stolen bases. Since the break, Bell has gone 7/19 with 2 BB and 2 HR, and Myles has gone 7/20 with a walk and 2 stolen bases. No particular reason to highlight these two kicking ass since the break, none at all.

   Civale throws yet another very good game, going 5.1IP with 5H, 2R, 1BB and 3K. Normally there’s more sentences here but I got nothing today, uhhhh… go extend Naylor and Kwan! Unrelated but still important!

   CBus got delayed last night so I couldn’t pull positives yesterday, have some now- Jhonkensy Noel hit his 17th homer on the year, which Twitter has named the “Jhonk Bhonk” and I fully support the name. Karinchak went 1.1IP with 1H, 0R, 1BB and 2K. OGon went 2/4 and raised his AAA average up to .280.

2. Well that sucked

3. Ugh

4. This bullpen BLOWS. IDC what stat you want to show me. When it counts, they get absolutely SMACKED. Not 1 or 2 runs, these guys are giving up handfuls at a time.

5. Everything but Sam Hentges was alright today

   Offense showed up this series. Cant win then all

   Let’s go home

6. Lol people wanted Arias to pinch hit there when he has been atrocious at the plate this year.

7. Amed. Tito. Sam.

   With a little sprinkle of ump.

   Ballgame.

8. I wouldnt be so mad about taking 2 out of 3 if they hadn’t laid absolute eggs in all 4 of the road trip losses.

9. All we needed to do was pull Hentges when it was time to do so.

10. One step forward two steps back. Story of the year

11. Take away bullpen meltdowns and we’re 2 games over 500 instead of 2 games under. That being said I can’t believe they overturned that fucking call.

12. The bullpen giving up a few runs here and there is normal and to be expected. But these implosions of 5 runs or more just cannot happen. So pathetic to be blowing so many of these winnable games.

13. The 2023 Guards are the most frustrating team in years out of Cleveland.

    Amed and Myles get ample opportunities to suck and get playing time 90% of the time

    Bullpen is a mess. Can’t hold onto games

    Talented, young players seemingly get punished for doing well, looking at Freeman and Bo

    Tito’s management skills are questionable this year. Pinch hitting decision seem to be made from a roll of the dice

    Best of all, the Dolans are cheap and useless and this team they should be running away with one of the worst divisions in years, can’t get close to 1st place due to lack of any talent

    This team sucks

14. [removed]

15. I think some of Hentges problems this year have been poor luck but man I feel like hes been geetting hit a lot harder this year and it makes you wonder if this team despite having a pretty good bullpen needs to look at this 8th inning spot in the future.

    I dont think its worth making a move via the trade market before the deadline because this team hasnt shown it can compete yet to the point of overpaying for a reliever. I do think though that this late inning set up role has been a revolving door of shit performances no matter who gets the job.

16. Myles straw could cure cancer and you guys would say well it doesn’t make up for the fact that he didn’t cure heart disease

17. Should have been 5-1 on this road trip. 4-2 at the very worst.

    Throw fucking strikes bullpen. Don’t care if you lose by getting smacked around. Shit happens. It’s baseball. But you cannot walk your way into another ugly loss.

    Also, get a functional right fielder. I assume we pinch hit for Fry instead of Straw because we can’t have Brennan in center while Fry’s limited range is in right.

18. I’m not sure how you can look at Fry who had a deep double today, and a fly ball that’s a home run in 2/3 of the league and think

    “yeah. That’s the guy I need to pinch hit for in the clutch”

    And not Myles FUCKING Straw

19. In a span of 6 games the guardians have:

    – Been up 4-0 in G1 vs Texas…Lost 12-4

    – up 5-2 in the 8th vs Texas…Lost 6-5

    – Up 4-0 in G3 vs Pitt…Lost 7-5

    Not like we’re trying to win the division or anything and surely don’t need those W’s

20. Clearly Myles Straw not going 3/3 cost us this game…

21. This team is fucking allergic to momentum and good vibes. Cursed season.

22. #FIX THE BULLPEN

23. Stephan didn’t pitch today but I don’t care. He’s blown 6 saves in 8 opportunities. And we have 20 blown saves this year. We’re tied for 3rd worst in baseball. I don’t really want to hear how good our ERA is

    And we have two(2)! Relievers in the top 5 of blown saves.

24. DFA Rosario. Right now. I’m not kidding, get him off this damn team.

25. Tito 4 days ago: “Fry has earned more playing time” Tito today: sike

26. Man oh fucking man.

27. I’m done with Cam Gallagher he doesn’t even bother swinging the bat anymore

28. Few things:

    1, why is Cam Gallagher Bieber and Civale’s personal catcher? We’ve been trotting him out 3 times a week just because one of those 2 have been pitching. We score 1 less run per game as a team in games he starts and we already struggle to score runs in the first place. He has a -10 wRC+ now. Not a single catcher alive can be valuable enough defensively that they can make up for being 110% worse than a league average hitter. He’s a waste of a roster spot. Take the kiddy gloves off of Bo, let Fry catch 1, maybe 2 games a week, and let’s get serious about trying to win games.

    2, how many extra pitches by the pitching staff has Amed forced on the team this year? Between the errors, poor throws on potential double plays, or ground balls getting through that most MLB caliber SS’s can make I have to imagine its high. Why does he have to play every day, bat 2nd every day with one of the worst OBP marks in the league, and play SS all the time? DH the guy here and there.

    You can’t tell me you value defense enough to force me to watch Myles Straw swing a wet pool noodle 3 or 4 times a night while at the same time playing Amed every day at SS where he is literally costing the team runs against them.

    Like what are we even doing. For such a smart, forward-thinking organization we seem to be acting dumb as a bag of rocks this season.

29. teams allergic to being over .500

30. I will never understand how some people are so blindly, optimistic, and okay with everything that happens. Blowing three saves and six games. When you have 3+ run leads is alarmingly bad and our managers reluctance to pull pictures that are clearly struggling amplifies the issues that our bullpen has been having lately.

31. Is it crazy to want 99 back?

32. Our bullpen has been concerning of late, but damn, our defense has not helped them. I don’t know how long we’re going to let our most important position in the infield continue to be manned by a below average defender. I know we’ve all complained about this a thousand times with Amed, but it’s costing us games.

    It’s just especially tough when we’ve got one of the best gloves in baseball, who’s a natural shortstop, over at 2B. I just sincerely don’t know why Amed has such a long leash at SS and in the 2 spot. I don’t think that consistency has seemed to help him. We’ve gotta be willing to try something different.

    Anyways, rant over.

    On the brighter side: Josh Bell is starting to heat up. Another bomb today and 3 hits total rules. His swing is looking better and heating up for the second half would amazing. Jose/JoshyN/JoshyB all hitting well would be a great 3-4-5.

    Kwan has been getting more XBH lately which is a good sign (no hits today unfortunately) and Myles has been .300+ over the last 8 games.

    Michael Kelly looked good again. I know he’s only had a few appearances, but you love to seeing anyone in the bullpen come in and make quick work of it. I’m also a bit of a romantic, so seeing a 30-year-old get a shot in the show after 10+ years in the minors is always a great narrative.

    Let’s get ’em Friday. I can’t wait to watch Gavin again.

33. I was at the game and it was great to see all the Guards fans there still in respectable spirits despite the loss. Proud of this fan base!

34. Bullpen catching a lot of heat in here, rightfully so after the results of this roadtrip. But today’s implosion would not have happened if we had a semi-competent defender at SS. So many routine plays that Rosario somehow turns into a flop in the dirt and an off-balance/off-target throw to nowhere.

35. To put into context just how terrible of a fielder Amed Rosario is this year: he currently has -17 DRS. That is 2nd worst in the majors. The only person lower is KYLE FUCKING SCHWARBER with -19 DRS.

36. This is the very definition of a .500 team. Unlike the Guardians, well-rounded winning teams have complimentary strengths *that execute at the same time*. Teams that tread water can never sync up their game phases. I’ve really enjoyed watching us start to heat up at the plate, but the pitching has imploded in several of our recent offensive outbursts. Criticize me all you want, but this is just reality. I’ll continue to enjoy watching Naylor(s), the young guns in the rotation, and the 🐐. Aside from that…I dunno.