Indians 2, Rays 4: On Despair, Plastic Hips, and the Potential Wisdom of Rick Manning

7:06 PM – Three things that seem true: “Matt Moore is Tampa Bay’s starter for this game.” “Matt Moore pitches primarily with his left arm.” “The Indians will lose this game.” There’s a syllogism hiding in there somewhere, just waiting to be discovered. 7:30 PM – After Moore sends the Indians down in order in the top of the first, Josh Tomlin gets to work. Let’s get ugly: Lead-off single to BJ Upton (that looked more like a double). Home run to right center by Carlos Pena. It’s worth noting that if Carlos Pena could draw up the sort of pitcher he’d like to face, it would look very much like Josh Tomlin: right handed, without swing and miss stuff, and generally around the strike zone. 2-0 Rays. Speaking of around the strikezone, Tomlin follows up the HR by walking Ben Zobrist. Tomlin now has a 2.38 BB/9 compared to 1.14 last season. You cannot double your walk-rate—no matter how minuscule—and remain an effective pitcher unless you increase you strikeout rate comparably. We