Yesterday was a victory for me. I said I wasn't going to update and it took everything in me to not do this in the morning or Wednesday night, but I did it. Yes I did a quick recap of the Twins game, but minor issues and notes and quotes take up some time and I'm proud of myself from resisting the temptation.
A week and a few days left of regular updates. Yes I have papers and projects due next week, but I'll find time to update. Once May hits though, work is starting up and if it goes anything like last year, I'll be very tired and updating will be spotty. I'm going to make a better effort this year though.
We had a great win yesterday, so let's see the great quotes and some of those greater notes.
[CONFIDENT TALBOT NO LONGER TRYING OUT]
"I think after he got the first start in Detroit out of the way, he now knows he's not in a tryout," Acta said. "He belongs here and in our rotation, and he looks more comfortable."
"My first callup with Tampa Bay was not the greatest, and my first game in Detroit I was walking guys and not throwing strikes," he said. "To get that complete game was a confidence-builder. Now I know I can pitch in the big leagues. I always believed, and now I know."
Not only is he pitching with the confidence that he has a job, Mitch Talbot is pitching with confidence that he can do the job.
He walked a few yesterday and arguably the run he left up wouldn't have happened if not for an error, but Talbot was good again yesterday. He's very much a control pitcher that has a good changeup and he did another good job of keeping the opposing off balance. Acta and Belcher want Talbot to pound the zone and use his defense. Did that yesterday.
"He's looks more comfortable out there. This guy has the repertoire, if he does throw the ball over the plate, that could make him valuable to us." "This is the first outing he's had it working as good as we know he's capable of having it," said Acta. "Even in the complete game against Texas, he relied a lot on his sinker."
Asdrubal Cabrera was huge after he botched a play earlier this series. Cabs turned three of the four double plays and after a rough few games at the plate (hitting into the DP on the first pitch with the bases loaded) had a good day at the plate going 2-4.
[PARTY MARTY]
If Miley Cyrus isn't stuck in your head after all the time's I've mentioned it this season and all spring, then, well I don't know. But the party counter is updated because Marty partied yesterday and it was a huge one.
"It feels great," Marte said. "I don't play that much right now, but I come early to get my extra work in and to be ready when they need me."
You gotta feel good for Andy Marte. People continuously bash him, but he keeps hanging around and you'd eventually like to see the hard work he's put in (and he's really put in the work, which is a big turnaround from a few years ago when he didn't) finally pay off.
Oh he did make the gaff later with the error, but it was simply just a botched play, like Cabrera, that's usually a play Marte will make. Perhaps he was just thinking about the home run he hit.
"I just got too comfortable," Marte said. "No excuse. I've got to make that play."
Acta was pretty forgiving because of the home run, and probably with the fact that they won 8-1. Marte also made the joke that he drove in three runs with his bat and one with his glove.
"Hey, he just hit a two-run homer," said Acta. "Why get mad at him for letting one in?"
The offense as a whole really set off from there. Maybe the fact that Marte hit the home run broke the ice for everyone else because it just fell in place after that. Acta knows that this just one game though and that just as good as they were yesterday, today could put them right back in the gutter.
"Every day you're going to be facing a guy who can put you right back into a slump," he said. "I just want to see quality at-bats from all the guys and it will happen. You just can't have that many guys struggle for the whole year."
Something to feel good about this one though. They scored five runs off Scott Baker, which was the exact total they scored off him all year. So that's good to see that they can get to a guy who pretty much owned them last year.
I will say that Acta's attitude is refreshing. I listen to ESPN 850 Cleveland sometimes on the way home, only when I forget to change the channel in the morning before I park. I like Mike and Mike, but it's so static that I don't want to put up with 850 much after that. But the other day I heard one of the dudes on there running down the averages and basically just saying how awful the offense was.
ITS TWO AND A HALF WEEKS! Slow down buddy!
"Baseball disappoints me; it doesn't frustrate me," Acta said Thursday. "Violent people, negative people, sarcastic people, slow drivers in the left lane and disrespectful people frustrate me. Not baseball."
"Patience plus self-control leads to success," Acta said. "You have to be patient, because you know things will balance out. Grady Sizemore won't hit .220 [for the season], Travis Hafner won't hit what he's hitting, six guys won't be hitting a buck-eighty. You have to be patient. It's part of coaching, especially when you're dealing with young people."
I picked the White Sox to win the AL Central. I had a chance to change it when I was asked again for another poll on Bleacher Report. Should I have? Probably, because it isn't looking so hot right now for Chicago.
But did I? No. Why? Because I'm not going to have a snap judgment off three weeks of the season. It's early, way way early. Too many things can still happen. Sure the Twins look great right now, but will they look this great for all 162 games this season? Probably not. Will they look great for more games than Chicago this season? Likely, but why stray from what you originally thought this early?
Why get in a tiff about Sizemore hitting .220 this early in the season? A few good games and he is up near .300. Averages are whole different animal in their own right. Not only should you not jump at early season performances like this and regard it as what will happen for the rest of the year, you should take batting averages with a grain of salt.
[RANDOM RUNDOWN]
The day off for Jhonny Peralta was scheduled, thank god they scheduled it then. It was perfect timing for Marte.
Austin Kearns replaced Matt LaPorta in left field later in the game, but he played a majority in left field and said everything was good.
I've heard this "Social Deck" thing bandied about the interwebs, but I thought it was just the party deck renamed. Guess I'm not paying as good as attention. The Social Deck is something created, sort of on a whim, by Mark Shapiro a few weeks before the season started. So really it isn't quite there yet. But basically it's the Cleveland Indians jumping on the social media bandwagon. It's a little closed off deck in left field for.. well for people like me.
Basically if you are a blogger or a tweeter or a non-professional journalist, this is the place the Indians have set up for you. It is invite only at this point, which makes me wonder, they've played like how many games at home at this point, six? If there are ten seats and it is by invite only, who exactly are they inviting?
Or are they waiting until it is ironed out to dive into it more? Waiting for Next Year got an invite for opening day, but to my knowledge, I know of no one else that was invited. The biggest issue was the lack of Wi-Fi, which pretty much defeats the whole purpose of the deck, but that is expected to be fixed soon. As mentioned, this was pretty much thrown together late by Shapiro.
Do I want an invite? Well, hell yeah I want an invite, who doesn't? But if there is no Wi-Fi, there is no point. Right? Right.
Oh and doesn't the "Social Deck" logo look a lot like the facebook logo? Yeah kinda.
Anyway, this is a great thing for the Indians to do. It also sort of shows off one of Shapiro's first Presidential type moves as he's initiated this thing. Shapiro has never been afraid to embrace the "new age" parts of baseball and this is certainly yet another new age aspect that he is accommodating. And as a blogger, I'm of course in support of that.
Original Story:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheTri...
A week and a few days left of regular updates. Yes I have papers and projects due next week, but I'll find time to update. Once May hits though, work is starting up and if it goes anything like last year, I'll be very tired and updating will be spotty. I'm going to make a better effort this year though.
We had a great win yesterday, so let's see the great quotes and some of those greater notes.
[CONFIDENT TALBOT NO LONGER TRYING OUT]
"I think after he got the first start in Detroit out of the way, he now knows he's not in a tryout," Acta said. "He belongs here and in our rotation, and he looks more comfortable."
"My first callup with Tampa Bay was not the greatest, and my first game in Detroit I was walking guys and not throwing strikes," he said. "To get that complete game was a confidence-builder. Now I know I can pitch in the big leagues. I always believed, and now I know."
Not only is he pitching with the confidence that he has a job, Mitch Talbot is pitching with confidence that he can do the job.
He walked a few yesterday and arguably the run he left up wouldn't have happened if not for an error, but Talbot was good again yesterday. He's very much a control pitcher that has a good changeup and he did another good job of keeping the opposing off balance. Acta and Belcher want Talbot to pound the zone and use his defense. Did that yesterday.
"He's looks more comfortable out there. This guy has the repertoire, if he does throw the ball over the plate, that could make him valuable to us." "This is the first outing he's had it working as good as we know he's capable of having it," said Acta. "Even in the complete game against Texas, he relied a lot on his sinker."
Asdrubal Cabrera was huge after he botched a play earlier this series. Cabs turned three of the four double plays and after a rough few games at the plate (hitting into the DP on the first pitch with the bases loaded) had a good day at the plate going 2-4.
[PARTY MARTY]
If Miley Cyrus isn't stuck in your head after all the time's I've mentioned it this season and all spring, then, well I don't know. But the party counter is updated because Marty partied yesterday and it was a huge one.
"It feels great," Marte said. "I don't play that much right now, but I come early to get my extra work in and to be ready when they need me."
You gotta feel good for Andy Marte. People continuously bash him, but he keeps hanging around and you'd eventually like to see the hard work he's put in (and he's really put in the work, which is a big turnaround from a few years ago when he didn't) finally pay off.
Oh he did make the gaff later with the error, but it was simply just a botched play, like Cabrera, that's usually a play Marte will make. Perhaps he was just thinking about the home run he hit.
"I just got too comfortable," Marte said. "No excuse. I've got to make that play."
Acta was pretty forgiving because of the home run, and probably with the fact that they won 8-1. Marte also made the joke that he drove in three runs with his bat and one with his glove.
"Hey, he just hit a two-run homer," said Acta. "Why get mad at him for letting one in?"
The offense as a whole really set off from there. Maybe the fact that Marte hit the home run broke the ice for everyone else because it just fell in place after that. Acta knows that this just one game though and that just as good as they were yesterday, today could put them right back in the gutter.
"Every day you're going to be facing a guy who can put you right back into a slump," he said. "I just want to see quality at-bats from all the guys and it will happen. You just can't have that many guys struggle for the whole year."
Something to feel good about this one though. They scored five runs off Scott Baker, which was the exact total they scored off him all year. So that's good to see that they can get to a guy who pretty much owned them last year.
I will say that Acta's attitude is refreshing. I listen to ESPN 850 Cleveland sometimes on the way home, only when I forget to change the channel in the morning before I park. I like Mike and Mike, but it's so static that I don't want to put up with 850 much after that. But the other day I heard one of the dudes on there running down the averages and basically just saying how awful the offense was.
ITS TWO AND A HALF WEEKS! Slow down buddy!
"Baseball disappoints me; it doesn't frustrate me," Acta said Thursday. "Violent people, negative people, sarcastic people, slow drivers in the left lane and disrespectful people frustrate me. Not baseball."
"Patience plus self-control leads to success," Acta said. "You have to be patient, because you know things will balance out. Grady Sizemore won't hit .220 [for the season], Travis Hafner won't hit what he's hitting, six guys won't be hitting a buck-eighty. You have to be patient. It's part of coaching, especially when you're dealing with young people."
I picked the White Sox to win the AL Central. I had a chance to change it when I was asked again for another poll on Bleacher Report. Should I have? Probably, because it isn't looking so hot right now for Chicago.
But did I? No. Why? Because I'm not going to have a snap judgment off three weeks of the season. It's early, way way early. Too many things can still happen. Sure the Twins look great right now, but will they look this great for all 162 games this season? Probably not. Will they look great for more games than Chicago this season? Likely, but why stray from what you originally thought this early?
Why get in a tiff about Sizemore hitting .220 this early in the season? A few good games and he is up near .300. Averages are whole different animal in their own right. Not only should you not jump at early season performances like this and regard it as what will happen for the rest of the year, you should take batting averages with a grain of salt.
[RANDOM RUNDOWN]
The day off for Jhonny Peralta was scheduled, thank god they scheduled it then. It was perfect timing for Marte.
Austin Kearns replaced Matt LaPorta in left field later in the game, but he played a majority in left field and said everything was good.
I've heard this "Social Deck" thing bandied about the interwebs, but I thought it was just the party deck renamed. Guess I'm not paying as good as attention. The Social Deck is something created, sort of on a whim, by Mark Shapiro a few weeks before the season started. So really it isn't quite there yet. But basically it's the Cleveland Indians jumping on the social media bandwagon. It's a little closed off deck in left field for.. well for people like me.
Basically if you are a blogger or a tweeter or a non-professional journalist, this is the place the Indians have set up for you. It is invite only at this point, which makes me wonder, they've played like how many games at home at this point, six? If there are ten seats and it is by invite only, who exactly are they inviting?
Or are they waiting until it is ironed out to dive into it more? Waiting for Next Year got an invite for opening day, but to my knowledge, I know of no one else that was invited. The biggest issue was the lack of Wi-Fi, which pretty much defeats the whole purpose of the deck, but that is expected to be fixed soon. As mentioned, this was pretty much thrown together late by Shapiro.
Do I want an invite? Well, hell yeah I want an invite, who doesn't? But if there is no Wi-Fi, there is no point. Right? Right.
Oh and doesn't the "Social Deck" logo look a lot like the facebook logo? Yeah kinda.
Anyway, this is a great thing for the Indians to do. It also sort of shows off one of Shapiro's first Presidential type moves as he's initiated this thing. Shapiro has never been afraid to embrace the "new age" parts of baseball and this is certainly yet another new age aspect that he is accommodating. And as a blogger, I'm of course in support of that.
Original Story:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheTri...
