Player of the Game
Jason Kipnis was an offensive force in a game where what he did was completely inconsequential. However, since he was the best player for the Indians in this game, he will be recognized here. Kipnis earned a Player of the Game score of 5.95 with a solo home run to lead off the game along with a double and a walk later on, scoring twice and knocking two in.
Justin Masterson hit a season low for himself by earning -11.28 points with an absolutely terrible outing. This cancels out about a third of Masterson’s season total.
Feathers Up
Ezequiel Carrera tried as hard as he could to score a run on his own in the fourth when he hit a two out single, stole second and scored from there on a Jack Hannahan single. Whenever we talk about how Indians players have a tendency to quit or aren’t trying their hardest, know that we are not talking about Carrera, Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley or any member of the bullpen. These players are still out there every day giving it their all everyday and are almost certainly even more frustrated than the fans are with the rest of the team and the Indians losing ways.
Milestone Update: Manny Acta is 16 wins from being 15th all time as an Indians manager in wins. Earlier in the season it seemed obvious that he would hit this mark fairly quickly (when the Indians were 50-49), but after just five wins in the month of August it no longer looks guaranteed (now 55-76). The question now is, “can the Indians go .500 for the rest of the season to get Manny Acta his 220th career win?” The follow up question is that “if they don’t, will Acta be able to keep his job long enough to continue on his trek in 2013?”
Feathers Down
It turns out that Carlos Santana was removed from the game last night because he did not hustle to first on a couple of obvious outs. Three guys I remember never hustling to first were Albert Belle, Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez. There is no question that even a Carlos Santana that doesn’t hustle is still 100 times better than Lou Marson. Hustling on outs for a power hitter might look good to the fans, team and manager, but it has absolutely nothing to do with winning. Playing your starting players the entire game will go a long way to helping your team win. If Ezequiel Carrera or Jason Kipnis stop running out ground balls there is a problem, because they have a chance to force errors or beat close plays, but Santana is never going to get there anyway. Just let him play his game his way.
After having three good starts out of his last four, Justin Masterson managed to pull out his worst game of the season today. Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, they did. Masterson threw 4+ innings and allowed 8 earned runs (also known as an ERA of 18.00 for the game). Most of the damage came off a three run double subsequent home run that came with two outs in the fourth inning. Masterson was removed after allowing three straight hits in the 5th including his 3rd home run allowed in the game.
Play of the Game
George Kotteras hit a bases clearing double in the fourth with two outs. This came after Masterson had walked two batters and happened while the game was still tied at one. The previous batter, Josh Donaldson, was walked in favor of a better matchup against Kotteras.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 – Oakland Athletics 12
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