Perspective and Patience

With the Indians sneaking out of Oakland without “brooms” being mentioned, the last few games have been both frustrating and befuddling as the offense has seemingly been unable to overcome even a few games without Martinez anchoring the lineup. Blame it on the struggles of the rest of the middle of the lineup, notably Peralta (who has been moved back down the lineup after some games at #3), which has limited the runs as the Indians have not been able to string together hits or take advantage of the fact that Grady is getting on base almost ½ (OK, a .444 OBP…but still) of the time he steps to the plate.

Is the Indians’ offense frustrating to watch?
Absolutely…as the 2-1 victory on Sunday really was only made possible, offensively at least, by a muffed double play ball off of the bat of Asdrubal and the A’s decision to bypass Hafner to get to Garko (did you ever think you’d be pleased that an opposing team did that?), who is one of the only players, with Grady, putting up consistently good plate appearances.

The problem with Victor’s injury is that it has coincided with a few players stumbling out of the gate and the offense has simply not been able to overcome the combination of the injury and the slow starts. Specifically, the Indians have gotten little to no production from Peralta (who seems to have forgotten to bring a bat to the plate, preferring the fishing rod that he used throughout the 2006 season), Dellichaels (who is doing nothing to quiet the clamor for The Ben Francisco Treat to make the trip West on I-90, regardless of whether or not he truly represents an upgrade), Blake (who, as always, is what he is), or Shoppach (who, despite his defensive “prowess”, has ½ as many passed balls in 6 games as Victor had ALL of last year in 121 games behind the dish). The relative inadequacies of Frank the Tank and Asdrubal (in a lineup that isn’t getting production from much of anywhere except CF and 1B) are exaggerated without any other offensive support around the youngsters still adjusting to MLB.

But before anyone lifts the glass over the panic button, let’s put this in perspective of something that makes this a little more palatable – six games in the MLB season amounts to the equivalent of playing a little over one half of an NFL game in a 16-game season. So, if we’re talking equivalents, the 3rd quarter of the 1st game in the NFL season just started and, unless I’m missing the player that is single-handedly sabotaging the offense (as putrid as Dellichaels has been with a 1 for 20 start, “he” represents only 1/9th of the lineup and has reached base six times, via five walks and one double, in 6 games) in a Charlie Frye-esque manner, it is laughably early to start drawing conclusions or demanding action, as obvious as some of it may seem today.

The simple truth remains that the Indians are going to continue to stay in, and win, baseball games because of their strong starting pitching (hey, C.C., quit hitting “snooze”…these ones count) and the progression of relievers that looks to have picked up right there they left off last year (as long as Betancourt’s Saturday performance was only a hiccup). What that means is that the offense has some time to find its footing as the early season schedule is not as difficult as it may look (assuming that the Twins and Royals fall back in line with expectations), with the Tribe inexplicably not playing their 3rd game against the scuffling Tigers until June 6th.

Of course, if the calendar is about to flip to May, let’s make sure that Angela, Phyllis, Pam, and the rest of the Party Planning Committee is in the final stages of some Bon Voyage parties if lines are still showing up in the lineup:
Carson Kressley - .077 BA / .200 OBP / .154 SLG / .354 OPS
Casey Blake - .118 BA / .167 OBP / .176 SLG / .343 OPS
David Dellucci - .000 BA / .364 OBP / .000 SLG / .364 OPS

It’s been said here often, but the MLB season is a marathon not a sprint, and coming to snap decisions based on a small amount of games or plate appearances, as much as we’d like to at this point watching the Indians go meekly into the night, is short-sighted and dangerous (what happens if Dellichaels is jettisoned prematurely and Francisco struggles as a replacement…um, would we pray that the BLC is healthy or are we looking at the dawning of the Brad Snyder Era or the Trevor Crowe Era?) to the organizational depth that the club figures to lean on as the season progresses.

In the big picture, the Tribe sits at 3-3, keeping in line with the “formula” for 90+ wins (win 2 of 3 at home, go .500 on the road) with the offense effectively still in neutral. Are things going great in the early going or are they ideal? Certainly not, and the struggles of particular cogs of the offense (Hafner and Peralta) bear watching as well as keeping the leash tight on some parts that were thought to be possible weak links heading into the season (namely, Dellichaels) to see if they are able to finally assert themselves as viable MLB options.

3-3 is no great shakes, but it could be worse.
How, you ask?
As early as it is, starting the season 0-6 with an offense that was supposed to evoke memories of the 1927 Yankees, but is instead averaging 3 runs a game against the pitching staffs of the Royals and the White Sox…yeah, that’s worse.