Students upset with Tribe’s slow start
By Matthew Grassi
Instead of starting 2009 with a bang, the Cleveland Indians started with a whimper, losing seven of their first 10 games, thus sending them directly to the cellar of the hotly contested American League Central Division.
While there were many concerns about the Indians coming into this season, chiefly whether the starting rotation was deep enough and the extent to whether slugger Travis Hafner would perform after missing significant time over the past two season with various shoulder ailment.
“I actually thought the pitching would be a lot better, with Lee coming off his Cy Young award and Fausto finally healthy,” said freshman Paul Phillip.
Yet pitching is precisely what’s hampering the Tribe. Lee and Carmona are both 1-2 with ERAs over six.
However, all is not lost. The Indians are hitting a respectable .289 as a team with 20 homers through twelve games. New acquisition Mark DeRosa is second in the AL with 15 RBI despite only hitting .236. The aforementioned Hafner has been a pleasant surprise, hitting .289 with four home runs and eight walks.
“Even with the pitching struggling, it’s nice to see Hafner getting off to a good start. If he keeps it up, this offense could be pretty scary,” said sophomore Connor Atchely.
Add to that the groove catcher/first baseman Victor Martinez is currently in, hitting a red-hot .388 with four home runs.
“I think as soon as the pitching starts to improve, we’ll have a pretty decent club with a very good offense,” said Atchely.
But the Tribe’s hitting and pitching aren’t the only things raising eyebrows down on the corner of Carnegie and East 9th. The team’s fielding percentage of .985 is below the current league average and the defense by the corner outfielders’ (especially Shin-Shoo Choo) has looked shaky at times.
Still, reasons for optimism remain. Take the current state of the Central Division. Even though they started out 4-8, the Indians are only three and a half games behind division leading Kansas City (7-4).
So, as long as they continue to hit well, the starters find their groove and Shin-Shoo Choo figures out that the guy standing halfway between him and second base is the cut-off man; we should be fine, just fine..