September 2017 Game Thread

jon abbey

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Chris Archer and Marcus Stroman both had to leave their starts in the first two innings tonight, didn't hear any details on either yet.
 

DeadlySplitter

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Archer: "forearm injury", diminished velocity, gave up 2 HR to start the game and left. I sense Tommy John.

Stroman was nailed on the pitching forearm/elbow by a line drive after 1.2 IP.
 

VORP Speed

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That sucks. They're supposed to get TJ after some daddy big bucks team gives them a long term contract for a bazillion dollars.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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During Cleveland's 12-game winning streak, they've trailed in a game once... over a week ago... by 1 run... for 1 inning. They are 2 wins shy of the team record winning streak set just last year.

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Sad Sam Jones

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The Indians beat the White Sox 11-2 for a club record 15th consecutive win. It's the longest winning streak in MLB since the A's won 20 in a row in 2002. They also become the 5th team in history to go undefeated on a road trip of at least 11 games (they've also won 19 of their last 21 road games). There wasn't much drama tonight – they scored all the runs they needed 4 at-bats into the game. Corey Kluber did give up 2 home runs to the first 3 batters he faced, but he followed that with 6.2 shutout innings, allowing 1 more hit, 1 walk and striking out 13.

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shawnrbu

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Cleveland has a 10 game homestand against BAL (3), DET (3) and KC (4). Going to be exciting to follow how long they can keep this streak going and if they can actually get it into the 20's. I really hope they sellout the ballpark tomorrow.
 

jon abbey

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The Indians beat the White Sox 11-2 for a club record 15th consecutive win. It's the longest winning streak in MLB since the A's won 20 in a row in 2002. They also become the 5th team in history to go undefeated on a road trip of at least 11 games (they've also won 19 of their last 21 road games). There wasn't much drama tonight – they scored all the runs they needed 4 at-bats into the game. Corey Kluber did give up 2 home runs to the first 3 batters he faced, but he followed that with 6.2 shutout innings, allowing 1 more hit, 1 walk and striking out 13.
They have the best run differential in a 15 game stretch (+81) since the 1939 Yankees.
 

sean1562

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After Kluber's start last night (7 IP, 2 ER, 13 K), he has to be the Cy Young front runner right? Hate to see Sale lose it at the end after his dominant season, but Kluber has really picked it up of late and taken control of that race. Sale needs to have some absolutely dominant starts this month to stay in contention
 

Sam Ray Not

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Still pretty tight, imho.

Sale 15-7 / 2.85 ERA / 189.0 IP / 141 H / 37 BB / 270 K / 2.20 FIP
Klub 15-4 / 2.56 ERA / 175.2 IP / 121 H / 34 BB / 235 K / 2.59 FIP

Trendlines favor Kluber right now, but that could easily change over the final 4-5 starts. And assuming Sale makes five more starts, he should shatter the 300 K mark — first time since Johnson/Schilling in 2002 — which would be a nice shiny object for voters.
 

sean1562

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One funny thing I saw was that the Indians account for 14 of the 64 runs Sale has given up this year. That is more than any other team this season. The Yanks are second with 11 but in 5 games compared to Cleveland's two. Kluber's teammates are really trying to help him win that award!
 

KiltedFool

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It's a fun story to watch. Sale burst out of the gate and ran away from the field to open the season, and Kluber looked mortal and then went on the DL with back issues. Since he came off the DL he has been making up ground with a stretch of dominance that is awesome to watch. Can he catch Sale before the finish line?

Watching both come down the homestretch neck and neck is awesome even if you're not a fan of either team. Anyone's guess who takes it home at this point, but there's still baseball to be played.
 

jon abbey

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Cleveland is only the second team in the expansion era (post-1961) to win 17 straight, the other was the 2002 A's at 20 straight.
 

jon abbey

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OAK is up 5-4 on HOU in the middle of the 8th, if they hold on and sweep today's doubleheader, CLE and HOU will be tied for 1st in the AL at 86-56, 20 games left.
 

LogansDad

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Joe Posnanski with a pretty fun article about the Inidans current winning streak, and just how outrageously dominant it has been.

This part is particularly silly, in my opinion:

OPS for 18-plus-game winning streaks since the Deadball Era
1. 2017 Indians, .955
2. 2002 A's, .886
3. 1953 Yankees, 845
4. 1947 Yankees, .804
5. 1935 Cubs, .800

OK, that's just ridiculous -- a .955 OPS for the whole team? Jeff Bagwell's career OPS was .948. Frank Robinson's was .926. Entire teams do not have .955 OPS for any extended stretch of time, much less three weeks.
The Indians, as a team, are currently Jeff Bagwell. Insane.
 

Gubanich Plague

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18 games is 1/9 of a season, so that's the equivalent of a player with (whatever the Indians' average OPS was before this) having a full season (no missed at bats at all) of .955. Pretty amazing.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Joe Posnanski with a pretty fun article about the Inidans current winning streak, and just how outrageously dominant it has been.

This part is particularly silly, in my opinion:



The Indians, as a team, are currently Jeff Bagwell. Insane.

I doubt it's that uncommon for 3 week stretches. I wouldn't even be surprised if Houston had such a stretch this year. Factor in pitchers, and I wouldn't be shocked if the Nationals had a similar stretch.

edit: Or even some of the Redsox teams in the early 00's.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Astros hit .323/.380/.568 in the month of July. 24 games. That's some lazy writing. I wonder if he even bothered looking deep into it. Not to take anything away from the Indians but to say teams don't go on these types of stretches is wrong.
 
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Sam Ray Not

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2003 Red Sox for the month of June (26 games): .315 / .388 / .556 (.944 OPS)

Edit, best that I could find:

1930 Yankees for the month of June (28 games): .366 / .442 /.593 (1.035 OPS)

And of course, those are just full calendar months. If you get to cherrypick your endpoints, for a sample as small as 18 games, I'd assume you could find a few stretches of near 1.100 OPS.
 
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Cesar Crespo

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2003 Red Sox for the month of June (26 games): .315 / .388 / .556 (.944 OPS)

Edit, best that I could find:

1930 Yankees for the month of June (28 games): .366 / .442 /.593 (1.035 OPS)

And of course, those are just full calendar months. If you get to cherrypick your endpoints, for a sample as small as 18 games, I'd assume you could find a few stretches of near 1.100 OPS.
It's a common occurrence. I'm guessing it happens multiple times every year. The Cleveland Indians teams of the 90's probably had seasons where they accomplished it twice alone. The 18 game winning streak is rare but you'd think he'd stop and look for teams who hit that well without winning 18 games in a row. I guess for teams who win 18 games in a row, it's incredibly rare for them to have an OPS over .900. Considering all of 5 teams qualify... what is his point?
 

Cesar Crespo

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Cubs did the one thing they could not do at home against MIL: get swept. 5 game lead shrinks to 2
Travis Shaw has been slumping recently but he's a big reason why. He had the big HR yesterday. He went 3/5 with a double, a HR and 3bb the last 2 games. Raised his OPS 16 points in the process.
 

jon abbey

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Talk about late night baseball, Dodgers/Giants went for 5 pitches in the top of the first, then it's been in a rain delay for the last three hours. They're scheduled to pick up again at 10:50 PST/1:50 EST, so they should be finishing around 5 AM EST if it moves quickly. :)
 

jon abbey

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First inning over at 2:07 EST, Giants up 2-0 on a two run homer by Denard Span.
 

jon abbey

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Second inning over at 2:23 EST, moving briskly. Maeda allowed another solo HR that inning, 3-0 SF.
 

jon abbey

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Third inning over at 2:39 EST, SF scores again on a triple and groundout, 4-0 SF.
 

jon abbey

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Fourth inning over at 3:15 EST, the Dodgers string together a bunch of singles and walks in the top of the inning and tie it up, three pitching changes for both teams in the inning stretched it out, 4-4 after 4 and back on pace to last until around 5 AM EST.
 

jon abbey

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Sixth inning over at 4:11 EST, I missed an inning but this game has been wild, teams exchanging the lead almost every half inning. SF is up 7-6 now, 9 pitchers combined so far.
 

jon abbey

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Seventh inning over at 4:44 EST, Posey doubled in a run to make it 8-6 SF. The teams have now used a combined 13 pitchers in 14 half-innings, not sure if I'll make it to the end of this.