Yesterday, Brandon Morrow was hurt by something that's been plaguing him all year, and that is balls just happening to fall in for hits. Brandon's season babip is .386. Are you fucking serious? This was a really hard game to watch, especially considering the way Morrow was striking fools out like mad, but having every ball in play falling in for a hit. It's shit like this that's making Cleveland win games that they shouldn't be winning.
Remember when people were saying last year that Jose Bautista's season was a fluke? Well, in theory, although this stat for batters is kind of useless*, his babip was .233, which, for a guy who hits the ball hard as consistently as Bautista, is pretty low. A lot of people smarter than myself were saying that, given that really low babip but high line drive rate, they would expect that next season (i.e. this season) would show a marked improvement in batting average, which has happened (despite his babip this year of like .346), whether or not they expected the homeruns to continue.
This is one of those things that projection systems look at and determine whether things that are happening are sustainable or not. Well, Cleveland putting the ball in play 15 times off Morrow and getting 9 hits? Not sustainable, despite how fucking infuriatingly often it's happened so far this season. And the Jays got the exact opposite treatment, though Cleveland's infield played some really excellent defense, with Hannahan and Laporta catching some liners that could have fallen in for doubles just as easily.
*- I think that this is an extreme enough example, since both numbers are such a big deviation from his career .275 mark, though obviously he's not the same hitter now as he was a couple years ago. Maybe this is a poor example...*
Yunel Escobar had a good game though... big surprise. Through 52 games or whatever it's been, the two best shortstops in the AL were playing last night at the Rogers Centre. Asdrubal Cabrera is literally the only shortstop in the AL who's been in the same category as Yunel (probably better, but it's close... Cabrera has been worth 1.8WAR, Yunel 1.7). AA crushed that trade. Zaun-head for the 2-for-2 with a HR and THREE WALKS. Are you serious? That's a Bautista game. Even Bautista went 3-for-5.Whatever, I'm over it. Kyle Drabek tonight, vs. Josh Tomlin. Tomlin has outpitched his fip by about a run and a half (2.74 ERA vs. 4.43 fip, 3.94xfip), which makes him a theoretical league-average pitcher, as opposed to the dominant results he's had so far, so that story checks out perfectly with what's gone on so far this season for Cleveland. So yeah, fuck them.
And hey, did you guys hear? Brett Lawrie, some guy that someone got traded for and is doing something somewhere in the minor leagues or something, is apparently getting CALLED UP ON FRIDAY HOLY SHIT. If you've been under a rock since the winter but somehow found this blog and nothing else, you might not know that Lawrie was acquired for Shaun Marcum this offseason, is absolutely crushing in AAA, and is apparently ready to come up to the big squadron as early as Friday against the Orioles. Cito would probably have him on the bench, because he's an old fuck, but what we're being told is that when Lawrie comes up, he's up to stay and play everyday.
In all likelihood, considering how fucking useless they've been, I'd expect either Edwin or Jayson Nix to be DFA'ed. I talked about this yesterday, but something I didn't consider was the optioning down of Mike Mccoy or Luis Perez, though they would still need to find a place on the 40-man roster, which as I said yesterday, would probably coincide with a Richmond or Roenicke DFA. I'd rather see AA shake something up with a trade though, just because it's so much funner. Either way, that's going to be a fucking party.
By the way, Lawrie got beaned in the hand last night, about an hour after the rumor of his promotion was released, and he actually left the game. Quick scare, but it was just a bruise and he's going to be okay.
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