I’m a Cleveland Guardians fan. I watch around 150 games a year (most of the exceptions are when they play “local” teams and I get blacked out even though I do not live in LA and that’s a whole different rant). But I watch the games and I actually keep score of all the games I watch! Sometimes I fill in the score later because I’m working, but I do it.
It’s one of the things I like to do because I genuinely like math, but also I miss Dad and Taffy. Baseball makes me fell like they’re here with me, and I try to think about statistics (like Dad) and cute butts (like Taffy).
This year, I decided to not just keep score, but to track the season overall and leave a one line ‘review’ of my takeaways. And I decided to share them with you. I’ll do this at the end of every month. Since March was only 4 games, it’s included here.
Since scores are always reported “winner-loser,” I decided to use a star to indicate games we won,
March
| Date Opp. | Score | Thoughts |
|---|---|---|
| 28 @ OAK | ⭐️ 6-0 | Good start! The As suck, and I feel bad for the way their owner treats them. |
| 29 @ OAK | ⭐️ 6-4 | Clase’s first save of the year. He gave up one hit. He’s not a K (strikeout) pitcher which is scary for a closer. |
| 30 @ OAK | ⭐️ 12-3 | Rough go for Bibee, but the bats saved him. |
| 30 @ OAK | 3-4 | Missed the game, but Morgan walked in their winning run. Will this be a repeat of his self destruction last season? |
Three out of four ain’t bad! The biggest concern here is our starters aren’t lasting long and our bullpen is getting overworked. This is a shift, though. Tito tended to leave guys in when it got rough. Vogt yanks them if it’s high stakes or a clutch moment, and tries to reduce risk. Still gives guys a chance, but less leeway.
He’s experimenting a lot with the fielders. Core trio (Naylor, Gimenez, Ramírez) remain first, second, third. Arias and Rocchio are growing into the spots. Freeman as center is looking okay. Straw may have been a gold glove, but Freeman already hits as well as Straw did, and shows signs of improvement! Utility Man Fry is doing decent.
April
| Date Opp. | Score | Thoughts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 @ SEA | 5-4 | Sticks (Tristan McKenzie) had a shit outing. Florian’s as PH was a super bad call |
| 2 @ SEA | ⭐️ 5-2 | Huzzah! The bats have awoken! Morgan isn’t okay and only lasted 1/3 an inning. |
| 3 @ SEA | ⭐️ 8-0 | OMG! Wow! We made them use a position player as pitcher! |
| 4 @ MIN | ⭐️ 4-2 | Tighter than it looked. The bullpen did wonders though. |
| 5 | Off Day. Bieber to have Tommy John! Out for the season 😭 | |
| 6 @ MIN | ⭐️ 3-1 | Twins got their hitting coach ejected over a nothing burger in the bottom of the 4th |
| 7 @ MIN | PPD | Rainout – to be played as a double header on Aug 9. |
| 8 vs CHI | ⭐️ 4-0 | Sticks was shaky again, too many walks. Vogt didn’t let him run it out and yanked him at the first sign of trouble!! Tito would have let him in. Fry guy was hitless. |
| 9 vs CHI | 7-5 | Rollercoaster seesaw game. Barlow choked. WHY are we using Florial if he can’t hit middle high fastballs?! |
| 10 vs CHI | ⭐️ 7-6 | First extra inning game. Neither starting pitcher was hot. Again why Florial?! |
| 11 | Off day. | |
| 12 vs NYY | PPD | Rained out. Will play a double header tomorrow. |
| 13 vs NYY | 3-2 | Indians Count: 1 (meaning the radio announcer Tom Hamilton said “Indians” instead of “Guardians” once). Super fucking bad call by the Home Plate ump in the bottom of the 9th. Florial should have had a fucking walk!! |
| 13 vs NYY | 8-2 | Guards do not do well if the opposition doesn’t make any mistakes. Need to work on that. Florial still sucks. |
| 14 vs NYY | ⭐️ 8-7 | Blown the save and yet won the game. Baseball is weird. Gimme (Andres Gimenez) is the man! Florial maybe doesn’t suck? |
| 15 @ BOS | ⭐️ 6-0 | Florial got a goose egg (no hits). Pitchers had it together today. Brennan with a clutch pinch hit. Arias was a home run short of the cycle (had triple, single, double). |
| 15 @ BOS | ⭐️ 10-7 | Jesus fuck! Eleven innings?! Clase blew the save but is the winning pitcher of record because baseball. Bullpen took a beating. |
| 16 @ BOS | 2-0 | Can’t win ‘em all but I ain’t even mad. Houck was outstanding and pitched the game of his life. Our bats were silent. |
| 18 @ BOS | ⭐️ 5-4 | Wild game, with late frenzies by everyone. Gaddis looked fantastic! That said, I resent games at 11am ET because I have work! |
| 19 vs OAK | ⭐️ 10-2 | Sticks settled in after letting up a lead off home run. His sharpness isn’t there, but maybe he’ll be okay. Guards rallied in the 5th. Bo is scuffling at the plate and something is up with his catching. Maybe Florial doesn’t suck? |
| 20 vs OAK | ⭐️ 6-3 | The Guards are relentless. Jose is off to a slow start, but climbing. Kwan is our best leadoff hitter since 1948 and his stats are putting him in Hank Arron land!?! |
| 21 vs OAK | ⭐️ 6-2 | First sweep of the campaign! Bibee is looking way better. Solid hitting without relying on other team errors. |
| 22 | Off Day | |
| 23 vs BOS | ⭐️ 4-1 | Clase was perfection. Fry continues to improve. Florial did some stuff so maybe he’s not so bad? Jose had a nice dinger! |
| 24 vs BOS | 8-0 | Ouch. Super bad game. Cookie isn’t long for the team I fear, and would be gone if Bieber hadn’t had TJ. |
| 25 vs BOS | ⭐️ 6-4 | A game where Jose hits a grand salami shouldn’t be that stressful… Sticks got pulled after 4 innings, but didn’t seem that bad? The Pen held on. |
| 26 @ ATL | 6-2 | It wasn’t a bad game, but it lacked any serious oomph from Cleveland. |
| 27 @ ATL | ⭐️ 4-2 | Jose’s insane double play in the bottom of the 5th is the stuff you scream about. Florial …. eh? A double steal for a run was divine. |
| 28 @ ATL | 4-3 | Extra Innings fail. Big Gaddy (Hunter Gaddis) has hit a slump after being perfect all season. |
| 29 | Off Day | |
| 30 @ HOU | 10-9 | Late inning comebacks weren’t enough. Gaddis dropped it in the 10th for a walk off for them. |
Arias and Rocchio are hitting better, and playing all over the infield. Hitting coach Valeka is doing great with them. By mid month, Freeman’s bat woke up. Biggest shock is how excellent Kwan is doing! He’s on an early Hank Aaron level path (not the home runs though). José (Ramírez) is slow to start, but still hitting mid 200, so not totally crap. Bo though … Bo is struggling.
After the Yankees game, Florial is a changed man?! He used to play for them, so maybe he just woke up that he has to show them up. Still he’s in the low 200s, and I expect a 300+ for a guy who’s a DH.
Cleveland remains slap happy shit goblins, playing small ball and capitalizing on others’ mistakes. José runs hard for every at bat, and now so are the others. But we need to figure out how to get runs when the other side isn’t a clown car show of fielding. This also means we need to be more aware of the risks when stealing bases. Our final games of the month got our boys caught a bunch.
Finally … Pitching. Man, Cookie I love but I think he’s done as a starter. I would send him back to AAA for Curry at this point. Our pen isn’t that bad, but we’re overusing them. Maybe if we switch Cookie to the pen? Hard to say… I’m glad that Vogt pulls the pitchers when they get into a mess though.
Hammy and Rosey only made a couple team name gaffs.
Overall
We ended the month 19-10, which is pretty good. Hopefully we sort out the last bits soon before our pitchers all collapse…