The B-List Lite: 4/28

The Tribe lose on Howie Kendrick's mighty walkoff bunt, and today's game recap features:

• Cautious optimism for Jake Westbrook
• Completely unwarranted euphoria for Tofu Lou
• Somewhat unjustified railing for Grady Sizemore
• A calm, rational discussion of Chris Perez
• No, wait, I didn't do that.
• Extreme yelling at Chris Perez
• Acknowledgements of bullpen arms
• But not Joe Smiff

There are lots of places to watch your team lose on a bunt, but only one place to read The B-List.

What is "bush league?"

"It was a bad baseball play that happened to work out," Perez said afterward. "I don't want to say it was bush league. But you never see that. Ninety-nine percent of hitters in that situation would rather win the game with a hit, not a bunt."

Okay, so Howie Kendrick's bunt was not "bush league," at least according to noted expert Chris Perez.  However, when you say, "I don't want to say it was bush league," this is much akin to Kanye West saying, "I'ma let you finish," which of course means, "I'ma not gonna let you finish."  Perez is going out of his way to say the play was not bush, which means that he totally believes the play was bush.

What defines a play as "bush?"

The B-List Lite: 4/27

The Tribe rebound on the strength of Austin Kearns' resurgence, and today's game recap features:

• Mythic Mitch!
• In praise of Tofu Lou
• No, really!
• Austin Kearns, best NRI signing ... ever?
• A potential surplus on the squad
• The Bullpen of Death!

There are lots of places to watch your team leave 14 men on base, but only one place to read The B-List.

The B-List Lite: 4/26

It's time for Manny Mouse and the Failketeers, and today's game recap features:

• Pitching fail
• Contact fail
• Hitting with RISP fail
• Strategy fail
• Pinch-hitting fail
• Luck fail
• Fail

There are lots of places to watch your team leave 14 men on base, but only one place to read The B-List.

The B-List Lite: 4/23 - 4/25

The Tribe wins every game in which they ... score, and today's game recaps feature:

• ¡Fausto!
• The skillful skill of Mike Redmond
• Even with a bat!
• Trend analysis of Justin Masterson: he is stinking
• Jake Westbrook pitched
• The efficiency of Tony Sipp
• How Not To Productions Presents: Sustaining a Rally
• Our team defense is ... good?

There are lots of places to watch your team ground into double plays in four consecutive innings, but only one place to read The B-List.

Is the offense "really" this bad?

The question comes from Mickey on a mailing list from the USENet days, and it's a good one.  Note that I don't mean "Has the offense been this bad," because, well, look: of course it has.  It's been abysmal.  The team is "hitting" .223/.307/.337.  That's just pitiful.  Those look like numbers I grew up with in the '70s, when Frank Duffy and Charlie Spikes were flailing away and Dave Duncan was a "power threat."  (We referred to his "power" because his "ability to make contact" was lacking.)  Fully half the games (9 of 18) have resulted in the Indians scoring TWO OR FEWER RUNS.  To paraphrase NBA fans, "Outs don't lie."

No, the more interesting question is, "Are the players that make up this offense legitimately so limited that we can expect very, very bad numbers to continue into the season?"  I think the question to this is pretty obviously, "No," if only because I don't think any team in the New Modern Era (post-strike 1994) has put up numbers so putrid.  It's one thing for a single overmatched hitter like Tofu Lou to be awful: he'll get replaced, and then he won't make as many outs.  It's quite another for an ENTIRE TEAM to look like Ray Oyler.