The Excitement Cannot Be Contained!

Have I sponsored Tofu Lou Marson's BB-Ref page?  I most certainly have.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/marsolo01.shtml

Did I wait for the price to drop to $5?  I would rather not comment on that.

Chasing the Ghost of Casey Blake

You can't spell "Blake" without a K and an E, and then all you're left with is "bla."
-- me, taking the Cheapest Shot Imaginable for comic effect, 2008

If there was ever a good case study for Confirmation Bias, it would have to be Casey Blake.  Sure, there have been other memes over the years, but few players ellicited the raw, naked emotion that Blake did in the middle years of his stint with the Tribe.  Blake appeared to be the kind of "free flyer" (that is, a flyer who was free, not some kind of wacky hippie) in the vein of Shelley Duncan or Paul Sorrento when he arrived in 2003, and surprisingly played virtually every day as a 29-year-old rookie in 2003.  He didn't hit very well (.257/.312/.411), but it was his rookie season, and he'd hit well in the PCL the previous three seasons:

2000: .317/.406/.529 (342 PA)
2001: .309/.376/.485, 10 HR in 417 PA
2002: .309/.383/.492, 19 HR in 546 PA

Sure enough, 2004 was a bit of a breakout season for Blake, in which he hit a robust .271/.354/.486 with 28 homers.  Oddly enough, he played kind of lousy defense at 3B after playing well as a "freshman," but that seemed like a fine tradeoff.  Without going into a long story:

A Statement of the Problem

Every year I take a month off at the end of the season to decompress.  This is necessary because I write awfully long game recaps and my team is awfully bad.

Anyway.

Baseball Prospectus does a series in the off-season in which a staffer is chosen to be "GM For a Day."  Many of the series' posting are quite illuminating, especially for teams I don't follow very closely.  The Brewers, for example, probably have some players who are neither Ryan Braun nor Prince Fielder.  I accept this on faith.  I would have to look it up to be certain, though.  In any event, this year's was written by Tommy Bennett, and it says basically, "Because hope is not a plan, the Cleveland Indians have no plan, because my strategy boils down to 'hope a lot'."

The B-List Lite: 10/1 - 10/3

The Indians drop 2 of 3 to the White Sox to end the season, and the game recaps feature:

• Fausto Carmona's strong finish
• Carlos Carrasco's streak-ender
• The Thumper Rule applied
• Relief pitching, mayonnaise frequency, and John Updike's letter distribution
• Shin-Soo Choo and base ten bias
• Mike Brantley as Juan Pierre
• My flawless record of karma de-hancement
• The lineup as a game of "Telephone"

There are lots of places to see it rain on the Tribe, but only one place to read The B-List.

The B-List Lite: 9/29

The Indians sweep the Tigers to even the season series, and the game recaps feature:

• Mitch Talbot's season-ending gem
• Josh Tomlin's last start of ordinariness
• Pronk smash!
• Smash-Soo Choo & the Golden Sombrero
• The Best Bunt in the World
• Raw steak and live shrews
• Chris Perez: no longer on Lou Marson's Christmas list
• Shelley Duncan's career steal percentage raises 1000 points

There aren't many places to see Shelley Duncan steal a base, but only one place to read The B-List.

The B-List Lite: 9/27

The Indians take the opener from Detroit, and the game recap features:

• The dominance of Armando Galarraga
• The shelling of Armando Galarraga
• The comparison for Armando Galarraga
• Triple Smash Action!
• Carlos Nagy
• The bullpen in action
• Where has Luke Carlin been all my life?
• Where Luke Carlin has been all my life

There are lots of places to see the home team win a DET-CLE matchup, but only one place to read The B-List.

The B-List Lite: 9/24 - 9/26

The Indians sweep the Royals into the basement, and the game recaps feature:

• Josh Tomlin's first major-league complete game
• A treatise on cut fastballs
• Ordinary starts by ordinary starters
• An impressive bullpen showing
• Shin-Soo Choo voodoo dolls on sale in KC
• Even bad teams are capable of magic
• A disturbing comparison involving Jayson Nix, a Royal, and Muppets
• Blue Moon Specials!

There are lots of places to see home runs on fat hanging curves, but only one place to read The B-List.

The B-List Lite: 9/21

There is no pithy list today.  No set of bullet points, no teasers, no snidely-worded jabs.  There is no mention of what the Indians did well, or did poorly, or in fact, did at all.

Instead, I will point you to the recap with the caveat that last night's loss squashed what little sense of hope I had about this team next season.  Yes, a meaningless (to Cleveland) late-inning road loss to a superior team has emotionally wiped out the entire concept of 2011 success.  This is probably an overreaction.  I do not care.

There are lots of places to see Cleveland Fail, but only one place to read The B-List.

The B-List Lite: 9/20

The Indians drop the opener in Minnesota after going 2-1 in KC, and the game recap features:

• The Purpose of September
• Jeanmar Gomez' focus
• Andy Marte's special night
• The author admits his ignorance
• Drew Sutton and the nickel-plated schmoes in Clumbus
• Compare and contrast: Tony Sipp v. Joe Smiff
• Notes from the weekend: Choo & Lou, Yoon steals home, rain delays of death
• Happy 8th birthday, Isobel!

There are lots of places to see an inability to get the third out, but only one place to read The B-List.

The B-List Lite: 9/16

The Indians take the sesaon series from the Angels on a bloop single by Christopher Lloyd, and the game recap features:

• Fausto's newfound command
• Raffy Perez rights the ship
• Over the bullpen's collective heads
• Trevor Crowe's hitting prowess
• Unfair derision
• Managerial Second-Guessers!
• Very, very, very* bad  September offense

There are lots of places to see an error by a third baseman cost a team a win in a Cleveland game, but only one place to read The B-List.

* very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very

The B-List Lite: 9/15

The Angels bore the Indians to death, and the game recap features:

• Jeanmar Gomez' inability to win without stuff
• Gomez' silver lining
• Justin Germano, tomorrow's Jamey Wright
• Frank Herrmann, tomorrow's Frank Herrmann
• Jensen Lewis, today's Eddie Moo
• Every interesting plate appearance after the second inning
• Welcome to the club, Drew Sutton!

There are lots of places to see the Indians offense get throttled, but only one place to read The B-List.

The B-List Lite: 9/14

Shelley Duncan single-handedly beats the Angels, and the game recap features:

• Duncan's magical night
• Duncan's long-term value
• Josh Tomlin's high-wire act
• Mike Brantley, leadoff hitter
• Walks for fun and not fun
• The Bob Wickman Commemorative Save
• The silver lining of Travis Hafner's AB

There are lots of places to see the Indians ride homers to a victory, but only one place to read The B-List.

The B-List Lite: 9/10 - 9/12

The Indians drop two of three to the Twins despite 1 ER allowed by starters in over 23 IP, and the game recaps feature:

• Fausto Carmona's changeup
• Carlos Carrasco written in pen
• Mitch Talbot's Dead Cat Bounce Redux
• Justin Masterson, ersatz swingman
• Today's Science Lesson!
• Schmuckoglobin
• The highly-productive duo of ... catchers?!
• Luis Valbuena's errorless game (singular)

There are lots of places to see more low-scoring games, but only one place to read The B-List.

The B-List Lite: 9/7

Tofu lou Marson's grand slam (yes!) leads the Tribe past Caliheimgeles, and the game recap features:

• Tofu Lou's golden bat
• Tofu Lou's golden arm
• Tofu Lou's most surprising stat
• Justin Masterson makes an adjustment
• Travis Hafner looks familiar
• Jayson Nix' Tinfoil Hat
• Mike Brantley, one-man Terror on the Basepaths
• Walks for fun and profit

There are lots of places to see the Indians ride homers to a victory, but only one place to read The B-List.

The B-List Lite: 9/3 - 9/6

The Indians finish a split with the Mariners and take the Labor Day opener from the Angels, and the game recaps feature:

• Felix Hernandez is very good
• Getting no-hit by Luke French is very UN-good
• Mitch Talbot's Dead Cat Bounce
• Secretary of State Jessica Simpson
• Live weasels
• The invention of Punyball
• Chris Perez: still awesome
• Raffy Perez: a bit less awesome
• Terror on the Basepaths!
• Red Flag Carrasco

There are lots of places to see low-scoring games, but only one place to read The B-List.