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| Don't blame this man and his 122 OPS+
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Why it's so fun to be close enough to Cleveland that I can't avoid Indians' coverage: when things go bad, they always blame their best player:
The Indians had a chance to take a series from the boys from Beantown Wednesday night, even after the bullpen crapped away a three-run lead for Fausto Carmona. With the game tied at five, the Tribe had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the eighth.
Fan favorite Grady Sizemore steps to the plate with a chance to be the hero. He promptly lines out to right to end the threat.
Fast-forward two innings to the bottom of the 10th. Indians now trailing by a run after Jensen Lewis served up another gopher ball, this one to some gentleman named Jonathan Van Every.
Again two outs and Sizemore strolling to the plate. With Ben Francisco standing on second base representing the tying run, I tell my wife, "is there any way he doesn't strike out here?"
Sure enough on a full count, Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon sends a high fastball towards the plate. Sizemore, apparently attempting to give a souvenier to a fan - in Toledo - waves wildly at the pitch for strike three.
Most Tribe fans and local sports media members will simply call it a bad game for Grady. But the dirty secret is, it happens more often with Sizemore than many Clevelanders care to admit.
The bullpen is terrible, the manager is looking for scapegoats, the GM continues to keep their best left field option down on the farm, and their multi-million dollar DH is hurt. Again.
But yeah, let's blame the best hitter on the team.
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Memo to Mark Shapiro
cc: All Indians fans
I will give you ARod for Sizemore and pay the entire cost difference.
-Hank and Hal Steinbrenner
I haven't seen it, but wasn't the LD in the eighth a shot right at Van Every?
And yeah, striking out against Papelbon clearly means you blow.
Are you kidding? I'm a Sox fan going back to the Ted Wiiliams days. Would I want Grady Sizemore on my team? Hell yeah, we'll give you J D Drew and Okajima.
We could throw in Van Every too.
If, in trying to make the point that he's a choker, the worst thing you can say about a player is that he pulled a line drive to the outfield and worked a full count against one of the best closers in the league (in successive at-bats), maybe you should rethink your premise.