Anthony Castrovince ‏@castrovince 14h


They call these guys the Windians.

Mark Podolski: Critics of Indians' attendance are off base

Published: Monday, May 13, 2013
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By Mark Podolski
MPodolski@News-Herald.com
@mpodo

The Indians' Nick Swisher was right on this week when he was asked about low attendance at home games at Progressive Field.

His response (and I'm paraphrasing): "It's not my business how people in Cleveland spend their entertainment dollars."

Right on, Nick.

The critics bashing fans not attending enough Indians games — and let's not forget Chris Perez's wisdom from last season too — should take Swisher's advice and move on to another topic.

How ridiculous would a radio talk show host sound if he went on air complaining not enough people went to see a certain movie?

Or went to a concert at Blossom?

Or attended a state playoff football game in Canton?

Or what if yours truly wrote a column complaining not enough runners participated in this year's Johnnycake Jog?

Or not enough fans attended next month's N-H Senior Bowl?

I'd probably have a number of emails and calls telling me to stop worrying about how people spend their time and their money.

And they would be right.

So if you can't afford to take the day off from work today to attend the Indians' doubleheader against the Yankees at Progressive Field — or any games the rest of the season — forget about what anyone says or thinks.

It's your decision and yours alone.

"It's not my business how people in Cleveland spend their entertainment dollars."

I think, when given the proper incentives, the fans will spend those entertainment dollars on the Indians. I think the time may just be right around the corner.

rusty2 wrote:The Mark Podolski article was one of the dumbest articles ever posted here.

No surprise that Joe Z posted it. I guess he ran out of Ty Cobb articles.

Joe, hate to break this to you but Frank was either kidding or needed to be put in a home after his comments.

Someone please start a comedy folder. Wait a second we still have the winter ball folder. No need.

Actually, GAYLORD posted that article. So you can add another notch on your belt of people you have insulted.

Here's Bud Shaw's article on attendance:

Terry Francona setting right tone for Cleveland Indians: Bud Shaw

Print By Bud Shaw, The Plain Dealer
on May 12, 2013 at 5:21 PM, updated May 12, 2013 at 9:50 PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Maybe it's best for everyone concerned that Monday's baseball special -- a two-for-one value meal featuring the New York Yankees -- comes with a side: a built-in excuse for sparse attendance.

People have to work after all. End of conversation -- if only for a day -- about why the Indians easily rank last in Major League Baseball in support at the turnstiles.

Terry Francona provided the smart take when he cited school and the weather (and that was before Sunday's intermittent hail). That's nothing novel, but it's a useful version of the customer-is-always-right.

The alternative is to fuel an unnecessary debate by poking the fan base to get on board. That results in reviving old rants about the Dolans' spending habits. Why invite that after three 90-loss seasons in four years, let alone after an upbeat off-season, unless you have a masochistic streak or you're new to the issue?

Francona understands there's nothing worse than millionaire players and managers spending people's limited discretionary income for them.

Unless, of course, it's sports writers doing it while flashing their media pass at the left field gate.

"If we get to the point where we're backing it up, and just not on a hot streak, our attendance will get better," Francona told reporters in Detroit, where the Indians took two of three from the Tigers and return home as baseball's hottest team.

Francona could've waited for a different managing opportunity after a year with ESPN. He happily chose this one knowing it wasn't Boston, or even Cleveland in the '90s.

The guess is he took the job with the Dolans' assurance they'd improve the roster, which they've done. And that now Francona has seen enough evidence to believe the Indians can back up this hot streak. That they're built to do it deep enough into the summer that the attendance discussion will die a natural death.

The Indians had a similar record a year ago through April and May. We know that in 2011 they even started 30-15 and held a seven-game lead. After leading by a half game on June 23, they finished 31-61.

The roster drove that collapse, but a two-way shortage of faith between Manny Acta and the players contributed to it. To a lesser degree, early delusions of grandeur also played a role.

The Indians fell into the trap last year of thinking they were better than they really were after a sweep of the Tigers. Closer Chris Perez used it to call out the apathetic fringes of the fan base in part for their blind loyalty toward the Browns. Perez took the brunt of the backlash, as he should have, but he spoke for others in the organization.

Francona's comments leave that moot point unaddressed, which is perfect since there's no good answer for it except that people love the Browns for better or worse and that each Browns' home game is an event no matter the quality of football inside.

The added benefit to deferring the attendance conversation until later in the summer, if then, is to keep the focus in the clubhouse -- and outside, too -- on the positive aspects of a promising 2013.

The win over the Tigers and Justin Verlander on Saturday gives the Indians a 6-1 record over previous Cy Young Award winners. You don't get bonus points for that, but it's turned this lineup into big-game hunters.

They not only survived nearly a month without Michael Bourn in center field and at the top of the lineup. They excelled, showing the versatility and depth Acta never had at his disposal.

Acta's dead-on comments last year about the Indians' laundry list of needs for 2013 -- left fielder, third baseman, first baseman, etc. -- omitted one other need: bench.

It helps, most specifically, to have major league players on it.

Mike Aviles, Ryan Raburn, Yan Gomes and Jason Giambi are another reason for Francona to believe this team can change the attendance conversation without ever addressing it.

Francona can rest players without giving away games. He did it Sunday, giving Bourn and Mark Reynolds the day off until Reynolds entered as a pinch-hitter and delivered the game-winner in extra innings.

After Sunday, the Indians are 9-3 in one-run games. They're 3-0 in extra innings.

The ability to manufacture runs is a nice sidecar to the home run horsepower that wasn't here last year.

They lead the league in home runs a season after finishing with the third fewest.

It's early. Francona said as much.

You need to trust your eyes before you open your wallets?

He's saying it's all good. Just be open to the possibility his team is pretty good, too.

I always posted that Rusty had a comprehension problem. It's now been verified.

Rusty! OOOPS!

Someone please start a comedy folder.

I think I may start one just so I can begin the discussion with your post.

God! that was funny!

Someone please start a comedy folder.

Rusty! We had a comedy folder. It was your Rasslin' Folder.

God! I can't stop laughing.

I gotta get out of here before I hyper-ventilate.

In case you missed it, Chiz was sent to Columbus:

Cleveland Indians option 3B Lonnie Chisenhall to Class AAA Columbus; add David Huff, Trevor Bauer

By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer


CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians optioned struggling third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall to Class AAA Columbus before Monday's doubleheader against the Yankees at Progressive Field.

The Tribe added non-roster left-hander David Huff and right-hander Trevor Bauer from Columbus as well. Huff joins a depleted bullpen and Bauer will start the second game in his third spot start of the season.

Chisenhall, the Indians' opening day third baseman, is hitting .213 (20-for-94) with four doubles, three homers and 11 RBI. Mark Reynolds started at third base in Game 1.

After hitting .400 in spring training, Chisenhall has struggled. He went 0-for-9 over the weekend in Detroit as the Indians took two out of three. Overall, Chisenhall hits Columbus in an 0-for-11 funk.

The sequence of plays that may have finalized Chisenhall's trip to Columbus came in Sunday's 4-3 victory in 10 innings. He ended the fourth inning with a weak grounder to the mound. In the bottom of the inning, his throwing error led to the Tigers taking a 3-2 lead.

When a player takes his at-bats onto the field, that's never a good sign.

Bauer will be sent down after he pitches. Teams are allowed to use a 26th player for doubleheaders.

Gaylord

I was thinking more about Rusty's post while I was doing my chores and I have to apologize for making lite of the situation. Quite insensitive of me.

They not only survived nearly a month without Michael Bourn in center field and at the top of the lineup. They excelled, showing the versatility and depth Acta never had at his disposal.

Acta's dead-on comments last year about the Indians' laundry list of needs for 2013 -- left fielder, third baseman, first baseman, etc. -- omitted one other need: bench.

So true! That's been on my pet peeve list for years now. I'm glad that issue was addressed this year. It only took an outsider to figure that one out.

Thanks for posting that article JR. I couldn't agree with it more.

With Terry Francona, Cleveland Indians find sunny days: Bill Livingston

By Bill Livingston, The Plain Dealer


CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Tito played two. "Little Tito," the name to which Terry Francona answered before he grew up, would have, too.

They had trouble pulling the man now called Tito, after his father, off the diamond as a kid. "I never want practice to end," he would say.

In a 15-year career, Tito Francona played six seasons with the Indians and flirted with hitting.400 for much of the 1959 season. In a 10-year career, Terry played here in the 1988 season.

Ernie Banks turned himself into a baseball ambassador a half-century ago by chirping, "Let's play two," even though he was with the Cubs, and what good could possibly come of that? Asked if he too was a "Let's play two" guy, Francona said in between games of an old-fashioned doubleheader at Progressive Field Monday: "That's what they're telling us to do. (Pause.) I'm not going to leave (Laughter.) I'm excited whenever they tell us to play. Show up and try to be one run better."

That was exactly what happened in the opener, as Justin Masterson scattered four hits, kept a bullpen rested that had to be frazzled after the Detroit series, and pitched a complete-game 1-0 victory over the streaking New York Yankees.

The Yankees, who had won five games in a row, took the second game, 7-0. Only three of the runs, two of them earned, were charged to young Trevor Bauer in 6 1/3 innings. The Indians have still won nine of their past 12.

Some people are lucky enough never to consider their job to be work. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel recently got a phone call from his favorite player from his Indians days, Jim Thome, who is out of the game now after 27 years in it. Thome asked Manuel if he could come to the ballpark and hang out. That was because Charlie can always make time for ball. The day after the Indians were eliminated by the Yankees in the 1998 American League Championship Series, Manuel, then the Tribe's hitting coach, was back in Winter Haven, Fla., coaching kids.

Mike Hargrove, the manager of the Indians' 1990s glory days, spent part of the 2007-09 summers managing college players on the diamonds of Liberal, Kan., located across the narrow strip of the Oklahoma panhandle from his home in Perryton, Texas. It was his way of paying back a debt to a league that was important to him when he was young.

Francona is one of those guys. He spent 2012 talking baseball on ESPN after winning a World Series in Boston -- two of them, in fact -- for the first time since Babe Ruth was a Boston pitcher. Francona contributed to the network's Little League World Series coverage. He asked for the job, because he remembered the days when the joy of the game was at its peak.

"I get a kick out of watching (Masterson)," said Francona. "I think he enjoys pitching. I think he enjoys what he does."

"He's the same way when I played for him in Boston, always smiling," Masterson said. "He smiles at everybody. He's just a guy who likes to see you have success, especially his own guys."

Francona was a brilliant college player. After his knees were ruined and he had lost his speed, he scuffled to stay in the game at any position where he was needed. Now you will find him in the dugout, near the railing, and more often than was expected of his first Indians team, it has been hard to wipe the smile off his face.

But no season is all smiles.

Francona popped out of the dugout in the first inning of the opener, as upset as he had been all year after leadoff man Michael Bourn was caught stealing on close play at second base. When Jason Kipnis homered immediately afterward, the disputed call on Bourn cost Masterson a much-needed insurance run.

Francona's predecessor, Manny Acta cared deeply about not reinforcing the stereotypes of the hot-tempered Latin player, often to the detriment of the team.

There are disappointments that must be handled with as much grace as a manager can muster. The Indians sent down slump-ridden Lonnie Chisenhall before the doubleheader began. Chisenhall was 0-for-11 and was hitting .213. He had let the bad at-bats affect his confidence. Steadfastly, Francona insisted: "This guy is such a building block in our organization. It's not an indictment on him. He's going to figure it out, and he's going to be a force here."

With Francona, it's hard to imagine a franchise-changing move like Eric Wedge exiling Brandon Phillips simply because of friction between the Reds' All-Star and the manager.

"When you do something right or wrong, he's going to pick you up," said Masterson. "He's not going to tear anybody down. He's going to tell you what you need to do and how you need to go about things. I think that's the way a man wants to be treated. He treats guys like men. When you treat guys like men, you get men. You don't get boys."

They are not really the boys of summer. After years of decline, it is enough that fans are smiling along with the Indians and their manager.

Transcript of Indians manager Terry Francona following double-header with New York on Monday

By RYAN LEWIS Published: May 13, 2013


Following the Indians' double-header with the New York Yankees on Monday, in which the Tribe won the first game 1-0 and lost the second game 7-0, manager Terry Francona met with reporters. Here's a transcript of his press conference.

On what he thought of Bauer: “Ya know what, he keeps ‘em off the scoreboard. I thought he threw his fastball more tonight, more effectively than we’ve seen in the past. Off-speed: very good. Gave up the one run early, we had the mishap at first. Then he got a runner on second, they don’t get the bunt down, and he left a two-seamer up. It was supposed to be down and in, it was up, for the double. And then we got him out of there. I’ll tell you what—there’s so much to like about him and he’s still developing. But even in the midst of that, coming up like he does isn’t the easiest thing to do. And he gives us a chance to win every time he pitches."

On the No. 1 thing he’s looking for when Bauer makes a spot-start: “To win. I mean, you want to win. I think we need to keep in mind that when we do call him up like this, in these spot-starts, not to over-do it. You try to keep a routine as much as you can, and our player development people have done a great job of keeping him in line on days and things like that because you don’t want a guy to get out of his routine. And Trevor’s also done a really good job just trying to do the same thing here that he does for his starts in Triple-A and attack the strike zone. When he attacks the strike zone with his stuff, regardless of what pitch it is, he’s gonna be successful."

On Bauer throwing more strikes: “I think some of it is confidence. I think it’s more of a mentality as he matures of just attacking the zone and having that mentality, which I know we talked to him the last time he was here. And he spoke of that. It looked to me like today, he tried to do that."

On what Nuno did well: “He threw strike one to just about every hitter. It wasn’t always fastball—breaking ball, change up. Worked ahead in the count. He came in enough late in the count., he’d throw a cutter. Pitching 101. Doesn’t overwhelm you with a fastball or anything but he pitched a very solid game."

On scoring only one run on Monday: "If you woulda told me going into today that we would score one run, not used CP, Smitty, Cody, Bauer or Rich, I’m not sure I would’ve though we’d come out with a split. We had Kipnis’ home run, really, to show for the whole day, and we got a split. Some days are tough. The idea is to be one run better. It’s probably a round-about answer to your question, but guys don’t hit 1.000. Pitchers get you out."

On splitting a double header: “It’s a mixed bag today. We had a lot of baseball. I’ll probably take out of it more than anything that we kept our bullpen intact. You always want to win, but you also know that there is a game tomorrow, and after that. If we keep our bullpen intact, give them a chance to be productive, that’ll be really big for us."

On Hagadone’s struggles: “ I think that comes back to almost the same mentality. When he’s in that attack mode, his stuff is so good, actually don’t really matter about matching him up. Because he can get everybody out. When he starts to feel a little bit for the strike zone, that’s when he runs into problems. He’s still a younger guy and learning, he just needs to stay in that attack mode."

No worries, Joe! Rusty is the one with his shorts in a knot.