Cleveland Sports Forum

Good work, J.R.!

Huge. Huge outing for Bauer.

And Shaw with a clutch couple outs.

Pitchers are adjusting to Naquin throwing high outside pitches which he mostly misses. If he can adjust and hit the ball to left he could become a complete hitter.

Ramirez getting no respect here

We score 3, Jose scores 1 and bats it 2 and hitting cleanup no less.

Too bad he committed an error though. That sucked.

Jose also has a mini-steak for hits going. Streak just hit 13 last night. Will he catch Mejia?

Hope I didn't just put the choke sign around Jose's neck.

Afternoon game today. Woo hoo.

I'm really beginning to despise Jason Werth.

Tomlin pretty much grooved that pitch to Werth.

Tomlin regressing in the last month. Back to the #4 or 5 that we figured all along. Guess nothing wrong with that.

Really beginning to like that Lindor.

How do you feel about Almonte?

Jose Ramirez #11 of the Cleveland Indians steals third base in the seventh inning ahead of the tag by Anthony Rendon #6 of the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on August 9, 2016 in Washington, DC. Cleveland won the game 3-1. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

2. RISPY BUSINESS

With the Indians playing in a National League park on Tuesday night, Ramirez was elevated one spot in the Tribe’s batting order, taking over the cleanup duties for just the second time on his career. And of course, it really was no surprise that Ramirez provided not one, but two clutch hits with runners in scoring position in the victory.

The switch-hitting infielder continues to be the team’s best clutch hitter in 2016, driving in two of the Tribe’s three runs on Tuesday night.

Jose Ramirez with runners in scoring position this season:
.384 average, .433 on-base percentage, .488 slugging percentage (86 ABs)

The reason for Ramirez’s success with RISP doesn’t come down to just one factor. You can make some connection to a perceived heartbeat in clutch situations or having some gene that others don’t possess, but let’s focus on the tangible things we can see.

Jose Ramirez makes a ton of contact. He’s statistically the eighth-hardest player in Major League Baseball this season (10.8 strikeout rate). Putting the ball in play, especially if the infield is drawn in, certainly helps.

But wait, there’s more… His spray charts also tell a portion of the story.
We’ve touched on this in past postgame columns, but the position hasn’t changed; Ramirez’s ability to make a boat load of contact paired with an ability to use all fields make him a difficult guy to defend. That sort of skill set would seem to make him a great candidate to excel with runners in scoring position.

Those portions of his game have certainly served him well in 2016. And the Indians are reaping the benefits.

[ Just had to give Jose some love for his efforts so far this season The hitting streak is 14 games now with his 3 hits today and has taken over the batting average leadership of the team at this point in the season]

Almonte cost us twice today.

Meanwhile, in Columbus, Yandy Diaz extends his hit streak to 28 games today.

Hillbilly- you are right. He seems really crappy in corner outfield, better in CF where he must get a better look at the ball. But in any event he needs some talking to.

I can see why they went with Almonte without Brantley for the short term. Can hit righty, nice outfielder overall.

That said, time to move on? To Yandy, agree with HB

Hell, I actually would have cut him before Uribe, who at least could have played 3B vs lefties and pinch hit.

A sort of Giambi role.

That said, that's irrelevant. At this point, turn south to Columbus for answers.

Don't look now but Roberto Perez is now hitting .102!!!!!!

Santana hit by a Lindor foul ball in dugout, do not know how serious it is.