Cleveland Sports Forum

I'll be a believer in Axford when I see some 1-2-3 innings. Two walks before you get 3 outs is Perez..esque.

Agreed Seagull ! He had me biting my toe nails. It would have been a crime to let Masterson's gem get wasted.

One good thing......in the past, the A"s tie and win that game.

A lot of shoddy base running by both teams in that game.

Hey! A win is a win.

Let's hope Axford doesn't give us as many ulcers and Perez did. I didn't like the walks but its still early. Players are still adjusting to their roles on a new team. Plenty of time to put it all together.

Just checking Axford's career stats, I think we could be in for some "dramatic/tense" finishes.

His career averages:


7.9 hits / 9 innings
4.1 walks / 9 innings


That's 12 men on base / 9 innings of work

10.8 strikeouts / 9 innings

2.65 k's/w's ratio.

Jim Johnson, the closer for the As, came in and got shelled.

I'll take Axford's outing. And, with the exception of the LAST part of last year, I'd take a Chris Perez type closer too.

Just checking Perez's career stats - very similar

His career averages:


7.2 hits / 9 innings
3.8 walks / 9 innings


That's 11 men on base / 9 innings of work

8.7 strikeouts / 9 innings

2.31 k's/w's ratio.

Thanks for the stats Joe. Axford will be interesting. The strikeout totals are what you want for a closer, however.

On Blake Wood:

Wood, while not a key contributor to the Tribe's victory, delivered the most electrifying performance. Wood relieved Cody Allen to begin the ninth and struck out Hicks with high-octane gas and pinch-hitter Jason Kubel with more of the same. Dozier stepped in and flailed at a splitter.

During the final month of last season, then-Tribe reliever Joe Smith told a reporter to "watch out for Blake Wood.'' Smith's confidence stemmed from the fact that Wood would be getting the full feel back in his power arm in 2014 -- the second year after Tommy John surgery. Pitchers think they can make it back inside of one year with strenuous rehab, but the elbow almost always makes them wait the additional year.

The Indians claimed Wood off waivers from the Royals in November 2012.

I'm quite optimistic that Shawn Marcum will be a help to the rotation. People forget how recently, before arm issues, this guy was considered a very good starter. And he is not that old yet. Link to career stats:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/playe ... sh01.shtml

Very early returns put Murphy in competition with Trot Nixon for over the hill OF not able to bounce back. 2 year contract guarantees he hangs around a long time.

Trot Nixon, like Nick Swisher, led the Indians to the playoffs.

He didn't do it alone! He hit 251/342/336 in 300 ABs. Not dreadful but not what we hope for from a corner OF.

How about Brady Anderson? Better example, I guess: 163/327/250.

Nixon was the leader of the 2007 team just like Swisher was last year.

Stats don't always tell the whole story even though there are a lot of geeks that think they do.

civ ollilavad wrote:Very early returns put Murphy in competition with Trot Nixon for over the hill OF not able to bounce back. 2 year contract guarantees he hangs around a long time.

How's he doing today?

Just 3 hits so far !

And 2 of them are doubles