It's very likely that things felt the same in 1954 when the Indians won 111 games, setting record for wins, great pitching, best team by far and then the bottom dropped out. Nothing memorable like a willie mays amazing catch this time.

Hillbilly wrote:There was some insinuation in post game presser that Kluber was not 100%. His back may have been acting up again.

Well, the last time we saw Kluber pitch like we saw his last 2 games was....last April before the DL

One more example why the postseason is a crapshoot (the shorter the series the more so). Anything can happen.

ESPN's Buster Olney reports that the Phillies are "taking a close look" at Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway for their managerial opening.

and apparently minor league pitching guru Ruben Niebla is being considered for bigger jobs by other teams, too.
PD wonders if Tito will bring John Farrell back as his pitching coach

Feels like we have been "Weinsteined"

civ ollilavad wrote:and apparently minor league pitching guru Ruben Niebla is being considered for bigger jobs by other teams, too.
PD wonders if Tito will bring John Farrell back as his pitching coach

See the Articles folder

Players I do not expect to see back.

Kipnis = 2nd best 2nd baseman, not a centerfielder
Salazar - Could be great trade bait, hate it when he cannot focus
Gonzalez - Great trade bate
Guyer - Nice but not nice enough
Almonte - Find another
Cody Allen - Great trade bait. Closers can disappear sometimes easily, he put too many guys on base
Santana - Unless he gives a home town discount
Bruce - Same as Santana, only for a home town discount

I would love to see Hosmer at 1st for us.

too bad the Forum has gone silent.

I will just say this: We won the first game against the Yankees with Bauers strong effort 4-0, we came back well to win the next game 9-8. We only gave up 1 run in 3rd game and had Lindor's fly been 2 feet higher or 3 feet more to the left we probably would have won the third game 2-1. But our defense screwed up in the next 2 and I think last years 3 losses in the WS series made us choke some. But no fault with first 3 and that is my story and I am sticking to it. Lot of the talking heads say Yanks were a better team. I strongly doubt it and they would be talking a different tune if we had that 2-1 victory in the third game. Matter of feet and inches.

civ ollilavad wrote:too bad the Forum has gone silent.

Moment (s) of silence

With all due respect to Simon and Garfunkel and the Sound of Silence,

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence


....tough trying to spit out anything positive when you've been taken on a magic carpet ride only to watch a team, with all the ingredients to win a World Championship, crash and burn with yet another choke job.

Yankees far from the better team. We had the best deepest [at least while we used the full complement of them] starting pitcher in the league. Deep strong bullpen [at least before it was restocked with starting pitchers]. Easily the best defense [until the last 2 games of the playoffs]. Solid balanced offense with power, speed, on base ability through about 7 spots in the lineup [although all the OF injuries thinned out the ranks and until the IF stopped hitting]

But he was on the post season roster!


Cleveland Indians' Michael Brantley undergoes surgery on right ankle
Posted on October 19, 2017 at 11:15 AM


By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com

phoynes@cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians announced Thursday that outfielder Michael Brantley underwent right ankle surgery. Brantley will need four to five months of rehab before he can resume full baseball activities.

The surgery was performed Wednesday.

4 or 5 months for Brantley equals 12 months. At best which is never the case with Michael, he would be ready for "full baseball activities" in the middle of Spring Training. Would certainly miss the start of the season. And likely far more. Please, do not pick up his option.