But! now that you mention it JR, the shift is on for Santana, Encarnacion, and a few others. They are almost automatic outs with the shifts on. Yeah! Get in the cages and learn how to lay a few bunts down now while its early in the season to keep the defenses honest. If that happens, I could almost guarantee that the shifts will not be as exaggerated as they are. The number one priority for these guys is to get on base, not hit homers. Guys like Santana and Encarnacion should show a little more confidence in the hitters behind them. After all, we were second in the league in runs scored last year without Encarnacion. Brantley is the only hitter right now that can beat the shift. He's pretty good at going the opposite direction. This is something Encarnacion should take to heart when he tries to pull balls that he can hardly reach. Most of the times they are swinging strikes for outs. Why not go to right field?

While I'm still crying in my glass of Cherry flavored Cranberry juice, I just have a couple of thoughts on why the hell we keep playing most of the batters we face up the middle??? I think some of these teams let Sabermetrics or whatever you want to call it get the better of them. We are one of them. In the two games against the Diamondbacks, we must have lost at least 10 or more outs because Lindor and Ramirez were both shaded toward second while the base hits kept heading through the holes they should have been occupying. Had they been playing in their "normal" positions, the hits would have been outs. If it weren't for Yandy Diaz's three or four sparkling plays at third base cutting off base hits that were headed through the hole where Lindor should have been playing, the scores of both games could have been much worse, which was already bad enough. We have four, and if you want to count Bauer, five of the top defensive pitchers in the league. In Lindor and Ramirez, you have two players who can cover a lot of ground. Why confine them to second base?? We have a couple of more than capable center fielders as well as catchers. I'd say the middle is pretty well covered. Why cut that angle down? Again, everyone is bunched up the middle (centerfielder, pitchers, catchers, Lindor, and Ramirez.) It just doesn't make sense to me why you would open up the second base and shortstop holes to cover the middle of the diamond.

If it was easy, anybody could play professional baseball.

Sometimes the pitcher defeats the batter. Sometimes the batter defeats the pitcher.

Just sayin' give some credit to the pitcher that makes a hitter look foolish swinging at a pitch 2 feet out of the zone.

Agreed! Pitchers make good pitches. But the frequency of chasing the bad pitches is getting alarming. I'd hate to see this become a habit. It's not just a matter of chasing the low and outside pitch, it's a matter of him trying to knock it out of the park. Sometimes you just have to cut down on the swing, and these are those occasions.

Sometimes when players sign BIG contracts, they try too hard.

Lindor playing up the middle. Descalso hits one through the hole Lindor just vacated. Base hit. Arizona takes the lead. Should be out of the inning. Instead, down 2-0. Now the bases are loaded. Arizona giving us a clinic on how to hit a baseball properly.

Shit, here they go again.

Even Kluber can't stem the tide of this vaunted offense.

Well, Arizona seems to have good contact hitters that can hit the ball any place, any time. Actually, They have been fun to watch if you like patient hitting, timely hitting. They had two hits that inning hit into holes vacated by Lindor and Ramirez. Should be a 0-0 ball game but what the hell. We're just getting out lunches handed to us this series.

Well, don't like where this game is heading. I'm going to take an hour off to power wash the padio. Maybe I'll come back to see a winner. This is just hard to watch right now.

The Indians will not make the post season, let alone win the AL, by playing like this!

We have bases loaded with nobody out, but can we score??

Well, I guess the people in NY want the Indians to lose, so they just took away a runner and gave us an out.

Popup to infield for the second out.

Ground ball ends it.

Is AZ pitching that good?