The first dud of the year
The Guardians dropped the opener of a three-game series in San Diego 7-2, as Luis Ortiz faltered and the Guardians couldn’t take advantage of several run-scoring opportunities.
The basic outline of the game is fairly simple to describe – Ortiz had a horrible 2nd inning in pouring rain and then fell apart in the fifth at the end of his outing. Meanwhile, the Guardians couldn’t get a big hit when they needed to and ran themselves out of a 1st and 2nd with no outs opportunity in the fifth with a silly double-steal attempt that resulted in two outs on the base paths. So, with that said, let’s focus on some positives and negatives from the game, as we are so early in the season:
Positives:
-Jose Ramirez was back in the lineup and hit a home run, a double, and a single. This, in itself, makes tonight a good night after Jose had jammed his wrist in the second game of the season. He also looked good in the field.
-Notoriously slow starter Carlos Santana had two hits. So far, he looks exactly like the kind of reliable veteran hitter and defender you want a 39 year-old signing to be.
-Austin Hedges hit a home run! And took a walk!
-Jakob Junis and Triston McKenzie were excellent in relief work, shutting the Padres down during their 3 and a 1⁄3 innings. McKenzie’s command appeared to be much improved, perhaps indicating the shorter focus of relief may be a good fit for him.
-Not everyday is Kwan going to go 0 for 4 with 2 K’s, not everyday is Lane Thomas going to be lost at the plate, and not everyday are hard-hit balls from Brayan Rocchio and Jhonkensy Noel going to find their way into the opposition’s gloves. In that way, this was just one of those games for the offense.
Negatives:
-Luis Ortiz still has some work to do. You can see the potential… his stuff moves all over the place. He’s got some endurance to him. But, Carl Willis and company have some work to do here before he’s going to be what the Guardians need him to be. Hopefully, a rough April will lead to a solid May and June, to a good July-September. No reason to jump ship yet, folks. Just strap in for a roller coaster few starts ahead. Today was the kind of rollercoaster ride that probably had you trying desperately to hang on to your dinner… or, in some cases, your midnight snack.
-The Guardians’ baserunning has been solidly below average as a team since Stephen Vogt took over. He needs to put his finger on why that is and figure out a way to keep the team from the TOOTBLAN (Thrown Out On The Bases Like A Nincompoop) plays that make my skin crawl. Admittedly, today, MAYBE Kyle Hart balked to throw out Arias (who interfered with Machado to get the trailing Hedges called out), but Arias also just got hung out in no man’s land because he’s not a smart baserunner and shouldn’t have been saved by a dumb balk, anyway. The baseball gods were just here; let’s appease them by sacrificing some of these dumb overly aggressive baserunning mistakes.
I will mention that I do appreciate that Rocchio, batting with two runners on and no outs in the fifth, showed no inclination to bunt. He eventually laced a single, but the damage had been done.
-Gavin Sheets is annoying. I’m glad we don’t see him 13 times a year, but when a team is smart enough not to play him in the field, he’s a Cleveland killer.
-First 5-0 start in Padres’ franchise history. Don’t love being a part of that.
I feel good about this team. They still have that fight in them that’s been their hallmark. It’s just a night of getting to know this group a little bit better and seeing them learn some things that they will leverage into sending us to bed a lot happier than we are tonight a lot more often than not.
Ok, goodnight, Guardians fans. We’ve got more baseball tomorrow, Jose Ramirez isn’t hurt, and the Guardians will be ready for round two.