Indians become the latest last-place team to beat up on the Angels.
View full sizeIndians catcher Lou Marson gets a few high fives after his first career grand slam in Tuesday night's 6-1 Tribe win over the Angels.
Every now and then, the Washington Generals beat the Harlem Globetrotters. The first time that happened, back in 1971, it ended a 2,495-game winning streak for Harlem.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet your 2010 Washington Generals, aka the Cleveland Indians. Or at least that's how the Los Angeles Times views the Tribe . . . and anybody else in last place who happens to visit Anaheim, Calif.
The meek shall inherit the Earth, or at least a sliver of land in Anaheim known as Angel Stadium.
Last-place teams continue to embarrass the Angels on their home field, the Cleveland Indians' 6-1 victory Tuesday the latest indignity.
Given what seemed like an ideal opportunity to make one final push against slumping Texas in the American League West, the Angels instead have been thrust further into irrelevance by two of the worst teams in baseball.
Baltimore swept the Angels in the final three games of their most recent homestand, and the Indians have won the first two games of this series. It is the first time the Angels have lost five consecutive home games since April 28-May 2, 2006.
What in the name of Sweet Georgia Brown is going on here? We dunno, but it's kinda funny to see the clown shoes on somebody else's feet, isn't it?
Spare the Rod
Maybe Rod Carew can help. The Hall of Famer was in the Angels clubhouse to film part of a documentary marking the team's 50th anniversary. Here's how the Los Angeles Daily News tells the story:
Even at age 64, Carew -- who played seven seasons with the Angels (1979-85) and was their hitting coach for eight (1992-99) -- looks as though he could have grabbed a bat and helped the team.
. . . "We're playing baseball that is very uncharacteristic of the guys in that room, and we're responsible for that," (Manager Mike) Scioscia said. "We'll keep trying until we get it going in the right direction."
(Angels outfielder Torii) Hunter was more direct.
"It's killing me," he said. "The atmosphere is bad. We did not come to play. We didn't come with it today at all. It's been going on for a while. There's no fight. We just don't have it. There's no excuses, I'm sorry, embarrassed. All I can do is apologize."
Which really leaves only one question: Why, oh, why couldn't this happen to the Yankees?
Quick history lesson
The Associated Press' "This Date in Baseball" feature notes that on this day in 1992, Robin Yount became the 17th player in baseball history to collect his 3,000th hit. It came in a 5-4 loss to the Indians. Jose Mesa was pitching. Maybe he thought Yount was playing for the Florida Marlins instead of the Milwaukee Brewers.
From The Plain Dealer
You know how it goes: You stand on the tee worried not at all about the water on the left. "I NEVER hook," you tell the guys sharing your cart and talking to the beer lady. Rear back for a mighty drive and . . .
A Titleist swims with the fishes.
Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer's Indians beat writer, has to feel like he just plunked a $4 golf ball in the drink.
A little inside-baseball stuff for y'all: When Eastern time zone teams play on the West Coast, writers usually do a piece in case the game doesn't end in time to make the print deadline. Personally, Starting Blocks loves reading this features, especially the ones Hoynsie does.
In this case, he decided to talk to the weak-hitting but slick-fielding Tribe catcher, Lou Marson. The original piece spent a couple hundred words talking to and with Marson about his .189 average.
So naturally, last night Marson goes and hits his first career grand slam.
Plunk.
Hoynsie updated his story, and the online version, filed at 2:30 a.m. or so Cleveland time, talks about the dinger.
Lou Marson was so disappointed with the way he has been hitting this season that before Tuesday night's game he said, "I could hit better left-handed."
The Indians are glad the right-handed hitting Marson didn't pick Tuesday to move to the other side of the plate. Marson hit his first career grand slam to highlight a five-run sixth-inning rally as the Indians beat the Angels, 6-1, to improve to 4-2 on this trip.
"No, I didn't think about hitting left-handed," said Marson, after the game. "But you know what I played hockey for years and I shot left-handed. But I never tried to hit left-handed."