The Burden of Defeat

I think you have to put tonite's loss squarely on the shoulders of Francona.  I wasn't a fan of pulling Carrasco; he had thrown very well, got ahead of hitters, and while he was "up" there in pitches, not that much (certainly not compared to Kluber yesterday) and it wasn't like he was laboring.  I think in that situation you HAVE to stick with your starter.  I didn't mind the move to Shaw; he has pitched well, and the Royal lefties do make Smith problematic.  Yes, it was a flare, but...

The ninth was even worse.  I don't know about you, but I suspect everyone AND their brother knew Lough was bunting.  In that case, let Shaw pitch to him.  Instead, you call for Hill...who isn't that good and can't really throw strikes.  Mind you, if you bring the lefty to face the lefty, you expect to neutralize the bunt...but Hill isn't that type of shutdown lefty, so....why?  He blows the bunt and the bases are juiced.  You bring in Albers, who actually pitches fairly well -- aided by a brain fart -- but the damage is done.

Johnny Mac led off the ninth...yes, the WORST hitter on the roster, by far, and he bats?  Jesus.  Of course, the Tribe has two guys on the bench -- Stubbs and Gomes -- but both are MUCH better hitters than Johnny Mac, who was playing third.  Why no one thought to PH Gomes here is beyond me; then you can move him to C, move Santana to 1B, and Reynolds to 3B.  Why the Tribe has two bench players is also dumb, in that Swisher is on the shelf for a while and the Indians are carrying 13 pitchers.  Yes, 13.  One of them is Langwell, who is the longman and thus could be at AAA, or around.  Two are lefties -- Hagadone and Hill -- who have pitched excerably and really shouldn't be around.  The remaining five -- Shaw, Albers, Pestano, Smith, Allen -- have all pitched pretty well, as has the rotation for a few games.  So why do we NEED 13 pitchers, especially when you really would only use six guys in the pen?  I looked at the 40 man; Diaz, Phelps, and Chisenhall are on it.  I realize Diaz is not ready to hit, and Phelps has a similar usefulness, but I suspect they both have more of a stick than a 38-year-old punching MINF.  And, lo and behold, Chisenhall is a 3B, and I think he is ready...at least to PH for Johnny Mac, if nothing else.