Clip & Dirty: 5/19

In a game similar to a Kerry Wood ERA calculation, it's time to get out the adding machines. The Clippers beat the Gwinnett Braves 12-9 at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, GA. Yohan Pino picked up the W despite giving up 5 runs in only 5 innings. Almost the entire Clippers lineup got into the run-scoring action in yet another game with offensive fireworks from the potent Clippers lineup.

Team Pitching: 9(9) R(ER), 13H, 4BB, 6K, 66% strikes
Yohan Pino (3.94 FIP, 34.1 GB%, 7.6 K/9) could have pulled the ol' Satchel Paige and told the outfield to have a seat for the first eleven Gwinnett batters because after six straight groundball outs, Pino gave up a Home Run, two walks, a strike out and an infield lineout. However, Pino started to lose the plate and his effectiveness as he gave up another run in the third and three more in the 5th thanks to some walks, a double and a single. Still, one has to like the return of an eventually serviceable big-leaguer in exchange for Pavano’s 2009 2nd half, especially considering he is still just 24 years old and has 100+ innings at the AAA level.

Joe Smith, Josh Judy and Jensen Lewis finished the game out by yielding a run for each inning pitched. They avoided giving up free passes but were extremely hittable as they yielded 8 hits over the final four frames. Interestingly enough, each pitcher gave up exactly one run per inning pitched. It was kind of an odd occurrence and kind of a poor day for Columbus pitchers, but they got the job done. Nothing like posting 9.00 ERA’s over 4 different pitchers and having a Win, Hold and Save to show for your efforts.

Team Hitting: 12R, 16H, 2XBH, 6BB, 8-12 with RISP

Batters #2-#7 had multi-hit games. Batters #3, 4, 6 and 7 had multi-run games. Batters #5-8 had multi-RBI games. The Clippers scored multiple runs in four different innings and got only 2 walks and 2 singles (one of which was wiped away at 2nd on a failed steal attempt) the other 5 innings. This game was all about getting to the #3-#7 hitters in the order as Santana, Hodges, Buscher, Gimenez and Rodriguez went a combined 13-20 with 5 walks, 11 runs scored and 7runs batted in. The philosophy of getting lots of hits and getting them all in a row worked wonders as the Clippers’ offense continued to roll along.

Josh Rodriguez (2-4, HR, 2R, 3RBI, BB) got his 2010 AAA stat sheet dirty after going 0-4 in his Columbus debut. I saw him play multiple times in Goodyear this spring and he was consistently hitting the ball hard and playing some pretty (anecdotally, at least) spectacular defense. I’m happy to see some of it start to translate during the regular season, and at AAA, no less. Hopefully he can stay healthy (something he didn’t do in 2009) and he and Donald can be the start of a series of solid up-the-middle guys. They are always in short supply and are something the Indians have had trouble developing as an organization. As the Cabrera injury proves, depth is never something to take for granted and while Bixler and Anderson Hernandez are nice quad-A options, they aren’t exactly long-term solutions.

A former Padres starter, Justin Germano, will get the start in place of Carlos Carrasco for the 7:05pm start in Lawrenceville. Carlos Santana, Wes Hodges, and Chris Gimenez will likely destroy more baseballs shortly thereafter.

Posted in: Clip and Dirty,Columbus