The Cleveland Corner: Game 7 Notes
It is game 7 of the World Series. Why was Brian Shaw even allowed in the stadium, let alone be on the mound? Terry Francona is most definitely a Hall of Fame manager, but he continues to make the same mistake over and over and over. That mistake is trusting Bryan Shaw in crucial situations. As a diehard Indians fan, every time I see the high sock wearing, hanging cutter machine come into the game I either “Why, Tito. Why?: or “Well, this game is over.” These are not the thoughts you want to hear when your so called “lock down” 8th inning guy enters the game.
Anyway, back to game 7. Bryan Shaw was put into the game in the 9th and he got two outs there. Even if the 9th, the Cubs would have scored a run if it weren’t for the later named Gold Glove winner Frankie Lindor sprinting to his left and taking away a single from Dexter Fowler. Then came the rain.
A 17 minute rain delay not only took momentum away from the Indians, but it allowed the already ineffective Shaw become somehow even more ineffective. We all know what happened in the 10th. Montero, Zobrist and Schwarber all had crucial hits that would eventually lead to the Cubs winning game 7 and winning their first title in over 100 years. The decision to leave Shaw in for the 10th is one that haunts me every night and it should also haunt Francona. I know what you are probably thinking “Jack, you are complaining without giving a possible outcome.” So here are a few options to who should have pitched in the 10th inning.
Danny Salazar: Salazar was an all star in 2016. He has ace level stuff, but he slowly started to decline after he hurt his arm sometime in July. Salazar rehabbed like crazy and was eventually able to be put on the World Series roster. Salazar was rarely used, but when he was used he was crazy effective. In 3 total innings during the World Series Danny allowed zero runs with 5 strikeouts. I know that he threw 28 pitches the day before, but come on. It is game 7. Every one is available.
Trevor Bauer. The twitter maestro had such an up and down playoff run. After pitching well enough in game 1 of the ALDS to help secure a lead over Boston, Trevor had one of the strangest injuries in the history of sports. I’m sure you all heard of the drone incident, so I will not dive into that. Bauer was fairly effective in game 5 of the World Series, and would later come in after Shaw loaded the bases with one out and escape the jam.
Dan Otero. Dan Otero had one the lowest ERA in all of baseball at 1.53. Although he was very bad the night before, (gave up a grand slam to Addison Russell) he still would have been better than Shaw. Otero has one of the better sinkers in the game so he could have easily gotten three groundouts to get to the bottom of the 10th still tied.
Literally anyone else: You had guys like Merritt, Mcalister and Manship who all would have been better than Shaw. With the rain delay you could have allowed a guy like Ryan Merritt fully warm up. In his one postseason game he went 4.2 innings and held the very formidable Blue Jays offense to one hit.
So in conclusion, there were so many other alternatives than leaving Bryan Shaw in the game but tito decided to make the same mistake and stick with Shaw. It is a mistake that very well might have costed the Cleveland Indians an elusive World Series title. It was a Shawful decision.