The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Middle of Indians order falls flat vs. Astros
The term “heart of the order” refers to the best bats a given baseball team has to offer. But this year the Indians “heart of the order,” batters one through five, came up blank in a sweep by the Astros.
The term “heart of the order” refers to the best bats a given baseball team has to offer. The meat of the order. The dudes that you can always count on to produce when needed.
Most generally, the “heart of the order” is relegated to the third, fourth and fifth hitters in a lineup. But in the case of the Indians, their “heart of the order” the meat of their lineup - is one-through-five.
Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley, Jose Ramirez, Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson are widely considered the heartbeat of the lineup for the American League Central Division champion Indians.
But come this year’s divisional series, the heart of the order - the pulse - came up blank. As in flat-lining blank. How bad was the heart of Cleveland’s order in a 3-0 sweep by the Astros?
The Indians quintet went 4-for-16 (.250) in Game 3 on Oct. 8 at Progressive Field where the Astros put an 11-3 exit whipping on the Indians - and that was the best game of the series in a landslide.
“We didn’t get a lot of hits,” said Michael Brantley. “Plain and simple, Houston came out and threw the ball well. We didn’t string enough hits together.”
Truth be known, the Indians didn’t string hits period.
In the three-game series, the Indians were a frigid 13for-90 (.144) as a team.
The five guys at the top considered the “heart of the order” - combined to go 8-for 43 (.151) with 14 strikeouts.
“They pitched very well,” said Francisco Lindor. “Hats off to their pitching staff. They did very well.”
Lindor’s .364 batting average (4-for-11) from the leadoff position, which included a pair of home runs, was far and away the best of the top five batters.
Brantley was 2-for-10 (.200), Encarnacion was 1-for-10 (.100), Donaldson was 1-for-11 (.091) and American League MVP candidate Jose Ramirez was hitless in 11 at-bats.
The heart of Cleveland’s order was a bone-chilling 2-for-18 in Game 1 and 2-for19 in Game 2, leading into the 4-for-16 heat wave in Game 3.
Donaldson pointed to Houston’s pitching staff, particularly starters Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Dustin Keuchel as the primary problem for his team.
“I didn’t see too many pitches that I felt I could really drive,” he said. “I felt they did a good job getting Strike 1 for the most part.
“Their No. 1 and No. 2 guys are damn good and they were on their games. Their No. 3 (Keuchel) is a former Cy Young winner, so .... ”
The most glaring offensive no-show was Ramirez, who ended the regular season with a .270 batting average, 39 home runs, 110 runs and 105 RBI. But he tailed off dramatically toward the end of the season, perhaps in correlation with his from from third base to second base with the acquisition of Donaldson from the Blue Jays, and never recovered.
“Jose’s had a tough last month,” manager Terry Francona said. “When you’re not feeling great at the plate, this isn’t exactly the recipe to get out of it, facing Verlander, Cole and those guys. They’re pretty good.”
Speaking through interpreter Will Clement, Ramirez said “maybe things could have been different. Maybe the results would be different” if he had a better series. But he said the Indians win as a team and lose as a team.
When asked if he can be relied upon in the postseasons of the future, Ramirez said: “I always try to be positive. We all try to be positive. I hope they’d be able to count on me in the future. I think we’ll all try to be positive and look forward to next year.”
A familiar mantra of Cleveland teams - Wait ‘Til next year.
Maybe then the bats will show up.
Especially the ones in the proverbial “heart of the order.”
“We’ve got to continue to get better,” Lindor said. “We worked as hard as we could, but they outplayed us. They outpitched us, outhit us, ran the bases better than us ... Hat’s off to Houston. They played way better than us in all three games.”