Cleveland Takes Advantage of Error

Game Date: August 24, 2006
Game Score: Indians 8, Royals 4 / Box Score
WP: Sabathia (9–8), LP: Gobble (3–5)
Royal Home Runs: Sweeney (4)
Royals Record: 46-83

Between David DeJesus, Esteban German, and Mike Sweeney, we had 7 hits, 3 RBI, and a home run at the top of our line up last night. Throw in Ryan Shealy’s 3-for-4 with an RBI performance and Cleveland’s two errors, and you might think we’d have a shot to win the ball game and ultimately the serious. But don’t forget to factor in the Berroa and Burgos factor—one of whom (Berroa) made a critical error in the eighth inning to give Cleveland the lead, and the other (Burgos) who, once again, poured gasoline on the fire by giving up three insurance runs in the ninth to put the game out of reach.

How bad are these two? Let me count the ways, starting with Berroa:

His fielding percentage is .967—which means he’s the 21st rated shortstop in baseball. I can’t imagine what 22–30 look like on a nightly basis. He ranks 25th in zone rating—even behind Derek Jeter. He has more errors (16) than he does walks (12). He’s hitting .237 with an OBP of . 263. He’s an awful base runner. And he seems to find the most inopportune moments for which to model his badness.

Now for Burgos:

His ERA is 5.92. He’s walked 33 guys and given up 15 home runs in 62.1 innings. He has more blown saves (12) than anybody else in baseball—and Jason Isringhausen and Francisco Cordero blow a lot of games. He works slower than any other pitcher on the Royals staff, which is hard to understand since he really only has two pitches (one of which he can’t throw for a strike). Yeah, I know—he’s recently added a slider as a third pitch. Have you seen that thing? It floats right out over the middle of the plate. He’s tied for tenth in the major leagues in wild pitches (9)—he’s up there with a lot of starters who have thrown way more innings. He’s tied for first in the major leagues in balks (3). He lost the closer’s role, and he’s still bad in a set up role.

With September call ups at hand, I’m hoping that we see less of these two guys in the final month of the season.

The Royals start a new series in Toronto tonight. Luke Hudson (6–4, 5.77) goes against Shaun Marcum (1–3, 6.49).