More Numbers

Patrick McMannon, from the Akron Beacon Journal, gives us this:

"The Indians hit. 315. in the series and had a .524 slugging percentage. The Yankees hit .228. The Indians scored 24 runs, New York 16.
Cleveland’s team ERA was 3.41. New York’s was 5.89. The 6-4 final pretty much matched those numbers."

He's absolutely right. The Indians pitched well. They hit well. They were a team that finished the regular season with 96 wins, tied for most in the majors. Anybody who thinks they came out of nowhere just doesn't pay attention to baseball. We had two 19-game winners (Sabathia and Carmona), the 2nd-best individual ERA (Carmona); our third starter had 15 wins (Byrd). While all the world fell in love with Joba the last two months, Cleveland brought up Jensen Lewis, Aaron Laffey, and Rafael Perez; Laffey was a very good starter, and Lewis and Perez were part of the best bullpens in baseball. Perez and setup man Raphael Betancourt both finished with sub-1.80 ERAs. When the Indians had to finish off Minnesota in September, they went to Minneapolis and swept them; then, they swept the Tigers to finish them off. They did what they had to do against the Yankees. They were simply a better team. It isn't that the Yankees quit, or didn't show up - they were just outmatched by a very, VERY good team (Joe Torre himself acknowledged this in the post-game conference). With numbers like the ones above and below, it's time to acknowledge the facts - the Indians are for real, and have been good all year round. Those who are now surprised just haven't paid attention.