Keys to the game (5/21)

Keys to the game-
1.) Put pressure on the pitcher. With Kuechel suffering from a pinched nerve, Houston will turn the ball over to Joe Musgrove- who currently has a 3-3 record with a 4.57 ERA. He is not an overpowering pitcher, and has had trouble controlling his emotions. When he gets in trouble, everything unravels fast. Musgrove is also a pitcher that relies on the defense playing behind him, so we need to make sure we avoid hitting into double plays as to not help him out of jams. He typically goes 5 or 6 innings, and has had recent success (going 5 2/3 innings, giving up 1 run on 8 hits against Miami last Monday). We want to put pressure on him early and give Salazar some room to work with.
2.) Velocity < Command. Salazar takes the mound today for the Tribe. He has got to learn to be more then a one trick pony. The fact that he has struck out 62 batters in 41 1/3 innings of work is a pretty neat trick. But that alone is not winning ballgames. He is 2-4 with a 5.66 ERA, and has walked 20 batters. So yes, his velocity has been up there, but his command had been lacking. His record and ERA goes to show that velocity means very little when it comes to success if the command is not there. I have heard many say that this was a maturity issue. I have heard others say it is a mechanical issue. Some say it is just an early in the season/not found his groove yet issue. Whatever the issue is, it needs to be addressed because Danny Salazay is slowly becoming the pitcher every Indians fan dreads to see take the mound. We know what he is capable of, we have seen him pitch lights out baseball before. Time to get back to mixing pitches and maintaining command.
3.) Be aggressive. We have seen a number of Indians base runners get picked off or thrown out due to aggressive base running the past two days (Lindor/Gomes, seems like inam missing somebody...). I am ok with that. Putting pressure on the opposing team's defense or pitcher to make perfect plays is a good thing. Up until this point, Houston has made those plays. But I do not think that prevents you from being aggressive moving forward. This in no way means we should be reckless. You still have to pay attention to what is going on around you and be smart. Be keep being aggressive! Make the helmets fly!