Keys to the game (6/4)

Keys to the game:

1.) Be cool. Yesterday was one of those games that you wished you could just forget. Unfortunately, that is not the way the game works. While our offense was able to put 5 runs on the board, our pitching and defense crumbled.  Our offense needs to make sure that they do not panic, get frustrated, and regress. They need to keep having meaning full at-bats and put runs on the board. Today we face Eric Skoglund, who is a lefty yet again. This will be just his second start in the Majors. In his debut against Detroit he gave up no runs and just two hits. He pitched very well, but before being called up he was carrying a 4.35 ERA in 8 Triple A starts.  So we need to knock him back down to reality that it is not the easy to pitch in the Majors.

2.) Be calm. Our defense got a bit frazzled yesterday. It was almost  like watching a house of cards… it all went wrong and came crashing down around them. With 3 errors on the day, it is no surprise that we lost the game. One thing is for sure; we don’t want to see those kinds of implosions repeat. But if and when an error happens, they have to be able to calm themselves down, refocus, and not let it snowball into disaster. Let’s come out and get back to playing fundamentally sound defense.

3.) Be collected. Bauer takes the mound today for the Indians, and I will be honest, I am excited. That’s right, for the first time this season; I am excited to see Trevor Bauer take the mound. He is coming off of an amazing start against the Oakland Athletics where he went 7 innings, giving up just 3 runs on 7 hits. While those stats don’t sound all that “exciting”, for anyone that watched that game it was hands down the best we have ever seen Bauer pitch. He was determined. He was precise. He was solid. He was… everything we have been waiting for him to be. Now, we just need him to build off of that start. For whatever reason, we are struggling to play well against KC this season (it is kinda like how we struggled against the Twins last season). But let’s avoid the sweep with a win today and get back on track!