Tribe Talk: Farewell, 2009 Indians

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Welcome to Tribe Talk, where Bleacher Report's Tribe fans weigh in on the ups and downs of the Indians each week throughout the season.

Here in the final days of the regular season and our final installment of Tribe Talk for the year, we discuss how much a come-from-behind victory is worth, our playoff picks, and our final thoughts on the disappointments of the 2009 season and our hopes for the 2010 season.

I would like to thank this week's participants Nino Colla, Scott Miles, and Jeff Poore for their contributions here and throughout the season. My greatest thanks to these contributors for their dedication to this project throughout this difficult year for the Tribe faithful. I could not have done it without them. 

This discussion is open to all, so please feel free to comment below and pitch in your thoughts on the questions we're addressing this week.

Go Tribe!

1. As much as the Tribe is slammed for looking lethargic and apathetic (by us at Tribe Talk as much as anyone), 32 of their 63 wins were actually come-from-behind victories. 

Does this mean we aren't giving the Indians enough credit for displaying a "never say die" attitude, or is this just one more meaningless number that falls under the old saying "you can make statistics say anything you want"?

Samantha Bunten: There would be nothing I would like more than to be able to look at a stat like this, smack myself on the forehead, and exclaim, "I KNEW we weren't really that bad!"

Unfortunately, what I think it boils down to is that it doesn't matter how many of your victories turn out to be of a come-from-behind variety when your winning percentage is a mere .404.

Much as I wish this weren't true, I also can't say I believe that this indicates the Tribe had some sort of never-say-die attitude that we all just merely didn't notice while we were calling them lazy and unmotivated.

Sure, the come-from-behind victories are nice, but look at it this way: If a team is always behind, from the start of each and every game, then any victory they might get will always be of the come-from-behind sort.

Don't get me wrong, this team has plenty of guys who deserve credit for not dogging it despite this bleak situation. But when Jhonny Peralta stands out there looking bored, lethargic, and apathetic, there isn't a stat in the world that can make him look anything but lazy.

Nino Colla: Uh yeah, I think it speaks to what they were playing like before the month of September. They had that attitude prior, but now it's just not there. I think the starting pitching has something to do with it as well.

In the end though, it doesn't really matter. You can make statistics say what you want, but in this case, this sort of "achievement" isn't really worth anything given the disappointment this season.

Scott Miles: Thanks to my friends at baseball-reference.com, I can tell you that through the first two innings of games, the Indians have been outscored 188-126, and 14 of those runs the Tribe scored came in one inning against the Yankees (that seems like 40 years ago.)

For comparison’s sake, the Yankees have outscored their opponents 198-168, and the Nationals have been outscored 187-149. So you want to get out to a lead early. And yes, our deficit in the early innings is worse than the Nationals’.

Basically, we’ve had a combination of poor pitching and even worse offensive production early in games. No wonder we had so many comeback wins, because we were always losing. But give credit to the steady hand of Eric Wedge—may his managerial career rest in peace—for never panicking when facing those early deficits. His steady nature probably had a big part in those comebacks.

Jeff Poore: The latter. If a team has a winning record then those come from behind wins MEAN something. When you have 90+ losses it just means you have a bad team that gets behind early and often.

2. The 2010 Tribe outfield appears to be pretty much set: Choo in right, Brantley in left, and Sizemore in center. 

The infield picture, however, is a little less clear. How do you envision the infield shaping up next year, at each position as well as in utility roles?

Samantha Bunten

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