Going easy on Blake
Some may have noticed a lack of anti-Casey Blake posts lately. There are a pair of reasons for this.
1. The Cavs are in the NBA Finals, so I'm not in the mood to complain these days.
2. Blake has been pretty decent lately.
He's hitting .281 with eight homers. His RBI total (29) isn't great, but he's being utilized in the No. 2 spot, which isn't exactly made for run production.
His defense at third has been pretty decent. He will not be a gold glover, but to expect that would be too much.
Still, I am not changing my prediction for a full season, which is that Blake will finish with a .250-.260 average and 20 homers.
Blake is a streak hitter, and he's riding the high tide right now.
But before anyone from the Indians talks about how we should build a statue of the man, let's look at three major statistics.
1. He's hitting .140 with runners in scoring position.
2. He's batting .071 with runners in scoring position and two out.
3. He's 1-8 with the bases loaded.
Why are his overall numbers good?
With none on and one or two out, he's hitting .371. With the bases empty, he goes .324.
So I will lay off on him, but won't celebrate him just yet.