May 24, 2012, 2:05AM
Build a winner and they still might not come a year after 30-15 became a 15-game deficit.In a sports town much edgier than this one, pitcher Jack McDowell once earned the nickname "The Yankee Flipper" by making an obscene gesture to the booing hometown fans.
That was actually the nicest thing they called him.
Chris Perez didn't come close to that.
Quick forgiveness followed in New York for McDowell, who later explained that while the media bashed him for his obscenity, "the fans were the ones who actually brushed it off and really made me feel they were fine afterward."
It didn't hurt that McDowell's best work of the season followed. And that'll be the bottom line for Perez.
Pitch well and they will . . . well, they might still not come, but he'll at least have held up his end.
The same message McDowell received as the 1995 season unfolded greeted Perez as he ran out of the bullpen to cheers Tuesday night against the Detroit Tigers. The fact only 15,049 people were in attendance and that some of those wore Tigers' colors helped support his general point. But for one night at least, that was of secondary concern.
Perez was clumsy in how he called out the city for a lack of support. But let's be honest here. The Indians aren't only lagging in attendance. They're dead last. They're dead last by 3,000 per game.
That's not all cold weather. Or the price teams pay for staging games on school nights. I'm sure it will improve, just as it did a year ago. But in the meantime, dead last is difficult to ignore.
While it's never a good idea for a business to criticize its customers, what's the worst backlash possible in this case? The people who aren't coming will continue not coming?
Not unexpectedly, the front office distanced itself from Perez's comments. Just don't believe for a moment everyone in the organization was unhappy that the issue was put out there. The hope was that his words might even beat the drum for a bigger walk-up during the three-game series with Detroit.
Cutting through Perez's misinterpretations of the issue, his message was this:
We're pretty decent this year. We're in first place. We're off to a good start. Again. You know, the kind of good start people said we needed to excite the fan base after so many stumbles out of the gate under former manager Eric Wedge.
Some of the criticism of Perez has been just as clumsy as anything he's said. Namely, Kenny Lofton's smackdown of the Indians closer.
Lofton says the Indians of the '90s connected with fans because they were more involved in the community than the Indians of today.
That's why you loved them?
You mean it wasn't about a great team ending a 40-year stretch of ineptitude?
Or having a lineup filled with All-Stars and dotted with future Hall of Famers?
Or playing in a new park? In one of the highest-scoring eras in baseball history?
Or the fact that for three of those seasons, Cleveland's football team played in Baltimore?
All that apparently was no match for the impact a kid could feel spending Halloween night with Albert Belle.
Belle was a top drawing card in a town that made excuses for his behavior. Why? Because he could mash. Period.
After Perez complained about the low attendance and getting booed merely for putting runners on base, Lofton told WKRK FM/92.3 The Fan that Perez doesn't get it.
"You're in first place for a couple of days and you think you're big time? That's not how it works," Lofton said.
Perez never said anything about thinking the Indians were big time.
The Indians were in first for 95 days last year. That's more than a few days. They're in first again.
They finished 24th in attendance. They're last now.
I'm pretty sure that's not how it's supposed to work, either.
Maybe change your name to Bruce
Calling out Cleveland, Part II.
Did Perez's words rally the troops?
Clubhouses. in my experience, don't speak in a single voice.
Some teammates probably agree with him. Maybe even a few more do after seeing Tuesday's crowd.
Some think he should do his job and not worry about the boos or how many people pay to see the team play in a tough economy.
People pay their money. They can boo if they choose.
In a town so starved for a winner, though, why boo first place in the first place?
Perez wasn't the right guy to ask it, but it's a fair question.
Spinoffs
• According to the police report taken after a disagreement that didn't result in any charges being filed, reliever Joe Smith tried to walk into the Round House Bar in Put-in-Bay without showing his ID. When security personnel asked for it, he told them he played for the Cleveland Indians. I'm not sure identifying yourself as a Cleveland Indians pitcher is the best way to clear up any uncertainty about your age. (See: Fausto Carmona).
• Justin Verlander, today's starter for the Tigers at Progressive Field, has a cereal called "Fastball Flakes." Last week, we asked readers to name a Ubaldo Jimenez cereal. The winner -- "High Pitch Count Chocula" -- comes from Bill T., of Lakewood. Like all other Spin contributors, he must be proud.
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