Is This Just A Slump, Or The Real Cleveland Guardians?

It was just three weeks ago that the Cleveland Guardians came barreling into the 2022 season with bats blazing, hopes soaring, and wins mounting. They won four of their first six games, all of them on the road, and, it seemed, every hitter in their lineup was hot.

Two weeks into the season, clusters of Guardians players were dominating the individual hitting categories. The team’s decision not to add a hitter or two to what was one of the American League’s most dismal lineups in 2021 was not haunting them.

At least for the season’s first two weeks.

In week three? It haunted them.

Cleveland is two-thirds of the way through a 10-game, three-city road trip, and it has not been a pretty sight. The Guardians began the trip by getting swept by the Yankees in a three-game series in New York.

The Guardians then hopped on a plane, flew to California, and got swept by the Angels in a four-game series in Anaheim. The trip will conclude with a three-game series in Oakland starting tonight.

Cleveland will drag a seven-game losing streak into the series in Oakland, and all the worst fears about that wobbly lineup that were camouflaged by the team’s fast start have now returned.

Look no further than the team’s numbers during the seven-game losing streak. Cleveland was averaging 5.7 runs per game when the trip started. In their next seven games, all losses, they averaged two runs per game.

During the seven-game losing streak the Guardians have a team batting average of .185. They have scored two or fewer runs in five of the seven games. They have been out-scored 39-14 in that span.

Individually, the entire lineup is now in a slump. Leadoff hitter Myles Straw was hitting .326 at the start of the trip. In the seven losses he’s hit .160. Infielder Owen Miller was hitting .500 at the start of the trip. He’s hit .250 since then. Rookie outfielder Steven Kwan, who was a sensation in the first week of the season, hit .382 prior to the trip and .200 during the trip, most of which he’s missed with a hamstring injury. First baseman Josh Naylor: .429 prior to the trip, .227 on the trip.

Designated hitter, and former cleanup hitter Franmil Reyes hit only .191 prior to the trip, and he’s been even worse on the trip, batting .045, with 14 strikeouts in 22 at bats. Reyes’ slump has been particularly troublesome since he, as the cleanup hitter, hits behind Cleveland’s star, Jose Ramirez. A 30-home run hitter last year, Reyes’ bat is charged with preventing pitchers from pitching around Ramirez.

Instead, Reyes has offered little protection for Ramirez. Reyes has struck out at least once in each of the 17 games he’s played, and during a recent stretch he struck out in eight consecutive at bats, which caused manager Terry Francona to drop Reyes from fourth to sixth in the lineup.

Even Ramirez, the team’s best player, has struggled. Ramirez who still leads the majors with 25 RBI, has seen some of his numbers plummet. He was hitting .426 at the start of the trip, but is hitting just .200 since then, although that includes two home runs and five RBI.

It’s been a team-wide offensive collapse, and perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Cleveland has won seven games, and all seven have come against the Royals, White Sox, and Reds. The White Sox are 13^th in the American League in ERA, the Royals are 14^th, and the Reds are 15^th in the National League.

Ten of the Guardians’ 12 losses this season have come against the Yankees, Giants, and Angels. The Yankees lead the American League in ERA, the Giants are second in the National League in ERA, and the Angels are eighth in the AL in ERA.

In other words, the Guardians have beaten teams whose pitchers are struggling. They have lost to teams with the better pitching staffs. If that pattern holds, Cleveland will be in for another challenge as they conclude their trip with three games in Oakland starting Friday night. A’s pitchers have the fifth-best ERA in the American League.

Which brings up another contributing factor, surprisingly so, to the Guardians’ hot and cold start. Their pitching, which is supposed to be among the top groups in the league, has struggled. Cleveland’s pitchers have ranked in the top four (first twice) in team ERA in five of the last six years.

So far this year they rank 11^th in ERA.

The season is still less than a month old. The Cleveland Guardians got off to a better start than was expected, but it quickly unraveled on their current road trip, during which their record has tumbled from 7-5 to 7-12.

“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We have to keep battling. That’s the only way we’ll get better,” said Manager Terry Francona. “We’ve got to battle for everything we get because right now nothing is easy.”