Astros win game two, 3-1 over Indians

The Cleveland Indians needed a big performance in game two of the ALDS in Houston and even though they received a good one from Carlos Carrasco, they needed a great one against Gerrit Cole, who allowed only a third-inning solo homer to Francisco Lindor and when the Astros scored two runs in the sixth on Marwin Gonzalez's two-run single off Andrew Miller, Houston had all they needed in a 3-1 victory.
Alex Bregman's insurance homer off Trevor Bauer one inning later was the final tally in the win that moved the Astros to a 2-0 lead in the series and needing just one win in the final scheduled games of the series to eliminate the Indians and move onto the championship series.
The Indians will try to start their comeback in game three in Cleveland on Monday afternoon with Mike Clevinger taking the baseball against Houston's Dallas Keuchel.

I'll be doing the Ohio State recap later this week as I was flipping between the games, but was concentrating far more on the Indians.
I'll watch the game closer and then write it up.

Smoke Signals

1) I've watched a lot of Gerrit Cole through the years as a Pirate and I've never seen him look stronger than he did in this win over Cleveland.
Cole struck out twelve, didn't walk a batter and other than the homer in the third to Francisco Lindor was never bothered by the Cleveland offense.
It's the type of dominant performance that Cole has always been capable of and occasionally showed in Pittsburgh.

2) And that is why I thought the Pirates made a poor decision moving Cole last winter for a collection of B-level prospects with two years left on his deal.
I thought Cole could have brought more and with two years remaining, Cole could have brought more of a premium considering his contract wasn't an excessive one.
With the numbers that Cole posted with Houston, the Pirates didn't wind up with close to market value.

3) The Indians offense continued to struggle at Minute Maid Park as other than the Lindor homer, the Indians could scratch out just two other hits, both singles.
I know that the Indians were facing two of the better starters in the game, but their offense has been just awful at the time of the season that they could afford least.

4) Andrew Miller isn't healthy and Terry Francona is doing his team no favors in putting Miller in huge situations.
Miller's slider isn't up to its normal level and he looks like his arm slot is too low, causing him to sling the baseball more than throw it.
Miller didn't look confident at all and after Marwin Gonzalez ripped the game-deciding hit off Miller,
Miller wasn't finished as he would load the bases (two walks) and left the bases loaded with one out for Trevor Bauer, who did a fine job in keeping the game at 2-1 with that mess.
I've always been a Miller fan, but that aside, I'd be very afraid to use Miller in an important situation for now.

5) As for Bauer, yes, he did allow a homer to Alex Bregman in the seventh, but I love the grit and fire that he brings to the team.
Bauer seems to be one of those rare players that care as much as we do about the game (and believe that is far from always the case) and as a result will occasionally make fans angry with things that he says.
I can live with those- I love the attitude, the Indians need more like him.

6) Jose Ramirez's bat misery continues, it seems as if  Samson had lost his hair on the day Josh Donaldson was acquired and since then (and Ramirez's move to second base), his bat has lost any type of pop at all.

7) The Indians did receive a strong start from losing pitcher Carlos Carrasco, who only allowed the two runs off the Gonzales hit off Miller.
Carrasco deserved better than the loss and with a better decision from Terry Francona, he could have at least gotten a no-decision.

8) Stat of the series: The Indians are Six for Sixty with twenty-four strikeouts in this series.

9) I'm not sure what the Indians should do with Jason Kipnis.
Running him out to centerfield seems almost hopeless and I hope Terry Francona has enough sense to not start him Monday against left-handed pitcher Dallas Keuchel.
I'm not saying that I'm in love with any of the other options in center, but that is the easy move to try to catch lightning in a bottle.

10) Perhaps the Indians should have tried harder with a closing window to make a move.
I know they added Josh Donaldson, but that was at a nominal cost (the player to be named was announced in pitcher Julian Merryweather), the Indians just seem to be a team that is lacking that intangible right now and it's hard to gauge those type of things that you just cannot measure.
They can appear without notice, so there is hope, but it better arrive by Monday or this season is completed.