Jury still out on this version of Guardians
- col-aaron-dorksen
- June 28, 2023
- 461
A few thoughts from the week in sports …
The Cleveland Guardians will hit the midway point of the season this week, and I still can’t figure out if they’re contenders or pretenders in the AL Central.
Cleveland had a 37-40 record after dropping two of three games in a weekend series against the Brewers. The Guardians would be last in the AL East but were just 1.5 games behind the Central leading Twins heading into a three-game series at lowly Kansas City.
Hopes were high coming off a 2022 season in which Cleveland posted a 92-70 record, beat the Rays in the AL Wild Card Series and then fell in the ALDS Series 3-2 to the Yankees.
Cleveland has been just good enough to give fans hopes they can return to the playoffs, but if you’ve followed the Guards closely, you know the season could go south in a hurry. There are lots of problems.
Ace Shane Bieber has been running out of gas late in games recently and is the subject of lots of rumors with the trade deadline on Aug. 1. How can Cleveland afford to trade Bieber, though, with No. 2 starter Triston McKenzie sidelined for the second time this year with an injury and inconsistent veterans and rookies making up the rest of a patchwork rotation?
I’m a big fan of Jose Ramirez (.293, 12 HR, 46 RBI) and Josh Naylor (.291, 10, 57), but after those two sluggers, the rest of the lineup has been average at best.
Offseason acquisition Josh Bell (.230, 7, 32) takes as big a cut as anyone in baseball and nearly hit a ball out of the stadium against the A’s but has really lacked consistency.
The defense hasn’t been as good, and the stolen base numbers are down from a year ago.
Entering the Royals series, Cleveland was last out of 30 MLB teams in home runs with just 50. The Guards did up their team batting average to .247 (17th).
Bring Oscar back
Look for the Guardians to call up outfielder Oscar Gonzalez from AAA Columbus soon to help jump-start the offense. Gonzalez was a joy to watch as a rookie in 2022, batting .296 with 27 doubles, 11 home runs and 43 runs scored after getting called up on May 25. He hit a walk-off home run in the 15th inning to beat the Rays in the Wild Card Series and even had a two-run single in the ninth to beat the Yankees in game four of the ALDS.
After getting off to a .192 start to the 2023 season with just one homer, Gonzalez was sent to AAA to work on his plate discipline and find his stroke again. The player nicknamed “Sponge Bob” hit for the cycle for Columbus on June 25 and looks ready to get another shot.
Tarpley winners
announced
Anna Yoder and Michael Howman-Williams were recently announced as winners of the 2023 Brian Tarpley Excellence in Athletics Award and Scholarship.
Each year the program recognizes two senior student-athletes from Wooster High — one male and one female — who overcame adversity in life and then became a contributing member of a Generals athletic team. Each winner has earned a $2,000 scholarship for college in honor of Tarpley, a 1972 WHS grad and Wayne County Sports Hall of Famer who passed away in 2016 following a period of declining health.
Yoder played volleyball at Wooster and is going to Indiana Wesleyan to study psychology.
Howman-Williams was a first-team All-OCC honoree in football and qualified for the state track meet in the discus. He will attend Walsh College to play football and study psychology.
Tarpley was one of the best guys you could ever meet, and it’s great to see this scholarship honor him and deserving Wooster athletes.
Al Teague, who graduated with Tarpley in the WHS Class of 1972, founded the scholarship to honor his longtime friend.
Smith cards ace
Kevin Smith, The College of Wooster director of athletic communications, spends countless hours making sure Fighting Scots athletes are recognized for their efforts.
Today, it’s Smith who deserves a shout-out for his fancy shooting on the golf course.
Smith carded his first hole-in-one on June 24 at L.C. Boles Memorial Golf Course. Smith’s ace came on the par-3, No. 5 hole, which was playing at 160 yards. The lefty hit his five hybrid.
Ken Carmel, a fellow member at Boles who plays frequently with Smith, witnessed it.
“It was fun to finally get one,” said Smith, who starts his ninth year at Wooster next week. “With the front hole location and back tee location, I was really focused on clearing the trees down the left side in the woods, land the ball just short of the green and let it roll up. We watched it bounce, get on the green and disappear into the hole.”
Smith is the Iron Man of local golfers. He’s played at least one round in 78 straight months.
Scots stadium project nearing completion
Wooster’s track and turf replacement project at John P. Papp Stadium is nearing completion. The facility has been offline since mid-March and is expected to be back in use just in time for fall sports.
The new turf features alternating tones of green every 5 yards, an all-black end zone with Wooster in gold across it and several other new branding elements throughout.
The college’s 12 new outdoor tennis courts are surfaced and lined and ready for the varsity tennis teams to christen them when the fall semester begins.
Parting shots
The OHSAA released divisional breakdowns for the 2023-24 basketball season this week.
Here’s a look at which area teams will change divisions: Boys teams at Norwayne and Orrville will move up to Division II, and Rittman and Loudonville will go up to Div. III. Girls teams at Loudonville and Rittman will move down to Div. IV.
—Does anyone else think summers move along way too quickly?
My wife and I just have one kid, and the schedule seems to always be booked with sports, camps or family events. In May my brother-in-law Thomas Tannhof and I sat down with our planners to schedule a “guys getaway day” with our sons and found one day in all of June that would work for all of us.
We went to Kelleys Island and had a great time enjoying fun in the sun, while driving golf carts all over the island, then hiking and swimming. Yeah, sports were a part of it too, as we threw a mini football around in Lake Erie and watched part of a Guardians game in a restaurant during a lunch break.
Here’s hoping all our readers enjoy some vacation time this summer. I highly recommend Kelleys Island for some family fun.
Aaron Dorksen can be emailed at AaronDorksen24@gmail.com.