Keep the Line Moving

 I know this is a common baseball expression, just like get 'em on, get 'em over and get 'em in.  But I have been hearing it more often recently, especially with my wife's favorite team, the Cardinals.  

I heard the Guardians announcers mention it today and it occurred to me that the only way this works is with a team-first-trust-the-next-guy mentality.  

Some of our players don't have that, specifically Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor.

Look, yesterday we were set up for a big, come-from-behind rally against Philadelphia in the 10th.  Until Jose Ramirez saw 6 pitches, all balls, and swung at them all ending with a pathetically short fly ball to right.  The was followed by Josh Naylor not coming through, ending with a popup.

This is not the first time this season that, in clutch situations, the pitchers threw nothing but balls to Ramirez and Naylor who swung wildly and made outs when keeping the bats on their shoulders would have scored runs and extended rallies.  

Instead, they tried to do too much, do it all themselves and...failed.  

Ditto for tonight.  Neither came through in the clutch.  Both left crucial runs on base and failed to get hits when needed.   

This is a manager thing.  The manager has to set the tone, even with his star players.  They cannot be above the team-first-keep-the-line-moving mentality a team like the Guardians need to have.

Hey, I am not giving up on this team.  I won't give up on them until they are officially eliminated from the playoffs and then, I will only give up on them making the playoffs THIS year.

But the attitudes have to change.  Ramirez and Naylor, no matter how good they are, are NOT above the team. Naylor getting picked off, Ramirez making an error that resulted in a run, those things can be forgiven.  But trying to do too much on a team that needs everyone to do JUST enough is inexcusable for your star players.  Just like it is inexcusable for Francona to NOT set the tone that EVERYBODY has to keep the line moving.