UPDATE: The Indians’ offering to Jobu didn’t work. Yan Gomes was hitless in two at-bats after pinch hitting Saturday night at Minnesota, and he dropped a throw home in the 11th inning, letting the winning run score.
One of the hottest teams in baseball at the moment are the Cleveland Indians, who have the best record in the American League heading into Saturday’s games.
It seems like every night a different player is coming up big for the Tribe in their wins. Not only do the Indians have an elite starting pitching staff, but the offense has been a pleasant surprise as well, getting solid contributions from nearly every spot in the lineup.
Everyone except for Yan Gomes.
Cleveland’s starting catcher is having a dreadful year at the plate. A former Silver Slugger Award winner, Gomes is hitting an abysmal .163/.198/.310 with 60 more strikeouts than walks. His 28 OPS+ is the worst in all of baseball (among players with 250 or more plate appearances).
His stat line isn’t pretty. But Gomes doesn’t look that bad at the plate — he’s hitting the ball hard and putting it in play. He’s just been the victim of some very bad luck. Take Friday night’s victory over the Twins, for instance. Gomes went 0 for 4, but only because his four hard-hit balls were miraculously fielded by Gold Glove-caliber players.
So Gomes’ teammates decided it was time to take some action and reverse his bad juju. Mike Napoli and Jason Kipnis, who have a Jobu shrine built in the locker between them, held what they called a team “sacrificial ceremony” for the 28-year-old Brazilian, in which they presented a Boston Market chicken to the baseball gods in an effort to reverse Gomes’ fortune.
Kipnis posted video of the hilarious ceremony on Instagram.
It’s clear this team is a tight-knit group that’s oozing with clubhouse chemistry and a fair amount of good-natured superstition — something that will definitely come in handy during their run at the postseason.
-
-
{{::overlayData.endcardItemValue.numOfEndcardSlides}}
<!–{{::overlayData.endcardItemValue.endcardPath}}–>
