The Cleveland Indians were swept by the Detroit Tigers over the weekend in a crucial three-game series that may have spoiled their chances to win the AL Central. The Indians are now 6.5 games out of first in the division and 5 behind in the wild card race. One fan traveled to Detroit for Saturday’s game and was disgusted with what he saw.
After the Tigers came from behind to beat Cleveland thanks to a two-run homer in the eighth by Alex Avila, the fan took to Twitter to blast his team. He got a very animated response from Jason Kipnis.
Here’s the embedded version of Kipnis’ tweet without the salty language censored:
@TomHorsman Pardon my language but you're a fucking idiot.. This team competed it's ass off tonight and played a great game.
— Jason Kipnis (@TheJK_Kid) September 14, 2014
The Indians haven’t really played poorly. They lost the final two games of their series against Detroit by a total of four runs and have simply had some bad luck. Kipnis also pointed that out after ripping into the fan.
I get it..You can be frustrated. We got guys underachieving, not playing well, no ones hot and no real mashers, AND WERE STILL IN THIS THING
— Jason Kipnis (@TheJK_Kid) September 14, 2014
So don't ever question this teams heart or effort.. You should want over achievers! That means they have a pulse and give a damn each game!
— Jason Kipnis (@TheJK_Kid) September 14, 2014
I wonder if that guys gonna keep my jersey
— Jason Kipnis (@TheJK_Kid) September 14, 2014
As Big League Stew noted, the Indians are second-to-last in the Major Leagues in home attendance this season. The players sometimes get irritated when that is brought up, which is probably part of the reason Kipnis snapped. While it’s not usually wise for players to acknowledge trolling fans on Twitter, Indians manager Terry Francona understood where Kipnis was coming from.
“He just showed he cares. He cares about us winning,” Francona said, via the team’s official website. “I think as difficult as a loss can be, for me, I was no less proud of their effort last night. Shoot, man. We got after it. We just lost.
The Indians are not out of the hunt, but they need to string together a few wins. Making up a handful of games is no easy task when you get to the middle of September.
