Indians Confidential

While things started out good for Aaron Laffey and the Indians Monday night, all it took was one bad inning for the good feelings to go away as the Yankees topped the Indians 5-2 to leave Cleveland with a split of the four-game series.  Laffey, who got the call up earlier in the day, was unhittable for the first five innings, as the Indians took awhile but finally got to Yankees starter Mike Mussina in the fifth with a pair of runs to make it 2-0.

Then it was that dreaded 6th inning when things fell apart for Laffey and the Tribe.  It really wasn’t that bad of a start, as Melky Cabrera hit a deep single in the hole at short that ended the no-hitter.  Derek Jeter hit a single then down the line at third to put two on with no outs.  Bobby Abreu then finally hit a solid single to load the bases.

Laffey then hit A-Rod, bringing a run in to make it 2-1.  Then Jason Giambi and Hideki Matsui each hit grounders to first to give NY their first lead at 3-2 as runs scored on each out.  After Jensen Lewis took over for Laffey, Morgan Ensberg hit a dribbler down the third base line that Lewis couldn’t handle, and A-Rod scored on it to make it 4-2.

While the Indians offense had some chances, other than their two-run fifth, they really never got anything going, as a David Dellucci strike out ended the sixth with runners on, the team went 1-2-3 in the 7th, and much was the same in the 8th as a ground out, pop out and strike out ended any shot that inning.  The Yankees did push another run across in the 8th on a Matsui double that scored Johnny Damon to make it 5-2, not like it mattered much.

Mariano Rivera came on in the 9th for New York to make sure any thoughts the Indians had of a comeback were quickly gone.  The loss puts the team at 12-14 on the season, losers of two straight after they ran off their best streak of the year at five games after the win on Saturday.

Tuesday brings someone other than the Yankees to town (finally), as the Seattle Mariners make their first visit to the Prog this year.  Fausto Carmona at 3-1 with a 2.89 ERA takes on Carlos Silva at 3-0 with a 2.83 ERA at 7:05.