Indians Confidential

Not much good can come of losing two-of-three to a team that had a 11-game losing streak, but that is exactly what happened over the weekend to the Indians in KC.  If it were not for a furious comeback on Friday night highlighted by a couple of Grady Sizemore homers, the Indians may very well be heading to Texas after getting swept by the worst team in the AL Central.

Sunday it was Paul Byrd’s turn to get battered around a bit, as he allowed a early homer to Jose Guillen, then a bunch of two out hits in the third to put the Royals up 4-0.  With the whimpering that the Indians offense did against Royals starter Brian Bannister, you may as well have just warmed the bus up by that point.

Byrd as a whole was simply not very good, going 4.1 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits.  He gave up another two homers, the second of which was by the Royals Mark Grudzielanek that made it 6-0 in the fifth.  Byrd is now 2-5 on the season with an ERA of 4.66.  Scott Elarton, who was the goat in the teams loss to the Sox last Monday, did a much better job in relief, going 3.2 innings, allowing no runs on two hits.  Hey, right now if there’s a bright spot, better talk about it - right?

As for the offense, a Sizemore homer in the 8th when the game was out of reach was it.  Bannister, who was 4-6 entering the game, kept the Indians off balance all day, going 7.1 innings, allowing the one run on five hits, walking one and striking out four.  The team limps to Texas at 25-31.   Tomorrow is the first of four vs the Rangers, as Aaron Laffey takes on Doug Mathis at 8:10pm.