Indians Confidential

Let’s all make sure to welcome Luis Vizcaino as the newest member of the 2009 Indians bullpen from Hell. Yes, the Indians newest off the street thrower for the Indians got a rude welcome from the AL Champion Rays Friday night, giving up the game-winning homer in the 9th in the Indians latest 8-7 setback.

All the Indians did after building a 7-0 lead through 3 and a half innings was allow the Rays to claw back with 3 in the 4th, 2 in the 6th, and single runs each in the 7th, 8th and 9th for the win.

Leave it also to the crappy Indians defense, which allowed two Rays runs to score on throwing errors and a third on a wild pitch before Ben Zobrist led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer that made it 7-all.

Then it was B.J. Upton, leading off the ninth with his first homer on a 3-2 pitch from Vizcaino, to end what could go down as the toughest loss to swallow in 2009 so far.

The offense was led by Grady Sizemore, who opened the game with the 19th leadoff home run of his career, breaking a tie with Kenny Lofton for the most in Tribe history. Shin-Soo Choo homered for the second straight game, hitting a two-run shot that made it 7-0 in the fourth.

Then the wheels came off, as Tampa Bay slowly by surly got back in the game with some runs off of starter Anthony Reyes and relievers Tony Sipp, Jensen Lewis and Rafael Betancourt, who escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh only to give up Zobrist’s tying homer in the eighth. Typical Betancourt.

So the team now regroups as they try to put this tough loss behind them. They are 14-23, 5 games out from Detroit in the Central.