Indians Confidential

David Dellucci’s two-run homer in the top of the fifth snapped a 2-all tie and the Indians held on for a 5-2 win over the Rays in the opener of a three-game series at Tropicana Field.  The Indians have had the Rays number this season, as after last night’s win the team is 5-0 against them this season.

Cliff Lee hurled seven innings of two-run ball to become the second 15-game winner in the majors.  Asdrubal Cabrera hit a solo shot and Kelly Shoppach plated two runs for the Indians, who have split their last four contests. 

Rafael Perez threw two scoreless innings to notch his second save.  Aki Iwamura had a two-run single for the Rays, who had won five in-a-row.  Matt Garza allowed four runs over five frames to take the loss.

The Indians continue their series with the Rays tonight.  Fausto Carmona, who’s 5-and-3 with a 4.19 ERA, will start for the Indians.  The Rays will send out Edwin Jackson, who’s 7-and-7 with a 4.20 ERA.  First pitch at Tropicana Field is set for 7:10 p.m.

Let’s just say that Fausto Carmona’s second start after a stint on the DL was a lot better than his first.  Coming back off a poor outing against the Twins, Carmona threw much better, had better command, and threw a lot more first pitch strikes as he led the way for the Indians in a 9-4 win over the Tigers to split a four-game set at Progressive Field.

Carmona went 6.1 innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits.  He walked one and struck out three.  He threw 99 pitches, 63 strikes.  Considering he lasted just 2.1 innings vs the Twins back on the 26th, allowing nine runs, Carmona’s outing was a positive sign for a team that knows they simply are playing out the stretch looking foward to the 2009 season.

On offense Grady Sizemore came through in a 1-1 game with a three-run homer off of Tigers starter Justin VerLander in the 5th that made it a 4-1 Indians lead.  The homer was a telling blow for a Tigers pitching staff that simply walked too many batters according to manager Jim Leyland.  Six walks in the game showed the patience at the plate for the Indians, and that inning catcher Sal Fasano got hit by a pitch, then Asdrubal Cabrera walked on a 3-2 pitch to send Grady to the plate.

The offense continued to hit well in the 6th as Fasano hit a single that scored Shin-Soo Choo to make it 4-2, then Sizemore got plunked to bring in another run to make it a 5-2 game and give Carmona and the bullpen some breathing room.  The Tigers scored two in the 7th off of Carmona to make it 5-4, but the offense again responded with key hits in the bottom of the inning, the biggest a Fasano double to give the team a lead of 9-4.

The defense continues to be an area of concern, as they again were sloppy with three errors, and manager Eric Wedge would not allow a lack of sleep from last nights marathon affair to be an excuse for it.  Choo will for sure be in the dog house after forgetting his sunglasses at one point, causing him issues in the outfield.

Nevertheless, the team will take it, as they move to 47-60 on the season.  They head on the road for a week now and start a series in Minnesota tomorrow night with Jeremy Sowers going against Nick Blackburn at 8:10pm.  The Tigers drop to 55-53.

The Indians have had a tendecy to fall behind and fight back, only to then fall short. That was the storyline at Progressive Field on Tuesday evening, as the Tigers used an early 4-0 lead vs Matt Ginter and then iced the game with a key two-run homer off of Rafael Betancourt to top the Indians 8-5 in front of 30,625 who chowed down tons of $1 hot dogs.

Ginter showed why he’s had career trouble in the Majors, as he had little command and the Tigers made him work, as he was only able to last 4 innings and threw 77 pitches. He allowed four earned runs on 8 hits, and unlike the night before when Paul Byrd was able to control his pitches inside, Ginter was nowhere near as consistent, and the Tigers buried him for it.

He allowed a solo homer to Miguel Cabrera in the 2nd to give Detroit a 1-0 lead, but then in the fourth was hit hard for three runs, the biggest of which was a shot by Edgar Renteria to deep left that scored two runs and put him on second to make it 3-0. The battle between Ginter and Renteria clearly went to the hitter, as he took the 3-2 pitch and made Ginter pay for trying to be too fine, driving the ball for the biggest hit of the game.

The Indians offense didn’t go too quietly vs Tigers starter Armando Galarraga. David Dellucci, hitting in the two-hole, made it 4-1 in the bottom of the 4th with a double to right that scored Grady Sizemore. Gary Sheffield then made it 6-1 Detroit in the 5th with a two-run double off of Juan Rincon, who is showing why he was available in the middle of the season.

A Jhonny Peralta triple and Shin-Soo Choo double brought two more runs in for the Indians and made it 6-3. Again though, with the team trying to fight back, the bullpen blew any chance, as Betancourt allowed a two-run homer to Brandon Inge in the 8th to make it an 8-3 game. The Tribe closed out the scoring with a Ryan Garko double to score a run to make it 8-4, and then Sizemore scored in the 9th on a wild pitch to make it 8-5.

The loss throws the indians to 46-59, while the Tigers continue to keep hope alive in the Central at 52-52. Ginter suffers the loss to fall to 1-2, Galarraga improves to 9-4 with the win. The Indians will continue their series with the Tigers tonight. Cliff Lee, who’s 14-and-2 with a 2.29 ERA, will start for the Indians. The Tigers will send out Nate Robertson, who’s 6-and-8 with a 5.63 ERA. First pitch at Progressive Field is set for 7:05 p.m.

It’s just too bad that Paul Byrd couldn’t pitch every game vs the Tigers. For whatever reason, Byrd has the Tigers number, and Monday night at Progressive Field he was at it again against the Motor City Kitties, shutting them out for 7.2 innings as the Indians won the first of a four-game set vs Detroit, shutting them out 5-0.

Byrd was helped out by an offense that used the long ball, with Kelly Shoppach hitting his 9th homer of the year and that being followed up by a two-run shot by Asdrubal Cabrera, who hit his second of the year. Both shots came off of losing pitcher Kenny Rogers, who allowed all five Indians runs on 9 hits in 5.2 innings.

There’s been talk about the Indians moving Byrd, who is in the last year of his deal. If last night was any indication, he would have some value on the market. He threw 107 pitches, 70 for strikes. He raised his record to 5-10 on the season, and the big improvement was not giving up the long ball, which has been his issue all season. Pitching inside as well as he has all season, the veteran had the Tigers tied up all night.

The win puts the Indians back to 12 games under .500 at 46-58. The Tigers were lucky in that the White Sox lost, keeping them at 53-52, 6.5 back of Chicago in the Central. If they are not careful, they could find themselves 8-9 out by the time they leave town early Thursday evening.

The Indians will continue their series with the Tigers tonight. Matt Ginter, who’s 1-and-1 with a 2.45 ERA, will start for the Indians. The Tigers will send out Armando Galarraga, who’s 8-and-4 with a 3.27 ERA. First pitch at Progressive Field is set for 7:05 p.m.

Even on a day when the teams starting pitcher took a perfect game into the 6th inning, the Indians were, as usual this season, looking up at another loss by the time the stands cleared at Progressive Field Sunday.  A Justin Morneau double with two outs in the 9th inning off Rafael Perez was the difference, as the Twins escaped a great outing by Jeremy Sowers to top the Indians 4-2 in front of 31,562.

Sowers had his best stuff of the season, throwing to and retiring the first 15 batters the Twins sent up to the plate.  His fastball was on, had great command, and was able to use both sides of the plate.  Not until Craig Monroe hit a bloop double to start the 6th did Sowers allow a hit.  From there a huge Nick Punto bunt single that Sowers and Andy Marte at third miscommunicated on opened the door as the Twins scored twice to go up 2-1.

The Indians scrapped a run in the 8th off of Twins relief pitcher Denys Reyes.  Asdrubal Cabrera singled, went to third on a Grady Sizemore single, then scored on a sac to center by David Dellucci.  It was the play by CF Denard Span, who crashed into the wall in the Tribe’s win Friday night that was the play of the game though.  It looked as if Dellucci’s ball would get down, and if it would have, Sizemore would have easily scored and the Tribe would have been up 3-2.  But Span made a huge catch, saving the game for the Twins.

Perez came in to start the 9th, and allowed a one-out double to Alexi Casilla that bounced into the seats in left.  Then after getting Mike Redmond to K, Eric Wedge let Perez pitch to Morneau, citing his success against lefties.  With a 3-1 count, Perez left a pitch up, and Morneau hammered it to left center, scoring the winning run.  Delmon Young singled in an insurance run to make it 4-2.

The loss drops the Indians to 45-58 on the season.  The Tigers come to Progressive Field for the first of four starting on Monday at 7:05pm.  Paul Byrd, (4-10, 5.28) who may be the next Indian to get traded before the deadline, goes for the Tribe vs Kenny Rogers (8-6, 4.48).

When it comes to the return of pitcher Fausto Carmona, it will go down as a return he and the Indians will want to forget.  On a day when the team made a bunch of roster moves, the biggest trading veteran locker room guy Casey Blake, Carmona was rocked hard by the Twins for nine runs in just over two plus innings in the Indians 11-4 loss at Progressive Field.

Carmona was up in the zone for most of the 69 pitches he was in there, and went just 2.1 innings, allowing nine runs on seven hits.  He walked three, which all came in the first to get him in trouble, and struck out one.  The Twins batted around in a six-run first, the big hit being a three-run homer by Brian Buscher to make it 6-0.  After a 1-2-3 second, he ran into more trouble in the third, allowing a run scoring double to Mike Lamb, then a two-run single to Buscher to knock him out of the game.

Down 9-0, the Indians got a solo homer from Andy Marte in the 5th to make it 9-1, then a Jhonny Peralta single to left in the 6th scored two more to make it 9-3.  The Twins made sure there would be no miracle comeback, as they piled on two runs in the 8th off of Jensen Lewis to make it 11-3.  A Kelly Shoppach single in the 8th closed out the scoring to make it 11-4.

The Tribe used five pitchers, with Tom Mastny going 2.2 innings, allowing just two hits and a walk.  Lewis went 2.1, allowing two runs, and Rafael Betancourt threw two outs and Edward Mujica also got two outs in relief.  As far as the offense went, the team managed eight hits off of five pitchers, with Scott Baker going five innings for the Twins to get the win to improve to 7-3.

Just called up Andy Gonzalez did manage to get a hit in his first at-bat for the Tribe, a harmless single in the 9th off of Matt Guerrier.  The loss puts the Tribe back at 12 games under .500 at 45-57.  The Twins improve to 56-47, breaking their five-game losing streak.

Sunday in the finale of the three-game weekend set it will be Jeremy Sowers (1-5, 6.44) vs Nick Blackburn (7-6, 3.83) at 1:05pm.

Home cooking is starting to taste good again to the Indians, who Friday night in the kickoff of Beach weekend (whatever) took advantage again of Twins pitcher Livan Hernandez in beating Minnesota 5-2.  The Indians roughed up Hernandez back on June 12th, as they scored 7 runs against him on 12 hits in just three innings in a 12-2 win.

Tonight they jumped on him for four runs in the first inning to set the pace, also sending 8 men to the plate.  Ben Francisco hit a sac fly with two on that scored Grady Sizemore from second when Carlos Gomez slammed against the wall and laid on the ground hurt.  Shin-Soo Choo hit another sac fly to make it 2-0 that scored Jamey Carroll.  Kelly Shoppach two batters later hit a double that scored Jhonny Peralta and Casey Blake to make it 4-0.

Cliff Lee was on again for the Indians, as the Cy Young candidate went 8 innings, throwing another gem.  He allowed two runs on six hits, striking out 10.  The Tribe MVP improves to 14-2 on the year, the first pitcher in the Majors to win 14 games this year.  He allowed a single run in the 3rd on a Denard Span single, and another in the 6th on  Joe Mauer double, but other than that was again solid.

The Indians offense also got a homer from Franklin Gutierrez in the 9th spot in the order which made it 5-1 in the second.  They pounded out 12 hits on the night, with Blake, Peralta and Gutierrez all with more than one hit. Masa Kobayashi came in to take the final inning for Lee and quickly allowed a hit and a Justin Morneau homer to make it 5-4.   Delmon Young then doubled and Eric Wedge moved to Rafael Perez.

Perez got Mike Redmond to lineout to first, then got Brendan Harris to ground out to the pitcher to get two quick outs.  The threat was gone when Nick Punto grounded out to second on a great play by Asdrubal Cabrera to end the game.

The team, now 45-56, will look for two in a row over the Twins on Saturday night at 7:05 when it’s the return of Fausto Carmona (4-2, 3.10) from the DL vs Scott Baker (6-3, 3.26).