Indians Confidential

1. Injuries: Jake Westbrook (elbow surgery) out for a year, catcher Victor Martinez (elbow surgery), Josh Barfield (finger surgery) out for a few months, Travis Hafner (shoulder) out for who knows how long, Adam Miller (finger surgery), Fausto Carmona (hip) having another “setback,” his return time is now the middle of July.

2. Bullpen: Currently ranks second worst in the American League in Earned Run Average. Once was a stable entity in the past. They are also last in the A.L. in saves.

3. Hitting: Indians currently sit last in the American League in hits and 11th out of 14 teams in the A.L. in on-base percentage. The injuries have taken there toll on the offense!

4. Void fillers: Guys like Peralta, Blake, and Garko have continued to struggle in the absences of Hafner and Martinez. In the past these players have stepped up when others were slumping, which has not been the case this year. None of these three players are currently hitting over .270.

5. Can’t win the Close ones: The Indians are currently 6-8 in games decided by one run. To be a contender these are the games you must win. (See Bullpen above)

6. Slow Start: With the high expectations for this team going into the year the Indians needed to jump out early. With the team being fairly young in age it was imperative for them to have some success in the early months of the season. March-May their record was 25-30.

7. Streaks: The Indians have gone on 2 runs this year in April they won 5 straight, however in May they lost 7 straight.

8. Struggling Ace: C.C. Sabathia has since turned his season around, but he began the season 1-5. His earned run average was 7.51 at that time and this did not bode well for the Tribe, nor the reigning Cy young Award Winner. His E.R.A. is currently 4.06.

9. Can’t Capitalize: The Indians are in the second worst division in all of baseball, yet they can’t seem to make ground on the other teams in the Central. The Detroit Tigers also came into the season with high hopes and they got off to an even worst start than the Tribe, but they now sit a game and half ahead of Indians in the standings.

10. Consistency: This team has not found any one thing that they are good at and consistent at. This has made Eric Wedge’s job more difficult and even more impressive.. If the team is good at one aspect of the game, then he could rely on that one thing and dwell on the many others. When it is all said and done, this could be Wedge’s best year in terms of managing because of the way that he has dealt with all of this teams obstacles.

It seems to be that every other year the Indians bullpen is very good.  The problem with that is that means this year is one of those “off” years for the pen, and that fact reared its ugly head again on Saturday as the bullpen allowed six runs in the teams latest setback 8-4 to the Tigers.  Aaron Laffey had done a solid job getting the Indians to a 3-2 lead in the 7th, going 6.2, allowing only a two-run homer to Carlos Guillen.  It was after he left that the wheels simply came off.

Starting with the 8th, Masa Kobayashi allowed two runs in just 0.1, giving up a homer to Marcus Thames, to tie the game at 3, then allowing a double to Mags Ordonez.  Enter Rafael Betancourt, who threw a meatball to Miguel Cabrera who singled to deep left to score Ordonez.  Betancourt, who has continued to take major steps back this season, then allowed another single, a sac to put runners on second and third, and then after an intentional walk to load the bases he struck out Ryan Raburn to give them two outs.

As has happend all year long though, the pen was unable to get that all important third out, and Betancourt again threw one over the plate, this time to Edgar Renteria, who didn’t let him get away with it, putting it out for a grand slam to make it 8-3.  The line on Betancourt, 1 inning, four runs, three hits, one walk and one strikeout.  Last season Rafael was 5-1, three saves, and an ERA of 1.47.  After 27 appearences in 2008, he is 1-3, 4 saves, and has an ERA of 7.27.

While Laffey was the bright spot, the offense did what it could to try and give him a win.  They put up three runs, one on a Franklin Gutierrez fielder’s choice in the 2nd, and then a Kelly Shoppach double to make it 2-0.  Guillen’s homer made it 2-2, but the Indians responded with a Ryan Garko sac fly in the 6th after an error by Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers opened the door.  It looked as if it would be enough until Masa and Betancourt gave it away.

The loss puts the Indians at 28-34 on the season.  They will throw Jeremy Sowers (0-0, 5.23) vs the surprising Armando Galarraga, who is 4-2 with a 3.76 ERA.  He beat the Indians back on April 16th in Cleveland going 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on one hit.

Cleveland Indians (11-12) 3, Detroit Tigers (11-12) 3
March 23, 2008