Indians Confidential

For one night anyway, the Indians looked like a team that gave a darn about winning once again, and not making excuses as to why they had lost 10 straight.  They put a rather sound beating on the Tampa Bay Rays Thursday night, winning for the first time since June 27th when now former Indian C.C. Sabathia shutout the Reds.

Thursday’s win, 13-2, came complete with just about everything the Indians had not been doing over the last 10 games.  They put up a 5-spot in the 5th, a 7-spot in the 8th, hit a couple of long balls, had some two out hits, and got a solid pitching outing from starter Aaron Laffey and the bullpen didn’t blow it out of the water like it has on more than a few times this season.

They trailed 2-0 going into the 5th when David Dellucci hit a two-run homer to tie the game, then after Jamey Carroll hit a fielders choice to make it 3-2, Ben Francisco hit a two-run shot that gave the team the three-run lead at 5-2.  They added a spot in the 6th when Shin-Soo Choo hit a solo homer, and then put up another five spot in the 8th to put the game away.

That inning was highlighted by a Casey Blake homer, a run on an error, and a Francisco single that scored two more runs.  A Jhonny Peralta single scored another run, and then Blake, the 10th batter of the inning, hit a single that scored two more runs to end the frame to the first standing ovation the team has had for some time.  The 7 runs in the 8th was only the second time they have done that in 2008 - the last time - the season opener in the 2nd inning vs the White Sox.

Laffey went six innings, allowing two runs on four hits, walking three and striking out four.  He improves to 5-5, his first win since June 12th.  Even the bullpen, as bad as it’s been for the whole season, couldn’t blow this one, as Rafael Perez pitched two scoreless innings, and one of the newer Indians, Juan Rincon, finished off the win with a scoreless 9th.  The win puts the Indians at 38-53, dropping the Rays to 55-36.  Friday the four-game set continues at 7:05pm as All-Star Cliff Lee (11-2, 2.43) goes vs James Shields (7-5) for the Rays.

For those that were wondering where the money is going on the Indians roster this season, consider the following when it comes to what the following players are making, and where on the club they rank:

1. Jake Westbrook $10 mil per year - On the DL for the rest of the year after major surgery, and may not be ready to go again till the summer of 2009.

2. Travis Hafer $8 mil per year - Has never hit the same after getting his new deal, and was struggling before that. Is on the DL with a shoulder issue that really has never been fully disclosed.

3. Paul Byrd $7.5 mil per year - 3-10 this year w/ a 5.53 ERA. Was the subject of a steroids scandal story in the ALCS, and since then he’s been cleared, but has never pitched as well as last season.

4. Casey Blake $6.1 mil per year - Having a solid season, batting .279 with 8 homers and 47 RBI, but likely will be traded before the deadline.

5. Victor Martinez $4.4 million per year - Tweaked his hamstring opening day vs the White Sox, and has not been the same. Lack of power alarming as he’s hitting just .278 with no homers and 21 RBI. Also on the DL.

7. David Dellucci $3.7 mil per year - Has basically been a bust in the two seasons with the team, hitting just .220 with 7 homers and 27 RBI, was hurt a good portion of last season, and will be gone when his contract is up.

9. Masa Kybayashi $3 mil per year - Has had good and bad moments in his first year playing ball in America. Has four saves and an ERA of 3.21. The team has hopes that he may eventually be the closer.

10. Jhonny Peralta $2.5 mil per year - Hitting .250 with 14 homers and 40 RBI. Still blasted by many for his shoddy play at short and lack of big hits, Peralta has never regained his 2005 form when he hit .292 with 24 homers and 78 RBI.

The other two players in the Top 10 not listed are Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore, two players that have lived up to or even passed expectations for this season.

The Indians dreams of a weekend sweep in L.A. vs the Dodgers were swept away by one bonehead base running decision by third base coach Joel Skinner in the 5th inning that allowed the Dodgers to escape with a 4-3 win to salvage the finale of the three-game set.  The loss puts the Indians back at 35-41, and they end the six-game stretch vs the Rockies and Dodgers at 2-4 when it could have easily been 3-3.

The mistake came with the Indians down a run, and Jhonny Peralta on first with David Dellucci at the plate.  Dellucci doubled down the first base line, and Peralta came racing around second to third.  Skinner waived him home, and Andre Ethier’s throw to second baseman Luis Maza came into the plate with plenty of time to spare, nailing Peralta and ending the threat.

Fromt there, the Indians had just one hit, a double by Peralta in the 7th with two outs, but from there, were shut down the rest of the day and never really came close to getting that tying run across the plate again.  The loss again was suffered by Paul Byrd, who allowed four runs on five hits in the first inning to fall to 3-8.  A James Loney RBI double brought in two runs, then catcher Russell Martin homered, a Byrd trademark, to bring in two more runs to make it 4-0.

The Indians did rally off of Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley in the third to make it 4-3.  Shin-Soo Choo hit a fielders choice to drive in a run, then a hit by Ryan Garko past short make it 4-2.  Casey Blake hit a ground out to short to make it 4-3, but as stated above, that was about all she wrote for the Indians offense for the rest of the day.

Four Dodger relief pitchers shut the Indians down, as they allowed just one hit, no walks and four strikeouts over the final four innings.  Byrd would have been great minus that first inning, as he went 7 innings, allowing the four runs on seven hits, not allowing a walk and striking out one.  His ERA sits at 5.21 following the loss.

The Indians get Monday off as they get back home for two more series’ vs the National League this week. Tuesday night it’s the return of Omar Vizquel to Progressive Field, as the 32-44 San Fran Giants come in for the first of three, then the Reds come in over the weekend for the rahter overrated “Battle of Ohio” part two.

If there is one thing that the Indians can take some pride in so far in 2008 - the Tigers are worse than they are.  That fact was proven once again on Friday night at Comerica Park, as the Indians used a three-run fourth and a solid pitching outing from Paul Byrd to top the Tigers 4-2 in the first of a four-game set.  Byrd went seven innings, allowing two runs on just four hits.  He didn’t allow a walk and struck out two.  He made two mistakes, allowing two solo homers, but otherwise had maybe his best outing of 2008.

The offense was paced by Casey Blake and Franklin Gutierrez.  Blake hit a key one-out double in the 4th off of losing pitcher Justin Verlander that scored two to give the Tribe a 2-0 lead.  Gutierrez then came up with a single to left that scored David Dellucci to make it 3-0, enough for the Indians and Byrd.  With the team leading 3-2 in the 8th, Ryan Garko hit a big homer to deep left off reliever Denny Bautista to make it 4-2.

Masa Kobayashi came in and pitched the 8th without allowing any damage, and then Joe Borowski pitched the ninth, allowing one hit, but striking out one and earning his 5th save of the season.  Byrd with the win improves to 3-5 on the season, and drops his ERA to 4.46.

The Tribe improves to 28-33 on the season, dropping the Tigers to 24-36, losers of four straight.  Aaron Laffey (3-3, 3.02) goes tomorrow for the Indians at 3:55pm vs Kenny Rogers (4-4, 5.54).

The Indians offense Thursday night started out like a house of fire, but there was old friend Kevin Millwood, complete with a fire hose to stop any momentum the team had in a Texas 9-4 win over the Tribe. The Indians put up a 4-spot in the first, and it looked as if it would be another one of those good nights at the plate, much like the first three games of the series. Then Texas and Millwood stepped up, and at one point he retired 15 Indians batters in a row.

Texas got back in the game in the 2nd when they scored three off of losing pitcher C.C. Sabathia (3-8). They tied it on a Milton Bradley single in the third, then with Millwood setting the Indians offense down inning after inning, the Rangers took the lead in the 6th with a Michael Young infield single, and put the game away with a three-spot in the 7th, Bradley again the spark with a homer, and a Ramon Vazquez triple to make it 8-4.

Sabathia was gone by the 7th, as he went six innings, allowing four earned runs on 9 hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. Rafael Betancourt gave up the big blows to Bradley and Vazquez, as he went just 0.2 innings, allowing three runs on two hits. His ERA sits at 6.12 on the season. Edward Mujica allowed a run in 1.1 innings.

On offense the good start was spoiled and the team managed just four hits over the final 8 innings after putting up four runs on five hits in the first. Victor Martinez, Jhonny Peralta and David Dellucci all with RBI in the 4-run first. After that, the team went into an offensive shell, they had three hits in the 6th, but with the bases loaded and two outs, Shin Soo-Choo struck out swinging to end the threat.

At 27-33, the team falls another game behind the White Sox in the AL Central standings, and now trail by 6.5 games. They start a 4-game set tonight in Detroit vs the Tigers at 7:05pm, with two struggling pitchers on the mound - Paul Byrd (2-5, 4.66) for the Indians vs Justin Verlander (2-8, 5.16) for Detroit.

Every once in awhile, the Indians offense teases fans with signs of just how good they could be. Monday night seemed to be one of those nights, as the team hit four homers and scored double digit runs for the first time in over three weeks in a 13-9 win over the Rangers in Arlington, Texas. The big bomber was Casey Blake, who hit two of the four Indians homers and ended the night with seven RBI.

David Dellucci and Ben Francisco also homered, Francisco’s two-run blast snapped an 8-all tie in the 7th and the sailed from there. Blake hit a pair of early two-run homers, and ended the night 3-for-5. The offense, usually known for numbers like one run on four hits, put up 13 runs on 16 hits. If only they could have these types of nights on a consistent basis.

Masa Kobayashi got the win in relief for the Indians, as Aaron Laffey was nowhere near as good as he was in previous starts. Laffey went 5 innings, allowing 8 runs on 11 hits, walking two and striking out two. He let the Rangers back in it with two homers, the big blast a grand slam to Marlon Byrd that tied the game at eight in the 5th. Kobayashi went 1.2 innings, allowing one run on one hit with 3 K’s to improve to 3-2.

The team moves to 26-31, 4.5 back of the White Sox in the Central. Tonight with Jake Westbrook back in Cleveland with a sore elbow, the team has not announced a starter, while the Rangers have A.J. Murray (1-0, 3.38 ERA) starting at 8:05pm.

The pain of a 12-game losing streak is over for the KC Royals, while at the same time the underachieving for the Indians offense seems to be never ending.  Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium, the Royals put together a three-run inning vs Indians ace C.C. Sabathia, and it was enough to walk away with a 4-2 victory.  The Indians scored early on a Jamey Carroll RBI single in the third, but didn’t do much else vs KC starter Kyle Davies.

The Royals pitcher went five solid innings, this after just being called up a few hours before from Triple-A.  He allowed five hits against an Indians offense that for the most part seemed to take the night off.  The Royals offense was led by Davd DeJesus, who homered and doubled.  The double was a key hit in the 5th in which Sabathia allowed three runs to lose the game and fall to 3-7.

Sabathia went eight innings, allowing four runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and no walks.  As has been the case time after time in 2008, the Indians could not come up with the big hit.  Yes, they did it Friday night, but Saturday night it was simply back to what we’ve expected the whole season.  No clutch hits when the team needs them the most.

Saturday’s case came in the 8th, as David Dellucci got an infield hit vs Royals closer Joakim Soria that made it 4-2.  Grady Sizemore, who had two homers on Friday night, ended any threat as he popped out, wrapping up a rather forgettable 0-for-5 night.

The loss puts the team at 25-30, the only saving grace of the day is the fact that both the White Sox and Tigers lost, but other than that, losing right now to the Royals is not good.  Not good at all.  Sunday the set wraps up as Paul Byrd goes up Brian Bannister at 2:10pm.