Indians Confidential

It seems like forever a go that the Indians had won five straight games. The locker room at the time was full of players that were ready to make a run at a title, like C.C. Sabathia, Paul Byrd, Casey Blake, and players like Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner  were healthy. In other words - it was a time when the Indians felt they had a shot in the AL Central. Fast forward to August 12th. The team has moved the first three players on the list, while the other two are on the DL. Nevertheless, this Indians squad now simply playing out the season is at least showing some signs of life.

Tuesday night against the equally as bad Baltimore Orioles, and just about three hours after moving Byrd to the Red Sox, the Indians built an early 4-2 lead and led at one point 5-2, but like Monday night saw the game slip away only to then regain the lead late for a 7-5 win. The team gave up the 5-2 lead by allowing the O’s a single run in the 5th and two more in the 7th to tie the game at 4. The Tribe offense continued to stay hot, as they scored twice in the bottom of the 8th to seal the deal.

Shin-Soo Choo was hit by a pitch, then Andy Marte bunted Choo to second. Asdrubal Cabrera stayed hot, hitting a single to center that scored Choo with the winning run to make it 6-5. Two batters later the team added an extra run when Ben Francisco singled to left that scored Cabrera to make it 7-5. Jensen Lewis pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn the save and send the Indians to their second straight over the birds.

Jeremy Sowers went for the Indians to start the game, and was good after a shakey first that saw him allow two runs. He lasted 6.1, allowing four runs on six hits. His fastball seemed to have pretty good movement, and he continues to make progress in his development in trying to make sure he’ll be a part of the starting rotation in 2009. The bullpen of dispair saw Masa Kobayashi not retire a batter and allow a run on two hits.

Rafael Perez, who is the best of the pen’s bunch right now, went 1.2 scoreless innings, and picked up the win to improve to 2-2. Lewis’ 9th inning gave him his second save of the season. It’s the second night in a row the team threw him out in the 9th, and the second time he was able to come through with a good outing. The Indians will continue their series with the Orioles tonight. Anthony Reyes, who’s 3-and-1 with a 3.86 ERA, will start for the Indians. The Orioles will send out Jeremy Guthrie, who’s 9-and-8 with a 3.26 ERA. First pitch at Progressive Field is set for 7:05 p.m.

It’s been over 400 days that the Indians had tangled with the Baltimore Orioles, but for the Tribe, the hot streak continues no matter who they play.  Monday night on a beautiful night for baseball at Progressive Field, the Indians offense jumped on O’s starter Dennis Sarfate for four runs in the first, and in the end held on for an 11-8 win to push their winning streak to four straight.

The game was not as easy as it looked, as the team went up 5-0 after two, but then had to rally after they found themselves down 8-7 heading into the bottom of the 7th.  From there, the offense that had so many issues in the beginning of the year, rallied for one of the few times this season.  They put up a three-spot in the bottom of the 7th with some heads up baserunning, then added another three runs in the 8th on a pair of homers, one from Ben Francisco and another from Andy Gonzalez to secure the win.

Fausto Carmona did his best to try and hold the lead, but just couldn’t do it.  He lasted 6.1 innings, allowing 7 runs on six hits.  He walked four, struck out four, and gave up a homer.  Edward Mujica, who I wish they would finally give up on, pitched 0.2, and allowed the run that put the O’s up for a bit to make it 8-7.  Brendan Donnelly did a nice job in the 8th not allowing a run while walking one and K’ing one.  In the 9th it was Jensen Lewis closing the door.

Four players in the lineup had two hits, Francisco, Johnny Peralta, Asdrubal Cabrera and Ryan Garko paced the offense that pounded out 13 hits and 13 runs.  Four Orioles pitchers were no match for a hot Indians offense that has scored 33 runs in their last five games.  Cabrera also added a homer for the Indians.  The Indians improve to 53-64 on the season, dropping the O’s to 56-61.

The two teams will play game two of the four game set on Tuesday night at Progressive Field.  Jeremy Sowers (1-6, 5.70) will go for the Indians vs Garrett Olson (8-6, 6.06) at 7:05 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.

Indians pitcher Jeremy Sowers had his best game of the season today vs the Twins, and he took a no-no through five innings. He didn’t get the win, nor the team, but did show his best command in quite some time. After the game he spoke to the media about his outing and what has happened as of late to turn the season around. Click below to hear Jeremy in the Indians locker room.

 

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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.

The Indians today outrighted INF JORGE VELANDIA off of the 40-man roster to AAA Buffalo. Please note that TOMORROW the Indians will recall INF ASDRUBAL CABRERA from AAA Buffalo. He will join the team tonight in time for the 5PM workout in Progressive Field before the team flies on to Seattle, WA.

In addition, Kinston OF NICK WEGLARZ has been named to the Canadian Olympic Baseball Team, joining Akron LHP TJ BURTON. OF MATT LaPORTA (AA Akron) & RHP JEFF STEVENS (AAA Buffalo) have been named to the United States 24-man Olympic roster.

Fri., July 18 at Seattle (10:10PM ET, WTAM/IRN, STO)

LHP Aaron Laffey vs. RHP Felix Hernandez

Sat., July 19 at Seattle (3:55PM ET, WTAM/IRN, NO TV)

LHP Jeremy Sowers vs. LHP Jarrod Washburn

Sun., July 20 at Seattle (4:10PM ET, WTAM/IRN, STO)

LHP Cliff Lee vs. RHP Carlos Silva