Indians Confidential

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.

Coming off a winless road trip and losers of 10 straight, the Indians were supposed to come home and provide little competition to AL East leading Tampa Bay Rays - right?  That’s what has made the last three nights even more amazing, the fact that not only have the Indians not laid down for the Rays, it’s been the complete opposite - they have dominated the team from the home of the 2009 Super Bowl.

Saturday night the bats were blazing again, and just called up Matt Ginter allowed some hits but held the Rays in check, as the Indians won their third straight, 8-4.  To put in perspective this winning streak, conisder that the Indians have mauled the Rays, outscoring them 26-6 in the three wins.  They will look to really send the slumping Rays home sad if they can get the sweep tomorrow.

The offense got a big night from Ryan Garko, who himself had been slumping.  He hit a homer to deep left to start the scoring in the second to make it 2-0 off of Rays pitcher Matt Garza, then in a three-run third hit a double to center that cleared the bases and made it 7-0.  He ended the night 2-for-4 with the homer, double and five RBI.

Grady Sizemore, heading to the All-Star game and home run derby, warmed up with his 23rd homer of the year in the 2nd inning, a two-run shot that increased the lead from 2-0 to 4-0.  The pitching of Garza was exactly what the team needed from a late callup.  He went five innings, allowed five hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out five.

The win puts the Indians at 40-53, and with a win tomorrow they have a chance to enter the break with four straight victories.  Jeremy Sowers at 0-4 will try to right his ship at 1:05pm vs Scott Kazmir.

Make that two nights in a row that the Indians look like a Major League team that cares again.  With their All-Star pitcher on the hill, the Indians again made life miserable for the Rays on Friday night at Progressive Field, stunning Tampa Bay with another beating, 5-0.  The Indians have whipped the Rays, a team that was coming in alreday slumping, by outscoring them 18-2 in the first two wins of the series.

Cliff Lee, the likely starter for the American League All-stars in New York on Tuesday night, moved to 12-2 with another solid outing.  He went six innings, allowing no runs on five hits, walking one and striking out seven. With the outing the best pitcher on the team lowered his ERA to 2.31.  He was in control, and while the Rays had some baserunners, they never were able to get that big hit off of him.

Big hits have come in bunches over the last 48 hours for the Indians.  They scored a run in the first when Jhonny Peralta smacked a double off of Rays losing pitcher James Sheilds to quickly make it 1-0 as Ben Francisco came around to score.  They added two more in the third when Peralta was at it again, hitting his 15th homer of the season, again scoring Francisco to make it 3-0.

With Lee shutting the Rays down, the offense added to the lead in the 5th, scoring a run on a Francisco double to center that scored Jamey Carroll.  They wrapped up their third solid night at the plate with a run in the 7th as Carroll singled to center to score Grady Sizemore to make it 5-0.

Another positive again was the bullpen, which for the last two nights has been given leads and have held them with somewhat ease.  Tonight Lee handed off to Rafael Perez, who went 1.2 scoreless innings, and then in the 9th Edward Mujica allowed a hit but was able to get out of it to complete the shutout.

The win puts the Indians at 39-53 on the season.  They will look for three straight on Saturday night at 7:05pm as Matt Ginter is expected to take the now departed C.C. Sabathia spot in the rotation, for at least one night, as he’ll take on Matt Garza (7-4).

Below is a quick look at all the news around the Indians Tuesday:

* Miguel Cabrera went 4-for-4, clubbing two homers and plating three, as Detroit crushed the Indians, 9-2, on Tuesday night. Marcus Thames and Curtis Granderson had three RBI apiece, with two of Thames’ RBI coming off his 17th long ball of the season. Ivan Rodriguez added a solo shot in the win. Justin Verlander tossed seven solid innings, allowing two runs and fanning seven to improve to 6-and-9 for Detroit, which has won two in-a-row to move to 45-and-44 on the season. Jeremy Sowers absorbed the loss for the Indians after yielding seven runs, six earned, over 5.2 innings of work. Jhonny Peralta clubbed a two-run homer for the Tribe, which has dropped a season-high nine straight games. The Indians will conclude their series with the Tigers tonight. Paul Byrd, who’s 3-and-10 with a 5.53 ERA, will start for the Indians. The Tigers will send out Eddie Bonine, who’s 2-and-1 with a 4.30 ERA. First pitch at Comerica Park is set for 7:05 p.m.

* The Akron debut of outfielder Matt LaPorta was delayed as the Aeros had their game against the Bowie Baysox rained out on Tuesday night. LaPorta is the main piece the Indians received from Milwaukee as they sent pitcher C.C. Sabathia to the Brewers. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader tonight. The first pitch of the first game at Canal Park is set for 6:05 p.m.

* The Indians are expected to call up from Triple-A Buffalo today relief pitcher Juan Rincon. He will take the roster spot left vacant by the trading of Sabathia to the Brewers on Monday. The Indians will need a starter to take Sabathia’s turn on Saturday and could call up Matt Ginter from the minors.

* The Indians placed pitcher Scott Elarton on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday for a non-baseball medical condition. Elarton had been on the restricted list because of personal issues. Manager Eric Wedge said that Elarton is out indefinitely. Elarton was 0-and-1 with a 3.52 ERA out of the bullpen.

* As for the debut of Sabathia in a Brewers uniform - he picked up the win as Milwaukee edged Colorado 7-3 at Miller Park. Sabathia allowed two earned runs while fanning five and walking five over six innings to pick up the victory. Ryan Braun smashed his 22nd homer of the year, and Bill Hall plated two for Milwaukee, which has won seven-of-nine. Prince Fielder and Corey Hart had an RBI apiece in the win. Yorvit Torrealba doubled in two runs in defeat for Colorado. Mark Redman gave up four runs over five frames to fall to 2-and-4.