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.

In a game that felt more like a double feature at the local drive-in, the Indians used two big Grady Sizemore homers and some clutch pitching from the bullpen to win their fourth game in five days, topping the Padres from San Diego 7-5.  The game got off to an interesting start, as after Jeremy Sowers got out of the first with a 1-2-3 inning, the Indians jumped up 1-0 on a Sizemore homer to start off the game.  Then the heavens opened.

The delay seemed to last forever, starting at 7:17 and going all the way till 10pm, two hours and 43 minutes in total.  It probably made it seem just like home to the Padres, playing a west coast game on the East, starting at 10pm eastern, 7pm San Diego time.  For the fans that braved out the delay, they were treated to a rather entertaining back and forth game.

The Indians went up 3-0 vs Padres pitcher Josh Banks with a two-run homer from Kelly Shoppach in the third inning.  San Diego clawed their way back vs Sowers starting in the fourth with a two runs, then taking the lead in the 5th 4-3 when Adrian Gonzalez slammed his 19th homer of the year to give them their first lead on the night.  Sowers went 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on 9 hits, walking none and striking out one.

Not to be denied, the Indians rallied for two runs in the 6th to make it 5-4, as Shin-Soo Choo came through with a clutch two-out single past first to put the Tribe ahead for good.  Sizemore wrapped up his big night with his second homer of the game in the 7th to make it 7-4.  Former Indians now Padre Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a solo shot in the 8th to make it 7-5.

The Indians wrapped up the scoring with Jamey Carroll’s RBI single to make it 8-5 in the 8th, then Ben Francisco hit a sac fly to give them even more breathing room at 9-5.  The bullpen accounted for 4.2 innings, allowing just one run on five hits.  Rafael Betancourt went 1.2 allowing just one hit, he gets the win to move to 2-3 on the season.  Masa Kobayashi worked the final 1.1 innings, allowing two hits and a walk and earned his 3rd save.

The win moves the Indians to 32-36 on the season, winners in 6 of their last 10 games.  They are now 3-1 on this homestand with two more vs San Diego.  They are still 6.5 back of the White Sox who won on Friday night, and one game back of second of the Twins.

With a short turnaround, the team will throw 10-1 Cliff Lee Saturday night at 7:05pm vs Cha Seung Baek (1-1, 3.97) for San Diego.

It’s amazing to think that Cliff Lee is the Indians MVP at this point of the season, but that fact came back to the forefront last night in Detroit as he pitched well enough to earn his 10th win of the season as the Indians topped the Tigers 8-2. The win wraps up the teams longest road trip of the season, an 11-game outing in which they went 5-6, hitting KC, Texas and Detroit.

Lee is the first AL pitcher to win 10 games, he went 5 innings, allowing two runs on six hits. The reason for the short outing was the fact the game was hit by a 57-minute rain delay. The bullpen finally did a nice job after blowing a game Saturday, as Rafael Perez, Rafael Betancourt and Masa Kobayashi went a combined four innings, allowing one hit total and walking three, striking out two.

The offense got off to a fast start, as Ryan Garko hit a three-run blast to deep left off of Tigers starter Dontrelle Willis in the first inning to give the Tribe a quick 3-0 lead. The team chased Willis in the second, as Kelly Shoppach hit a two-run homer to make it 5-0, then Garko got hit by a pitch to bring in a run, Jhonny Peralta singled to score a run, and Shin Soo-Choo hit a sac fly to make it 8-0.

Willis lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing 8 runs on three hits. He has been a big bust so far for the Tigers, has he’s been hurt, and is carrying an 0-1 mark now with an ERA of 10.32. He has started just four games, and has pitched only 11.1 innings, allowing 13 earned runs on seven hits. The Indians only had six hits, but were on cruise control most of the night due to the early lead that they carried as well as their bullpen.

New second basemen Josh Barfield batted ninth, and did little at the plate, going 0-for-4 with a fly out to center, foul out to right, fly out to deep left, and ground out to third. Grady Sizemore got a rare night off, as Franklin Gutierrez started in center and hit lead off.

Tonight the Indians come back home for the first time since late May, as they start the first of six at Progressive Field vs the Twins and then a weekend interleague series vs the Padres. C.C. Sabathia, who’s 3-and-8 with a 4.81 ERA, will start for the Indians. The Twins will send out Scott Baker, who’s 2-and-0 with a 4.03 ERA. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

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.

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.

Off day for the Indians today, and as we get further and further along with this season, there appears to be one thing that is coming to the forefront.  If you have time, listen to the postgame from Eric Wedge below this post.  This is not the first time this season that Eric has sounded off about some players that have not followed direction on the team.  Yesterday’s tirade was directed squarely at pitcher Rafael Betancourt, who for some reason has decided he’s done when it comes to throwing inside.

It was that yesterday that cost the Indians a shot to take two out of three from the White Sox.  Betancourt threw outside and away, and it was a pair of doubles in the 7th that allowed Chicago to score three runs that gave them the win.  After the game was about as interesting a locker room as I have seen in sometime.  Wedge speaking out announcing to the media in no uncertain terms that he’s tired of Rafael not listening to him and the coaching staff.

While Wedge usually does not throw players under the bus like that, this was done to send a message to Betancourt - start throwing inside more - or else!  Betancourt in front of the assembled media didn’t deny that he’s been told to throw more inside, and didn’t really have an answer when asked why he wasn’t doing it. Bizarre to say the least.

So now you have to start asking yourself, are the players tuning Wedge and the coaching staff out?  And if so - why?  This is a team that has always been team that has been very willing to listen and learn, and if your not in that mold (can you say Milton Bradley and Brandon Phillips?) then you usually find yourself out the door.  Is Betancourt one of those players?  Stay tuned.

 

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Eric Wedge called it the worst approach at the plate he had seen all season.  That’s how bad it was Monday night in game two of the doubleheader between the Indians and Blue Jays.  Toronto, a team that is about as offensively challenged as any in the league right now, put some hits together and combined with a shot off Rafael Betancourt’s elbow, they beat the Indians 3-0 at Progressive Field.  What made Wedge so mad was the Indians offense, which clearly took a step back into the same lame struggling bermuda triangle it was about 10 days ago when they could do nothing to get runners on, or runners across the plate.

The team wasted another super outing by Cliff Lee, who did what it seems he’s done all season - throw nine innings of shutout ball, walking two, striking out five, and giving up seven hits.  Lee now has an ERA of 0.67, and he has not allowed a run since a three-run homer to the Mariners on April 30th.  He has allowed four earned runs in 53.2 innings pitched, and has given up three runs in 39 innings.  It was all for not.

Also for not was the Tribe’s first unassisted triple play since Game 5 of the 1920 World Series.  The play came from Asdrubal Cabrera, who in the fifth inning pulled off the play after Kevin Mench and Marco Scutaro began the inning with singles, Lyle Overbay lined out to Cabrera near second base.  Cabrera alertly tagged Scutaro, who was running toward second base, before stepping on the bag before Mench was able to return to complete the triple play.  Not even that could put a silver lining on a night that saw the team manage just three hits.

Toronto scored their three runs in the 10th, when Betancourt took over for Lee, and after a single, a ball was hit up the middle that Betancourt tried to backhand, but it smacked off his elbow for a single to third.  A sac, an intentional walk later, Shannon Stewart hit a sac fly to center to make it 1-0.  Then a ball was hit up the middle by Aaron Hill to bring home two more runs to make it 3-0.

The loss drops the Indians back to 19-19 on the season.  They will kick off a three-game set vs the Oakland A’s on Tuesday night, as Paul Byrd (1-3, 4.28) takes on Justin Duchscherer (3-1, 2.45) at 7:05pm.