While the Indians shutout streak may have ended today, the winning didn’t, as the team won their 6th home game in 7 tries, topping the A’s 4-2 at Progressive Field. The run for the A’s came about due to an error by pitcher Aaron Laffey in the 2nd that made it 1-1. The young pitcher made a throwing error that saw the ball went to right field that allowed Bobby Crosby to cross the plate. It was the first and only run that the A’s scored in the three-game set. Laffey had another good outing, going 7 innings, allowing the one run on five hits, walking one and striking out six. He lowered his ERA to 1.35.

On the offensive side, Ryan Garko started the scoring in the first inning with a double that scored Jhonny Peralta to make it 1-0 in the first off of A’s pitcher Greg Smith. After the A’s tied the game, the Indians jumped right back on top with two runs in the third inning, as Ben Francisco singled in Grady Sizemore to make it 2-1, and then Travis Hafner, who continues to make strides out of his slump, singled in Peralta to make it 3-1.

The offense has made a few strides all homestand, as they did have nine hits on the afternoon. Peralta wrapped up the scoring with a homer to deep left in the 7th that made it 4-1. It was Peralta’s 7th homer of the season. Rafael Betancourt was brought in to try and get his 5th save of the season, but was unable to get out of the inning and instead loaded the bases, bringing Masa Kobayashi in for the shot at the save. A wild pitch did allow a run to come across to make it 4-2. A pair of strikeouts ended the threat.

Overall the team outscored the A’s 9-2 during the three-game sweep, ending the homestand outscoring the Blue Jays and A’s 31-6. They went 6-1 overall in the seven games to improve to 22-19. The team moves now to Cincy to take on the Reds for the first of three on Friday night. Jeremy Sowers (0-0, 5.06) takes on Johnny Cueto (2-4, 5.91) at 7:05pm.

Indians pitcher C.C. Sabathia is on a roll, like the rest of the staff, and tonight after the game he talked to the media about his outing, the team and staff being on a  roll, and what went his way against an A’s team that had done well against him in two previous outings in 2008.  Click below to hear from the Indians pitcher post game Wednesday night.

Just another night at the office for the Indians pitching staff, as tonight it was C.C. Sabathia’s turn to do what the staff has done best as of late - throw a shutout in topping the A’s 2-0.  Sabathia continued what is becoming a historic trend for the Tribe, as the staff threw its 7th shutout of the year, fourth in last five games, and fifth in last eight.  The team also extended its streak of scoreless innings to 43 innings, and have allowed one run in 48 innings.  Wow.

Let’s start with Sabathia, who was better than at any point in 2008, this vs a team that had been 2-0 against him and his ERA vs the A’s coming in was 14.54 in two starts.  He dominated, allowing five hits, walking two and striking out 11.  It was C.C.’s 2nd double digit strikeout game of the year, and 13th of his career.  He moves to 3-5, and in his last three starts has allowed one earned run in going 2-1.

The offense was, as usual, not all that productive, but did the job.  They got a homer to start the game from Grady Sizemore, his 7th of the season, to make it 1-0.  Their other run came in the 4th when Ryan Garko hit his second homer in as many days, his 4th of the season, making it 2-0.  That was all the team would need.  They did pound out five hits, but other than the two homers off of A’s starter Joe Blanton, the team never was able to get anyone across home.

As far as the standings go, the win moves them to 21-19, they have won 8 of 10, and finally have started playing well at home, winning five of their last six on this homestand vs the Blue Jays and A’s.  They will look for the sweep tomorrow vs the A’s at 12:05pm as Aaron Laffey (1-2, 1.83) will look to continue the shutout streak as he takes on Greg Smith of the A’s, who is 2-2.

Interesting dinner conversation tonight in the Indians press dining room, as I had the pleasure of catching up with media pals Greg Brinda of WKNR and the always entertaining Bruce Drennen of “All Bets are Off” on SportsTime Ohio.  The topic turned to the Indians offense (or lack of), and the latest rumor mill that Bruce said was a topic on his show today, which was the rumor of the Indians having interest in Rockies 3B Garrett Atkins.

If you haven’t heard about it, Buster Olney of ESPN threw out the following on the possibility of the Indians taking a look at Atkins: If Colorado eventually turns the page on 2008, the Indians and the Rockies could match up well in a deal built around Garrett Atkins. The Rockies have a third baseman waiting in the wings, in Ian Stewart — although he is not faring well so far — and the Indians, as they look for ways to improve their offense, are flexible at first and third base.

Now if you don’t know much about Atkins, he’s a solid hitter (.335 with 7 homers and 26 RBI), and according to Drennen he’s more than serviceable at third.  The Indians need a stick, no doubt, and third base is a question mark for the future with Andy Marte not doing much of anything, and Casey Blake is playing well, but he’s not your 3B of the future.

Atkins is not going to come cheap, and two names that Bruce brought up in a possible deal would be pitcher Aaron Laffey and 2B Josh Barfield, who is playing OK in Buffalo.  Atkins last season had 25 homers, 111 RBI and hit .301.  Follow this one closely, and while the trade deadline is a long way off, there is no doubt that this is an interesting rumor that could gain more steam before it’s all said and done.

It was another outstanding night for the Indians pitching staff, led by starter Paul Byrd, who went 7.1 shutout innings as he picks up his second win of the season.  Byrd talked to the media after the game about his outing and about the great defense behind him tonight as the Indians moved to 20-19 with a 4-0 win.  Click below to hear Byrd’s comments.

The Indians have allowed just one run in their last 39 innings overall

Who needs an offense when the pitching staff is doing this?

The Indians starting pitching and staff as a whole continues to be the saviour of the team, as Tuesday night at Progressive Field Paul Byrd came through with 7.1 innings of shutout ball as the team topped the A’s 4-0 to move to 20-19.  Byrd continued a trend as Indians starters continue to dominate.  The starters have now allowed just one run in their last 39 innings.  A staggering stat to say the least.  Byrd moves to 2-3 with the win, allowing five hits, no walks, and striking out seven.

The offense continues to be in a shell, putting up just seven hits, but they did get some runs when they needed them, as Travis Hafner came though with a big two-out single to center to make it 1-0 in the first inning, and then with two outs in the 8th, Ryan Garko hit a three-run homer to add a little breathing room to make it 4-0.  Hafner and Asdrubal Cabrera each had two hits, while Grady Sizemore, Victor Martinez and Garko each had one.

The Indians pen also did a nice job to pick up Byrd, as Rafael Perez took over in the 8th and got one out, and Masa Kobayashi pitched an inning to close the door and earn the save.  The team is now 4-1 in this seven-game homestand, and overall have won 7 of their last 10 to start to put pressure on the Twins at the top of the AL Central.

Wednesday C.C. Sabathia (2-5, 6.55) who has struggled vs the A’s this season with two losses, takes on Joe Blanton (2-5, 3.82) at 7:05pm.

In one of his more peeved off moods, Indians skipper Eric Wedge spoke to the media Monday night following game two of the double header with the Jays.  The manger talks about the frustration at the plate, the wasted effort from Cliff Lee, and does not even give much credit to the team for the Asdrubal Cabrera triple play.  Worth listening.  Click below to hear the manager.

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.