Indians Confidential

For Jeremy Sowers as it’s been all season, it comes down to one inning. Wednesday night at Progressive Field, it was the 5th inning that did him in on a night when Jared Weaver was on his game, as the Indians fell to the LA Angels 3-0 for their second straight loss.

Sowers had allowed just two walks without allowing a hit in the first four innings, but it was that fifth inning that became his undoing. A walk, double, single, bunt single, sac to third, ground out to short and fly out resulted in three runs, and that was all the Angels would need.

The Indians again were soft at the plate, as they did have seven hits, but had three doubles, and for the 8th straight home game failed to go deep. They left seven men on base, and continued to not be able to come up with the big hit when they needed it. The top three hitters in the lineup, Grady Sizemore, Jamey Carroll and Asdrubal Cabrera went a combined 1 for 12.

Weaver went the distance to improve to 13-4, and came back nicely from a poor outing his last time out vs the Orioles. He walked just one and struck out three, and despite a hot night seemed to be cool and calm all night long in throwing 116 pitches to get the win.

The team is back to 17 games under .500 at 51-68, and they have lost this series losing the first two games. They will try to salvage the finale of the three-game set on Thursday as Justin Masterson goes for the Indians vs John Lackey at 7:05pm.

The opportunities were there Tuesday night for the Indians, but has been the case plenty of times for the 2009 season, the club let them slip through their fingers. The Tribe lost 5-4 to the Angels in the first of a three-game set, but it wasn’t due to a lack of chances.

The best shot came in the 7th, as the Indians were able to take a 5-3 game and make it 5-4 with the bases loaded with one out. Enter Travis Hafner, who despite having a decent comeback year has not been the same player the team thought they were getting when he got his monster deal last season.

Hafner, who had scrapped all night, hit a slow roller to second that ended up as a 4-6-3 double play. The play at first was close, but Hafner was out, and the Indians best threat of the night was over. The team went quietly in the 8th and 9th, and the team dropped to 51-67 on the season.

LA took a 3-1 lead off Fausto Carmona with a single run in the first and two in the second, then went up 5-1 with two more runs in the third. The Indians rallied to draw within 5-3 with two runs in the third, but then the only other run came in the 7th, but it should have been more.

Carmona was not very good, allowing five runs, three earned on 10 hits in 5 innings. He gave up four strikeouts and two walks as well. He falls to 2-8 on the season, and while the rest of this year will all be about getting him right for 2010 and beyond, it would be nice to see him more consistant.

The Indians did pound out 12 hits in the loss. Asdrubal Cabrera led the way, going 4-for-5 and he’s now hit in 12 straight games, a career-high. The two teams do it again Wednesday night at 7:05pm.

Um, who exactly are these guys?

Yes, the Indians are actually playing pretty good baseball for the last week, as Sunday vs the Mariners in the great Northwest wrapped up a three-game sweep with an impressive 12-3 win. Maybe if they would have played a little more like this in the first half when they fell 20 games under .500, these big wins wouldn’t mean as little as they do.

Sunday’s win was highlighted by a player that a lot of teams are talking about – Cliff Lee. If it’s not in trade rumors, Lee is still getting some highlights since he’s the best player the Indians have this season. He allowed two runs in the first, but then shut down the Mariners the rest of the way, allowing just six hits in seven innings, not walking a batter and striking out four to move to 7-9.

The Indians offense feasted on Seattle pitching all weekend long, outscoring them 31-5 in the three-game beating. They won games with scores of 9-0, 10-3 and now 12-3. Sunday they pounded out 16 more hits, and every player in the lineup minus Kelly Shoppach who walked twice, got a hit.

Grady Sizemore hit a homer and went 2-for-5 with two runs scored. Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin Soo-Choo, Jhonny Peralta, and Travis Hafner all had two hits. Ben Francisco had three hits in going 3-for-5 and raising his average to .243. Ryan Garko had one hit and is hitting .285.

The Indians had a good time all the way around in Seattle, and have won five of their last 6, their best stretch of the 2009 season. They will get a day off Monday before playing the Angels of Anahiem in a three-game set starting on Tuesday.

Today the Indians signed their 13^th round selection from the 2009 First Year Player Draft…Today the Indians signed RHP JEREMY JOHNSON out of Washington State University… They have now signed 18 of their 50 selections and 13 of their top 16 choices.

INF ASDRUBAL CABRERA will begin a 20-day rehab assignment at AA Akron tomorrow night when they take on AA Trenton…LHP AARON LAFFEY (4.0IP/65P) will make his 2^nd rehab start as well tomorrow night for Akron.

FOLLOW THE TWITTER: Get your official Cleveland Indians updates, breaking news and behind the scenes information on twitter… The official behind the scenes voice of the Cleveland Indians can be found at http://twitter.com/tribeinsider

MYSTERY BALL 2009: The 5th Annual Mystery Ball charity function will take place on Saturday June 27th vs. Cincinnati Reds… The Indians Wives Association will be selling 1,200 signed baseballs at $50 apiece of players, coaches and managers from the Indians roster & around Major League Baseball…Tickets will be sold at Gates A and C once gates open…A silent auction will take place during the game with items like a KERRY WOOD game used glove, VICTOR MARTINEZ catching mask & other great items …Proceeds will benefit the Providence House, Ohio’s first crisis nursery

PRONK PROGRESS: Since returning from the DL TRAVIS HAFNER is hitting .355 (11-31) w/2 2B 3HR & 9RBI in 11G (.710SLG/1.169ops) …He has hit in 7 straight games (9-20, 2HR, 8RBI) after yesterday’s pinch hit single in Chicago…His season total OPS of .996 would rank 5^h in the league if he had the required PA’s…

It’s no secret that Indians starter and last season Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee hasn’t gotten much run support in 2009. That stat once again reared its ugly head at Progressive Field Friday night, as the Indians win streak was snapped at four in a 3-1 loss to the New York Yankees.

Lee had to battle, but still managed to wait out a 1 hour 25 minute rain delay to throw six innings, allowing three earned runs on 9 hits. He walked two and struck out five, and threw 112 pitches. He admitted after the game that his control was off, and it was one of those nights where he simply had to try and grind it out.

On the other hand, it seems like when Lee gives up 2 or more runs, the game is a lost cause. The Indians have scored 29 runs in 10 games when Lee takes the mound total in 2009 (2.9 runs per game), and if you take away the 10-run effort in New York on the opening of Yankee Stadium, that stat would go down to 19 runs in 9 games, an anemic 2.1 runs per game average.

Friday night was much of the same for the Indians offense, as they didn’t do much against Yankee starter Andy Pettitte, who despite being older than dirt (okay, he’s really just 36, but seems much older), was able to hold the Tribe to just one run in 5+ innings before leaving with a stiff back. He got out of trouble a couple of times, and held the Indians to six hits, five walks, and one strikeout.

New York took a 2-0 lead off of Lee in the 2nd with a Derek Jeter RBI single and a Mark Teixeira ground out that scored a run. They added another run in the third when Nick Swisher hit a sac fly to deep center that scored Robinson Cano.

The Indians had their shots, as they loaded the bases in the third but on a 3-1 pitch Mark DeRosa hit a weak grounder to second to end the inning. They came back with the bases loaded in the 6th with no outs, and Kelly Shoppach struck out looking, Shin-Soo Choo hit a sac fly for a run, and Asdrubal Cabrera grounded out to end the frame.

Overall the Indians left 11 runners on base.

The team falls to 21-29 on the season, and Saturday night will take on old friend C.C. Sabathia (4-3, 3.42) at 7:05pm, as Fausto Carmona (2-4, 6.42) goes for the Indians.

Coming off Monday’s improbable 11-10 win over the Rays, it would have been hard to outdo that on Tuesday night. Thanks to starter Carl Pavano, the Indians didn’t have to. Pavano was on his game, throwing 7 solid innings, and the offense hit four homers as the Tribe cruised to their 15th straight home win over the Rays, winning 5-1.

Pavano was the story. He’s now won five games in May, and his fastball was solid, keeping the Rays off target pretty much all night. He is 5-1 with a 3.58 ERA and only seven walks against 30 strikeouts since May 1st, when he got his first win of the season in Detroit.

The offense gave him all the help he would need against Rays starter Matt Garza early. Ryan Garko’s homer swing was in effect again, as he hit a solo shot in the 2nd to quickly make it 1-0. Asdrubal Cabrera hit a solo homer in the 3rd to make it 2-0, and then in the 6th, Mark DeRosa slammed a two-run shot to give the team a commanding 4-0 lead.

Carols Pena made it 4-1 with a solo homer off Pavano in the 7th, but then in the bottom of the inning Kelly Shoppach wrapped up the scoring with a solo homer to make it 5-1. The Indians only had 6 hits all night, but considering four were homers, that is all that really matters.

The team has won 5 of their last 7, and a win Wednesday secures the series win over the Rays. They are now 19-28, and drop the Rays to 23-25. They are still 7.5 out in the AL Central, but now at least seem to have some momentum, and we’ll see if Wednesday’s starter – Zach Jackson, can keep it going.

For at least one night, the moves the Indians trying to fix the pitching woes actually worked. Carl Pavano pitched six pretty good innings, and Aaron Laffey coming out of the pen threw three solid innings without allowing the Red Sox back in the game at the Indians beat the Red Sox in Fenway 9-2.

The Tribe made a couple of moves on Wednesday trying to do whatever they can to help a bullpen that seems to give up leads as easy as any team in baseball history. They dumped Rafael Perez to Columbus (finally), and moved Laffey to the pen and called up Jeremy Sowers to start tomorrow night in the road trip finale.

It was so important for the club to rebound after the nightmare in Toronto on Tuesday, and they did an excellent job of doing just that. The offense again played well, getting some big hits, putting up 9 runs and 13 hits. Mark DeRosa and Victor Martinez each homered, and four players each had three hits.

The offense on this road trip finally seems to be coming around. Asdrubal Cabrera, who had three hits, is now hitting .333. David Dellucci is hitting .412, and Victor is still hitting well, going 3-for-5 with four RBI and is hitting .398.

Pavano allowed two runs on six hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out four, and seems to finally be settling in as the pitcher that the Indians thought they were getting after a pretty solid spring. Laffey allowed two hits and didn’t walk a batter. He struck out one, and got a double play ball to end the game and earn his first Major League save.

The team can actually go 4-3 on this 7-game road trip with a win Thursday night. They are now 11-17 on the season, and maybe if they can just stop the bleeding from a bullpen that has been beat up all season, they can finally start playing more consistant.

Thursday Sowers will go for the Tribe against Tim Wakefield, who shut down the Indians last week at Progressive Field.