Indians Confidential

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.

The Indians take it – the Indians give it away. The nice thing about this first game in Toronto, they at the end of the night were able to take it once and for all. And get a win out of it.

They were down to one strike before a loss in the 9th, only to then be saved by a huge hit by Asdrubal Cabrera, followed by hits by Victor Martinez and Shin-Soo Choo to give them a 6-4 lead entering the bottom of the inning. Enter Kerry Wood.

The Indians closer was able to get to two outs with runners one, and then with the game on the line, Jose Bautista was able to tie the game up with a two-run single that made it 6-6. Despair once again.

The nice thing though is on this night the bullpen (other than Wood) was able to do what they get paid to do – get outs when they need them. Rafael Betancourt pitched two scoreless extra innings, then after the team was able to pound out three runs in the 12th, Rafael Perez of course gave up a run, but then Jensen Lewis came in and got the final three outs to earn the save.

The 9-6 win came about with that three-run 12th that included a single by Josh Barfield that scored Mark DeRosa, and then Grady Sizemore doubled to right, scoring Barfield and Lusi Valbuena to give them the lead that would end up finally holding up.

Betancourt got the win to move to 1-1, and Lewis got his first save of the season. The game also featured Matt LaPorta’s first Major League homer, and the team pounded out 15 hits total. Brain Tallet, a former Indian, no-hit the Tribe for the first 6 innings until the team got to him with LaPorta tying the game at two with his first homer, and then the team scratched out another run to take a lead.

The win improves to 10-16 on the season, dropping the Blue Jays to 18-10. The team will play a 12:37pm game Tuesday before heading to Boston for three games to wrap up the road trip.

Ah yes, nothing like a nice 4 hour 19 minute 9 inning game in 40 degree temps to make really appreciate the game of baseball. Okay, I’m kidding. Tuesday night was like going in to get a broken tooth fixed. There was not much good to talk about in the Indians 9-8 win over the Red Sox till the very bitter end, when Javier Lopez (no, not the guy who use to catch for the Braves, the Boston relief pitcher), dropped a routine ball that allowed the winning run to score to send the Tribe home a winner.

The game was anything but pretty till that point. Tribe starter Anthony Reyes and Red Sox starter Brad Penny made the first three innings seem more like batting practice. Add to that a Red Sox defense that threw the ball around enough to end the night with three errors, and you had yourself a 7-7 tie after three innings that officially ended a few minutes after 9pm. Yes, this was a 7pm start by the way.

Reyes was awful. He couldn’t control anything, and the Red Sox offense made him pay dearly. He lasted just two innings, allowing 7 earned runs on 9 hits with a walk and a strikeout. The Indians would have to go to a bullpen for the rest of the night, and up until this night that usually spelled bad news.

Not so, as the combo of Vinnie Chulk, Rafael Perez, Joe Smith, Tony Sipp and Kerry Wood allowed the Sox just one run on 5 hits with five walks and 5 strikeouts over the last 7 at-bats. The run came off of (who else?), Joe Smith in the 7th, but the Indians got it right back in the bottom of the inning when Mark DeRosa homered to tie the game at 8.

Wood, who was the goat Monday night, again got himself into a 9th inning jam, with runners on first and third with one out, but threw three heaters past Nick Green, and got Jacob Ellsbury to hit a soft liner to second to end the frame and get the Indians to the plate in a tie game.

The winning rally came about when DeRosa singled to start the frame, went to second on a sac bunt, and then after Grady Sizemore struck out, Asdrubal Cabrera hit a sharp groundball to Kevin Youkilis who snared it, and then underhand tossed it to Lopez, who played it like a hot potato and dropped it. DeRosa scored, and the Tribe secured it’s 8th win against 14 losses this season.

The offensive heros included DeRosa, who was 4-for-5 with a RBI, Ben Francisco who was 2-for-4 with three RBI, and Cabrera, who went 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. Wood got the win to move to 1-1 on the season, both decisions coming the last two nights.

So Wednesday it’s game three vs Boston, and the finale of the homestand. A win and they wrap up the 9-game spread at 5-4, which is okay, but they still have aways to go to get back in the AL Central hunt. For now, a win is a win, and for a team that had scored just 7 runs in four games entering Tuesday night – they will take what they can get.

As the bottom of the 8th closed in, it sure did appear that the Indians were headed for yet another early season setback. They trailed 2-1, hadn’t hit the ball much at all off of Royals starter Gil Meche, and the midday crowd at Progressive Field seemed more than ready to head home before rush hour hit downtown Cleveland.

Enter Grady Sizemore.

It was the best player on the Indians roster who finally gave the team a spark, coming through with a monster three-run homerun off of Royals reliever Ron Mahay that put the Tribe ahead for good in their eventual 5-2 win. The homer was the 6th of the season for Sizemore, tying him for the team lead.

The Indians had tied the game earlier in the inning after an error allowed Asdrubal Cabrera to score to make it 2-2. The team had finally gotten something going against Meche and company, and then after Trey Hillman pulled Meche, Grady provided all the offense the team would need to get their 6th win against 10 losses.

Another positive was the pitching of Jensen Lewis, who pitched two scoreless innings to earn his second win of the season. He talked postgame about turning the corner, and overcoming what was a tough week last week when he was beat up a bit by the Yankees in their four-game series. The bullpen needs all the help it can get, and Lewis’ outing was a great sign.

Then there is Kerry Wood, who earned his third save, and again was overpowering, striking out two Royals batters and then getting a weak roller to the mound to end the game. It was good to see after he allowed a two-run homer to make it a close game on Tuesday night.

Eric Wedge also talked postgame about the importance of winning a series, the first of the season with the win. Now they can get set for a three-game series with the Twins starting on Friday. Then it’s three vs the Red Sox, Monday through Wednesday.

Let’s hope that this comeback is a sign of things to come, as the team is playing better ball, and needs to keep getting better to get back in the AL Central race.

In a season that has seen the Indians win just 55 games, the one shining light continues to come out every five days, and his name is Cliff Lee.  Friday night vs the best team in baseball record wise, Lee was on his game, again, going the distance as the Indians topped the Angels 3-2 at Progressive Field.  The numbers on the now 17-2 Lee are amazing.  His 17 wins leads the American League, and ties him with Brandon Webb of the D’Backs for most wins in the Majors.  It also was his third complete game of the season.  He allowed two earned runs on 8 hits, walking two and striking out eight.  He also got the help of the defense behind him, as there were four double plays, and an amazing play by Asdrubal Cabrera to save a hit.

Lee was good enough, and while the offense scrapped for a couple of innings, they finally got to Angels starter Jeff Weaver in the sixth, enough for manager Mike Scioscia to pull him and put in Jose Arredondo, who allowed a hit and three walks, one of which was Cabrera’s with the bases loaded that gave the Indians the lead for good.  On the night the Indians only managed eight hits themselves, but walked five times and showed patience at the plate to allow the Angels pitchers, who are usually dead on, to hang themselves.

Jhonny Peralta smacked a double in the 4th off of Weaver that tied the game at one.  Peralta was thrown out at second on the play, but nevertheless got the RBI and was 2-for-4 on the night and is now hitting .278 on the season.  Juan Rivera hit a solo homer off of Lee in the 5th to give the Angels a 2-1 lead.  It was the last mistake that Lee would make on the night, and the defense and offense backed him up and got the run back with another in the 6th to win the game.

Ryan Garko singled home the tying run off of Arredondo to make it 2-2 in the 6th.  With the bases loaded, Cabrera watched as Arredondo threw four balls that allowed the game winning run to score.  The Indians improve to 55-66 on the year, and have won 7 of their last 10.  The Angels drop to 75-45.  Tomorrow at 3:55pm it’s Fausto Carmona (5-4, 4.91) for the Indians vs John Lackey (9-2, 3.15) with the game nationally televised on FOX.