Indians Confidential

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.

It seems like forever a go that the Indians had won five straight games. The locker room at the time was full of players that were ready to make a run at a title, like C.C. Sabathia, Paul Byrd, Casey Blake, and players like Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner  were healthy. In other words – it was a time when the Indians felt they had a shot in the AL Central. Fast forward to August 12th. The team has moved the first three players on the list, while the other two are on the DL. Nevertheless, this Indians squad now simply playing out the season is at least showing some signs of life.

Tuesday night against the equally as bad Baltimore Orioles, and just about three hours after moving Byrd to the Red Sox, the Indians built an early 4-2 lead and led at one point 5-2, but like Monday night saw the game slip away only to then regain the lead late for a 7-5 win. The team gave up the 5-2 lead by allowing the O’s a single run in the 5th and two more in the 7th to tie the game at 4. The Tribe offense continued to stay hot, as they scored twice in the bottom of the 8th to seal the deal.

Shin-Soo Choo was hit by a pitch, then Andy Marte bunted Choo to second. Asdrubal Cabrera stayed hot, hitting a single to center that scored Choo with the winning run to make it 6-5. Two batters later the team added an extra run when Ben Francisco singled to left that scored Cabrera to make it 7-5. Jensen Lewis pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn the save and send the Indians to their second straight over the birds.

Jeremy Sowers went for the Indians to start the game, and was good after a shakey first that saw him allow two runs. He lasted 6.1, allowing four runs on six hits. His fastball seemed to have pretty good movement, and he continues to make progress in his development in trying to make sure he’ll be a part of the starting rotation in 2009. The bullpen of dispair saw Masa Kobayashi not retire a batter and allow a run on two hits.

Rafael Perez, who is the best of the pen’s bunch right now, went 1.2 scoreless innings, and picked up the win to improve to 2-2. Lewis’ 9th inning gave him his second save of the season. It’s the second night in a row the team threw him out in the 9th, and the second time he was able to come through with a good outing. The Indians will continue their series with the Orioles tonight. Anthony Reyes, who’s 3-and-1 with a 3.86 ERA, will start for the Indians. The Orioles will send out Jeremy Guthrie, who’s 9-and-8 with a 3.26 ERA. First pitch at Progressive Field is set for 7:05 p.m.

It’s been over 400 days that the Indians had tangled with the Baltimore Orioles, but for the Tribe, the hot streak continues no matter who they play.  Monday night on a beautiful night for baseball at Progressive Field, the Indians offense jumped on O’s starter Dennis Sarfate for four runs in the first, and in the end held on for an 11-8 win to push their winning streak to four straight.

The game was not as easy as it looked, as the team went up 5-0 after two, but then had to rally after they found themselves down 8-7 heading into the bottom of the 7th.  From there, the offense that had so many issues in the beginning of the year, rallied for one of the few times this season.  They put up a three-spot in the bottom of the 7th with some heads up baserunning, then added another three runs in the 8th on a pair of homers, one from Ben Francisco and another from Andy Gonzalez to secure the win.

Fausto Carmona did his best to try and hold the lead, but just couldn’t do it.  He lasted 6.1 innings, allowing 7 runs on six hits.  He walked four, struck out four, and gave up a homer.  Edward Mujica, who I wish they would finally give up on, pitched 0.2, and allowed the run that put the O’s up for a bit to make it 8-7.  Brendan Donnelly did a nice job in the 8th not allowing a run while walking one and K’ing one.  In the 9th it was Jensen Lewis closing the door.

Four players in the lineup had two hits, Francisco, Johnny Peralta, Asdrubal Cabrera and Ryan Garko paced the offense that pounded out 13 hits and 13 runs.  Four Orioles pitchers were no match for a hot Indians offense that has scored 33 runs in their last five games.  Cabrera also added a homer for the Indians.  The Indians improve to 53-64 on the season, dropping the O’s to 56-61.

The two teams will play game two of the four game set on Tuesday night at Progressive Field.  Jeremy Sowers (1-6, 5.70) will go for the Indians vs Garrett Olson (8-6, 6.06) at 7:05 p.m.

Paul Byrd continues to be a bright spot in a season gone wrong for the Indians, as Saturday he threw a six-hitter vs the Blue Jays in the Indians 4-2 win at the Rogers Centre.  “I had a really good curveball today,” Byrd said. “I used it to left-handers a lot. I got a strikeout on it, a number of outs on it. I got some first-pitch strikes on my curveball, I thought that was key. It’s probably not in the scouting report for them over there.”  It was the 4th straight win for Byrd, who had at one point lost five straight from June 11th to July 4th.

He moves to 7-10 on the season, it was his first complete game since a 7-0 win last season vs the White Sox on September 1st.  He allowed two runs and six hits, walked none and struck out two. He threw 93 pitches, 67 for strikes.  He set down 12 straight batters and 21 of 22 overall when Lyle Overbay hit a two-out single in the ninth. Overbay was thrown out by left-fielder Ben Francisco to end the game as he tried to stretch the hit into a double.

The Indians offense did a nice job getting Byrd the win, as they scored three runs in the 6th inning to turn a 2-1 deficit to a 4-2 lead.  Jhonny Peralta led off with a single and Choo followed with a grounder to short that left runners at first and second after John McDonald threw high to Inglett as he tried for the force. Francisco bunted to advance the runners before Garko and Andy Marte hit run-scoring singles.  Asdrubal Cabrera walked and Garko was forced out at the plate on Grady Sizemore’s fielder’s choice before David Delluci drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk.

The Tribe has owned the Jays this year, as they are 5-1 against them, and have outscored them 30-8 in the six games.  Sunday they look for the sweep as 15-2 Cliff Lee goes for the Indians vs Scott Richmond (0-1, 4.91) for the Jays, making his 3rd career start.