Indians Confidential

The Indians offense, which it seemed had been making big strides in their recent six-game homestand, has gone backwards in the thin air the last two nights in Colorado. After scoring two runs on Tuesday night in a 10-2 loss, the offense was held in check again, this time by Jeff Francis and three Rockies relief pitchers in a 4-2 loss. The team has dropped three of their last four.

Cleveland wasted a pretty good pitching outing from Aaron Laffey, who allowed eight hits and three runs in six innings. He falls to 4-4 on the season, it’s his first loss since May 22nd, and just his second loss since April 28th. Laffey continues to be a guy that has taken advantage of his chances, but on this night, the offense gave him little to no support.

Jeff Baker also continues to be a thorn in the Indians side, as one night after an inside-the-park homer vs Paul Byrd, Baker hit a more normal homer vs Laffey, and also doubled in a run. Omar Quintanilla also beat up the Tribe, going 2-for-3 with two RBI. Jeff Francis, who was 3-5 entering the game, held the Indians bats down, going into the 7th inning, allowing just one earned run keeping them off balance with curve balls and fastballs.

The offense could have won this game, as the team put up three base runners in each of the 6th and 7th innings, but were only able to push across their only two runs of the night. Casey Blake was the only Indian with two hits on the night, going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Jamey Carroll doubled in a run and Shin-Soo Choo hit a sac fly for the teams other RBI.

It’s not a good time for the team to be back in a slump, as the Tigers, Twins and White Sox all have won two in a row, and don’t look now, but even the Royals have won four straight. The loss puts Cleveland at 33-39, back into fourth in the division, one back of the Tigers, three back of the Twins, and 7.5 back of the front running White Sox.

The Indians will conclude their series with the Rockies tonight. Jeremy Sowers, who’s 0-and-1 with a 7.23 ERA will start for the Indians. The Rockies will send out Glendon Rusch, who’s 1-and-3 with a 7.03 ERA. First pitch at Coors Field is set for 9:05 p.m.

If there is one thing that the Indians can take some pride in so far in 2008 - the Tigers are worse than they are.  That fact was proven once again on Friday night at Comerica Park, as the Indians used a three-run fourth and a solid pitching outing from Paul Byrd to top the Tigers 4-2 in the first of a four-game set.  Byrd went seven innings, allowing two runs on just four hits.  He didn’t allow a walk and struck out two.  He made two mistakes, allowing two solo homers, but otherwise had maybe his best outing of 2008.

The offense was paced by Casey Blake and Franklin Gutierrez.  Blake hit a key one-out double in the 4th off of losing pitcher Justin Verlander that scored two to give the Tribe a 2-0 lead.  Gutierrez then came up with a single to left that scored David Dellucci to make it 3-0, enough for the Indians and Byrd.  With the team leading 3-2 in the 8th, Ryan Garko hit a big homer to deep left off reliever Denny Bautista to make it 4-2.

Masa Kobayashi came in and pitched the 8th without allowing any damage, and then Joe Borowski pitched the ninth, allowing one hit, but striking out one and earning his 5th save of the season.  Byrd with the win improves to 3-5 on the season, and drops his ERA to 4.46.

The Tribe improves to 28-33 on the season, dropping the Tigers to 24-36, losers of four straight.  Aaron Laffey (3-3, 3.02) goes tomorrow for the Indians at 3:55pm vs Kenny Rogers (4-4, 5.54).

All season long Indians players and the coaching staff had promised that the offense would start to come around. Even after the team slumped through May, players seemed sure that they would break out and have a big June at the plate. While it’s only been four games, maybe, just maybe, the team was right. Positive signs were everywhere Wednesday night in Arlington, as the Indians trounced the Rangers 15-9 behind a tied season high 17 hits.

High winds and temps in the 90’s made it for a hitters night, as the Indians scored in bunches, putting up innings of 4, 2, 5 and 4 runs. They slammed Texas relief pitcher Elizardo Ramirez to the tune of 9 runs in 2.2 innings. They broke the game open tied 6-6 in the 6th when they put up a 5-spot, then came back in the 7th and added four more to put the game away.

The big night on offense belonged specifically to two players - Ben Francisco, who was 5-for-6 with three runs scored and a RBI, and Ryan Garko, hitting in the four-hole and going 4-for-5 with two runs scored and a career-high 6 RBI. David Dellucci added a three-run homer and Casey Blake was 2-for-5 with a run scored and a RBI.

On the mound Cliff Lee was good enough helped out by the offense to notch his 9th win against just one loss. Lee saw his ERA plump to 2.45 after allowing six runs on nine hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out 8. Rafael Betancourt, Masa Kobayashi and just called up Rick Bauer also pitched in relief of Lee, and the three combined to allow three runs on four hits, all three runs were allowed by Bauer.

The win puts the Indians at 27-32 on the season, still 5.5 back of the Sox in the Central. They have a great shot to head to Detroit on a high note tonight, as C.C. Sabathia (3-7, 4.32) goes for the Tribe against old friend Kevin Millwood, who is 3-3 with a 4.50 ERA. First pitch at 8:05pm.

Every once in awhile, the Indians offense teases fans with signs of just how good they could be. Monday night seemed to be one of those nights, as the team hit four homers and scored double digit runs for the first time in over three weeks in a 13-9 win over the Rangers in Arlington, Texas. The big bomber was Casey Blake, who hit two of the four Indians homers and ended the night with seven RBI.

David Dellucci and Ben Francisco also homered, Francisco’s two-run blast snapped an 8-all tie in the 7th and the sailed from there. Blake hit a pair of early two-run homers, and ended the night 3-for-5. The offense, usually known for numbers like one run on four hits, put up 13 runs on 16 hits. If only they could have these types of nights on a consistent basis.

Masa Kobayashi got the win in relief for the Indians, as Aaron Laffey was nowhere near as good as he was in previous starts. Laffey went 5 innings, allowing 8 runs on 11 hits, walking two and striking out two. He let the Rangers back in it with two homers, the big blast a grand slam to Marlon Byrd that tied the game at eight in the 5th. Kobayashi went 1.2 innings, allowing one run on one hit with 3 K’s to improve to 3-2.

The team moves to 26-31, 4.5 back of the White Sox in the Central. Tonight with Jake Westbrook back in Cleveland with a sore elbow, the team has not announced a starter, while the Rangers have A.J. Murray (1-0, 3.38 ERA) starting at 8:05pm.

The Indians road trip got off to a good start Friday night, as after falling behind 4-1 in the 4th inning, the team rallied for four runs between the 5th and the 6th innings to walk away with a 5-4 win.  What may have been even more impressive than the comeback on offense was the way the bullpen responded, as they pitched three scoreless innings in relief of Cliff Lee to notch the teams 25th win against 29 losses.

The offense was sparked by Grady Sizemore, who led the game off with a homer, and then hit another in the 5th to put the Indians back within striking distance.  He was 2-for-4 with two homers and three RBI.  Jhonny Peralta was 2-for-3 with a run scored and a walk.  The team had eight hits, three homers, and six total extra base hits.

Casey Blake’s 6th inning homer that scored he and Peralta was the difference, as his 4th homer of the season off of Brett Tomko ended up being the difference.  Rafael Betancourt, two days after a postgame tounge lashing from Eric Wedge about throwing more inside, pitched a scoreless two outs in the sixth.  Rafael Perez pitched 1.1 innings, allowing one hit and striking out one, and Joe Borowski gave up a double in the 9th, but got out of it for his 4th save.

Lee was okay at best, but good enough to notch his 8th win against one loss.  He went six innings, allowing four runs on 10 hits.  He walked one and struck out three.  His ERA sits at 1.88.  He allowed a pair of runs in each of the 2nd and 4th innings, but was good enough otherwise to get the win and then turn it over to the pen.

Saturday is game two of the series as C.C. Sabathia will take the mound for the Indians vs Kyle Davies at 7:10pm.

In a matter of four days, the Indians have gone from the cat-bird seat in the AL Central to looking up from third place.  Yes, that’s what no offense can do for you.  It was that lack of offense on display yet again on Tuesday night in Chicago, as the team failed to plate more than just one run, as they fell to the red-hot White Sox 4-1.  C.C. Sabathia did what he could to keep the Sox in check, but allowing just two runs for this offense was one too much.

The team was held in check by Sox starter Jose Contreras, who went six innings, allowing one run on four hits.  Four Sox relievers closed out the night, not allowing an Indians base runner over the last three innings, striking out two.  Sabathia can’t be to blame for the loss, allowing a pair of solo homers, one to Carlos Quentin and anothe to Jim Thome.  Sabathia falls to 3-6 on the season, his ERA sits at 5.14.

The offense managed a weak four hits, the only run coming in the 3rd when Grady Sizemore grounded out to first that scored Casey Blake.  Other than that, it was like hitting the snooze button each time the team came to the plate.  The 2-3-4 hitters, Ben Francisco, Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez combined to go 0-for-12 with three strikeouts.  Not that the rest of the order did all that much better.

The team now falls to 22-23, losers of four straight, their longest losing streak of the season.  They now sit in third in the Central, 2.5 back of the Sox, who have won six in a row.  They will look to stop the bleeding on Wednesday night at 8:11pm, as Paul Byrd goes up against Javier Vazquez.

In their first interleague game of 2008, the Indians offense went back to sleep walking, having one big inning with fireworks, but otherwise taking the night off in a 4-3 loss to the Reds.  Falling behind early 3-0, the Tribe rallied behind three solo homers in the 6th, as Casey Blake, Travis Hafner and Jhonny Peralta all went deep to tie the game at three.

The offense managed two hits after that, but could not put a run across, as the Reds put together a rally of their own to put across the winning run vs Jensen Lewis in the 8th.  Brandon Phillips drew a walk with one out, Joey Votto smacked a double to left that put runners on second and third. Edwin Encarnacion drew a walk to load the bases and then Adam Dunn drew yet another walk to win the game.  Lewis did get out of the inning, but the walks haunted him and the Tribe was not able to generate any offense whatsoever.

Jeremy Sowers started for the Tribe, getting the call up earlier in the day.  He was not as effective as his prior start, going five innings, allowing three runs at five hits.  He gave up two homers (Phillips and Dunn), and walked two and struck out two.  The three relievers used were good minus Lewis, as Jorge Julio and Rafael Perez went 2.1 innings, not allowing a base runner and striking out four.

The offense struck out 12 times, left seven men on base, and the top four in the lineup went a combined 1-for-14 with four strikeouts and six men left on base.  It was not the best of nights at the plate to say the least.  On the positive side it was good to see Hafner hit his first homer since April 17th vs the Tigers.  The team falls to 22-20 on the season, the Reds improve to 19-23.  Saturday in game two of the three game set it’s Fausto Carmona for the Indians vs Aaron Harang at 3:55pm.