Indians Confidential

Keeping up the momentum of their 6-run 7th inning last night, the Indians offense came out with a bang on Saturday night, as they again scored six runs, this time in the first inning, topping the Blue Jays 12-0 at Progressive Field. Grady Sizemore, who was honored with Grady Sizemore Fleece Blanket night, started the fireworks fast with a homer to start the game for the Tribe. He then put the icing on the cake with a three-run homer in the 5th that made it 12-0.

Sizemore ended the night 3-for-4, two homers, three runs scored, and five RBI. He is now hitting .285 on the season. Aaron Laffey continued to impress as a starter at the Major League level, going seven shutout innings, allowing six hits, walking one and striking out two. Laffey now has an ERA of 1.83 in three starts, and in those starts has allowed a combined four earned runs on 13 hits in 19.2 innings. It will be tough at this point to remove him from the rotation.

The rest of the offense feasted off of Blue Jays starter Dustin McGowan. Victor Martinez continued the big first inning with a single that scored Jamey Carroll. Ben Francisco hit a sac fly to score another run, and Asdrubal Cabrera and Casey Blake added singles that scored runs to put up the six runs in the first. The Sizemore show continued with a RBI double in the 4th, and Martinez singled in Blake and Sizemore to make it 9-0. Victor was 2-for-4 with 3 RBI.

Both the pitching and hitting has been on target for the first two games of this four-game set. In all, the pitching has allowed just one run in the first two games, while the hitting has scored 18 runs on 20 hits. It is the best two-game stretch the team has had across the board in the first 36 games of the season, as they now sit at .500 at 18-18.

Sunday with rain expected most of the day, the team will hopefully be able to take the field with Fausto Carmona (3-1, 2.95) going up against A.J. Burnett (3-3, 5.19) with a scheduled first pitch at 1:05pm.

In a season not filled with many memorable innings, or big innings for that matter, the Indians finally put one together Friday night, as a 6-run 7th paved the way for a 6-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at Progressive Field. That seventh inning saw things we have not seen much of this season - big hits with runners on base, some patience at the plate with walks, and sac flies when we needed them. All in all, six runs on four hits. It’s the kind of inning the team has waited for most of the first month and a half of the season.

The big hit of the inning came from Casey Blake, who started the run fest with a double that scored a pair of runs to make it 2-1. Then pinch-hitter Ben Francisco hit a clutch double to deep left that scored two more runs to make it 4-1. A wild pitch then scored Franklin Gutierrez to make it 5-1, and a sac fly by Jhonny Peralta bought in the the run of the frame to end the inning. For once, the offense was fun to watch.

On the pitching side, C.C. Sabathia had great stuff in putting the Jays down most of the night, allowing just one run on six hits in 7 innings. He walked two and struck out nine in improving to 2-5 on the season. Sabathia was 0-4 at home heading into Friday night, but finally found his stride by staying ahead of hitters all night and not getting into jams like his other home starts. He improves to 7-3 lifetime vs the Blue Jays.

It was a good way to kick off an important homestand, as the team looks to finally get over that hump and jump over the .500 mark. At now 17-18, the first step is to get to .500, and they can do that Saturday night again at home vs Toronto. Aaron Laffey (0-2, 2.84) goes for the Indians vs Dustin McGowan (2-2, 2.95) at 7:05pm.

Instead of the Indians taking advantage of a beautiful Sunday afternoon beating on a pitcher they have had great success against over the years, they allowed struggling Royals starter Gil Meche to dominate them over 7 innings as they were shutout for the second straight Sunday, this time 2-0 at Progresive Field.  It’s the end of another sad homestand in which the Indians looked as if they were going to turn their season around after two straight wins over the Yankees to start the 10-game in 10-day affair.  Instead, they lost 5 of their last 7 of the homestand (with one rain out Friday) to head on the road going 4-5 after the longest home stretch of the year.

Once again, spot starter Aaron Laffey did a nice job, giving the team a good chance at ending the day on a happy note.  He went 7 innings, allowing just one run, it was unearned, on four hits.  He walked two and struck out five.  In two outings vs the Yankees and Royals, Laffey has an ERA of 2.84.  He was good, but Meche was better, handcuffing the Indians with ground ball outs and pop outs.  The top three hitters in the order (Sizemore, Gutierrez and Dellucci) went 1-for-10, while the rest of the order didn’t fare much better, going 3-for-20.

The Royals scored when Casey Blake tried an off balance throw to second for a force out with a runner on third in the fifth that sailed over Asdrubal Cabrear’s head into right field to make it 1-0.  That run held up till the 9th when Rafael Betancourt gave up a solo homer to Royals DH Miguel Olivo that gave KC some breathing room to make it 2-0.  It was just last Sunday when Yankees pitcher Chein-Ming Wang shutout the Indians and C.C. Sabathia 1-0.  Today was more frustrating considering it came vs a pitcher in Meche they were 7-2 against.  Today they were no match for him, much like the offense that has been overmatched it seems like much of the season.

More changes will be made, that can be a for sure.  The Tribe has been shutout three times in 31 games, has been held to four hits or less four times, five hits or less seven times, and were held to four hits in consecutive games by the Royals, who came to Cleveland having lost 7 of their last 10 games.  Just like it’s been all season, the Indians offense is just what a pitcher needs to get healthy in a hurry.

The Indians are off Monday, then travel to New York to play the Yankees starting on Tuesday for three days.  Tuesday Fausto Carmona (3-1, 2.60) goes against Andy Pettitte (3-3, 3.93) at 7:05pm.

The Cleveland Indians were waiting for C.C. Sabathia to look like a Cy Young winner, and his latest start was an encouraging sign he’s headed in the right direction.

Their offense may be doing the same.

Coming off their highest offensive output in nearly a year, the Indians will look to keep rolling on Wednesday when they play the middle game of a three-game series with the slumping Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

Cleveland (8-12) has been getting good pitching lately after struggling through the first 15 games of the season. The Indians have allowed only seven runs in their last five games, and finally got Sabathia - who had started 0-3 - a victory on Tuesday, when he pitched six scoreless innings against the Royals (9-11).

But Cleveland’s offense hadn’t been delivering. The Indians had scored four runs or fewer in 13 of their first 19 games, and scored only once in their last two games.

Their first game against Kansas City, however, was a different story. Cleveland scored 15 runs on 17 hits - both season highs - and got a big night from the bottom of its order on the way to a 15-1 victory, its highest run total since scoring 15 on May 15 against Minnesota.

“Individually and collectively, everyone needed a night like this,” said third baseman Casey Blake. “It does wonders for your confidence.”

Blake - the Indians’ No. 8 hitter - came into Tuesday hitting just .179, but had four hits, including a grand slam, and six RBIs. Right fielder Franklin Gutierrez, meanwhile, was batting .203 coming in, but had three hits and three RBIs from the ninth spot.

Fausto Carmona (2-1, 1.96 ERA) will get the ball on Wednesday looking to build off his most effective start of the season. Carmona, who like Sabathia won 19 games last season, wasn’t allowing many runs early in 2008, but he was struggling with his control.

The 24-year-old right-hander walked a major-league leading 17 batters in his first three outings, but allowed just one free pass on Thursday, pitching 6 2-3 innings in an 11-1 win over Detroit.

“I learn something from every start, whether it’s good or bad,” said Carmona, who was 3-0 with a 2.38 ERA last season against Kansas City. “My arm was getting out in front of my body and I worked hard in the bullpen to adjust.”

The Royals have dropped five straight games, and after their young pitching staff performed impressively early on, some rough starts and a punchless offense have led to their current losing streak.

Kansas City has scored only 64 runs through 20 games, 12 runs fewer than any other AL team.

One positive sign for the Royals on Tuesday was getting leadoff hitter David DeJesus back at the top of the lineup. The center fielder has been bothered by a sprained ankle and a jammed toe that have limited him to only five starts since opening day, and he’s hit safely in each.

“It’d be nice to have him as a mainstay in the lineup,” manager Trey Hillman told the team’s official Web site.

The Royals will hope Brett Tomko (1-2, 3.60) can give them a quality start after they’ve allowed 46 runs in their past five losses. Tomko yielded only two runs in 11.0 innings in his first two starts, but gave up five in seven innings in a 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.

Tomko has made three starts in his career against Cleveland, but only one since 1999. He’s 1-1 with a 3.92 ERA in those appearances.

Third baseman Alex Gordon, who leads Kansas City with three homers and has a team-high tying nine RBIs, is 7-for-14 lifetime against Carmona.

Looks like the slump of C.C. Sabathia is finally over. Maybe just as important is the fact that the Indians offense on Tuesday night finally showed signs of life, as the team played its best game of the season, a 15-1 trouncing of the KC Royals in Kansas City. The output by the offense was by far the best this season, as they were coming in after scoring just five runs in three games in Minnesota in losing two of three over the weekend.

Casey Blake was the spark plug all night on offense, going 4-for-4 with a grand slam, two doubles a single and six RBI. He had a shot at the cycle late, but after hitting a ball down the line settled for a double instead of trying to go for a triple. The bats also saw David Dellucci, Jhonny Peralta and Franklin Gutierrez also homer in the 17-hit parade.

On to Sabathia, who finally found his control. He went six innings, allowed only four hits, and struck out 11, looking more like the Cy Young award winner from a season ago. He did walk two, but never seemed to get to that point of losing control, which is not something you can say for his previous two starts against the A’s and Tigers.

The Indians will look to win the series in game two tonight, if they do so it will be their first series win since the opening series of the year vs the White Sox. Fausto Carmona goes for the Indians at 8:10pm.

Indians third baseman Casey Blake spoke to me and others in the media postgame on Wednesday about the latest Indians setback to the Tigers, as well as the issues currently facing the offense, C.C. Sabathia, and the problems the Indians are facing right now trying to get on track. Click below to hear this latest interview with Casey Blake.

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Indians third basemen Casey Blake talks to me following tonight’s 7-3 loss to the A’s. Among the topics are the A’s staff, the woes on offense, and if it’s even close to the time to start hitting the panic button. Click below to hear the interview.

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