Indians Confidential

Indians ace C.C. Sabathia talks to the media after his lastest outing, a 5-0 shutout win over the Reds. C.C. talks about on-going trade rumors, his early struggles, and getting things under control and just throwing his fastball and doing his job.  Click below to hear C.C.’s postgame comments.

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As the Indians continue to try and fight and stay in the AL Central race, the two things they seem to have going for them as of late is the pitching of starters C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee. Last night it was the pitching of Lee that led the team to a 4-1 win over the Giants, and Friday night it was Sabathia’s turn - giving the team another strong outing as the Tribe spanked the Reds 6-0.

Sabathia, who continues to hear his name in trade talks almost non-stop by the local and national media, remanis focused on the task at hand. Friday night he went 8 innings, allowing 0 runs on 4 hits, and striking out 11 while walking 2. It’s the fifth time this season he’s thrown double digit K’s, and over his last three starts he’s 3-0, allowing just 4 earned runs. He moves to 6-8 on the season.

On offense, the team put up a crooked five spot in the 6th off three Reds pitchers to blow the game open. They batted around that inning, putting up the five runs on four hits to go along with a Reds error. The big hits were a Casey Blake two-run single, and a Grady Sizemore double that scored two more runs. Sizemore opened the scoring in the 5th inning with a solo homer off Reds starter Daryl Thompson, his 18th blast of the season.

Overall the offense put up 10 hits on the night, Jamey Carroll continued his hot hitting with three hits, and is now hitting .304. Shin-Soo Choo and Blake each had two hits, as did Sizemore. The win puts the Indians now at 37-43 on the season, 2-2 on this homestand. They still trail the White Sox by 7.5 in the Central, as Chicago of the AL topped Chicago of the NL Friday afternoon.

Two struggling pitchers go at it Saturday night at Progressive Field, as Paul Byrd at 3-8 with a 5.21 ERA takes the hill for the Indians vs Johnny Cueto (3-8, 5.01) at 7:05pm.

1. Injuries: Jake Westbrook (elbow surgery) out for a year, catcher Victor Martinez (elbow surgery), Josh Barfield (finger surgery) out for a few months, Travis Hafner (shoulder) out for who knows how long, Adam Miller (finger surgery), Fausto Carmona (hip) having another “setback,” his return time is now the middle of July.

2. Bullpen: Currently ranks second worst in the American League in Earned Run Average. Once was a stable entity in the past. They are also last in the A.L. in saves.

3. Hitting: Indians currently sit last in the American League in hits and 11th out of 14 teams in the A.L. in on-base percentage. The injuries have taken there toll on the offense!

4. Void fillers: Guys like Peralta, Blake, and Garko have continued to struggle in the absences of Hafner and Martinez. In the past these players have stepped up when others were slumping, which has not been the case this year. None of these three players are currently hitting over .270.

5. Can’t win the Close ones: The Indians are currently 6-8 in games decided by one run. To be a contender these are the games you must win. (See Bullpen above)

6. Slow Start: With the high expectations for this team going into the year the Indians needed to jump out early. With the team being fairly young in age it was imperative for them to have some success in the early months of the season. March-May their record was 25-30.

7. Streaks: The Indians have gone on 2 runs this year in April they won 5 straight, however in May they lost 7 straight.

8. Struggling Ace: C.C. Sabathia has since turned his season around, but he began the season 1-5. His earned run average was 7.51 at that time and this did not bode well for the Tribe, nor the reigning Cy young Award Winner. His E.R.A. is currently 4.06.

9. Can’t Capitalize: The Indians are in the second worst division in all of baseball, yet they can’t seem to make ground on the other teams in the Central. The Detroit Tigers also came into the season with high hopes and they got off to an even worst start than the Tribe, but they now sit a game and half ahead of Indians in the standings.

10. Consistency: This team has not found any one thing that they are good at and consistent at. This has made Eric Wedge’s job more difficult and even more impressive.. If the team is good at one aspect of the game, then he could rely on that one thing and dwell on the many others. When it is all said and done, this could be Wedge’s best year in terms of managing because of the way that he has dealt with all of this teams obstacles.

On a season that has had more ups and downs than a roller coaster at Cedar Point, the Indians again have given their fans a reason to think that maybe, just maybe, the 2008 season isn’t over just yet.  After falling to 33-40 on Thursday after a loss to the Rockies, the Indians moved further west to Los Angeles, and in two extra innings have quickly moved back to 35-40, and more importantly, back to 6.5 back of first in the Central.

Saturday the team’s offense was held in check for more than 9 innings, as their only run came from - who else - pitcher C.C. Sabathia, who hit a homer to right in the third inning to make it 1-0.  Sabathia, who has been rumored to be on the trading block, was crusing for the first five plus innings, and made just one mistake, a homer to deep left center by the Dodgers Matt Kemp that tied the game at one.

The game stayed that way for five more innings, till the Indians offense exploded for one of its best innings of the season, putting up six runs on six hits to make a 1-1 game quickly into a 7-1 blowout.  Three outs later, and one Dodger run, the Indians were on the winning end for the second straight day with a 7-2 victory.  Masa Kobayashi pitched one scoreless inning to get the win to improve to 4-3 on the season.

Sabathia went 7 innings, allowing one run on five hits.  He walked one and struck out 10.  If the Indians do move Sabathia on or before the trading deadline, his stock over the past three starts has once again soared. In those three starts, he’s gone 24 innings, allowing four runs on 16 hits, striking out 25.  Needless to say, he’s looked like the Cy Young C.C. more than the one that floundered early in 08.

As for that 11th inning, the hits came at a furious pace, with Jhonny Peralta getting the first RBI on a single, then Casey Blake driving in a run with a single, Kelly Shoppach doing the same to bring in two more runs, and after a Grady Sizemore single, Jamey Carroll hit a sac fly to end the scoring at six for the inning.

The finale of the road trip and the three-game set in L.A. comes up on Sunday, with struggling Paul Byrd (3-7, 5.21 ERA) going for the Indians vs Chad Billingsley (5-7, 3.54) at 4:10pm.  Who knows, maybe another step closer to moving back in the AL Central race?

Yahoo! Sports Columnist Tim Brown has written a column about the trading deadline and players to look for that could be moved, with of course C.C. Sabathia in the mix.  One part about the Indians:

“The disappointing Indians haven’t necessarily ruled out signing Sabathia to a contract extension, but it is much more likely they won’t. After a poor league championship series that bled into April, Sabathia has a 2.43 ERA over eight starts in May and June, meaning he’s still on track to be the premier free-agent pitcher on the market, ahead of Sheets. Indians management is determined the let the club choose its course on Sabathia; if it wins, Sabathia could spend the summer in Cleveland and the Indians will take the draft picks when he signs elsewhere. If the club does not hit and therefore does not win, well, the trading-deadline market should receive Sabathia well.”  

Click HERE to read “What’s the deal at the deadline”

Indians Plain Dealer beat reporter Paul Hoynes writes the following in today’s paper in regard to a possible trade of ace C.C. Sabathia:

Tribe’s Antonelli downplays trade talk, but scouts think otherwise

The Indians say they’re not ready to trade C.C. Sabathia.

“Our focus is working to do what we can to make sure we’re playing meaningful games in September,” said Indians assistant general manager Chris Antonetti before Tuesday night’s game against Colorado. “We’re working to get back in the race. That’s our focus.

“We sit here today 5 1/2 games back. It’s not insurmountable.”

Sabathia, however, is a free agent at the end of the year. The chances of re-signing him haven’t improved since Sabathia tabled negotiations at the start of spring training. Not only that, but the Indians disabled list is loaded with big players — Jake Westbrook, Fausto Carmona, Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez. Westbrook and Carmona represent two-fifths of the starting rotation. Hafner and Martinez are the heart of the lineup.

“I watched them on their last road trip,” said one scout. “I was disappointed with the way they hit. Not too many teams can lose two starters like Westbrook and Carmona and withstand it. It doesn’t look good for them in the second half.”

Click HERE to read the rest of the story

You can take the Indians recent 4-2 homestand vs the Twins and Padres one of two ways - you can look as it as a step in the right direction that the team won two straight series’ and the offense is coming around, or you can simply look at it like they are just staying enough above water for Mark Shapiro and company not to pull the plug on the season and start looking to shop around players like C.C. Sabathia.

On a positive note, after being at and watching the last six games, if you don’t agree that Grady Sizemore is not one the five most exciting players in the game, then you don’t watch a lot of baseball. Sizemore almost lifted this team on his shoulders from an offensive standpoint over the last week, hitting .310 with 5 homers and 9 RBI. Sizemore simply took the offense to another level this week, and picked up the slack when the team needs it with Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner on the bench.

I enjoyed watching the youth of this team get going as well this past homestand, with players like Shin-Soo Choo, Ben Francisco, Franklin Gutierrez and Kelly Shoppach all having a part in winning games at the plate. The team scored 48 runs this past week, an average of 6.8 runs per game. That has got to be an encouraging sign to management and manager Eric Wedge.

Yes, there were moments of frustration, such as Paul Byrd having a poor outing on Wednesday night in the teams 8-5 loss to the Twins. Byrd is one player that has never got on track this season, and in his last five starts is 1-3 and has allowed 21 runs as well as 7 homers. One has to wonder if his time as a quality starter in the Majors is over. Byrd is a class act and has always spoken out when he has had poor outings, but if this team is going to make a run, his pitching simply has to improve, and he’ll be the first to admit that.

The bullpen continues to be the great unknown, as pitchers like Rafael Betancourt, Rafael Perez, and Masa Kobayashi have to be on the verge of giving Wedge an ulcer. You never know how these players will respond in tough situations. In the Saturday night loss, the team got into the 8th with a 3-2 lead, and Perez gave up a homer on the second pitch after a good outing by Betancourt. Then in the 10th, Edward Mujica walked in what was the game-winning run, and then made matters worse by allowing a grand slam.

One beat reporter commented to me that he has no idea what the team sees in Mujica, as he has been terrible this season, allowing three homers in 6 games he’s pitched in, and has an ERA of 9.00. Add to that the 8.31 ERA in 13 innings pitched in 2007, and the reporter who made that comment to me has a valid point, and one that the team should look at.

Overall though, I’d have to say the week had more positives than negatives, and the team did gain a game on the Sox to move within 5.5 of first. With the Rockies, Dodgers, Giants and Reds up next, all teams under .500, this team seems poised to finally tell us once and for all if 2008 is going to be a season of hope, or a season of despair.