Indians Confidential

And to think the Indians started the second half of the season with a six-game winning streak.

That seems like many moons ago, as the team now can’t get a win against two of the worst in the American League and all of baseball, as their recent stretch against the Orioles and Mariners has been nothing short of a disaster.

Case and point Saturday night in front of a solid 25,000 at Progressive Field. While most of them were there to see ‘Rock N Blast’, the teams annual biggest fireworks show of the year, they were treated to fireworks by a former Indian – Mariners catcher Josh Bard.

With the Mariners up 3-2 in the 5th after another former Indian, Russell Bryanan hit a solo homer, Bard cemented the win with a grand slam off Hector Ambriz to make it 7-2 Seattle. Game over.

The Indians offense can any pitcher nowadays look good, and they did it again Saturday as Jason Vargas threw well for Seattle, improving to 9-5 by going 7 innings, allowing three runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

Mitch Talbot, in his first start after being on the DL, was not on his game at all. He seemed shaky from the start, and while he said he felt good on the mound, he got into trouble almost every inning, allowing as Manny Acta put it “too much traffic” on the basepaths.

Talbot left with the bases full and Bard about to come up, and as we stated above, we all know what happened there. He lasted a total of four innings, allowing four earned runs on 8 hits with three walks and two K’s.

While the fans walked away happy after seeing about 35 minutes of fireworks, it’s about the only fireworks Indians fans have been able to see in sometime at Progressive Field.

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There have been quite a few nights in the 2010 season where Indians bats have been silent. Wednesday night at Progressive Field though could have been the most disturbing of them all.

Going up against O’s starter Brad Bergesen, the Indians were held to two hits and one run, as the Orioles beat them for the second straight night 3-1.

What makes the loss so stunning is that Bergesen entered the game with an ERA of 6.26, was 3-9 on the year, and had not won a game since May 12th, a span of 12 starts.

“He threw a lot of first pitch strikes, pounded the zone with strike out and was able to use the cutter to the lefties,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “That was the game, we basically couldn’t do anything offensively.”

The only Indians hits were singles, one with two outs in the fifth inning by Luis Valbuena that also drove in the Indians only run, and the second in the ninth with two outs by Asdrubal Cabrera

The first hit came after Shelly Duncan walked, and two batters later was on third with two outs. Valbuena’s single went between first and second, and was one of two mistakes Bergesen made all night.

The Indians hit a lot of first pitches, showing once again their tendency to be impatient at the plate. They went 1-2-3 in five innings, scored in the fifth, got a hit in the ninth, and hit into double plays the other two frames.

“It’s like slow motion, he goes in the wind up slow and his delivery is quick,” Indians right fielder Shin-Soo Choo said. “He threw a lot of strikes.”

The game marked the 37th time in the 2010 season the club has been held to two runs or less, and in those games they fall to an ugly 3-34.

While Bergesen was the story, overshadowed in it was outing for Indians starter Josh Tomlin, who despite allowing 10 hits in five innings, held the Orioles to just three runs, two earned.

When your team though only manages two hits, it is hard to find many positives. Bergesen ended the night with the complete game one-hitter, striking out four and walking two. He threw 102 pitches and improves to 4-10.

The series wraps up on Thursday night at 7:05pm.

Cleveland Indians manager talks about many subjects including: Jess Todd to stay in majors for now, David Huff to go to AAA Columbus, need to see more from Jordan Brown, and a timetable for Pronk to come back…

To say it was a tough night to be an Indians pitcher would be an understatement.

Taking on an Orioles team that entered the game with just 38 wins, the Indians pitchers basically looked like they were throwing batting practice in the teams 14-8 loss.

All in all, it took four Indians pitchers to end up allowing 14 runs on 13 hits, walking four batters, giving up two doubles, a triple and four homeruns.

To say that it could have been the ugliest night on the mound for the team is an understatement, as it was not like they were going up against the 1927 New York Yankees.

No Orioles batter had an average of over .300 entering the contest, and four of the nine hitters were hitting under .265 coming into the game.

Justin Masterson was the first Indians pitcher to get bombed, as his usual slider simply did him no favors. He lasted just five innings and allowed seven runs, four earned, on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

Masterson seems to have fallen back into bad habits, as after a stretch where he seemed to turn the corner he is right back to being beat up every time he takes the mound.

In falling to 4-11 on the season, Masterson has gone 1-4 in his last seven starts, and has won just two games since July 1st. The team had felt he was making strides, but now it seems like they are back to square one with him despite his strong outing in Boston last week.

Masterson left with the Indians down 7-6, and with the offense at least hitting off the Orioles, it looked like the team still had a shot. Not quite.

Next up as the punching bag on the mound in the Orioles power parade was Tony Sipp, who lasted an inning, but allowed a solo homer to Corey Patterson to make it 8-6.

The seventh and eighth inning the game got totally away from the Indians, as Frank Herrmann was shell shocked for five runs in just 1.2 innings, giving up a two-run homer to Matt Wieters that made it 10-6.

The hitting just kept coming, and finally, mercifully, Herrmann was shown the bench for Hector Ambriz. All he did was give up a three-run homer to Luke Scott, who does albeit lead the team with 21 homers.

At that point it was a six-run eighth, and the beating was officially complete. Ambriz was able to get Adam Jones to end the eighth, and was able to wrap up the ninth with no damage.

The staff as a whole has begun to show more and more cracks. Despite the fact the Orioles have played better baseball for new manager Buck Showalter, there is no excuse for giving up 14 runs to the worst team in baseball.

Indians manager Manny Acta talks about the teams August 8th 5-4 loss to the Twins, David Huff’s issues on the mound, and not being able to drive runners in once again.

On a night when the heat index was into the 90’s at first pitch, Indians starter Justin Masterson looked good early, but just like has happened too many times before, he and the team melted in the heat of the Queen City, falling to the Reds 6-4 at the Great American Ballpark.

The loss is the teams 7th in a row, and they have lost 11 of 12 overall. They are 1-7 on a National League road trip that ends Sunday in Cincy before they come home Monday to play Toronto.

Masterson was good through four as the Tribe built a 3-1 lead, but just like that it was gone. The starter made his fifth error of the season to set up two runs to tie the score. Cincy eventually took the lead, and as good teams do, they shut the door on the Indians.

The Tribe falls to 21 games below .500, and it seems to be getting worse and worse by the day, though the players remain steadfast in not letting it get to them.

“Every day is a new day,” said Masterson. “I know you guys are thinking about the streaks, at least when it comes to losing. Winning streaks, we think about. Losing streaks, no.”

Masterson falls to 2-7 on the season. After Cincy tied it thanks to walks and the Masterson error in the 5th, they put up three more runs in the sixth, all of them on Masterson.

“Justin was throwing the ball OK,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “Then he got erratic in the sixth inning. We left a ton of guys on base and couldn’t come up with a big hit.”

The Indians made it interesting with a couple hits and a run in the 9th off Reds closer Francisco Cordero, but that was as close as they got.

“I liked the fight, I liked the effort,” Acta said. “But at the end of the game, the results still aren’t showing up. We’re not doing enough of certain things to win a ballgame.

While Aaron Laffey was probably not going to come in and throw a 9-inning game Friday night against the Reds, it sure would have been nice to at least get 5-7 innings out of him.

Instead, the just called up lefty continued a troubling string of Indians starters that have been shelled as of late, going just four innings as the Indians were pounded by the Reds 10-3 at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.

The loss combined with Thursdays beat down in Philadelphia means the team has been outscored 22-6 in their last two losses. They have dropped 6 in a row, and have lost 10 of their last 11 games.

Laffey got the start after David Huff, who was 2-9 on the year, was sent to Triple-A earlier in the week. He failed to do much with the chance, walking three batters, and allowing five earned runs in four innings.

“I just got to do a better job getting ahead of the hitters and throwing quality strikes with my first pitch,” Laffey said. “I was just missing all around the plate, not really erratic or anything like that.”

The flood gates opened when Drew Stubbs hit a two-run homer off Laffey in the 2nd inning, but the real issues for the lefty came in the third when he allowed a single, double, walked the next two batters to score a run, and then two sac flies to make it 5-0.

“I just gotta work on pitches around the plate,” Laffey said. “The sinker more than any other since that is the pitch I throw the most.”

The Indians offense got a homer from rookie catcher Carlos Santana in the 5th to make it 5-2, but he had to leave the game after a contusion on his left thumb. X-rays were negative, and his status for Saturday is up in the air.

Joe Smith came in for Laffey in the 5th, and gave up four runs to put the game away, not getting an out until after allowing five straight hits, including a solo homer to Scott Rolen to start the inning.

“Second inning I kinda got back on track, but by then it was too late,” Smith said. “If I do my job it’s 5-3, and that looks a lot better, especially to your hitters.”

While the starting pitching has been failing the team, the bullpen hasn’t been much better, and the team is now in its worst funk of the 2010 season, 20 games under .500.

Jhonny Peralta hit a solo homer for the Indians for their only other run of the night. Aaron Harang got the win for the Reds, throwing 7 innings, allowing 3 runs on 8 hits.

Justin Masterson tries to break the losing streak for the Indians Saturday night against the Reds.

Today marks the first game that young Jason Donald will be leading off for the Indians. The 6′-1”, 190 pound rookie short stop has been thrust into the top of the order because right fielder Trevor Crowe has been given the day off.

Donald was obtained in the July 29, 2009 trade that also brought (RHP) Carlos Carrasco, (CA) Lou Marson, and (RHP) Jason Knapp from the Philadelphia Phillies to the Tribe in exchange for Cliff Lee and Ben Fransisco. He started the year in AAA Columbus and hit .277 with 17 RBI in 37 games.

After being called up to the big league club in May, he has hit .253 with 6 doubles, 2 triples, a home run, and 7 RBI in 27 games. Indians manager Manny Acta stated in today’s pre-game press conference that he has the speed and ability to be a top of the order guy.

Donald is a 2003 graduate of Buchanan High School (Ca.) where he was all-state in baseball and football, and was a freshman All-American at the University of Arizona.

Acta said that Crowe is not injured and will be available off the bench if needed, and is getting some extra rest to recover from fouling a pitch off of his knee.