Indians Confidential

The question now should not be IF the Indians are going to make a change at the manager spot - it’s WHEN.  Tuesday night not even their Cy Young award winner from a season ago, Cliff Lee, could stop the bleeding of a losing streak that just keeps growing, as Lee allowed a season-high-tying 7 runs in three and a half innings as the Indians fell to the White Sox 11-4 in a rain shortened game.

The team has now dropped 12 of their last 14, and 7 of their last 8 at Progressive Field, which saw another sparse crowd of just 14,793, most of which left during the second rain dealy.  The Tribe should really thank Mother Nature for ending this debacle, as there was a 32 minute waste of a dealy to start the game, a 30 minute dealy at about 8:45pm, and then the final dealy which was 57 minutes starting in the top of the 7th which in the end was the nail in the coffin.

You have to wonder just how many runs and hits the White Sox would have had off Indians pitching, as off of Lee, Mike Gosling and Matt Herges, Chicago put up 11 runs, 17 hits and pounded out three homers.  They scored in every inning except the 2nd and then the 7th, when the rains hit again and the game was called.

The only thing the team has left to do is get rid of manager Eric Wedge and GM Mark Shapiro’s spot with the franchise should also be carefully looked at, as this team is in one of the ugliest tailspins we’ve seen for some time.  Lee, their MVP from last year, was awful.  He got pounded for 7 runs on 11 hits with one walk and three strikeouts.

The Indians offense was paced by Travis Hafner, who homered, and Asdrubal Cabrera, who hit a double to score three runs to make it a 9-4 game in the fifth.  Hafner has hit in 9 of his last 12 games and has three homers and 9 RBI over that stretch.

The likely White Sox sweep will come Wednesday night at 7:05pm as Jeremy Sowers tries to follow up his solid previous Friday night outing vs the Reds.

When Cliff Lee walked two of the first three hitters on Sunday night, it looked like it was going to be one of THOSE nights for the Indians and last years Cy Young award winner. What we all didn’t know was that 8 innings later, Lee would still be throwing without allowing another walk, and even better, not allowing a hit.

For the first time in quite awhile, an Indians pitcher flirted big-time with a no-hitter, as Lee took a no-no into the 8th inning as he finally got some run support as the Tribe won another series, topping St.Louis 3-0. Lee finally allowed a hit with no outs in the 8th, giving up a clean double off the wall to Yadier Molina.

The funny thing is that Lee wasn’t phased by the hit, and knew that he had to keep throwing zeros, as the Indians held the three-run lead, but he wasn’t secure in thinking that the game was over by any means. He was able to get the last six outs, and ended up allowing two walks and three hits in the shutout win.

For Lee it was his 3rd career shutout, 8th career complete game, and he’s now 4-4 with a 2.07 ERA over his last 12 starts. The club has won 12 of their last 20 games, and have won 10 of their last 15 at home, which is a nice sign for a team that couldn’t win anywhere early in the season.

The offense didn’t let Lee hang on for some runs too long, as Mark DeRosa hit a two-run homer in the first off of Chris Carpenter for a quick Tribe lead. Kelly Shoppach, was was thrown out at the plate earlier in the game, hit a solo homer in the 5th to round out the scoring.

Carpenter was no pushover for Indians hitters, as coming in he was 4-0 with a 1.23 ERA. The Indians should be proud with the fact they have won games the past few days going up against two of baseballs best - Carpenter and KC’s Zack Greinke.

Back to the offense, DeRosa is hitting .340 in his last 12 games and has hit safely in 10 of his last 12 games, with three homers and 10 RBI. Over his last four games he has gone 6-for-1 with a homer and two RBI.

The Indians will look to keep the wins at home going on Monday, as they start a three-game set vs the Milwaukee Brewers. Now at 29-36, the club is in last in the division, but just 6 games out.

Don’t let it get to your head - but how good does 4th place feel now in the AL Central?

For at least one day, the Indians can celebrate being out of the Central cellar, as thanks to a solid comeback led by a game-winning grand slam from Mark DeRosa in the 7th, the Indians topped te Royals 8-4 to move ahead of them for 4th in the division.

It didn’t look like it would go that way for most of the night, as the Royals built a 4-0 lead off Cliff Lee with two in the 3rd inning, and two more in the 6th to make it look like yet another long night for the Indians. But the offense finally responded and put together a nice comeback to get the win.

The Indians were able to rally to tie it in the 6th with four runs. Shin-Soo Choo reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring Jamey Carroll. Then Travis Hafner got on the same way, scoring Victor Martinez to make it a 4-2 game. Kelly Shoppach hit a sac fly to make it 4-3, and then a Jhonny Peralta fielder’s choice tied it.

The winning rally saw Ben Francisco single, Martinez walk, then Choo was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for DeRosa vs Jamey Wright. The relief pitcher threw a pitch down the middle of the plate on the first pitch, but then DeRosa got the good wood on the second pitch, putting it over the wall in right for the grand slam to make it 8-4.

The Royals got a hit in the 8th, and then a walk in the 9th off of Kerry Wood, but could do no further damage as the door was closed and the Tribe got the win. Rafael Perez got the win in relief to move to 1-1. The win puts the Indians at 26-34, dropping KC to 24-33, losers of 9 of their last 10.

Carl Pavano who is 6-4 goes for the Indians Wednesday against Gil Meche for the Royals (2-5) at 7:05.

It’s no secret that Indians starter and last season Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee hasn’t gotten much run support in 2009. That stat once again reared its ugly head at Progressive Field Friday night, as the Indians win streak was snapped at four in a 3-1 loss to the New York Yankees.

Lee had to battle, but still managed to wait out a 1 hour 25 minute rain delay to throw six innings, allowing three earned runs on 9 hits. He walked two and struck out five, and threw 112 pitches. He admitted after the game that his control was off, and it was one of those nights where he simply had to try and grind it out.

On the other hand, it seems like when Lee gives up 2 or more runs, the game is a lost cause. The Indians have scored 29 runs in 10 games when Lee takes the mound total in 2009 (2.9 runs per game), and if you take away the 10-run effort in New York on the opening of Yankee Stadium, that stat would go down to 19 runs in 9 games, an anemic 2.1 runs per game average.

Friday night was much of the same for the Indians offense, as they didn’t do much against Yankee starter Andy Pettitte, who despite being older than dirt (okay, he’s really just 36, but seems much older), was able to hold the Tribe to just one run in 5+ innings before leaving with a stiff back. He got out of trouble a couple of times, and held the Indians to six hits, five walks, and one strikeout.

New York took a 2-0 lead off of Lee in the 2nd with a Derek Jeter RBI single and a Mark Teixeira ground out that scored a run. They added another run in the third when Nick Swisher hit a sac fly to deep center that scored Robinson Cano.

The Indians had their shots, as they loaded the bases in the third but on a 3-1 pitch Mark DeRosa hit a weak grounder to second to end the inning. They came back with the bases loaded in the 6th with no outs, and Kelly Shoppach struck out looking, Shin-Soo Choo hit a sac fly for a run, and Asdrubal Cabrera grounded out to end the frame.

Overall the Indians left 11 runners on base.

The team falls to 21-29 on the season, and Saturday night will take on old friend C.C. Sabathia (4-3, 3.42) at 7:05pm, as Fausto Carmona (2-4, 6.42) goes for the Indians.

When your the worst team in baseball, defeats usually come easy. Even with that said, Tuesday nights 6-5 loss to the Royals easily could have been the toughest loss the Indians have had to swallow in a number of years.

Yeah, I know, you could have said that about the loss the other night in Tampa Bay when the team was up 7-0, but Tuesday night vs KC, the loss was as stunning as any we’ve seen for some time.

Why did it hurt so much? Well, the team took a 5-2 lead in the 9th after another solid outing by Cliff Lee, and turned it over to their biggest offseason pickup - closer Kerry Wood. Even though he had not had many save chances this season, Wood is a player that probably most Indians fans thought they could count on.

Not anymore.

Wood was as bad as any other bad Indians relief pitcher, as he allowed Mike Jacobs and Mark Teahen to hit back-to-back homers, then gave up a walk, a triple to tie the game, then a sac fly to end the shocker with a 6-5 setback. It happened just that quick.

How bad is this team right now? The bullpen has nine blown saves in 16 opportunities. Wood has blown two saves and has an 8.31 ERA. They flat out stink. The team is now 14-26, and is 8.5 out of first. It seemed like with the teams slow start they would be out of the AL Central race by Memorial Day…right now, it could very well be sooner.

Lee was very good - again. He went 8 innings, allowing two runs on 8 hits with no walks and three strikeouts. With the way things are going, he could be the second straight Cy Young award winner to be traded by the Indians before the trade deadline even hits. After all, if the team can’t feel they can re-sign him in two years, why not deal him now and rebuild.

All your doing is wasting him here, with a club that clearly is going nowhere.

It’s been awhile since Cliff Lee has been able to gain a victory, but it hasn’t been his fault for the most part.  Lee has been having issues with the Indians offense, but Wednesday in the finale of a 6-game homestand, Lee was on like last season, quickly and with great success shutting down the White Sox as the Indians wrapped up the homstand with a 4-0 victory.

Friday Lee got no runs at all, and lost 1-0 to the Tigers.  While he’s just 2-5, he had not won a game since the opener in Yankee Stadium back on April 16th.  It had to be pretty frustrating for him, as he has a 1.70 ERA in his last five starts, but was getting litte run support.  The teams four runs today doubled its output in Lee’s previous four starts combined.

So it was nice to see Victor Martinez hit a solo homer in the first inning off of Mark Buehrle to give Lee a little support.  It was even better when the team got a two-run shot from Ryan Garko to make it 3-0 in the 4th, and then another run crossed to make it 4-0 in the 5th.

Not like beating Buehrle was an easy task.  The Indians were the first team in 2009 to do it, as entering Wednesday he was 5-0.  Matched up against Lee, those four runs were more than enough.  Lee went 7 innings, allowing six hits with 1 walk and 9 strikeouts.

“He’s been about as good as we’ve seen him. He’s been very consistent,” Eric Wedge said. “He’s gone through a stretch here where we haven’t scored any runs for him, but he hasn’t given in to that.”

Maybe the most important numbers were 2-1, which is what the Indians win to loss total the last three days vs Chicago, meaning they have won a series.  It was just their 2nd series win over the season, the first was against KC back April 21st to 23rd at Progressive Field.

It was also the Tribe’s first shutout of 09, last season with at one point Lee and C.C. Sabathia on the roster, the team ended the season with 13 shutouts.  The team now sits at 13-22, and will head out on their longest road trip of the season, starting with a game Thursday night in Tampa Bay.

Grady Sizemore thought it was gone. The Indians dugout thought it was gone. The fans thought it was gone.

About the only person that didn’t think it was gone was Tigers centerfielder Curtis Granderson, who robbed Sizemore of what would have been a game-winning two-run homer in the 9th inning off of Justin Verlander as the Tigers gave the Indians yet another setback, 1-0 at Progressive Field.

It was a cruel way to start a homestand that could mark the end of the Indians having any sort of shot to compete in the AL Central. The loss puts them at 11-19, and with the Royals coming up with an unexpected winning streak (6 heading into Friday night), the Tribe is already 7.5 games out. It could easily be double digits by the time the six-game homestand ends on Wednesday.

This game was another ride of frustration for a club that has no consistency at all. They were only able to manage two hits off of Verlander, who again did a great job of shutting down the Indians lineup. Detroit though was matched up with Cliff Lee, who pitched a whale of game, only to be betrayed by his defense in the 8th inning.

The only run of the contest scored when recent call-up Luis Valbuena double clutched a slow roller to second with two outs and Curtis Granderson at third. The runner going to first was Clete Thomas, and it was a bang-bang play that saw Thomas beat the throw, allowing the only run to score.

Lee slammed his mitt in the dugout after the inning, and Valbuena was so distraught at his game-costing mistake that he sat at his locker in the clubhouse with his head down after the game for quite awhile, and then did what he could to avoid speaking to any of the reporters that were looking for a quote.

All that could have been forgotten if Granderson wouldn’t have made the outstanding catch to save the day for Detroit in the 9th. Sizemore slammed a pitch that looked as if it would clear the wall in center. Granderson timed it perfectly, and made a leaping catch at the center-field wall to preserve the win.

“It was out of the park and he brought it back,” Lee said. “I felt like I did everything I could to help my team win, but some things are out of my control.”

The Indians have lost 5 of 7, and the bleeding appears to be getting worse each day. Saturday they will have another shot to get back in the win column as Fausto Carmona goes against Edwin Jackson.