Indians Confidential

When the Indians break a losing streak, let’s just say they really know how to break a losing streak. For the first time since May 27th, the Tribe scored over 10 runs in a single game, pouring it on the equally as awful Oakland A’s in a 15-3 romp at Progressive Field in front of 26,557.

The night belonged to outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, who belted two homers and had a career-high 7 RBI. It’s his second career two homer game, and he was 4-for-5 with a stolen base to go along with it (13-for-13 in that department this season). There’s no denying that Choo has become a bright spot in this dark season, as following Friday’s game he’s hitting .301 with 12 homers and 53 RBI.

The win for the Indians breaks their five game winning streak, and considering they scored just 13 total runs in that five-game streak, it was nice to see an offense that was supposed to be much better than what it’s showed finally round into form, even if it’s just for one night.

Oakland though are by no means world beaters, as they are now 33-45, last place in the AL West. No one mistakes this team whatsoever for those great A’s teams in the late 80’s and early 90’s with players like Jose Conseco, Mark McGwire, Terry Steinbach and pitchers like Dave Stewart and Dennis Eckersley.

Instead, this A’s team rolls out players like Matt Holliday, an over the hill Jason Giambi, Kurt Suzuki, Ryan Sweeney, and more real no name players that will never make Oakland into any sort of force in the American League.

Back to the Indians, the club pounded out 15 hits with their 15 runs, and other than Choo’s two dingers, Travis Hafner also got in on the action, hitting a solo shot in the 2nd inning for the Indians first run after they trailed early 2-0. For Hafner, it was his 9th homer of the season.

After Oakland scored single runs in the first and second off of starter David Huff, the Indians offense caught fire, scoring the single run in the 2nd, three in the 3rd, four in the 4th, five in the fifth, and then single runs each in the 6th and 7th for the 15 spot on the scoreboard.

Huff went 6 innings, allowing three runs on 8 hits to earn his 4th win against 3 losses. He walked one and struck out four in the win.

Saturday at 7:05pm the team will celebrate the 4th with another fireworks display (Friday night’s was a Michael Jackson tribute that lasted about 14 minutes). Oakland will go with Vin Mazzaro (2-3, 2.95) vs Carl Pavano (6-7, 5.56) for the Tribe.

In a lost season, there are times that there seems to be little good to write about, and Sunday at Progressive Field, that notion was exactly the case. On a breezy, warm day, the Indians were as flat as could be, scoring a run in the first inning but doing nothing good after that in a 8-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. About the only positive from the game is that it wraps up the 2009 version of Interleague play, and considering the Indians, who use to dominate the NL, went 5-13, it’s a very good thing it’s over.

David Huff, who was sharp in his last outing at PNC Park vs Pittsburgh, started good, but quickly went bad. He was on the first two innings, but the Reds quickly got to him in the third, and put up a four-spot as it was all the runs they would need in the win that puts them at .500 on the season at 37-37. Huff suffered his 3rd loss of the year, and the setback snaps his personal three-game winning streak. He allowed 7 runs on 9 hits in five innings. The 7 runs he gave up was a career-high.

The Indians offense started hot with back-to-back hits from returning Asdrubal Cabrera and Grady Sizemore off Reds starter Micah Owinga. A Victor Martinez sac fly gave the Tribe the short-lived 1-0 lead. After that, Owinga settled in, and the team managed just five hits the rest of the day, and never scored again. Sizemore did extend his hitting streak to 9 games, and Jhonny Peralta going 1-for-3 to raise his average over the last 10 games to .333 (13-39) were about the only two offensive highlights.

The Tribe has lost 10 of its last 12 games, and to say that Eric Wedge is on shakey ground at the moment has got to be an understatement. The team is now 31-46, a full 15 games under .500, and they are 17-21 at home. The Mark DeRosa trade seems to be the start of what easily could be a few, and there are already rumblings about moving players like Martinez and Kerry Wood. Let’s just say Progressive Field is not exactly going to be a hot spot this summer after all.

Who do you think breathed a bigger sigh of relief after Mark DeRosa made the final out Tuesday night in Pittsburgh – Eric Wedge or Kerry Wood? Either way, they probably both did, as Wood once again put the fear of another loss into Wedge and Indians fans across the country, only to finally get the final out as the Indians broke their 6-game losing streak with a 5-4 win over the Pirates.

The Indians built a 5-0 lead going into the 9th, only to see Matt Herges and then Wood allow 10 Pirates to come to bat, putting up four runs and running the bases loaded with two outs. On a 3-2 count, Wood got Adam LaRoche, who homered to start the inning, to fly out DeRosa to end the contest.

Wood came in and allowed a double, single and walk to make the Tribe dugout sweat once again. He blew two games in Chicago over the weekend, and another blown save could have destroyed his confidence for the rest of the season. Instead, he was able to gut it out and get the final out to push the team to 30-42 on the season.

The game was highlighted by the return to the lineup of Grady Sizemore, who showed little rust in his time on the DL. Sizemore went 2-for-5 with two RBI and he did K twice hitting in the two hole behind Jamey Carroll. He did though get the Tribe offense going in the 3rd with a two-run triple that made it 2-0.

Jhonny Peralta then singled to center to score Victor Martinez and Sizemore to give starter David Huff a 4-0 cushion to pitch with. Huff didn’t disappoint, as he pitched his best game as a pro, going 8 shutout innings, allowing four hits, walking two and striking out two.

Peralta finished off the offensive night for the Indians with a homer to the opposite field to make it 5-0 in the 6th. Huff earned the win to improve to 3-2 on the season, and Wood earned his 9th save of the year.

The two teams will continue their series on Wendesday in Pittsburgh.

All those fuzzy warm feelings you were getting about the Indians as they started this 9-game homestand 4-2 – throw em away. In a 72-hour stretch, the Milwaukee Brewers came into town and ripped out any good feelings you should have had about the Indians, sweeping them with a 11-inning 9-8 win on Wednesday night.

It was a long night all the way around, as the game was delayed 34 minutes by rain, and then as it did get started, Indians starter David Huff allowed single runs in the first three innings to put the Brew Crew up 3-0. Jeff Suppan looked like Randy Johnson in his prime, getting tons of early ground ball outs till finally the Indians started swinging the bats in the 4th.

Three straight doubles tied the game at three, and finally there was a feeling of momentum for the Indians. It lasted till the 7th, with Huff long gone the Brewers scored three runs, Bill Hall starting it with a solo homer off of reliever Joe Smith. Then the reliever gave a walk, then Matt Herges allowed a pair of doubles to make it 6-3.

Milwaukee added a single run in the 8th, and then the Indians came back with a run in the bottom of the inning when Luis Valbuena singled to make it 7-4. The Brewers then added a Corey Hart homer in the 9th to make it 8-4, and most of the 15,000 + on hand headed home.

The Indians though had one of those 1995 comebacks, as off of Trevor Hoffman in the 9th, the team pushed across four runs, the big hit a Ryan Garko bases clearing double with one out. Problem was Garko fell rounding second, tweaking his ankle and being tagged out.

The Brewers then put together an efficent 11th, as against Greg Aquino, they got a single, walk, wild pitch, walk and then a sac fly to make it a 9-8 game. The Indians put two on with one out, but Shin-Soo Choo struck out on a 3-2 pitch, and Ben Francisco did the same swinging on a 2-2 pitch to end the game.

The Indians had their chances as usual, as they put up 13 hits, left 9 on base, and the pitchers allowed three homers. The Brewers have dominated the Indians, winning 7 straight, and are 11-7 vs the Indians since 1997. The Indians are now 10 games under .500, and with the off day on Thursday, I wouldn’t doubt some roster moves tomorrow as the team heads to Wrigley this weekend.

While the Indians have finally gotten to .500 at home at 15-15, the bigger thing that came out of Friday night’s game is the maturation process continued for pitcher David Huff. The Tribe topped St.Louis 7-3, and with it Huff again was impressive, going 7.1 innings, allowing three runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out five.

The offense did a solid job against Cards starter Joel Pineiro, getting to him for three runs on 7 hits in 6.1 innings. The key though was the Indians 7th, as against Pineiro, Jason Motte, Dennis Reyes and Kyle McClellan the team pushed three runs across, the biggest hit a Shin-Soo Choo single that scored a pair of runs.

St.Louis started to rally in the 8th, as they got runners on against Huff, then put two runs across to make it a 5-3 game. Joe Smith and Rafael Perez were able to get the last two outs of the inning though, and then the offense again was able to get some runs, scoring two to make it a 7-3 game for Kerry Wood in the 9th.

The Tribe closer was able to pitch a 1-2-3 inning and gain the team their 11th win in 18 games, and have won 9 of their last 13 at home. The bigger stat is that the bullpen is finally doing as it’s being paid to do, as they have allowed just one run in their last 14 innings covering the last four games.

On offense, the team was patient, putting up 11 hits, and again seemed to get the big hits when called upon. Mark DeRosa was 2-for-5, and Jamey Carroll as 2-for-4 and is hitting .359 over his last 11 games. The team moves to 28-35 overall.

Saturday the team will play a 4:10 game at home vs the Cardinals. Tomo Ohka (0-0, 5.40) goes for Cleveland vs Brad Thompson (0-2, 4.50).

On a day when Mother Nature once again did her part to try and stop baseball, the Rays simply seemed to want to get out of town, and for the Indians – they’ll take it. David Huff started for the Indians, threw four shutout innings till the rain, and then three other pitchers held the Rays pretty much in check as the Indians swept the Rays with a 2-1 win at Progressive Field.

The sweep is the first four-game sweep for the Indians since – well, the Rays – last season July 10th through the 13th at Progressive Field. To say that the Indians have the Rays number at home is an understatement. They have won 17 in a row vs Tampa Bay at home, it’s the Rays longest losing streak against one team in their history.

From the Indians standpoint, they finally seem to be playing with a little bit of confidence. Despite some rain delays this homestand vs the Rays, they were able to hit, get some timely pitching, and didn’t make the big defensive mistakes that really put the team behind the 8-ball early in this 09 season.

The only Indians runs came in the 3rd and the 5th, and both came from Victor Martinez. The first was a groundout to score Asdrubal Cabrera to make it 1-0, and the second was a single that allowed Kelly Shoppach to score to give the team a 2-0 advantage.

Tampa Bay’s only run came from Willy Aybar, who homered in the 6th off of Jensen Lewis to make it a 2-1 Tribe lead. From there, the Indians pitching took over. Matt Herges went 1.2 innings, earning the win and allowing just one hit and striking out three.

Rafael Betancourt pitched a scoreless 8th, walking one and striking out two, and Kerry Wood pitched a scoreless 9th to earn his 8th save of the season.

The team is now 21-28, 11-11 at home, where they will stay for four more games as they welcome the Yankees starting on Friday night.

This years Indians are so bad, they even allowed a pitcher on Sunday to drive in a run in what became their 25th loss of the season. That pitcher was Andy Sonnanstine, who due to a lineup mixup by manager Joe Maddon was forced to hit in the 9 hole, and of course against new Indians pitcher David Huff he had an RBI double.

It was just one of a couple of crazy things to happen to Huff and the Indians as they fell to the Rays 7-5 on Sunday. It was the third straight loss for the Indians, and after a brief winning streak they now find themselves 11 games under .500 at 14-25, and are 7.5 games back in an AL Central that is quickly slipping away.

Huff, who got the call-up to start on Sunday, wasn’t very good. He allowed 7 runs on 7 hits in 3.2 innings, walking four and striking out two. “He was erratic,” manager Eric Wedge said. “You could tell he was a little nervous early on. I don’t think we saw his ‘A’ game today. I think he was just fighting to control the baseball with most of his pitches. It still stems off the fastball command, and it was tight up there today.”

Wedge tried to shake-up the lineup a bit, sitting struggling Grady Sizemore, and putting hot hitting Asdrubal Cabrera at the leadoff spot. Jamey Carroll hit second and played second, while Cabrera played short and Shin-Soo Choo hit fourth. Ben Francisco did a great job playing in place of Sizemore, hitting two homers and putting up four RBI.

The Tribe did get screwed in the 8th, as a ball hit by Ryan Garko that should have been a double was ruled an out. The fly to left hit the top of the padded portion of the wall and bounced back into Carl Crawford’s, who was playing left, hand. The umpires ruled that the ball hit Crawford’s glove before bouncing into his hand, resulting in an out, but replays showed that it hit the wall.

Just another thing against the Indians in what is quickly is starting to be more and more of a frustrating season. “It’s been frustrating for a while,” Kerry Wood said. “I don’t think it can get a whole lot more frustrating than where we’re at right now. At least I hope not.”

Drop a couple more games in KC this week, and we’ll see how those calls to talk shows asking for Wedge’s head grow louder.