Indians Confidential

Make that two nights in a row that the Indians look like a Major League team that cares again.  With their All-Star pitcher on the hill, the Indians again made life miserable for the Rays on Friday night at Progressive Field, stunning Tampa Bay with another beating, 5-0.  The Indians have whipped the Rays, a team that was coming in alreday slumping, by outscoring them 18-2 in the first two wins of the series.

Cliff Lee, the likely starter for the American League All-stars in New York on Tuesday night, moved to 12-2 with another solid outing.  He went six innings, allowing no runs on five hits, walking one and striking out seven. With the outing the best pitcher on the team lowered his ERA to 2.31.  He was in control, and while the Rays had some baserunners, they never were able to get that big hit off of him.

Big hits have come in bunches over the last 48 hours for the Indians.  They scored a run in the first when Jhonny Peralta smacked a double off of Rays losing pitcher James Sheilds to quickly make it 1-0 as Ben Francisco came around to score.  They added two more in the third when Peralta was at it again, hitting his 15th homer of the season, again scoring Francisco to make it 3-0.

With Lee shutting the Rays down, the offense added to the lead in the 5th, scoring a run on a Francisco double to center that scored Jamey Carroll.  They wrapped up their third solid night at the plate with a run in the 7th as Carroll singled to center to score Grady Sizemore to make it 5-0.

Another positive again was the bullpen, which for the last two nights has been given leads and have held them with somewhat ease.  Tonight Lee handed off to Rafael Perez, who went 1.2 scoreless innings, and then in the 9th Edward Mujica allowed a hit but was able to get out of it to complete the shutout.

The win puts the Indians at 39-53 on the season.  They will look for three straight on Saturday night at 7:05pm as Matt Ginter is expected to take the now departed C.C. Sabathia spot in the rotation, for at least one night, as he’ll take on Matt Garza (7-4).

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.

On a night when the offense got off to a great start then hit the snooze button the rest of the evening, the Tribe dropped a tough decision to the San Diego Padres 8-3 in 10 innings at Progressive Field. Maybe the team was tired after playing till after 1am on Friday night. Whatever the case was, Padres pitcher Cha Seung Baek gave up early runs, but was in complete control from there out.

On the offensive side for the Padres, it took them awhile to get going, but once they hit extra innings, they made the Indians pay for throwing out Edward Mujica (0-1), who first walked in a run then gave up a grand slam to former Indian Kevin Kouzmanoff for what was the difference. It was the third homer that Mujica has allowed in just six appearances in 2008.

The Indians jumped on Baek in the first inning, as they scored three runs on two hits. Ryan Garko hit a single to bring in Grady Sizemore to make it 1-0, then Shin-Soo Choo stayed hot with a double to drive in Ben Francisco to make it 2-0 with one out. Jhonny Peralta then hit a ground out to short that scored Garko to make it 3-0. Little did the Indians know that Baek would settle into a groove from there.

The Padres pitcher after that first inning was unhittable, putting down the last 16 batters he faced. The only baserunner he allowed was Sizemore, who walked in the second but was stranded when Jamey Carroll lined out to short to end the inning. Baek struck out only four batters, but the Tribe offense seemed never to be able to do much of anything against him.

San Diego rallied for single runs in the 3rd, 5th and 8th to end up tying the game. The 3rd inning run came on a solo homer by left fielder Justin Huber, who had just one dinger on the season entering the game. Former Indian Jody Gerut singled in a run in the 5th, and then spoiled Cliff Lee’s effort for his 11th win when he hit a homer in the 8th off of Rafael Perez.

With the loss the Indians fall to 32-37 on the season, 19-18 at Progressive Field. The homestand and the three-game set wraps up on Sunday at 1:05pm with what should be a great pitching matchup. C.C. Sabathia (4-8, 4.34) coming off the shutout of the Twins on Tuesday night, takes on Greg Maddux (3-4, 3.33).

Today the Tribe continued to get the roster set for opening day with the reduction of 9 players sending them to Buffalo or other minor league camps. The biggest name to be sent down was pitcher Edward Mujica, who was one of a few going at it for a spot in the bullpen. Here is the presser from Bart and co. down in Winter Haven:

The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has reduced their spring training roster by nine (9) additional players.

This morning the Indians optioned RHP EDWARD MUJICA & CA WYATT TOREGAS to AAA Buffalo and reassigned RHP RICK BAUER, RHP JD MARTIN, RHP JEFF STEVENS, CA/INF CHRIS GIMENEZ, INF JORDAN BROWN, INF BEAU MILLS & OF TREVOR CROWE to minor league camp.

Currently there are 44 players in Major League camp in Winter Haven, FL. The Indians take on the Houston Astros today in Winter Haven at 1:05 PM ET with RHP PAUL BYRD on the hill.