Indians Confidential

It’s been talked about enough among the media that if the Indians are going to put the tough start to 2008 behind them and make a run at the White Sox in the AL Central, they are going to have to do it now.  So far, so good.  With the next five series’ all against teams that are under .500, the Indians won their second straight series on Sunday, topping the San Diego Padres at Progressive Field 7-3.

The win wraps up the homestand at 4-2, and puts the team back to 4 games under .500 at 33-37.  Maybe the most promising sign is the fact that the offense is finally starting to come around, and this without Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez.  The players now picking up the slack are Grady Sizemore, who hit another homer Sunday, Ben Francisco, Shin Soo-Choo, and Jamey Carroll.

It could be a season where if the Tribe is going to make a run, they are going to make it with lesser known players like Choo and Carroll having career years.  The starting pitching staff continues to have their moments, as Sunday C.C. Sabathia notched his 5th win against 8 losses.  He went 8 innings, allowing three runs on six hits.  He also had his fastball in high range, striking out 10 Paders.  He drops his ERA to 4.30.

He had one bad inning in which he allowed three runs on four hits, but otherwise was very good.  He got out of a jam with a Jody Gerut on third with no outs, and struck out the side, setting the tone for the rest of the day.  He struck out two in the 2nd, got a double play in the 3rd, struck out two more in the 5th, and got a K and double play in the 6th.

The offense was paced by Francisco, who hit a three-run homer in the third off of Greg Maddux to put the Tribe up 3-0.  After San Diego rallied to tie the game in the 4th, the Indians got single runs in the 4th and 6th innings.  Casey Blake hit a dribbler to Maddux to score Choo who had doubled to lead off the 4th, and then they made it 5-3 when Franklin Gutierrez singled to center.

Sizemore continued his torrid hitting when he homered to lead off the 7th vs Cla Meredith to make it 6-3.  After Carroll singled and stole second Jhonny Peralta four batters later doubled him in to give the team a 7-3 advantage.

The Indians are off Monday, as they continue their interleague play on Tuesday night with a trip to Colorado to take on the NL Champion Rockies.  Paul Byrd (3-6, 4.89) will go Tuesday for the team vs Greg Reynolds (1-4, 6.69) with a start time of 9:05pm Eastern.

It’s amazing to think that Cliff Lee is the Indians MVP at this point of the season, but that fact came back to the forefront last night in Detroit as he pitched well enough to earn his 10th win of the season as the Indians topped the Tigers 8-2. The win wraps up the teams longest road trip of the season, an 11-game outing in which they went 5-6, hitting KC, Texas and Detroit.

Lee is the first AL pitcher to win 10 games, he went 5 innings, allowing two runs on six hits. The reason for the short outing was the fact the game was hit by a 57-minute rain delay. The bullpen finally did a nice job after blowing a game Saturday, as Rafael Perez, Rafael Betancourt and Masa Kobayashi went a combined four innings, allowing one hit total and walking three, striking out two.

The offense got off to a fast start, as Ryan Garko hit a three-run blast to deep left off of Tigers starter Dontrelle Willis in the first inning to give the Tribe a quick 3-0 lead. The team chased Willis in the second, as Kelly Shoppach hit a two-run homer to make it 5-0, then Garko got hit by a pitch to bring in a run, Jhonny Peralta singled to score a run, and Shin Soo-Choo hit a sac fly to make it 8-0.

Willis lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing 8 runs on three hits. He has been a big bust so far for the Tigers, has he’s been hurt, and is carrying an 0-1 mark now with an ERA of 10.32. He has started just four games, and has pitched only 11.1 innings, allowing 13 earned runs on seven hits. The Indians only had six hits, but were on cruise control most of the night due to the early lead that they carried as well as their bullpen.

New second basemen Josh Barfield batted ninth, and did little at the plate, going 0-for-4 with a fly out to center, foul out to right, fly out to deep left, and ground out to third. Grady Sizemore got a rare night off, as Franklin Gutierrez started in center and hit lead off.

Tonight the Indians come back home for the first time since late May, as they start the first of six at Progressive Field vs the Twins and then a weekend interleague series vs the Padres. C.C. Sabathia, who’s 3-and-8 with a 4.81 ERA, will start for the Indians. The Twins will send out Scott Baker, who’s 2-and-0 with a 4.03 ERA. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

It seems to be that every other year the Indians bullpen is very good.  The problem with that is that means this year is one of those “off” years for the pen, and that fact reared its ugly head again on Saturday as the bullpen allowed six runs in the teams latest setback 8-4 to the Tigers.  Aaron Laffey had done a solid job getting the Indians to a 3-2 lead in the 7th, going 6.2, allowing only a two-run homer to Carlos Guillen.  It was after he left that the wheels simply came off.

Starting with the 8th, Masa Kobayashi allowed two runs in just 0.1, giving up a homer to Marcus Thames, to tie the game at 3, then allowing a double to Mags Ordonez.  Enter Rafael Betancourt, who threw a meatball to Miguel Cabrera who singled to deep left to score Ordonez.  Betancourt, who has continued to take major steps back this season, then allowed another single, a sac to put runners on second and third, and then after an intentional walk to load the bases he struck out Ryan Raburn to give them two outs.

As has happend all year long though, the pen was unable to get that all important third out, and Betancourt again threw one over the plate, this time to Edgar Renteria, who didn’t let him get away with it, putting it out for a grand slam to make it 8-3.  The line on Betancourt, 1 inning, four runs, three hits, one walk and one strikeout.  Last season Rafael was 5-1, three saves, and an ERA of 1.47.  After 27 appearences in 2008, he is 1-3, 4 saves, and has an ERA of 7.27.

While Laffey was the bright spot, the offense did what it could to try and give him a win.  They put up three runs, one on a Franklin Gutierrez fielder’s choice in the 2nd, and then a Kelly Shoppach double to make it 2-0.  Guillen’s homer made it 2-2, but the Indians responded with a Ryan Garko sac fly in the 6th after an error by Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers opened the door.  It looked as if it would be enough until Masa and Betancourt gave it away.

The loss puts the Indians at 28-34 on the season.  They will throw Jeremy Sowers (0-0, 5.23) vs the surprising Armando Galarraga, who is 4-2 with a 3.76 ERA.  He beat the Indians back on April 16th in Cleveland going 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on one hit.

If there is one thing that the Indians can take some pride in so far in 2008 - the Tigers are worse than they are.  That fact was proven once again on Friday night at Comerica Park, as the Indians used a three-run fourth and a solid pitching outing from Paul Byrd to top the Tigers 4-2 in the first of a four-game set.  Byrd went seven innings, allowing two runs on just four hits.  He didn’t allow a walk and struck out two.  He made two mistakes, allowing two solo homers, but otherwise had maybe his best outing of 2008.

The offense was paced by Casey Blake and Franklin Gutierrez.  Blake hit a key one-out double in the 4th off of losing pitcher Justin Verlander that scored two to give the Tribe a 2-0 lead.  Gutierrez then came up with a single to left that scored David Dellucci to make it 3-0, enough for the Indians and Byrd.  With the team leading 3-2 in the 8th, Ryan Garko hit a big homer to deep left off reliever Denny Bautista to make it 4-2.

Masa Kobayashi came in and pitched the 8th without allowing any damage, and then Joe Borowski pitched the ninth, allowing one hit, but striking out one and earning his 5th save of the season.  Byrd with the win improves to 3-5 on the season, and drops his ERA to 4.46.

The Tribe improves to 28-33 on the season, dropping the Tigers to 24-36, losers of four straight.  Aaron Laffey (3-3, 3.02) goes tomorrow for the Indians at 3:55pm vs Kenny Rogers (4-4, 5.54).

Earlier today I wrote that the next two games vs the White Sox were of great importance to the Indians to not fall further behind in the AL Central.  Tuesday night they played like they read that article and took it to heart, coming out with a flurry in the first and pounding the Sox 8-2.  Franklin Gutierrez started the offensive explosion with his first career grand slam in the first off of Mark Buehrle, and the rest was in the hands of Aaron Laffey.

The young pitcher was a little shakey at times, but overall well enough to get his third win to improve to 3-3 on the season.  He almost allowed the Sox back in the game with a pair of runs in the third, but then got out of the frame and was in cruise control the rest of the way, going six innings allowing one earned run on seven hits.  Laffey also got the help of three double play balls.

The Indians seemed extra agressive at the plate, not allowing Buehrle to get in any sort of groove.  They started the first with a double by Jamey Carroll, he went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sac fly by Ben Francisco to make it 1-0.  From there a walk, single and walk loaded the bases for Gutierrez, who blasted his third homer of the season to give the Tribe a 5-0 lead.

The team put the game away in the sixth with three runs that saw nine men come to the plate.  Ryan Garko hit a ground rule double that scored Jhonny Peralta, then a bad Sox error that saw Paul Konerko drop an easy throw at first allowed another run to score, then Konerko in a rundown of Carroll threw home and the throw was bounced in and dropped that saw David Dellucci score.  Dellucci was credited with a steal of home, and he had come in for Gutierrez, who left the game after being hit on the quad with a pitch.

The much needed win puts the Indians back to 4.5 out of first in the division.  They improve to 24-28 on the season, dropping Chicago to 28-23.  Wednesday at 12:05pm the three-game set wraps up with Jake Westbrook coming off the DL for his first start since April 19th in Minnesota.  Gavin Floyd (4-3, 2.93) goes for the White Sox.

All the talk about the lack of offense seems to be getting worse, as Thursday night in Chicago the Sox completed a sweep of the Indians, sending them home after an 0-6 road trip through Cincy and Chi-Town.  This latest 3-1 setback was like the classic Four Tops song “It’s the Same Old Song,” - one run, two hits, and another solid wasted starting performance by the very good Aaron Laffey, who allowed two runs on six hits in 7 innings.

The Indians bats were silenced by Sox starter Mark Burhrle and two Sox relievers.  Buehrle went seven innings, allowing one run on two hits, walking four and striking out two.  The only Indians run came in the 3rd when Grady Sizemore hit a double to deep left that scored Franklin Gutierrez.  Sizemore and Ben Francisco managed the only two Indians hits, other than that, it was another night of no hitting and just going up and taking wacks, walking away with nothing.

To make things worse, Victor Martinez, one player who at least was showing some signs of being able to hit, had to leave the game in the 4th inning with an index finger injury.  He popped out to start the fourth inning, then left the game and was replaced by Kelly Shoppach in the bottom of the inning.

Cleveland falls to 22-25, they scored 13 runs in the six road losses, averaging just 2.1 runs per game.  Their best game on offense came in a 6-4 loss Sunday in Cincy, in a game where Cliff Lee was battered around for the first time all season and they had to try and rally a few times to get back in the game.  Other than that, the team showed little life all week, making many fans wonder exactly where this team is headed.

They left Cleveland in first place in the AL Central, and now limp home 4.5 games back of the red-hot White Sox, who have own eight straight.  Friday night they will try and right the ship against the Texas Rangers, who come to Cleveland 24-25.  Fausto Carmona (4-1) goes for the Indians vs Kason Gabbard (1-1) at 7:05pm.

If you would have taken bets on what Indians pitcher one month into the season would be in the running for this years CY Young, likely Cliff Lee would have been 4th or 5th on that list.  Lee though, is right there as one of the best pitchers in the game right now, and Wednesday night he was just the medicine the Indians needed to break their three-game losing streak in beating the Mariners 8-3 at Progressive Field.

To put in perspective how good Lee has been this season, consider that until Waldimir Balentien hit a three-run homer off of Lee in the 7th, he had gone 27 innings without allowing a run.  That streak is the longest by an Indians pitcher since John Denny went 34.2 innings without allowing a run in 1981.  Lee was great most of the night, which has been the story all year.  He went six plus innings, allowing three runs on eight hits.  He didn’t walk a batter, struck out three, and his season ERA actually did go up to 0.96.

For the first time since putting up six runs Friday, the team finally showed signs of life on offense, as they jumped on M’s starter Jarrod Washburn for two runs in the first, one in the foruth, and then put the game away with five runs in the fifth to go up 8-0.  The hero’s on offense included Grady Sizemore who went 2-3 with a homer to leadoff the game for the Indians, two walks, and two runs scored.  Victor Martinez went 2-5, and Franklin Gutierrez finally showed something at the plate, going 2-for-4 with three RBI, the big blow being a two-run single to center in the 5th.

Martinez, Casey Blake, Gutierrez and Jason Michaels all had RBI in that fifth inning that put the game away.  Washburn went 4.1 innings, allowing six runs, five earned, on six hits.  He walked two and struck out seven.  The team put up double digit hits in 11 and on the night showed much more at the plate then they have since their big games last week in KC.

The series comes to a close on Thursday night, as Paul Byrd (1-2, 4.85) goes for the Indians at 7:05pm vs Miguel Batista (2-3, 5.26).