Indians Confidential

The homestand that stated so badly appears to be headed for a bright ending, as for the second straight day the Indians nicely dispatched the awful Oakland A’s, topping them with a 5-2 win to improve to 33-49 on the season. It’s the teams second straight win after a five-game losing streak that had the entire organization pulling its hair out.

The long ball was the teams best friend on this 4th of July night, as Ben Francisco went deep off of A’s starter Vin Mazzaro in the third inning to give the Tribe a 3-1 lead. Grady Sizemore went deep in the 6th to pad the lead to 4-1. The Indians allowed a run in the 7th to make it 4-2, but then Sizemore got a RBI ground out in the 7th to push the lead to the final of 5-2.

For Francisco, he went 3-for-3 to push his average to .246 on the year. His homer was his 6th of the season and he also stole third. Sizemore’s blast was his 11th of the season, and he went 2-for-4 with two RBI and is batting .230 on the season. The Indians pounded out 10 hits to the A’s 8.

Carl Pavano was not spectacular, but was good enough to get the win to improve to 7-7 on the season. He allowed a run in the first, but then settled down and went 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on 8 hits with two walks and three strikeouts. His ERA drops to 5.36 on the season. Tony Sipp, Joe Smith and Kerry Wood rounded out the night on the mound for the Indians, with Wood earning his 10th save.

If the Indians can complete the sweep of the A’s Sunday, they will wrap up the homestand 4-5. While it’s still under .500, considering they were 1-2 vs the Reds and then were swept by the White Sox, they will take it. Sunday is also a shot for Cliff Lee to get on track after his awful outing last week vs the Sox. He’ll go for the Indians vs Gio Gonzalez (0-2, 7.27).

There was a slight ray of hope after watching Jeremy Sowers last Friday set down the Cincinnati Reds at Progressive Field. Sowers didn’t have that usual mid-game slump, and finally showed that he could throw more than five good innings of baseball. It was back to reality on Wednesday night, as Sowers had his usual “off” inning, allowing four runs in the 6th inning of a 1-1 game as the Indians were swept with a 6-2 loss.

Sowers lasted six innings, allowing five runs on 11 hits with one walk and two strikeouts. The big blow of the contest was a three-run bomb by catcher Ramon Castro to break open a tie game. Sowers is now 0-5 with a 6.23 ERA in six lifetime starts against the White Sox. Ouch.

Chicago used the three games here in Cleveland to batter Indians pitching, out scoring the Indians 23-9 in the sweep. It was the 5th time this season that the Indians were swept by the opposition. The team has now lost five in a row, 13 of 15 and 8 of their last 9 at home. They are now 1-5 in this 9-game homestand.

They scored their first run of the game in the 3rd, as a Grady Sizemore ground out got a run in. After Chicago went up 5-1 in the 6th, the Indians came back with a run on a Shin-Soo Choo double to make it 5-2. It was over after that, as the offense went into the shell that has killed them most of the year. They managed just five hits and left five on base.

The team now sits at 31-49, and are 13.5 back of the Tigers in the Central. The team gets an off day on Thursday, and then welcome in the equally as bad Oakland A’s for a July 4th weekend series.

It’s been frustrating watching Jeremy Sowers get to that fifth inning mark, only to then wilt like bad lettuce. Friday night vs the Reds, a team that has owned the Indians as of late, Sowers finally got it right, as he was better than at any point in 2009, going 7 solid innings in the Indians 9-2 win to finally give them a little confidence.

Sowers allowed two runs on six hits, walking just one and striking out six. The offense gave him more than enough support, as Ryan Garko and Victor Martinez each homered off of Reds starter Aaron Harang, who was 3-1 lifetime vs the Indians entering the game Friday.

The runs came early for the Tribe, as a Grady Sizemore double scored the teams first run, then a sac fly by Victor Martinez made it 2-0. Garko homered to left in the 4th with Jhonny Peralta on to make it 4-0. The fifth saw the team score three runs, with Martinez homering, Shin-Soo Choo scoring on an error, and Peralta doubling to make it 7-0.

The night belonged to Sowers, who was in a comfort zone with first pitch strikes and a good mix of pitches. He threw a two-hitter till the 7th when the Reds finally broke through with a run on three hits. Of course the bullpen allowed a run in the 8th (Jensen Lewis), but then Tony Sipp came in to close the door in the 9th.

The win puts the Tribe at 5-11 vs the NL this season, and they are now 31-44 on the season. The second game of the series comes up on Saturday evening at 7pm.

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.

Despite hitting a homer on Saturday night, the Indians Sunday put All-Star outfielder Grady Sizemore on the 15-day disabled list with left elbow inflammation. They called up utilityman Chris Gimenez from Triple-A Columbus. The Indians announced the moves on Sunday before the game against the Yankees.

Sizemore had struggled at the plate and not played much in the field recently because of the injury. He went 1-for-4, hitting his team-leading ninth homer Saturday night against the Yankees, but is hitting only .223 overall.

A year ago, Sizemore had a career-highs of 33 homers, 90 RBIs and 38 stolen bases while batting .268. Gimenez can catch, and was needed as a backup to Kelly Shoppach. He will start in place of Victor Martinez, who left Saturday’s game with a left knee contusion.

C.C. Sabathia’s first 7 and a half seasons were spent hearing cheers from fans at Progressive Field, as he helped the Indians do their best to win games. Saturday night for the first time in his career, he was back in Cleveland in another uniform, the uniform of the New York Yankees.

Sabathia got some applause, but no matter how the crowd reacted, it really didn’t matter, as the Yankee offense did more than enough for him against Fausto Carmona to earn his 5th win of the season as the Yanks beat the Indians 10-5. C.C. went 7 innings, allowing three runs on five hits, walking three and striking out eight.

Carmona was pretty awful. He threw four innings, and never showed much, allowing 7 runs, four earned, on 8 hits, walking two and striking out two. He was supposed to be the number two man in the Tribe rotation, but has only one win in his last 8 outings, and falls to 2-5 on the season.

New York put up a pair in the second on two long homers that began their hit parade. The first homer was from Jorge Posada, the second a bomb from Nick Swisher that gave the team the 2-0 lead. The undoing of Carmona was the 4th, as he allowed nine Yankees to the plate as Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon and Robinson Cano all got RBI hits to make it a 7-0 lead.

After not putting up a hit in the first four innigs, the Tribe finally got on the board with two runs in the 5th. Ryan Garko and Jamey Carroll each had RBI hits to make it a 7-2 game. New York though answered right back, as Damon hit a ground out that scored Brett Gardner to make it 8-2.

A Grady Sizemore homer made it 8-3, and then the teams traded two runs each in the 9th, with the Tribe runs coming from a Shin-Soo Choo homer and Ben Francisco double to close the scoring at 10-5.

The bright spot for the Indians was the relief throwing of Tomo Ohka, who was able to save the bullpen by throwing five innings, allowing three runs on five hits with a walk and three strikeouts.

The team has lost two in a row after their four-game win streak. Sunday now at 21-30 they will put out Carl Pavano (5-4, 5.50) vs Phil Hughes at 12:40 p.m.

He was 0-for-18 coming to the plate. None of that mattered. For Victor Martinez and the Indians, it was a night of being a hero, and for at least one night, Martinez got the job done. For the Indians, it was by far their best win of the season, and for a season that appears lost, it was at least one night of happiness at Progressive Field.

Martinez’s two-out, two-strike, single between second and short scored two runs, as the Indians overcame a stunning 10-0 deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 11-10 in front of a spirited crowd at the Prog. The win puts the team at 18-28, still 10 games under .500, but hey, it’s better than 12 games - right?

The Rays built the 10-0 lead off a wild Fausto Carmona, who couldn’t find the plate. He lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing five earned runs on just three hits. He also walked five and struck out three. He ended up throwing 60 pitches, and only got 30 over for strikes. He was pretty bad to say the least, and left the team in a bad hole. They went to Jensen Lewis, who in 1.2 innings allowing another five runs on three hits, with two walks.

The credit from the pitching has to go to Jeremy Sowers, who went five scoreless innings, walking just one and striking out one while the offense finally started getting some hits and some runs. The big inning for the Tribe was the 9th, when down 10-4 entering the inning they piled up 7 runs, mostly again due to walks.

The team sent 11 batters to the plate, drawing five walks, getting just three hits, but pushing 7 runs across. Ryan Garko hit his second homer of the night in the inning, and by the time Martinez got to the plate, the crowd was on their feet waiting for the biggest comeback of the season to be complete.

He delivered.

Off of former Mets thrower Jason Isringhausen, who was making his first all-time relief outing, Ben Francisco walked, Jamey Carroll walked, Grady Sizemore walked to make it 11-10, then Martinez singled to finish off the win with two runs to make it an 11-10 win.

Yes, at least for one night the Indians played like the team we’ve grown to love for their miracle comebacks over the years. The issues remain with Carmona, a leaky bullpen, and an offense that never seems to get runs across when they need them, but the bottom line is this - it was a win, and for this team this year - they will take it.