Indians Confidential

The red-hot Indians continue to put the heat on 3rd place Detroit, and Monday night in Comerica Park they flexed their muscles for a couple homer homers in a 4-3 win that took 10 innings.  The game-winner came in the 10th as Franklin Gutierrez hit a solo homer for the win to give the Indians their 8th straight victory.  Grady Sizemore hit two homers to join the 30-30 club, just the second player to have 30 homers and 30 steals ever in a season for the Tribe (Joe Carter in 87 was the other).

Sizemore is the first American League player to join the 30-30 club since Alfonso Soriano did it for Texas in 2005.  The Indians built a 3-1 lead after scoring single runs in the 1st, 3rd and 4th innings to give starter Zach Jackson a cushion.  He gave the runs back to the Tigers as Edgar Renteria hit a solo homer in the 5th and then Brandon Inge singled in a run in the 7th to make it 3-3.

Jackson went 6.1 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, striking out six and allowing two homers.  Four other Indians pitchers held the Tigers in check, as Masa Kobayashi, Rafael Perez, Brenden Donnelly and Jensen Lewis combined to go 3.2 innings, allowing no runs on two hits, walking one and striking out two.

The win means the Indians are now just a half game out of third in the AL Central at 63-67, the Tigers are now 64-67.  They have their ace going on Tuesday as Cliff Lee looks for win #19 as he takes on former Cardinals first-round draft pick Chris Lambert (first start) at 7:05pm.

Let’s just say that Fausto Carmona’s second start after a stint on the DL was a lot better than his first.  Coming back off a poor outing against the Twins, Carmona threw much better, had better command, and threw a lot more first pitch strikes as he led the way for the Indians in a 9-4 win over the Tigers to split a four-game set at Progressive Field.

Carmona went 6.1 innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits.  He walked one and struck out three.  He threw 99 pitches, 63 strikes.  Considering he lasted just 2.1 innings vs the Twins back on the 26th, allowing nine runs, Carmona’s outing was a positive sign for a team that knows they simply are playing out the stretch looking foward to the 2009 season.

On offense Grady Sizemore came through in a 1-1 game with a three-run homer off of Tigers starter Justin VerLander in the 5th that made it a 4-1 Indians lead.  The homer was a telling blow for a Tigers pitching staff that simply walked too many batters according to manager Jim Leyland.  Six walks in the game showed the patience at the plate for the Indians, and that inning catcher Sal Fasano got hit by a pitch, then Asdrubal Cabrera walked on a 3-2 pitch to send Grady to the plate.

The offense continued to hit well in the 6th as Fasano hit a single that scored Shin-Soo Choo to make it 4-2, then Sizemore got plunked to bring in another run to make it a 5-2 game and give Carmona and the bullpen some breathing room.  The Tigers scored two in the 7th off of Carmona to make it 5-4, but the offense again responded with key hits in the bottom of the inning, the biggest a Fasano double to give the team a lead of 9-4.

The defense continues to be an area of concern, as they again were sloppy with three errors, and manager Eric Wedge would not allow a lack of sleep from last nights marathon affair to be an excuse for it.  Choo will for sure be in the dog house after forgetting his sunglasses at one point, causing him issues in the outfield.

Nevertheless, the team will take it, as they move to 47-60 on the season.  They head on the road for a week now and start a series in Minnesota tomorrow night with Jeremy Sowers going against Nick Blackburn at 8:10pm.  The Tigers drop to 55-53.

Coming off a winless road trip and losers of 10 straight, the Indians were supposed to come home and provide little competition to AL East leading Tampa Bay Rays - right?  That’s what has made the last three nights even more amazing, the fact that not only have the Indians not laid down for the Rays, it’s been the complete opposite - they have dominated the team from the home of the 2009 Super Bowl.

Saturday night the bats were blazing again, and just called up Matt Ginter allowed some hits but held the Rays in check, as the Indians won their third straight, 8-4.  To put in perspective this winning streak, conisder that the Indians have mauled the Rays, outscoring them 26-6 in the three wins.  They will look to really send the slumping Rays home sad if they can get the sweep tomorrow.

The offense got a big night from Ryan Garko, who himself had been slumping.  He hit a homer to deep left to start the scoring in the second to make it 2-0 off of Rays pitcher Matt Garza, then in a three-run third hit a double to center that cleared the bases and made it 7-0.  He ended the night 2-for-4 with the homer, double and five RBI.

Grady Sizemore, heading to the All-Star game and home run derby, warmed up with his 23rd homer of the year in the 2nd inning, a two-run shot that increased the lead from 2-0 to 4-0.  The pitching of Garza was exactly what the team needed from a late callup.  He went five innings, allowed five hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out five.

The win puts the Indians at 40-53, and with a win tomorrow they have a chance to enter the break with four straight victories.  Jeremy Sowers at 0-4 will try to right his ship at 1:05pm vs Scott Kazmir.

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).

The good news on Sunday (hey, gotta find something positive, right) was that pitcher Cliff Lee and CF Grady Sizemore were named to All-Star team. Lee is rumored to be the starter for the AL, something that hasn’t happened since Charlie Nagy. Then, the Indians took the field. Actually, the game vs the Twins wasn’t that bad, that is until Lee, today’s starter, got in trouble in the 7th, allowing three runs in the teams 8th straight loss, 4-3.

The offense gave the Tribe a 3-1 lead entering that 7th, as Ryan Garko singled in a run, then Jhonny Peralta hit a two-run homer off of Glen Perkins to give Lee and the team a three-run lead. Lee allowed a run in the 6th when Alexi Casilla sinlged in a run, and then the wheels came off in the 7th, when the Twins put up a three-spot to put the game away.

Most of the damage came with one out, as Nick Punto singled in a run to make it 3-2, then the Twins number nine hitter, Denard Span, drew a huge walk off Lee to tie the game at three. A Chris Gomez ground out with the bases loaded got in the winning run, as it scored Brendan Harris to make it 4-3.

The Tribe went quietly in the final two innings, as they were not able to put a base runner on in either inning. Joe Nathan stopped them in the 9th with two strikeouts and a ground out to earn his 25th save of the season, pushing the Twins to 50-38. The loss puts the Indians at 37-51.

The team has Monday off, then they wrap up what’s been the road trip from hell with two games vs the Tigers on Tuesday and Wednesday before they start a four-game homestand vs the Rays starting on Thursday.

HISTORICAL PLAYER: CF GRADY SIZEMORE is making his 3rd consecutive trip to the All-Star Game…He now has 100 career HR and 99 career SB and is vying to become just the 2nd player in Indians franchise history to hit 100HR and steal 100 bases as an Indian…JOE CARTER (151HR, 126SB) is the only other Indians player to accomplish the feat (1984-89)…Grady currently leads the team in On-base %, Slugging %, OPS, Games, at bats, PAs, runs, hits, Total Bases, triples, HR, RBI, walks, steals and extra base hits……On the year he is hitting .269 (91-338) with 56 RS, 18 2B, 4 3B, 22HR, 50RBI & 20 steals (23attempts) in 85 games…He has hit safely in 25 of his last 30 games batting .296 (37-125) w/7 2B, 11HR & 20RBI (1.025 OPS)…He has 10HR in his last 23G & has 14HR in his last 34G… Among AL leaders, Sizemore is 1st in HR (22), 3rd in TB (183), t4th in BB (50), T7th in RS (56), 9th in SB (20) & 7th in OPS (.913)…Is the only player in the AL with 20HR and 20 steals this season…Last Indian to lead the AL in homers was ALBERT BELLE (50)in 1995…Hit his 100th career HR Saturday in the Metrodome

SHARP LEE: Is making his first appearance on the AL All-Star Team…He is now 11-2 w/a 2.43 ERA in 17 starts (1CG/SHO, 118.2IP, 104H, 32ER, 19BB, 99K)…When he started 11-1 he became just the 4th Indians pitcher in franchise history to start a season 11-1 or better…It is the 5th time it happened as he joined Johnny Allen (12-0 in 1937, 11-1 in 1938), Gaylord Perry (11-1, 1974) & Charlie Nagy (1996, 11-1)…Cliff Lee is currently 2nd in the AL in ERA (2.43), 1st in winning % (.846), t2nd in wins (11), 9th in avg against (.236) and 8th in strikeouts (99)… Was the first Indians pitcher since GREG SWINDELL in 1988 to win his first six starts…ACCORDING TO ELIAS Since end of World War II, only 3 pitchers have won their first six starts while posting a lower ERA: Fernando Valenzuela (0.33) in 1981, Roger Clemens (0.73) in 1991 and Pedro Martinez (0.79) in 1997 …ALL THREE WON THE CY YOUNG AWARD…Only 2 pitchers in the last 60 years since 1948 had a lower ERA through first 7 starts than Cliff’s 0.67ERA – MIKE NORRIS, OAK, 1980 (0.45) and FERNANDO VALENZUELA, LAD, 1981 (0.29)…

As the Indians attempts to turnover their bullpen continues, their losing streak Saturday night at the HHH Metrodome continued. After taking a 5-2 lead after the second inning, and getting five ho-hum innings from Aaron Laffey, the bullpen imploded again, allowing five runs in three innings in the teams 7th straight loss, 9-6 to the Twins.

The bullpens culprits on this Saturday night included Tom Mastny, who allowed four runs on two hits in just 0.1, and Rafael Perez, who gave up one run on one hit in 1.1. The Twins moved to 5-4 after five innings, and then put the game away with a five run 6th to move to 49-38 on the season.

The Indians fall to 37-50, 13 games under .500 and 13 games back of the White Sox in the AL Central. The offense was highlighted by Grady Sizemore, who went 2-for-5 with his 22nd homer and RBI. Andy Marte showed signs of life at the plate, going 2-for-4 with his first RBI of the year, he’s batting .150.

The loss means that the Tribe, who were one game away from being the AL reps in the World Series just 8 months ago, now have the second worst record in baseball. “You can’t think about that now, ‘cause we’re here,” Grady Sizemore said. “You can’t be frustrated with the way things started because of the success last year. You have to move forward and find a way to make this year positive.”

It’s not getting easier to watch this team, and with C.C. Sabathia and probably at least 1-2 other players, like Casey Blake heading out the door to other teams in the next three weeks, it’s probably not going to get much better.