Indians Confidential

For Tribe pitcher David Huff, Sunday afternoons setback to the Twins can come down to one thing – the fifth inning.

It was that inning of disaster that did in Huff, as he allowed five earned runs on four hits, walking two and throwing a wild pitch.

Up to that point, Huff looked in control, not allowing a run as the Indians built a 4-0 lead and looked like they were going to take two of three against the Twins. That is until the implosion by Huff.

“My first pitch strike percentage the first four innings was right there, throwing the breaking ball for strikes, keeping them honest with the change up,” Huff said. “Then I just didn’t have it, don’t know what the deal was. Trying to deal with it, learn from it, move on.”

The inning started with a walk to Michael Cuddyer, and then former Indian Jim Thome slammed a two-run homer to right to quickly make it a 4-2 game.

Huff settled down and struck out Danny Valencia, but then J.J. Hardy, the Twins nine hitter, got on with an infield single up the middle.

Leadoff man Jason Repko slammed a double to left, and then Orlando Hudson did the same, doubling to center to score two runs to make it 4-4.

With Huff clearly rattled at that point, he threw a wild pitch to put Hudson on third, then after he walked Joe Mauer was mercifully pulled for relief pitcher Justin Germano.

Hudson scored on a fielder’s choice to make it 5-4, sending Huff to another loss, his 10th of the season against just two losses.

“I still don’t see the fastball command, that is the number one thing,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “That inning when they scored all their runs it seemed like every guy was hitting 1 and 0. He’s going to have to command the fastball.”

While the first four innings he did not allow a run, Huff did have issues with first pitch strikes, something that Acta was quick to pick up on after the game, and was vocal about when talking about the issues surrounding Huff.

“David had no command at all of his fastball,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “Pitched behind in the count the whole time, and you can’t get away with that at this level. Not even 50 percent of first pitch strikes is going to get it done here.”

When it came to that fifth inning, every ball it seemed the Twins hit they were ready for. Huff did not fool anyone, yet says that it really just came down to trying to be more aggressive.

“I don’t think I was tipping my pitches,” Huff said. “I just wasn’t efficient, wasn’t attacking, was trying to nibble.”

Huff has not tasted victory since back on May 23rd against the Cincinnati Reds. That is a span of two and half months, seven starts, and a trip back to the minors that as of now seemed to do little.

While the Indians and Acta seem frustrated with Huff not making progress, the team has to wonder what happened to the pitcher that led them in wins last season with 11.

The Indians are off on Monday before starting a three-game set at home with the Baltimore O’s starting Tuesday night at 7:05pm.

Jenna Previews the Indians-Twins from Progressive Field as the Indians induct former CF Kenny Lofton into the Indians HOF. Fausto Carmona goes for the Indians against former Indian Carl Pavano.

Indians fans had to think they were seeing things when they looked out at the pitchers mound in the ninth inning of their Thursday night disaster at home against the Yankees.

The team had already taken it on the chin, trailing 11-1 at that point, and had already lost starting pitcher Mitch Talbot to a mid-back strain that had put plenty of strain all night on a bullpen that for the second straight game had to hold down the fort.

So maybe it was not such a shock when standing on the mound to throw the ninth inning was none other than usual third basemen Andy Marte. Yes, a position player that had never thrown a pitch in his pro career was going to try and shut down a Yankees lineup that had already put up 11 runs on 12 hits.

Piece of cake.

In a rather amazing turn of events for a season that has had quite a few amazing moments, Marte was able to get the Yankees 1-2-3, throwing a bunch of fastballs at one point hitting 88 miles per hour on the radar gun.

“That’s something that I don’t like doing,” Acta said. “I try to stay away as much as I can from that, I did it because I had to. At times I feel that it looks like a mockery of the game and I don’t like it.”

Marte was the sixth Indians pitcher of the night, as a nightmare of a seventh inning that saw the Yankees put up seven runs turned a competitive 2-1 game into a laguher as the Yankees won three of four over the Indians.

“I’m glad it didn’t get any uglier, because the people that pay their money they don’t deserve to watch a position player pitch,” Acta said. “I really try to stay away from that kind of stuff, some people may find it funny, but it’s not funny to me.”

The real reason Marte was forced to take to the mound was due to the fact that Wednesday night Fausto Carmona only lasted just 2.2 innings, and Thursdays starter Mitch Talbot left after two innings with a mid-back strain. The bullpen was simply gased, and someone, in this case Marte, had to come in and help out. He did what he was asked to do.

“We had no choice given that game yesterday and guys that were left in the pen, so we talked to Marte, and say ‘hey, throw the ball over the plate,’ and kind of a pretty good example of what you can do if you throw strikes,” Acta said.

While it may not have been funny to Acta, there was no way Marte and his teammates did not get a kick of our seeing the teams third basemen try to quickly learn how to pitch. Acta asked Marte in the eighth to go out there, and it was panic time quickly as Marte needed to learn how to throw. Fast.

“He asked if I had pitched before and I said ‘no way,’ and I looked for (Fausto) Carmona to teach me a pitch,” Marte said.

Throwing almost all fastballs, Marte got leadoff hitter of the inning Robinson Cano to groundout, and then in a shocker, he got Nick Swisher to strike out on three pitches.

“I just wanted to try and throw strikes and see what happens,” Marte said.

The final out of the inning saw Marcus Thames line out to Jayson Nix at third, and you could not help but see how relieved and happy Marte was to walk off the mound without allowing any major damage or making any embarrassing mistakes.

“Everybody was laughing, I was too, I was happy,” Marte said.

Marte became the 21st position player to pitch for the Indians, the last being former catcher Tim Laker in a game against Kansas City in April of 2004. For Marte, after going 1-2-3 against the Yankees, he may want to consider a change in careers. Then again, maybe not.

Indians manager Manny Acta on the teams 11-4 loss to the Yankees, the poor night for starter Mitch Talbot getting hurt, and the teams pen having to do a lot of pitching in the setback.

Jenna from JRocks World Previews the Indians-Yankees finale at Progressive Field.

Indians manager Manny Acta on the teams 8-0 loss to the Yankees, the night for Fausto Carmona, and the teams inability to get anything going on offense against Yankee starter A.J. Burnett.

Indians General Manager Mark Shapiro talks about the trade of 3B Jhonny Peralta to the Detroit Tigers, as well as the teams future plans for third base and what is to come.

Indians manager Manny Acta talks with the media prior to the Indians-Yankees 7/28 game at Progressive Field. He talks about the status of injured closer Kerry Wood, the mentality of closer Chris Perez, why Josh Tomlin got the start on Tuesday night, and the comeback of pitcher Anthony Reyes.