Indians Confidential

The Indians offense, which it seemed had been making big strides in their recent six-game homestand, has gone backwards in the thin air the last two nights in Colorado. After scoring two runs on Tuesday night in a 10-2 loss, the offense was held in check again, this time by Jeff Francis and three Rockies relief pitchers in a 4-2 loss. The team has dropped three of their last four.

Cleveland wasted a pretty good pitching outing from Aaron Laffey, who allowed eight hits and three runs in six innings. He falls to 4-4 on the season, it’s his first loss since May 22nd, and just his second loss since April 28th. Laffey continues to be a guy that has taken advantage of his chances, but on this night, the offense gave him little to no support.

Jeff Baker also continues to be a thorn in the Indians side, as one night after an inside-the-park homer vs Paul Byrd, Baker hit a more normal homer vs Laffey, and also doubled in a run. Omar Quintanilla also beat up the Tribe, going 2-for-3 with two RBI. Jeff Francis, who was 3-5 entering the game, held the Indians bats down, going into the 7th inning, allowing just one earned run keeping them off balance with curve balls and fastballs.

The offense could have won this game, as the team put up three base runners in each of the 6th and 7th innings, but were only able to push across their only two runs of the night. Casey Blake was the only Indian with two hits on the night, going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Jamey Carroll doubled in a run and Shin-Soo Choo hit a sac fly for the teams other RBI.

It’s not a good time for the team to be back in a slump, as the Tigers, Twins and White Sox all have won two in a row, and don’t look now, but even the Royals have won four straight. The loss puts Cleveland at 33-39, back into fourth in the division, one back of the Tigers, three back of the Twins, and 7.5 back of the front running White Sox.

The Indians will conclude their series with the Rockies tonight. Jeremy Sowers, who’s 0-and-1 with a 7.23 ERA will start for the Indians. The Rockies will send out Glendon Rusch, who’s 1-and-3 with a 7.03 ERA. First pitch at Coors Field is set for 9:05 p.m.

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.

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.

The Indians found a new way to lose on Friday night at Progressive Field, as they were able to put up 9 runs, the problem was they allowed 13 in losing their 7th straight, falling to the Texas Rangers 13-9. The night started bad (four runs in the first), and never really got better in the 4 hour 9 minute affair, the second longest game in the ballparks history.

Fausto Carmona was battered early before leaving the game with a hip strain. He allowed the Rangers the four runs in the first inning before many of the 39,947 were even sitting down. The Indians offense actually showed signs of life, getting two runs back in the bottom of the first on RBI from Ben Francisco and Travis Hafner to make it 4-2.

It looked as if the Indians were going to get back in the game for good in the 2nd, as they again got a run, this time off a Hafner sac fly to deep center to make it 4-3. That’s when the bottom dropped out. In the third, the Rangers sent 11 batters to the plate, the highlight of the inning coming when light hitting catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia took a Jorge Julio pitch 380 feet with the bases loaded for his first career grand slam to make it 9-3.

Carmona had left the game two batter before Saltalamacchia with what was told to us was a hip strain. He is day-to-day. The line on Carmona was awful – two innings, five hits, six runs, three walks and one K. He suffered the loss to put him at 4-2 on the season. Even worse though was Julio, who at this point simply has to be the next to go off this roster.

The journeyman reliever came in and allowed six Rangers to either get hits or walks before finally retiring a batter. He lasted 1.2 innings, allowing five runs on six hits, three walks, one K and the grand slam. The night for him was mercifully over, but not before he cemented the fact that he should be the next to be shown the door.

Down 11-3 the Indians made it somewhat interesting, scoring three in the bottom of the third when Grady Sizemore homered to make it 11-6. No more runs were scored till the teams traded runs in the 6th to make it 12-7, and then in the bottom of the 7th Jamey Carroll doubled in two more to make it 12-9. The Rangers made sure they wouldn’t lose this one, as they scored a run in the 8th off of Rafael Perez to end the scoring at 13-9.

The now 7-game losing streak is the longest the Indians have had since they lost 9 in August of 2004. The team will once again try to rebound on Saturday as Cliff Lee will go for the Indians vs Scott Feldman at 7:05pm.

You know it’s bad when even Cliff Lee can’t stop the bleeding.  Sunday in Cincy, Lee was hit hard for the first time all season, allowing a couple of homers and six runs as the Indians were swept by the rival Reds 6-4 at Great American Ballpark.  Lee lost for the first time all season, allowing six runs, five earned in 5.2 innings.  He gave up 10 hits, walked one and struck out two.  He falls to 6-1 on the season, and his ERA finally moves over 1, at 1.37.

There were able to get a few runs off of Reds starter Edinson Volquez, who came in at 6-1.  The Indians got to hiim for two runs on four hits on 6 innings.  They got two more runs in the bottom of the 6th when it was 6-2 Reds, as Jamey Carroll and Victor Martinez got singles off of the Reds pen to make it 6-4.  The bullpen for Cincy was able to close it out, giving them their 21st win against 23 losses.  The Indians fall to 22-22 on the season.

The offense pounded out nine hits in the loss.  Carroll was 2-for-4, while seven other players each had one hit.  The pen did a good job, as Jensen Lewis, Rafael Perez and Jorge Julio held the Reds to just one hit over the last 2.1 innings.  They did allow two walks, but neither were able to score, so they meant little.

The road trip continues for the Indians as they move to Chicago for a three-game set vs the White Sox on Monday night.  C.C. Sabathia (3-5, 5.47) takes on Jose Contreras (4-3, 3.35) at 8:11pm.

I couldn’t tell if Paul Byrd was pitching batting practice today in Yankee Stadium, or was actually trying to get the Indians a sweep over the Bronx Bombers.  For one day at least, the Yanks were actually back to being the Bronx Bombers, as Byrd gave up three long balls in the Indians 6-3 loss to wrap up their short three-game road swing.  Home runs have been the big issue for Byrd, as he’s given up a league high 7 homers already this season.

The offense seemed pretty handcuffed for the most part by Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, who held them to three runs on four hits.  He didn’t walk a batter and struck out three.  The Yankees three pitchers out of the pen were on fire, allowing just two hits in four innings, not walking a batter and striking out two.  It’s almost as if once the Indians tied the game at three in the fifth, they warmed up the plane to head back to Cleveland.

New York came right back after the Indians tied the game with a Casey Blake double that scored two runs, then a Kelly Shoppach single that scored Blake.  Johnny Damon, who had homered in the 4th, doubled in a run to make it 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth.  In the 7th, Robinson Cano hit a homer and then Wilson Betemit homered off of Masa Kobayashi to make it 6-3.

The Tribe went with a “small ball” lineup today, as Jamey Carroll batted second and played second, Jhonny Peralta hit fourth, Ben Francisco hit fifth and played left, and Kelly Shoppach caught again for Victor Martinez, who continues to look to get back in the lineup full-time after having a stiff neck the past few days.  The team hit into three double plays, and while they only had 6 hits, they left 12 on base, with Ryan Garko going 0-for-4 with four left on base.

The team falls to 16-18, still two games under .500.  They come back to Cleveland tonight, and start a four-game set vs the Blue Jays on Friday night.  C.C. Sabathia (1-5, 7.51) takes on Roy Halladay (3-4, 3.00) at 7:05pm.

The slump for the big boys in the Indians lineup continued Monday night, and right now despite what Eric Wedge, there really appears to be no end in sight. Wedge said postgame that he feels the letdown at the plate as of late is not like earlier in the year when the team couldn’t get anything going offensively, but the numbers appear to point out otherwise. Let’s call it what it is – the offense is going nowhere fast.

The worst part is the lineup is being undone by players that the team truly is counting on and needs to hit, otherwise it’s going nowhere fast in 2008. Ryan Garko, who got a specific comment Monday night by Wedge in the post game as someone who is struggling, was the teams most productive player at the plate through the first two and a half weeks of the season, but now is in the midst of a 0-for-23 slump.

Add that to the on-going lack of production for Travis Hafner, (.219, 21-for-96) and the awful start for Jhonny Peralta (.247) and it’s easy to see why the starting pitching has gone mostly undone by the lack of hitting. Take a look at some of the other soft numbers at the plate:

Jason Michaels 11-for-55 .200 0 homers 8 RBI
Jamey Carroll 7-for-32 .219 0 homers 3 RBI
Asdrubal Cabrera 16-for-73 .219 0 homers 8 RBI
Ryan Garko 20-for-88 .227 2 homers 12 RBI

The Indians are on a roll, winners of five straight and finally back at .500 for the first time since early in the season.  Now at 12-12, here are some thoughts from the press box as we await Sunday’s matchup with the now 12-13 Yankees.

* Last season got off to a better start for the Indians, as after 24 games they were 16-8 and led the Central by 1.5.  The difference this year though is that the division is not off to the best of starts, as the only team over .500 is Chicago, as 13-10.  The Tigers continue to bring up the rear of the central at 11-14, while the Twins and Royals are 11-13.

* The teams starters have been on a roll the last 9 games, going 6-1 with a 2.41 ERA.  Can’t say enough about Cliff Lee, but if C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona continue to get on track, and Paul Bryd keeps pitching well, this team will be just fine in that regard.

* I love what I’ve seen from Jamey Carroll so far.  He’s reached base safely in 15 of his last 30 at-bats, and is hitting .250 with 10 runs scored and also has three steals and has an OBP of .447.  He’s been a find from an offseason that didn’t see a ton of activity.

* Bold Prediction – I don’t think we’ll see much of, if at all of Joe Borowski for the rest of the season.  Yes, it may be April 27th, but some people I have spoken to up here say that Jo-Bo has lost it as a pitcher, and that there is no way the team can trust him in critical situations this season.

* Who would have thought after 24 games that Casey Blake would lead the team in RBI?  Casey has 18, while slugger Travis Hafner is still struggling with a .233 average and 14 RBI.  Grady Sizemore and Ryan Garko each have 12.  Shows again how vaulable Casey is.

* So far, so good for relief pitcher import Masa Kobayashi, who is 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA in 10.1 innings so far.  Eric Wedge has said from day one they will not push Masa too much early, and I think they are doing themselves well so far when they have thrown him into the fire.