Indians Confidential

Tuesday night was a classic case of the Indians once again being able to put runners on base, but not being able to come up with the big hit when they needed it most in their latest setback, a 7-5 loss to the Brewers. The team went hitless in 14 tries with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners stranded overall until Travis Hafner hit a two-run homer with one out in the ninth to make it 7-5.

Yovani Gallardo (7-3) gave up two runs and five hits while striking out eight to earn the win for the Brewers. He twice worked out of bases-loaded jams as the Tribe was snake bitten by the bug of not getting that big hit when they needed it.

In the 5th, Chris Gimenez struck out with the bases loaded after Milwaukee had scored two runs in the top of the inning to take a 3-2 lead. The key to the close game though was again the Indians soft bullpen, which allowed the Brewers to score three key runs in the 8th inning to turn a 4-3 game into a 7-3 game.

To blame was Jensen Lewis, who allowed a big triple to Mike Cameron and then a run scoring single to Jason Kendell. Then Rafael Perez, Monday night’s goat, was able to get out of the inning, but by then it was too little, too late.

Mark DeRosa got the team off to a good start, hitting his 13th homer of the season in the 1st inning to give the team a 2-0 lead. Jeremy Sowers crusied through 3 innings, then per usual allowed a run in the 4th and then two in the 5th to suffer his 4th loss of the year. Overall Sowers went 5 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits, with two walks and two strikeouts.

Wednesday the 9-game homestand concludes as David Huff (2-2, 7.39) goes for the Indians vs Jeff Suppan (5-4, 4.58) for Milwaukee at 7:05pm.

On a day when Mother Nature once again did her part to try and stop baseball, the Rays simply seemed to want to get out of town, and for the Indians – they’ll take it. David Huff started for the Indians, threw four shutout innings till the rain, and then three other pitchers held the Rays pretty much in check as the Indians swept the Rays with a 2-1 win at Progressive Field.

The sweep is the first four-game sweep for the Indians since – well, the Rays – last season July 10th through the 13th at Progressive Field. To say that the Indians have the Rays number at home is an understatement. They have won 17 in a row vs Tampa Bay at home, it’s the Rays longest losing streak against one team in their history.

From the Indians standpoint, they finally seem to be playing with a little bit of confidence. Despite some rain delays this homestand vs the Rays, they were able to hit, get some timely pitching, and didn’t make the big defensive mistakes that really put the team behind the 8-ball early in this 09 season.

The only Indians runs came in the 3rd and the 5th, and both came from Victor Martinez. The first was a groundout to score Asdrubal Cabrera to make it 1-0, and the second was a single that allowed Kelly Shoppach to score to give the team a 2-0 advantage.

Tampa Bay’s only run came from Willy Aybar, who homered in the 6th off of Jensen Lewis to make it a 2-1 Tribe lead. From there, the Indians pitching took over. Matt Herges went 1.2 innings, earning the win and allowing just one hit and striking out three.

Rafael Betancourt pitched a scoreless 8th, walking one and striking out two, and Kerry Wood pitched a scoreless 9th to earn his 8th save of the season.

The team is now 21-28, 11-11 at home, where they will stay for four more games as they welcome the Yankees starting on Friday night.

Let’s all make sure to welcome Luis Vizcaino as the newest member of the 2009 Indians bullpen from Hell. Yes, the Indians newest off the street thrower for the Indians got a rude welcome from the AL Champion Rays Friday night, giving up the game-winning homer in the 9th in the Indians latest 8-7 setback.

All the Indians did after building a 7-0 lead through 3 and a half innings was allow the Rays to claw back with 3 in the 4th, 2 in the 6th, and single runs each in the 7th, 8th and 9th for the win.

Leave it also to the crappy Indians defense, which allowed two Rays runs to score on throwing errors and a third on a wild pitch before Ben Zobrist led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer that made it 7-all.

Then it was B.J. Upton, leading off the ninth with his first homer on a 3-2 pitch from Vizcaino, to end what could go down as the toughest loss to swallow in 2009 so far.

The offense was led by Grady Sizemore, who opened the game with the 19th leadoff home run of his career, breaking a tie with Kenny Lofton for the most in Tribe history. Shin-Soo Choo homered for the second straight game, hitting a two-run shot that made it 7-0 in the fourth.

Then the wheels came off, as Tampa Bay slowly by surly got back in the game with some runs off of starter Anthony Reyes and relievers Tony Sipp, Jensen Lewis and Rafael Betancourt, who escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh only to give up Zobrist’s tying homer in the eighth. Typical Betancourt.

So the team now regroups as they try to put this tough loss behind them. They are 14-23, 5 games out from Detroit in the Central.

Let’s go Cavs!

Oh, sorry, wrong sport.

Well, in any event, it was another futile day at the ballpark for the Indians, as even the sunny skies, the delight of Mother’s Day, and the giveaway of Slider Slippers wasn’t enough for the Indians to pull out a win for the fans, as the Tigers took a three-game sweep with a 5-3 win.

The Indians did make it interesting in the 9th, as they pushed two runs across to make a 5-1 game into a 5-3 game, and they did have the tying run on first but Shin-Soo Choo popped up weakly to right against Tigers reliever Fernando Rodney to end any hope of a dramatic comeback.

The loss puts the team at 11-21, a full 10 games under .500. They have dropped four in a row, and 5 of their last 6. The sweep was the second one of the season, as the Rangers did it against them the first three games of the season.

If you want to put the offense, which has been awful as of late into perspective, go back to the 8th inning of Thursday night in Boston. Since then, they have scored just three runs in the last 28 innings. And if it were not for a wild effort from Rodney, it likely would have been one run in 28 innings before the 9th inning today.

Anthony Reyes got the start, and was unimpressive in five lackluster innings. He allowed five runs on seven hits with four walks, three K’s and a homer. In six outings so far this season, he has gone no more than six innings in any one of them, and lasted just five innings or less in three of them.

While Reyes was bad, the offense again was worse. Rick Porcello, who was 2-3 with a 4.71 ERA entering the contest, again shut the Indians down with what seemed like ease. He only went five innings, but still managed to allow just one run on dive hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

So a team meeting that lasted nearly an hour seemed to do little, as the team just keeps going backwards. Eric Wedge gave somewhat of a plea to the media postgame saying that he loves the playes, the fans and the team, but even as genuine as it may be, things seem about as bad now as they have for sometime.

The homestand will continue on Monday as the White Sox come to town at 7:05. Carl Pavano (2-3, 6.61) goes up against Gavin Floyd (2-2, 6.29).

It’s almost comical at this point.

The Indians bullpen could be the worst I have ever seen. Yes, I know that I am maybe being somewhat dramatic when I say that, but how could you deny that simple fact after watching Tuesday’s meltdown in Toronto that resulted in the teams latest loss – 10-6?

The bullpen allowed 7 runs in the 7th inning to the Jays, taking what seemed like a rather nice 6-3 Indians lead and simply giving it right back to the Jays. Considering the bullpen has a 6.49 ERA this season, it’s amazing that the team has even 10 wins against 17 losses this season.

“What’s happening here right now is unacceptable,” Eric Wedge said after the game. If Wedge isn’t careful, like it or not, a head is going to roll pretty soon when Progressive Field looks like a ghost town this summer, and it’s going to be his. This is simply not working anymore, and it just maybe time to shake things up – in a big way.

Today’s joke of a pen saw the following:

Rafael Perez allowing two runs on two hits in 0.1 innings.
Vinnie Chulk allowing two runs on one hit in 0.0 innings
Jensen Lewis allowed 1 run on one hit in 0.1 innings.
Tony Sipp allowed two runs on two hits in 0.1 innings.

In other words – game, set, match.

The Indians trailed 3-2 entering the 7th, then they put up four runs to take the 6-3 lead. Victor Martinez had an RBI single, Asdrubal Cabrera scored on a wild pitch, and Jhonny Peralta singled to drive in Martinez.

The offense, one day after putting up 15 hits, put up another 13 hits, and while they are still struggling with runners in scoring position, there’s no denying that they are off the hook for the last two days of pitching breakdowns.

So what does the team do from here? I guess start the train from Columbus to Cleveland more with pitching, as right now, this is painful to watch, and this team is digging a hole that they are not going to be able to get out of.

Another day, another bullpen disaster. Yes, welcome again to the Indians 2009 season, as today, it was Rafael Betancourt’s turn to implode in the Tribe bullpen, as he turned an 8th inning Indians 7-6 lead into a Tigers 9-7 victory. Thanks to Betancourt allowing a Curtis Granderson two-run homer, followed by a sack fly by Carlos Guillen to tack on an extra run in the latest Indians loss.

The setback was most frustrating as the Indians came back from a 4th inning 5-0 deficit, tied the game at 5, lost the lead a 6-5 in the 6th, got it back with two runs in the 7th, then Betancourt gave it right back as the team fell to 9-15 on the season, allowing the Tigers to escape to improve to 12-11.

This tune is getting old. The bullpen that has been the worst I have seen in awhile is never going to allow this team to get back to .500, much less be a true contender in the American League. Eric Wedge said it all in the post game when he said that they simply have to find a way to get past the 7th and 8th innings in order to get to Kerry Wood with a lead in the 9th.

Here’s an idea – put Wood in the game in the 8th. Why not at this point? What’s the worse that can happen? If Wood allows the lead to be given up, at least your best is the one that gave it up. I’m sick and tired of seeing the following bullpen throwers blow the lead – Betancourt, Rafael Perez, Jensen Lewis and Joe Smith (at least we won’t see him anytime soon as he’s on the DL).

About the only two arms that seem to be able to get anyone out are Vinnie Chulk and Tony Sipp. Problem is – that’s only two relievers, and you need a lot more than that in order to get the job done. On the offensive side, six players each had two hits, as the team put up 13 hits, 7 runs, and still found a way to lose.

Aaron Laffey, who had been the best starter on the team as of this point, wasn’t very good. He couldn’t get his slider down, and paid for it as he couldn’t get the ball over the plate. He lasted just 3.1 innings, gave up 5 runs on six hits with five walks and one strikeout. The big blow was a grand slam he allowed to Adam Everett that made it 5-0 in the 4th.

Cliff Lee will look to win the series on Sunday for the Tribe at 1pm.

The month of April has come to a close for the Indians, and just like the past few seasons, the team has come out of the gates very slow.  With a mark of 8-14, the club is 4 games back in the AL Central, which could be worse if one of those teams like the Tigers or White Sox had gotten off to a better start.

The club was 5-7 at home, 3-7 on the road.  They ended the month losing 6 of their last 10, and were 4-6 vs the East, 4-5 against the Central, and 0-3 vs the West.

Here are some highlights and grades from the first month of the season:

Best Win: 4/18 at New York 22-4 – By far this was the teams shinning moment of the month.  They put up a crazy 14 runs in the second inning, and on the day scored 22 runs on 25 hits.  The sad part, they lost the next day after Carl Pavano’s best start could not be closed out by the bullpen.

Worst Loss: 4/29 vs Boston 6-5 - Fausto Carmona was dominating the Sox through five innings, but the wheels started to come off, and by the time Rafael Betancourt left the game, it was tied at 5.  Then in the 10th inning former Indian farmhand John Van Early hit a towering homer off of Jensen Lewis to win the game.  Sure would have been nice to win this game to start getting some momentum going for May.

Grades:

Offense – C-: The team was so inconsistant this month, it’s hard to give them anything better than this.  They had their moments, like the 22-run game vs the Yankees, and a couple of games vs Texas (8 runs), KC (8 runs), NYY (10 runs) and Boston (9 runs).  The problem right now is you just simply don’t know what your going to get.

Some of the key players on the team that were being counted on for offense did nothing.  Jhonny Peralta is lost at the plate (.211 this month, 0 homers, 6 RBI).  Kelly Shoppach is hitting just .231, 2 homers, 6 RBI, and one guy that was starting to show some life – Travis Hafner, .270 with 4 homers and 8 RBI, is on the DL for at least the next two weeks.

Starting Pitching – C: The starters had their major issues early, but did start to come on late, with Cliff Lee (1-3, 3.94) and Fausto Carmona (1-3, 6.28) pitching a bit better.  Lee threw 8 scoreless vs the Red Sox Monday, but the offense couldn’t score.  Who would have known that Aaron Laffey, who didn’t even start the season with the club, would be the best starter in April.  He’s 2-0 with a 2.41 ERA.  Carl Pavano (0-3, 9.50) and Anthony Reyes (1-0, 7.58) have done little to give much hope for the rest of 2009.

Bullpen – D: If it were not for Tony Sipp and Kerry Wood, this would have been an F for sure.  Sipp has been outstanding in 3 shots out of the pen, not allowing a hit and walking one and striking out 6.  Wood has 4 saves and an ERA of 6.75, but seems to have the look of the closer the team has needed.  Vinnie Chulk threw away a possible win in NY, but otherwise has been good in 6 outings, throwing an ERA of 1.93.

Jensen Lewis has allowed 5 homers in 12.1 innings, Rafael Betancourt has given up 11 hits and 6 earned runs in 10 innings, Joe Smith has been pretty bad, and Rafael Perez is awful, with an ERA of 11.70 allowing 13 earned runs in 10 innings.  If this unit does not get better, this team is going to struggle all of 2009.