Indians Confidential

While a 5-3 homestand vs the Rays and Yankees is a positive for the 2009 Indians, the team could have had so much more. Monday night in the series finale vs New York, the pitching staff was in self-destruct mode, allowing a season high 11 walks as the Yankees took the final game of the series 5-2.

Even Indians manager Eric Wedge said he was surprised that the Yankees didn’t score more runs in the win. Jeremy Sowers started, and looked great in the first five innings, allowing just one Yankee run. He was walking batters, but was able to get out of any danger when needed.

Then in the 6th the old Sowers must have come to the mound, as he quickly erased his good outing with walking the bases loaded. Relief pitcher Greg Aquino though came in and got the job done, not allowing a run to cross as the game stayed tied.

Not to be outdone through by Sowers, Aquino quickly gave the walks back to the Yankees, walking the bases loaded in the 7th. This time he would not escape, as he allowed a double to Nick Swisher and then a two-run single by Alex Rodriguez to make it a 5-1 game.

The Indians offense was held in check most of the night by Yankees starter Joba Chamberlain, who went a career-high 8 innings, allowing two runs on four hits, walking two and striking out five. Mariano Rivera was able to come in and dispatch the Indians in the 9th to earn his 11th save.

For the Indians, they fall to 22-31 on the season, and now will head to the road against AL Central foes the Twins and the White Sox before coming back home in just over a week to start another homestand, this time vs the Royals, Cardinals and Brewers.

No matter what uniform he wears, there’s no denying that Jim Thome loves to hit in Cleveland. The Tribe’s all-time leader in homers, now playing for the rival White Sox, turned back the clock on Tuesday, slamming two homers as the Indians lost to Chicago 7-4.

Thome isn’t the player he use to be, as even after going 2-for-3 with two homers, four RBI and two walks, he is hitting just .227. It was his first multi-homer game since March 31st, 2008, against (who else?!) the Indians. He may not be the same player, but he sure looked like the old “good old boy” that Tribe fans cheered for a number of seasons at Jacobs/Progressive Field.

Enough of Thome, the Indians once again were a team that looked like one of the leagues worst. Starting pitcher Jeremy Sowers got rocked for 5 runs on 7 hits in four innings, and while he struck out three, he also allowed three homers. He has an ERA of 12 after two losses, and is fooling no one. There’s a reason he was in the minors, and he’ll have a quick ride back probably after this loss.

The Indians did make this a game for sometime, as they fell behind after Thome’s first homer, but came back with a run in the 2nd to make it 2-1, then two in the third that tied the game at three. They took the lead for a brief time with a run in the fourth on a Asdrubal Cabrera ground rule double.

That lead was very short lived, as Thome’s second homer put the Sox back in the lead for good at 5-4, and then per usual in crunch time, the bullpen couldn’t keep it within striking distance, as Tony Sipp gave up a two-out single with the bases loaded to Corky Miller to score two runs to put it out of reach at 7-4.

The team has been void of power as of late, as they have not hit a homer in 6 games (53 innings), and they are 1-4 on this homestand with only a shot to go 2-4 with a win in the afternoon game tomorrow. On a positive note, a win tomorrow and they would win a rare series.

The loss drops them to 12-22 on the season, a full 7 games out of first. The homestand wraps up with a noon game on Wednesday.

The line of the night went something like this – 12 pitches, five hits, five runs. Yes, the names may change, but the results by all means stay the same. That line was that of Indians relief pitcher Masa Kobayshi, who came in to try and stop the bleeding after starter Jeremy Sowers allowed 7 earned runs, six of which came in the 6th inning of what became a laugher, a 13-3 Red Sox stomping of the Tribe.

The Red Sox took batting practice off the Indians, as Sowers and Kobayshi were neither able to get an out in the 6th, and the Sox tied a modern major league record with 12 runs in an inning before making an out. The team was finally able to get out of the inning when Matt Herges came in and was able to get a grounder, strikeout and grounder to end the frame.

Sowers was pretty good for the first five innings, and the Tribe led 2-1 and there seemed to be a vibe they just might get out of Boston with a quick two-game sweep. Then the wheels quickly and loudly came flying off when he took the mound in the top of the sixth.

The Red Sox tied the mark for games since 1900 set by the Brooklyn Dodgers on May 24, 1953. The Dodgers had 12 runs in the eighth inning of a 16-2 win at Philadelphia, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Julio Lugo started the inning with a single, Dustin Pedroia walked and Bay doubled in the tying run. Lowell was walked intentionally and Baldelli singled in two runs, making it 4-2. Drew then walked and Kobayashi replaced Sowers, and couldn’t get anyone out.

He allowed hits to all five batters he faced. Jeff Bailey doubled in two runs before Nick Green got an infield single to load the bases. George Kottaras then doubled home two more. Lugo’s single reloaded the bases and Pedroia singled in two runs, making it 10-3.

So instead of getting out of Beantown with two nice wins, the club has to settle for a split. They fall to 11-18 on the season, and with the Royals winning games, the top of the AL Central is getting further and further away, as they are now a full seven games out.

They come home for six very critical games vs the Tigers and White Sox. At this point, almost nothing less than 5 or 6 wins will do, as it’s just a shame to start talking about a lost season on May 7th.

If things don’t start changing and fast, it will for sure get worse before it’s all over. And we still have five months to go.

For at least one night, the moves the Indians trying to fix the pitching woes actually worked. Carl Pavano pitched six pretty good innings, and Aaron Laffey coming out of the pen threw three solid innings without allowing the Red Sox back in the game at the Indians beat the Red Sox in Fenway 9-2.

The Tribe made a couple of moves on Wednesday trying to do whatever they can to help a bullpen that seems to give up leads as easy as any team in baseball history. They dumped Rafael Perez to Columbus (finally), and moved Laffey to the pen and called up Jeremy Sowers to start tomorrow night in the road trip finale.

It was so important for the club to rebound after the nightmare in Toronto on Tuesday, and they did an excellent job of doing just that. The offense again played well, getting some big hits, putting up 9 runs and 13 hits. Mark DeRosa and Victor Martinez each homered, and four players each had three hits.

The offense on this road trip finally seems to be coming around. Asdrubal Cabrera, who had three hits, is now hitting .333. David Dellucci is hitting .412, and Victor is still hitting well, going 3-for-5 with four RBI and is hitting .398.

Pavano allowed two runs on six hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out four, and seems to finally be settling in as the pitcher that the Indians thought they were getting after a pretty solid spring. Laffey allowed two hits and didn’t walk a batter. He struck out one, and got a double play ball to end the game and earn his first Major League save.

The team can actually go 4-3 on this 7-game road trip with a win Thursday night. They are now 11-17 on the season, and maybe if they can just stop the bleeding from a bullpen that has been beat up all season, they can finally start playing more consistant.

Thursday Sowers will go for the Tribe against Tim Wakefield, who shut down the Indians last week at Progressive Field.

The moves continue for the Tribe, who have the worst bullpen in the Majors, but are looking to do what it takes to get it straight.

They already made maybe the best move possible today, as they sent Rafael Perez packing down to AAA Columbus. They called up Matt Herges. At this point, it didn’t matter to me who they called up, anyone is better than Perez.

Now the bigger and maybe more surprising move. Paul Hoynes at the PD wrote about 6pm that the team is moving Aaron Laffey, who has been a pretty good starter so far this season after he was called up for the injured Scott Lewis, to the bullpen.

With that, they are bringing in Jeremy Sowers, and he’ll start Thursday vs the Red Sox. Hoynes wrote “GM Mark Shapiro told reporters about the move before Wednesday’s game against the Red Sox. He said the Indians are exploring other moves as well to help a bullpen that leads the AL in blown saves and homers allowed.”

Laffey (2-0, 4.09) was pitching well, but he has come out of the pen before, In the 2007 ALCS, he threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings of relief against Boston in Game 6. He’ll pitch tonight out of the pen if need be, even more so after another meltdown on Tuesday in Toronto.

Sowers was 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in four starts at Columbus. He had 22 strikeouts, while allowing five walks, six runs and 23 hits in 24 innings. The opposition is hitting .240 against him.

Indians pitcher Jeremy Sowers had his best game of the season today vs the Twins, and he took a no-no through five innings. He didn’t get the win, nor the team, but did show his best command in quite some time. After the game he spoke to the media about his outing and what has happened as of late to turn the season around. Click below to hear Jeremy in the Indians locker room.

Even on a day when the teams starting pitcher took a perfect game into the 6th inning, the Indians were, as usual this season, looking up at another loss by the time the stands cleared at Progressive Field Sunday.  A Justin Morneau double with two outs in the 9th inning off Rafael Perez was the difference, as the Twins escaped a great outing by Jeremy Sowers to top the Indians 4-2 in front of 31,562.

Sowers had his best stuff of the season, throwing to and retiring the first 15 batters the Twins sent up to the plate.  His fastball was on, had great command, and was able to use both sides of the plate.  Not until Craig Monroe hit a bloop double to start the 6th did Sowers allow a hit.  From there a huge Nick Punto bunt single that Sowers and Andy Marte at third miscommunicated on opened the door as the Twins scored twice to go up 2-1.

The Indians scrapped a run in the 8th off of Twins relief pitcher Denys Reyes.  Asdrubal Cabrera singled, went to third on a Grady Sizemore single, then scored on a sac to center by David Dellucci.  It was the play by CF Denard Span, who crashed into the wall in the Tribe’s win Friday night that was the play of the game though.  It looked as if Dellucci’s ball would get down, and if it would have, Sizemore would have easily scored and the Tribe would have been up 3-2.  But Span made a huge catch, saving the game for the Twins.

Perez came in to start the 9th, and allowed a one-out double to Alexi Casilla that bounced into the seats in left.  Then after getting Mike Redmond to K, Eric Wedge let Perez pitch to Morneau, citing his success against lefties.  With a 3-1 count, Perez left a pitch up, and Morneau hammered it to left center, scoring the winning run.  Delmon Young singled in an insurance run to make it 4-2.

The loss drops the Indians to 45-58 on the season.  The Tigers come to Progressive Field for the first of four starting on Monday at 7:05pm.  Paul Byrd, (4-10, 5.28) who may be the next Indian to get traded before the deadline, goes for the Tribe vs Kenny Rogers (8-6, 4.48).

When it comes to the return of pitcher Fausto Carmona, it will go down as a return he and the Indians will want to forget.  On a day when the team made a bunch of roster moves, the biggest trading veteran locker room guy Casey Blake, Carmona was rocked hard by the Twins for nine runs in just over two plus innings in the Indians 11-4 loss at Progressive Field.

Carmona was up in the zone for most of the 69 pitches he was in there, and went just 2.1 innings, allowing nine runs on seven hits.  He walked three, which all came in the first to get him in trouble, and struck out one.  The Twins batted around in a six-run first, the big hit being a three-run homer by Brian Buscher to make it 6-0.  After a 1-2-3 second, he ran into more trouble in the third, allowing a run scoring double to Mike Lamb, then a two-run single to Buscher to knock him out of the game.

Down 9-0, the Indians got a solo homer from Andy Marte in the 5th to make it 9-1, then a Jhonny Peralta single to left in the 6th scored two more to make it 9-3.  The Twins made sure there would be no miracle comeback, as they piled on two runs in the 8th off of Jensen Lewis to make it 11-3.  A Kelly Shoppach single in the 8th closed out the scoring to make it 11-4.

The Tribe used five pitchers, with Tom Mastny going 2.2 innings, allowing just two hits and a walk.  Lewis went 2.1, allowing two runs, and Rafael Betancourt threw two outs and Edward Mujica also got two outs in relief.  As far as the offense went, the team managed eight hits off of five pitchers, with Scott Baker going five innings for the Twins to get the win to improve to 7-3.

Just called up Andy Gonzalez did manage to get a hit in his first at-bat for the Tribe, a harmless single in the 9th off of Matt Guerrier.  The loss puts the Tribe back at 12 games under .500 at 45-57.  The Twins improve to 56-47, breaking their five-game losing streak.

Sunday in the finale of the three-game weekend set it will be Jeremy Sowers (1-5, 6.44) vs Nick Blackburn (7-6, 3.83) at 1:05pm.