Indians Confidential

Yes the Indians rise to fourth place in the AL Central didn’t last very long, as again on Wednesday night the team was shutout (4th time this year) as Gil Meche pitched circles around them in a lackluster 9-0 setback. The loss was cemented with the same fan in center catching two home run balls from the Royals in the 4th inning that made it 5-0, and then KC put up a 4-spot in the fifth to make it a blowout at 9-0.

The Indians had Meche in some 3-2 counts during the evening, but every time it seemed like he was able to escape, and he had 11 strikeouts to go along with three walks and allowed four hits in 7 innings. Meche is just 3-5, so it’s not like this was something he does very often.

Carl Pavano on the other hand, struggled all night. He had command trouble, and the Royals homers were an indication that he clearly didn’t have good stuff. The 9 earned runs he allowed in 4.2 innings were the most he’s allowed since his first start in the opening series at Texas on April 9th.

He had allowed just 10 earned runs and three homers in his previous five starts combined, so things were simply not going his way on Wednesday night.

The finale of the set is Thursday at 7:05pm as Jeremy Sowers goes for the Indians against Royals ace Zack Greinke (8-2).

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.