Indians Confidential

The Tribe got some good news on the injury front from the pitching side Saturday, as both Jake Westbrook and Joe Borowski threw bullpen sessions.  Westbrook has been out with a left intercostal strain, that took place during his last start in Minnesota.  As for Jo-Bo, he has been on the shelf with a tricep injury that seemed to cause him to lose intensity on his pitches.  The injury came to light after he blew a 9th inning save vs the Red Sox at Progressive Field a few weeks back.  Eric Wedge said yesterday that Westbrook could be back in the rotation by late May, and Borowski can return even before that, making for an interesting situation for the rotation and pen once both are ready to return.

The month of April is in the books for the Indians, and while the baseball season is for sure more of a marathon than a sprint, it seems that the Tribe has stumbled out of the gate a bit. Here is the good and the bad for the first month of the season:

Good:

Cliff Lee – In a month where the Indians won 13 games, Lee won five, and looked far and away like the best starter on the roster. He’s re discovered his control with his fastball, and had a 27 inning scoreless streak during the month. And to think he had to win a spot in the rotation during spring training.

Victor Martinez – He put a scare into the team with his injury on opening day, but recovered nicely and now a month into the year is leading the AL with an average of .366 (30-82). He has yet to homer and has just 10 RBI, but those numbers will for sure pick up as the season moves along.

Masa Kobayashi – The Indians import has done well when called upon, going 1-0 in 12 games, throwing 12.1 innings, allowing two earned runs and 13 hits for a 1.46 ERA. They are easing him into pitching more, but if this keeps up, there’s no reason not for him to see more calls from the bullpen.

David Dellucci – After a start that made many wonder why Dellucci deserved any playing time at all, this vet finally got on track and is now playing well. He’s added spark to a dull lineup, hitting .283 with three homers, 9 RBI and four doubles. He’s playing more like the player the team thought they signed before last season.

Bad:

The offense – As a whole, the team is still rather lifeless at the plate, hitting a very average .250. Eric Wedge has started the process of tinkering with the lineup, giving players that are not producing nights off. The starting pitching cannot hold the team in games forever, and the team has to get better in this regard.

Travis Hafner – After another poor game on Tuesday night, Eric Wedge had seen enough, giving Travis a seat on the bench Wednesday night and maybe beyond. In 100 at-bats he has just three homers, 16 RBI, has struck out 27 times and is hitting just .210. The team still feels he’ll come out of this, but the fan base with him is getting restless.

Joe Borowski – Hard to throw Jo-Bo in here hurt, but you just get the feeling after blown saves vs the Angles and Red Sox that him getting back to being the closer is a long shot. Some have said that Borowski has a tired arm, and that last season was his last good year in the Majors.

The Schedule – The team has had a tough start to the year and the schedule hasn’t helped. Three cold games at home, a trip out west, home series vs the Yankees and Red Sox, and a homestand where they went 2-5. The team has 17 home games in May, let’s hope they improve quickly on their 7-9 mark at home.

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.

Indians manager Eric Wedge talks to the media Tuesday afternoon about the ongoing situation in regard to Joe Borowski, and the team putting him on the DL earlier in the day. He gives his thoughts about the injury situation, and when to expect Jobo back. Click below to hear the latest from Progressive Field from the Indians manager.

CLEVELAND, OH — The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has placed RHP JOE BOROWSKI on the 15-day disabled list with a right triceps strain. To replace Borowski’s spot on the Major League roster the Indians recalled RHP TOM MASTNY.

Borowski has appeared in 5 games this year and has posted a mark of 0-2 with 2 saves in 4 opportunities and an ERA of 18.00 (4.0IP, 7H, 8R/ER, 3HR, 4BB, 3K, .412AVG) after leading the American League in saves in 2007 with 45. Today marks the 3rd DL stint of his Major League career.

Mastny started the year on the AAA Buffalo roster after being optioned at the conclusion of spring training (March 26). He has appeared in 4 games for the Bisons, sporting no record with an ERA of 6.75 (5.1IP, 9H, 5R/4ER, 9K). Mastny appeared in 9 spring training games and fanned 12 with only 2 walks in 12.2 innings. He wears #40 and will be in uniform tonight when the Indians take on the Red Sox at 7:05 PM in Progressive Field.

Consider it meltdown number two on the season for Indians closer Joe Borowski.  The Tribe reliever once again had a rather large collapse in the 9th on Monday night at Progressive Field, as he allowed three runs in the Tribe’s 6-4 setback to the champion Red Sox.  Manny Ramirez hit a two-run blast off of Borowski after Dustin Pedroia tied the game with a sac fly that scored Julio Lugo to make it 4-4.  The Indians had staked themselves to a 4-1 advantage after Victor Martinez hit a two-run single off of Sox starter Jon Lester in the 4th, and then Travis Hafner hit a single in the 5th to give them the three-run lead.

The collapse by Borowski wasted a great night by Jake Westbrook, who who went 6.1 innings, allowing one earned run on seven hits.  He gave up a run on two hits in the first inning, then settled in for the final five plus frames to allow just one more run, an unearned run, to come across, while striking out five.  Things looked to be setting up nicely for the Indians in the late innings, as despite being up 4-2, Rafel Betancourt went back-to-back striking out David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez to end a Sox threat in the 7th that kept the score 4-2.  He did allow a solo homer to Kevin Youkilis to make it 4-3, then Borowski gave up three runs in the 9th.

The two teams will wrap up the short two-game set on Tuesday, as Paul Byrd will try to get on track against the Sox.  He sits at 0-2 with an ERA of 11.05, and will battle Tim Wakefield who is 1-0 with a 3.27 ERA.  First pitch is at 7:05pm.

It took all of one blown save for the Indians bloggers across the world to call for closer Joe Borowski’s head. Yes, I will be the first to admit that his presence in a ball game, a close ball game, in the 9th inning usually calls for a bottle of antacids. Last season with 45 saves for the AL Central Champs it always seemed that JoBo was finding ways to get in trouble in that final frame. It was like Borowski was the more in-shape version of Bob Wickman.

With that though, I am not going to panic just yet. Don’t forget last season when Borowski gave up an April slam to Alex Rodriguez in New York that lost the Indians a chance to salvage an early season game in the Bronx. These things are going to happen. Mariano Rivera lost a World Series game seven once, and he is a for sure Hall of Famer.

I’m not saying I want to go though another gut-wrenching, sweaty palms season every time Borowski comes in, but I’m also looking around wondering what choices the team has. Rafel Betancourt, Rafael Perez, Jensen Lewis, Jorge Julio? I guess for now I’ll take my chances with Borowski. After all, what choice does the team really have?

Who should be the closer for the Cleveland Indians?

Things seemed to be going the Indians way on Monday night in Los Angeles as they scored three runs in the ninth to take a 4-2 lead over the Angels. Then of course – enter Joe Borowski. The closer that always makes you sweat did that and more, as he got an out, but then a single and two walks later, JoeBo gave up a walk-off grand slam to Torii Hunter, and with that the Indians are back to under .500 at 3-4 following the Angels 6-4 win.

In almost a rerun of last years collapse of Borowksi in the early part of the season when he allowed Alex Rodriguez to hit a walk off homer against him early in the year in New York, this type of loss reminds fans why Borowski is just like a gas can. You never know when a fire is going to land by that gas can, and when it’s going to explode, just like last night.

The Indians, after their 2-0 start, have dropped four of their last five. Yes, it’s early, and yes, they are out west where it’s not easy to win, but losing two games to the A’s and pitchers who wouldn’t be on a lot of rosters, and then to blow a game like last night is very frustrating. The team did finally put a good inning together in the 9th with three runs on hits by Victor Martinez, Jhonny Peralta and Casey Blake, but it was all for not.

Some of the positives included another good start by Fausto Carmona, who went six innings, allowing four hits, one unearned run, and while he allowed five walks, he lowered his ERA to 0.69 in two starts. Martinez was back, going 2-for-4, and his hitting and being in the lineup will be a boost. Also was good to see Peralta get some hits, as he went 2-for-4 to raise his average to .241.

Overall this was one of those tough to swallow losses, and it would be nice to see Jake Westbrook come back tonight and get the series back to 1-1 and for this team to try and wrap up this trip with two straight wins before they host Oakland then the Red Sox and Tigers starting Friday night at Progressive Field.

Here are the local stories for last night’s collapse:

Indians torched by an Angel

Borowski can’t hold lead in ninth inning

Walk off slam sinks Tribe