Indians Confidential

The Indians are not saying it, but they are not officially in rebuild mode, as Saturday night after the game the team announced they had sent third basemen Mark DeRosa to the St.Louis Cardinals for relief pitcher Chrs Perez and a player to be named later.

DeRosa was not in the lineup on Saturday night, and when asked if he knew something was up, he said that he knew once he was not in the lineup, that something was amiss. He said that while excited to be going to a team in St.Louis that is challenging for a division title, it is tough to leave the Indians, a team he really wanted to succeed with in 2009.

So with that, the Indians are down a key vet in the locker room, and the mood was somber at best as players like Kerry Wood, Victor Martinez and Carl Pavano said their good-byes to DeRosa and sat around trying to take away the sting of what is going to be another long summer, as if it has not already.

Perez will join the club on Sunday, but won’t be able to pitch till probably Monday according to GM Mark Shapiro, who said this move had to be made simply to address a serious issue with the team – the bullpen. The 23-year-old Perez has spent most of 09 in the Cards pen, going 1-1 with a save and an ERA of 4.18.

He started the 2008 season at AAA Memphis, but spent most of the year in St.Louis after being called up on May 16th. DeRosa was hitting .270 with 13 homers and 50 RBI. He was a key offseason pickup that was supposed to be a rock at third base. Now, he’ll be nothing more than a footnote for his three month Indians career.

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.

When Cliff Lee walked two of the first three hitters on Sunday night, it looked like it was going to be one of THOSE nights for the Indians and last years Cy Young award winner. What we all didn’t know was that 8 innings later, Lee would still be throwing without allowing another walk, and even better, not allowing a hit.

For the first time in quite awhile, an Indians pitcher flirted big-time with a no-hitter, as Lee took a no-no into the 8th inning as he finally got some run support as the Tribe won another series, topping St.Louis 3-0. Lee finally allowed a hit with no outs in the 8th, giving up a clean double off the wall to Yadier Molina.

The funny thing is that Lee wasn’t phased by the hit, and knew that he had to keep throwing zeros, as the Indians held the three-run lead, but he wasn’t secure in thinking that the game was over by any means. He was able to get the last six outs, and ended up allowing two walks and three hits in the shutout win.

For Lee it was his 3rd career shutout, 8th career complete game, and he’s now 4-4 with a 2.07 ERA over his last 12 starts. The club has won 12 of their last 20 games, and have won 10 of their last 15 at home, which is a nice sign for a team that couldn’t win anywhere early in the season.

The offense didn’t let Lee hang on for some runs too long, as Mark DeRosa hit a two-run homer in the first off of Chris Carpenter for a quick Tribe lead. Kelly Shoppach, was was thrown out at the plate earlier in the game, hit a solo homer in the 5th to round out the scoring.

Carpenter was no pushover for Indians hitters, as coming in he was 4-0 with a 1.23 ERA. The Indians should be proud with the fact they have won games the past few days going up against two of baseballs best – Carpenter and KC’s Zack Greinke.

Back to the offense, DeRosa is hitting .340 in his last 12 games and has hit safely in 10 of his last 12 games, with three homers and 10 RBI. Over his last four games he has gone 6-for-1 with a homer and two RBI.

The Indians will look to keep the wins at home going on Monday, as they start a three-game set vs the Milwaukee Brewers. Now at 29-36, the club is in last in the division, but just 6 games out.

While the Indians have finally gotten to .500 at home at 15-15, the bigger thing that came out of Friday night’s game is the maturation process continued for pitcher David Huff. The Tribe topped St.Louis 7-3, and with it Huff again was impressive, going 7.1 innings, allowing three runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out five.

The offense did a solid job against Cards starter Joel Pineiro, getting to him for three runs on 7 hits in 6.1 innings. The key though was the Indians 7th, as against Pineiro, Jason Motte, Dennis Reyes and Kyle McClellan the team pushed three runs across, the biggest hit a Shin-Soo Choo single that scored a pair of runs.

St.Louis started to rally in the 8th, as they got runners on against Huff, then put two runs across to make it a 5-3 game. Joe Smith and Rafael Perez were able to get the last two outs of the inning though, and then the offense again was able to get some runs, scoring two to make it a 7-3 game for Kerry Wood in the 9th.

The Tribe closer was able to pitch a 1-2-3 inning and gain the team their 11th win in 18 games, and have won 9 of their last 13 at home. The bigger stat is that the bullpen is finally doing as it’s being paid to do, as they have allowed just one run in their last 14 innings covering the last four games.

On offense, the team was patient, putting up 11 hits, and again seemed to get the big hits when called upon. Mark DeRosa was 2-for-5, and Jamey Carroll as 2-for-4 and is hitting .359 over his last 11 games. The team moves to 28-35 overall.

Saturday the team will play a 4:10 game at home vs the Cardinals. Tomo Ohka (0-0, 5.40) goes for Cleveland vs Brad Thompson (0-2, 4.50).

You have to give the Indians some credit for fighting it out against maybe the best pitcher in the American League in 2009 – the Royals Zack Greinke. Thursday night the Indians fell behind Greinke, who came into the game with a 1.55 ERA, 3-1, but put up a fight, tied the game in the 8th, then won it in the 10th 4-3.

The win means a 27-35 mark, which again puts them ahead of the Royals in the AL Central, and means that they now are suddenly in striking distance of the White Sox and Twins, and with another couple of wins on this homestand, could start to make things interesting in the divsion.

Thursday they scrapped in that 8th, and again took advantage of the fact KC’s defense is pretty bad. A double error on KC in the inning really opened the door for the Tribe, who pushed two runs across to tie the game at three.

The winning rally in 10th with seagulls circling the ball park again came as Mark DeRosa singled, Victor Martinez walked, and then Shin-Soo Choo hit a ball that some say hit a bird to center to score the winning run.

The win goes to Matt Herges, who continues to do a good job out of the pen. He moves to 2-0. Jeremy Sowers started and went 5 innings, allowing two runs on 6 hits with a walk and two strikeouts. Greg Aquino allowed a run in three innings, and then Kerry Wood pitched a scoreless 9th to keep the game tied.

The Tribe stays home to start a three-game series with the St.Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

Don’t let it get to your head – but how good does 4th place feel now in the AL Central?

For at least one day, the Indians can celebrate being out of the Central cellar, as thanks to a solid comeback led by a game-winning grand slam from Mark DeRosa in the 7th, the Indians topped te Royals 8-4 to move ahead of them for 4th in the division.

It didn’t look like it would go that way for most of the night, as the Royals built a 4-0 lead off Cliff Lee with two in the 3rd inning, and two more in the 6th to make it look like yet another long night for the Indians. But the offense finally responded and put together a nice comeback to get the win.

The Indians were able to rally to tie it in the 6th with four runs. Shin-Soo Choo reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring Jamey Carroll. Then Travis Hafner got on the same way, scoring Victor Martinez to make it a 4-2 game. Kelly Shoppach hit a sac fly to make it 4-3, and then a Jhonny Peralta fielder’s choice tied it.

The winning rally saw Ben Francisco single, Martinez walk, then Choo was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for DeRosa vs Jamey Wright. The relief pitcher threw a pitch down the middle of the plate on the first pitch, but then DeRosa got the good wood on the second pitch, putting it over the wall in right for the grand slam to make it 8-4.

The Royals got a hit in the 8th, and then a walk in the 9th off of Kerry Wood, but could do no further damage as the door was closed and the Tribe got the win. Rafael Perez got the win in relief to move to 1-1. The win puts the Indians at 26-34, dropping KC to 24-33, losers of 9 of their last 10.

Carl Pavano who is 6-4 goes for the Indians Wednesday against Gil Meche for the Royals (2-5) at 7:05.

It’s no secret that Indians starter and last season Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee hasn’t gotten much run support in 2009. That stat once again reared its ugly head at Progressive Field Friday night, as the Indians win streak was snapped at four in a 3-1 loss to the New York Yankees.

Lee had to battle, but still managed to wait out a 1 hour 25 minute rain delay to throw six innings, allowing three earned runs on 9 hits. He walked two and struck out five, and threw 112 pitches. He admitted after the game that his control was off, and it was one of those nights where he simply had to try and grind it out.

On the other hand, it seems like when Lee gives up 2 or more runs, the game is a lost cause. The Indians have scored 29 runs in 10 games when Lee takes the mound total in 2009 (2.9 runs per game), and if you take away the 10-run effort in New York on the opening of Yankee Stadium, that stat would go down to 19 runs in 9 games, an anemic 2.1 runs per game average.

Friday night was much of the same for the Indians offense, as they didn’t do much against Yankee starter Andy Pettitte, who despite being older than dirt (okay, he’s really just 36, but seems much older), was able to hold the Tribe to just one run in 5+ innings before leaving with a stiff back. He got out of trouble a couple of times, and held the Indians to six hits, five walks, and one strikeout.

New York took a 2-0 lead off of Lee in the 2nd with a Derek Jeter RBI single and a Mark Teixeira ground out that scored a run. They added another run in the third when Nick Swisher hit a sac fly to deep center that scored Robinson Cano.

The Indians had their shots, as they loaded the bases in the third but on a 3-1 pitch Mark DeRosa hit a weak grounder to second to end the inning. They came back with the bases loaded in the 6th with no outs, and Kelly Shoppach struck out looking, Shin-Soo Choo hit a sac fly for a run, and Asdrubal Cabrera grounded out to end the frame.

Overall the Indians left 11 runners on base.

The team falls to 21-29 on the season, and Saturday night will take on old friend C.C. Sabathia (4-3, 3.42) at 7:05pm, as Fausto Carmona (2-4, 6.42) goes for the Indians.