Indians Confidential

With the month of April gone, the Indians looked to start May on a high note. Well, it wasn’t exactly the way they wanted it, but they got the job done on Friday night in Detroit, topping the Tigers 6-5. The game seemed similar to the one they lost Wednesday vs the Red Sox, as they had a 5-0 lead before Boston came storming back and eventually got the win.

This night, the Indians got that big 6th run in the 7th, and even though they led 6-0, they would need them all by the time the “bullpen from Hell” almost gave it all back. Detroit put up a five-spot in the 8th, as (who else) Rafael Perez and Jensen Lewis gave them almost enough runs to tie the game.

Thanks though to Rafael Betancourt and then Kerry Wood to close it out. Betancourt got the last out in the 8th, and then Wood recorded his 5th save of the year with three outs in the 9th to get the Tribe the win. They move to 9-14 on the season, and drop the Tigers to 11-11.

There were some offensive highlights that deserve mention:

Jhonny Peralta had a RBI single in the second, then hit his first homer in the 3rd to make it 5-0.
Mark DeRosa was 2-for-5 with two runs scored
David Dellucci (a sight for sore eyes), played his first game coming off the DL and was 4-for-5 with a run scored.

Overall the team put up 12 hits, and put up plenty of chances to score, but in the end were able to push across 6 runs to get the win. Another positive was the pitching of Carl Pavano, who got his first win as an Indian. He went 7.1 innings, allowing two runs on 5 hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out three.

While he’s had his moments, there’s no denying how bad this bullpen is. Why Eric Wedge keeps running Perez out there is beyond me, and he’s going to lose games the more he puts him out there. Let’s look at Perez – he wasn’t able to get an out, allowed two hits, two runs. He’s got an ERA of 13.50, and in 11 games has given up 15 earned runs. If this guys doesn’t get sent down to AAA soon, it’s a joke.

Okay, let’s stay positive here, the team got win one of the road trip out of the way, and game two tomorrow will see Aaron Laffey, the teams best starter so far this season, against Zach Miner at 3:40pm.

It was a wasted day in NYC, as the Indians had all the momentum going their way to walk out of the Big Apple with a 3-1 series win over the Yankees, and also some much needed lift going into a big 9-game homestand starting Tuesday night at Progressive Field.

Welcome to The Bullpen from Hell 2009.

It was that awful pen that allowed New York to push six runs across in the final two at-bats to turn a 3-1 Indians lead into an eventual 7-3 setback. Sure the offense only managed four hits all day, but two big homers (Choo and Garko) had the team winning entering the bottom of the 7th.

That’s when Eric Wedge gave the ball to Rafael Perez, who really should get a tune-up in the minors at this point. He gave up two hits and a run, then Jensen Lewis allowed a two-run homer to Jorge Posada to give New York the lead for good. Rafael Betancourt made sure the Indians had no chance of a comeback, as he gave up three runs in 1.1 innings to make it the final of 7-3.

Let’s see the ERA’s of our wonderful pen – Perez: 16.17. Lewis: 8.10. Betancourt: 6.14. Need I say more?

This team is never going to challenge anyone unless they get some help from their bullpen, and Eric Wedge and Mark Shapiro have to know that. Perez really needs to get his head checked at this point, as he can’t get anyone out, and Lewis has already allowed four homers in 7.2 innings pitched. Ouch.

Props to Carl Pavano, who did a nice job getting the Indians to the 3-1 lead in the 7th. He allowed just one run on four hits in 6 full innings. He walked one and struck out four, and has made some impressive strides since that first bombing he took in Texas the third game of the season.

So now the team will come home, unpack their bags for the first time in two and a half months, and settle in for a long homestand. Let’s be optomistic that the club can go 7-2 in the 9 games vs the Royals, Twins and Red Sox, and if that comes about, they will be 11-12 after 23 games. A bad homestand, and the club won’t even be the front page of the area sports papers.

I’m declaring that I will be bald at the end of the 2009 season.

That is because I am going to pull my hair out every time Eric Wedge has to go to the bullpen to bring in a relief (and I use that term loosely) pitcher that is WAYYYY overpaid to simply blow a game that a starting Indians pitcher has given them a chance to win.

While I write this with 6 outs for the Indians left in Sunday’s finale with the Yankees, the team has yet again gone to the bullpen in a critical spot, and again, the bullpen has stunk up the joint to the point where two pitchers quickly turned a 3-1 lead into a 4-3 deficit.

Right now my enemy number one is Rafael Perez. Why does Wedge continue to go to Perez, when it’s obvious he cannot get anyone out?! Tom Hamilton and Mike Hegan said that team was “working things out” with Perez, and they didn’t want to go to him Sunday. SO WHY DID THEY?!

Oh – and if Perez has “things to work out” – WHAT WAS SPRING TRAINING FOR?! Going into Sunday, Perez has appeared in 6 games, allowing 8 hits, 11 RUNS, 9 walks and two strikeouts with an ERA of 14.14. Sunday, he faced two batters, quickly allowed a double and single to make it 3-2, and just like that was ushered out of the game to have Jensen Lewis, who’s had his own issues come in and give up the rest of the lead, plus one more.

Lewis, who has developed the speciality of allowing homers, gave up his FOURTH bomb of the season to give New York a 4-3 lead. Lewis, who looked so good late last season, has been pretty below average to start the season, and is another reason this team had better develop leads like Saturday.

The team thought they had adressed the issue of the pen this offseason with Kerry Wood. Through the first two full weeks of the season – they don’t have the horses to get to Wood, and are paying for it.

The red-hot Indians continue to put the heat on 3rd place Detroit, and Monday night in Comerica Park they flexed their muscles for a couple homer homers in a 4-3 win that took 10 innings.  The game-winner came in the 10th as Franklin Gutierrez hit a solo homer for the win to give the Indians their 8th straight victory.  Grady Sizemore hit two homers to join the 30-30 club, just the second player to have 30 homers and 30 steals ever in a season for the Tribe (Joe Carter in 87 was the other).

Sizemore is the first American League player to join the 30-30 club since Alfonso Soriano did it for Texas in 2005.  The Indians built a 3-1 lead after scoring single runs in the 1st, 3rd and 4th innings to give starter Zach Jackson a cushion.  He gave the runs back to the Tigers as Edgar Renteria hit a solo homer in the 5th and then Brandon Inge singled in a run in the 7th to make it 3-3.

Jackson went 6.1 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, striking out six and allowing two homers.  Four other Indians pitchers held the Tigers in check, as Masa Kobayashi, Rafael Perez, Brenden Donnelly and Jensen Lewis combined to go 3.2 innings, allowing no runs on two hits, walking one and striking out two.

The win means the Indians are now just a half game out of third in the AL Central at 63-67, the Tigers are now 64-67.  They have their ace going on Tuesday as Cliff Lee looks for win #19 as he takes on former Cardinals first-round draft pick Chris Lambert (first start) at 7:05pm.

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).

Paul Byrd played with fire for much of the night, but in the end was good enough as the Indians continued their hot streak with a 5-2 win over the Angels in Anaheim Monday night. The Tribe is as hot as at any point in this letdown of a 2008 season, as they have now won 7 of their last 8 after they had dropped 10 in a row. Byrd allowed 9 hits, but only one run in the 5.1 innings pitched. The former Angles pitcher improved to 4-10 on the season.

The offense was paced by the long ball, as three Indians homers paced the win. Casey Blake hit his 11th of the year, a two-run shot, and Jhonny Peralta hit his 17th in the 8th inning, a solo shot, while Andy Marte went 2-for-4 with his 2nd homer, a solo shot in the 4th. Blake’s two-run blast in the 5th off losing pitcher Ervin Santana (11-4) made it 4-1 and it was all the Tribe would need.

The bullpen did a nice job for Byrd, as Rafael Perez, who’s had a tough 2008, threw 2.2 innings, allowing one run on one hit, a solo homer to Howie Kendrick in the 8th that made it 5-2. Masa Kobayashi threw a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his 6th save, striking out the side to shut the door and put any doubt out of the Angels mind about extending their 5-game winning streak.

The win puts the Indians one little percentage point behind the Royals for 4th place in the AL Central at 44-54. They are still 11 games back of the White Sox in the Central, who lead the division by only .5 over the Twins. The Indians will continue their series with the Angels tonight. Matt Ginter, who’s 1-and-0 with a 0.00 ERA, will start for the Indians. Jered Weaver, who’s 8-and-8 with a 4.03 ERA, will start for the Angels. First pitch at Angel Stadium is at 10:05 p.m.

Make that two nights in a row that the Indians look like a Major League team that cares again.  With their All-Star pitcher on the hill, the Indians again made life miserable for the Rays on Friday night at Progressive Field, stunning Tampa Bay with another beating, 5-0.  The Indians have whipped the Rays, a team that was coming in alreday slumping, by outscoring them 18-2 in the first two wins of the series.

Cliff Lee, the likely starter for the American League All-stars in New York on Tuesday night, moved to 12-2 with another solid outing.  He went six innings, allowing no runs on five hits, walking one and striking out seven. With the outing the best pitcher on the team lowered his ERA to 2.31.  He was in control, and while the Rays had some baserunners, they never were able to get that big hit off of him.

Big hits have come in bunches over the last 48 hours for the Indians.  They scored a run in the first when Jhonny Peralta smacked a double off of Rays losing pitcher James Sheilds to quickly make it 1-0 as Ben Francisco came around to score.  They added two more in the third when Peralta was at it again, hitting his 15th homer of the season, again scoring Francisco to make it 3-0.

With Lee shutting the Rays down, the offense added to the lead in the 5th, scoring a run on a Francisco double to center that scored Jamey Carroll.  They wrapped up their third solid night at the plate with a run in the 7th as Carroll singled to center to score Grady Sizemore to make it 5-0.

Another positive again was the bullpen, which for the last two nights has been given leads and have held them with somewhat ease.  Tonight Lee handed off to Rafael Perez, who went 1.2 scoreless innings, and then in the 9th Edward Mujica allowed a hit but was able to get out of it to complete the shutout.

The win puts the Indians at 39-53 on the season.  They will look for three straight on Saturday night at 7:05pm as Matt Ginter is expected to take the now departed C.C. Sabathia spot in the rotation, for at least one night, as he’ll take on Matt Garza (7-4).

For one night anyway, the Indians looked like a team that gave a darn about winning once again, and not making excuses as to why they had lost 10 straight.  They put a rather sound beating on the Tampa Bay Rays Thursday night, winning for the first time since June 27th when now former Indian C.C. Sabathia shutout the Reds.

Thursday’s win, 13-2, came complete with just about everything the Indians had not been doing over the last 10 games.  They put up a 5-spot in the 5th, a 7-spot in the 8th, hit a couple of long balls, had some two out hits, and got a solid pitching outing from starter Aaron Laffey and the bullpen didn’t blow it out of the water like it has on more than a few times this season.

They trailed 2-0 going into the 5th when David Dellucci hit a two-run homer to tie the game, then after Jamey Carroll hit a fielders choice to make it 3-2, Ben Francisco hit a two-run shot that gave the team the three-run lead at 5-2.  They added a spot in the 6th when Shin-Soo Choo hit a solo homer, and then put up another five spot in the 8th to put the game away.

That inning was highlighted by a Casey Blake homer, a run on an error, and a Francisco single that scored two more runs.  A Jhonny Peralta single scored another run, and then Blake, the 10th batter of the inning, hit a single that scored two more runs to end the frame to the first standing ovation the team has had for some time.  The 7 runs in the 8th was only the second time they have done that in 2008 – the last time – the season opener in the 2nd inning vs the White Sox.

Laffey went six innings, allowing two runs on four hits, walking three and striking out four.  He improves to 5-5, his first win since June 12th.  Even the bullpen, as bad as it’s been for the whole season, couldn’t blow this one, as Rafael Perez pitched two scoreless innings, and one of the newer Indians, Juan Rincon, finished off the win with a scoreless 9th.  The win puts the Indians at 38-53, dropping the Rays to 55-36.  Friday the four-game set continues at 7:05pm as All-Star Cliff Lee (11-2, 2.43) goes vs James Shields (7-5) for the Rays.