Indians Confidential

Boy, that Chris Perez-Mark DeRosa deal sure looks like a winner.

Not.

At least not on Perez’s first night as an Indian, as the teams newest “pitcher” hit two batters and allowed four runs on two hits in his Indians debut in the latest version of the Bad News Bears - a 6-3 loss to the White Sox. Don’t let the final score fool you, as the White Sox never really broke a sweat after going up 2-0 after two innings.

They held the Indians offense at bay, and then in the 9th up 2-0 the team turned to Perez, who came over in the DeRosa trade late Saturday night. He started the inning by plunking Alexei Ramirez in the head, then hit Jermaine Dye on the hand. He then walked Jim Thome, a proceeded to allow a force out for a run, and a Chris Getz double to score a run, a wild pitch to bring a run home, and a single to finish off the fiasco.

Let’s just say the few thousand that were left at Progressive Field were not all that nice to Perez when he was pulled, showering him with a well deserved round of boo’s as he took his rightful place in the Indians dugout. The Indians did
avoid the shutout with three runs in the 9th (Shin-Soo Choo and Ryan Garko homers), but the game was well over at that point.

Of course Garko did have a chance to make it a game with the bases loaded and two outs in the 7th vs Gavin Floyd, but he ended the inning with a dribbler down the first base line that Floyd picked up and threw him out. One ump at first ruled it foul, but after a conference they made the correct call as it was fair, but just to hit the showers early, Eric Wedge argued the call and got booted.

Carl Pavano started, and allowed two runs on five hits in 7 innings, and wasn’t bad, but got no support at all. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out six, but was outdone by Floyd, who gave up five hits as well in 7.1, walking two and striking out five.

The Indians are now 31-47, their worst record this year in terms of being a full 16 games under .500. They have lost 6 of their last 7 at home, and 11 of their last 13. They will continue the homestand in front of a few friends and family on Tuesday night.

It’s been frustrating watching Jeremy Sowers get to that fifth inning mark, only to then wilt like bad lettuce. Friday night vs the Reds, a team that has owned the Indians as of late, Sowers finally got it right, as he was better than at any point in 2009, going 7 solid innings in the Indians 9-2 win to finally give them a little confidence.

Sowers allowed two runs on six hits, walking just one and striking out six. The offense gave him more than enough support, as Ryan Garko and Victor Martinez each homered off of Reds starter Aaron Harang, who was 3-1 lifetime vs the Indians entering the game Friday.

The runs came early for the Tribe, as a Grady Sizemore double scored the teams first run, then a sac fly by Victor Martinez made it 2-0. Garko homered to left in the 4th with Jhonny Peralta on to make it 4-0. The fifth saw the team score three runs, with Martinez homering, Shin-Soo Choo scoring on an error, and Peralta doubling to make it 7-0.

The night belonged to Sowers, who was in a comfort zone with first pitch strikes and a good mix of pitches. He threw a two-hitter till the 7th when the Reds finally broke through with a run on three hits. Of course the bullpen allowed a run in the 8th (Jensen Lewis), but then Tony Sipp came in to close the door in the 9th.

The win puts the Tribe at 5-11 vs the NL this season, and they are now 31-44 on the season. The second game of the series comes up on Saturday evening at 7pm.

All those fuzzy warm feelings you were getting about the Indians as they started this 9-game homestand 4-2 - throw em away. In a 72-hour stretch, the Milwaukee Brewers came into town and ripped out any good feelings you should have had about the Indians, sweeping them with a 11-inning 9-8 win on Wednesday night.

It was a long night all the way around, as the game was delayed 34 minutes by rain, and then as it did get started, Indians starter David Huff allowed single runs in the first three innings to put the Brew Crew up 3-0. Jeff Suppan looked like Randy Johnson in his prime, getting tons of early ground ball outs till finally the Indians started swinging the bats in the 4th.

Three straight doubles tied the game at three, and finally there was a feeling of momentum for the Indians. It lasted till the 7th, with Huff long gone the Brewers scored three runs, Bill Hall starting it with a solo homer off of reliever Joe Smith. Then the reliever gave a walk, then Matt Herges allowed a pair of doubles to make it 6-3.

Milwaukee added a single run in the 8th, and then the Indians came back with a run in the bottom of the inning when Luis Valbuena singled to make it 7-4. The Brewers then added a Corey Hart homer in the 9th to make it 8-4, and most of the 15,000 + on hand headed home.

The Indians though had one of those 1995 comebacks, as off of Trevor Hoffman in the 9th, the team pushed across four runs, the big hit a Ryan Garko bases clearing double with one out. Problem was Garko fell rounding second, tweaking his ankle and being tagged out.

The Brewers then put together an efficent 11th, as against Greg Aquino, they got a single, walk, wild pitch, walk and then a sac fly to make it a 9-8 game. The Indians put two on with one out, but Shin-Soo Choo struck out on a 3-2 pitch, and Ben Francisco did the same swinging on a 2-2 pitch to end the game.

The Indians had their chances as usual, as they put up 13 hits, left 9 on base, and the pitchers allowed three homers. The Brewers have dominated the Indians, winning 7 straight, and are 11-7 vs the Indians since 1997. The Indians are now 10 games under .500, and with the off day on Thursday, I wouldn’t doubt some roster moves tomorrow as the team heads to Wrigley this weekend.

Coming off Monday’s improbable 11-10 win over the Rays, it would have been hard to outdo that on Tuesday night. Thanks to starter Carl Pavano, the Indians didn’t have to. Pavano was on his game, throwing 7 solid innings, and the offense hit four homers as the Tribe cruised to their 15th straight home win over the Rays, winning 5-1.

Pavano was the story. He’s now won five games in May, and his fastball was solid, keeping the Rays off target pretty much all night. He is 5-1 with a 3.58 ERA and only seven walks against 30 strikeouts since May 1st, when he got his first win of the season in Detroit.

The offense gave him all the help he would need against Rays starter Matt Garza early. Ryan Garko’s homer swing was in effect again, as he hit a solo shot in the 2nd to quickly make it 1-0. Asdrubal Cabrera hit a solo homer in the 3rd to make it 2-0, and then in the 6th, Mark DeRosa slammed a two-run shot to give the team a commanding 4-0 lead.

Carols Pena made it 4-1 with a solo homer off Pavano in the 7th, but then in the bottom of the inning Kelly Shoppach wrapped up the scoring with a solo homer to make it 5-1. The Indians only had 6 hits all night, but considering four were homers, that is all that really matters.

The team has won 5 of their last 7, and a win Wednesday secures the series win over the Rays. They are now 19-28, and drop the Rays to 23-25. They are still 7.5 out in the AL Central, but now at least seem to have some momentum, and we’ll see if Wednesday’s starter - Zach Jackson, can keep it going.

He was 0-for-18 coming to the plate. None of that mattered. For Victor Martinez and the Indians, it was a night of being a hero, and for at least one night, Martinez got the job done. For the Indians, it was by far their best win of the season, and for a season that appears lost, it was at least one night of happiness at Progressive Field.

Martinez’s two-out, two-strike, single between second and short scored two runs, as the Indians overcame a stunning 10-0 deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 11-10 in front of a spirited crowd at the Prog. The win puts the team at 18-28, still 10 games under .500, but hey, it’s better than 12 games - right?

The Rays built the 10-0 lead off a wild Fausto Carmona, who couldn’t find the plate. He lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing five earned runs on just three hits. He also walked five and struck out three. He ended up throwing 60 pitches, and only got 30 over for strikes. He was pretty bad to say the least, and left the team in a bad hole. They went to Jensen Lewis, who in 1.2 innings allowing another five runs on three hits, with two walks.

The credit from the pitching has to go to Jeremy Sowers, who went five scoreless innings, walking just one and striking out one while the offense finally started getting some hits and some runs. The big inning for the Tribe was the 9th, when down 10-4 entering the inning they piled up 7 runs, mostly again due to walks.

The team sent 11 batters to the plate, drawing five walks, getting just three hits, but pushing 7 runs across. Ryan Garko hit his second homer of the night in the inning, and by the time Martinez got to the plate, the crowd was on their feet waiting for the biggest comeback of the season to be complete.

He delivered.

Off of former Mets thrower Jason Isringhausen, who was making his first all-time relief outing, Ben Francisco walked, Jamey Carroll walked, Grady Sizemore walked to make it 11-10, then Martinez singled to finish off the win with two runs to make it an 11-10 win.

Yes, at least for one night the Indians played like the team we’ve grown to love for their miracle comebacks over the years. The issues remain with Carmona, a leaky bullpen, and an offense that never seems to get runs across when they need them, but the bottom line is this - it was a win, and for this team this year - they will take it.

This years Indians are so bad, they even allowed a pitcher on Sunday to drive in a run in what became their 25th loss of the season. That pitcher was Andy Sonnanstine, who due to a lineup mixup by manager Joe Maddon was forced to hit in the 9 hole, and of course against new Indians pitcher David Huff he had an RBI double.

It was just one of a couple of crazy things to happen to Huff and the Indians as they fell to the Rays 7-5 on Sunday. It was the third straight loss for the Indians, and after a brief winning streak they now find themselves 11 games under .500 at 14-25, and are 7.5 games back in an AL Central that is quickly slipping away.

Huff, who got the call-up to start on Sunday, wasn’t very good. He allowed 7 runs on 7 hits in 3.2 innings, walking four and striking out two. “He was erratic,” manager Eric Wedge said. “You could tell he was a little nervous early on. I don’t think we saw his ‘A’ game today. I think he was just fighting to control the baseball with most of his pitches. It still stems off the fastball command, and it was tight up there today.”

Wedge tried to shake-up the lineup a bit, sitting struggling Grady Sizemore, and putting hot hitting Asdrubal Cabrera at the leadoff spot. Jamey Carroll hit second and played second, while Cabrera played short and Shin-Soo Choo hit fourth. Ben Francisco did a great job playing in place of Sizemore, hitting two homers and putting up four RBI.

The Tribe did get screwed in the 8th, as a ball hit by Ryan Garko that should have been a double was ruled an out. The fly to left hit the top of the padded portion of the wall and bounced back into Carl Crawford’s, who was playing left, hand. The umpires ruled that the ball hit Crawford’s glove before bouncing into his hand, resulting in an out, but replays showed that it hit the wall.

Just another thing against the Indians in what is quickly is starting to be more and more of a frustrating season. “It’s been frustrating for a while,” Kerry Wood said. “I don’t think it can get a whole lot more frustrating than where we’re at right now. At least I hope not.”

Drop a couple more games in KC this week, and we’ll see how those calls to talk shows asking for Wedge’s head grow louder.

It’s been awhile since Cliff Lee has been able to gain a victory, but it hasn’t been his fault for the most part.  Lee has been having issues with the Indians offense, but Wednesday in the finale of a 6-game homestand, Lee was on like last season, quickly and with great success shutting down the White Sox as the Indians wrapped up the homstand with a 4-0 victory.

Friday Lee got no runs at all, and lost 1-0 to the Tigers.  While he’s just 2-5, he had not won a game since the opener in Yankee Stadium back on April 16th.  It had to be pretty frustrating for him, as he has a 1.70 ERA in his last five starts, but was getting litte run support.  The teams four runs today doubled its output in Lee’s previous four starts combined.

So it was nice to see Victor Martinez hit a solo homer in the first inning off of Mark Buehrle to give Lee a little support.  It was even better when the team got a two-run shot from Ryan Garko to make it 3-0 in the 4th, and then another run crossed to make it 4-0 in the 5th.

Not like beating Buehrle was an easy task.  The Indians were the first team in 2009 to do it, as entering Wednesday he was 5-0.  Matched up against Lee, those four runs were more than enough.  Lee went 7 innings, allowing six hits with 1 walk and 9 strikeouts.

“He’s been about as good as we’ve seen him. He’s been very consistent,” Eric Wedge said. “He’s gone through a stretch here where we haven’t scored any runs for him, but he hasn’t given in to that.”

Maybe the most important numbers were 2-1, which is what the Indians win to loss total the last three days vs Chicago, meaning they have won a series.  It was just their 2nd series win over the season, the first was against KC back April 21st to 23rd at Progressive Field.

It was also the Tribe’s first shutout of 09, last season with at one point Lee and C.C. Sabathia on the roster, the team ended the season with 13 shutouts.  The team now sits at 13-22, and will head out on their longest road trip of the season, starting with a game Thursday night in Tampa Bay.