Indians Confidential

It seems like forever a go that the Indians had won five straight games. The locker room at the time was full of players that were ready to make a run at a title, like C.C. Sabathia, Paul Byrd, Casey Blake, and players like Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner  were healthy. In other words - it was a time when the Indians felt they had a shot in the AL Central. Fast forward to August 12th. The team has moved the first three players on the list, while the other two are on the DL. Nevertheless, this Indians squad now simply playing out the season is at least showing some signs of life.

Tuesday night against the equally as bad Baltimore Orioles, and just about three hours after moving Byrd to the Red Sox, the Indians built an early 4-2 lead and led at one point 5-2, but like Monday night saw the game slip away only to then regain the lead late for a 7-5 win. The team gave up the 5-2 lead by allowing the O’s a single run in the 5th and two more in the 7th to tie the game at 4. The Tribe offense continued to stay hot, as they scored twice in the bottom of the 8th to seal the deal.

Shin-Soo Choo was hit by a pitch, then Andy Marte bunted Choo to second. Asdrubal Cabrera stayed hot, hitting a single to center that scored Choo with the winning run to make it 6-5. Two batters later the team added an extra run when Ben Francisco singled to left that scored Cabrera to make it 7-5. Jensen Lewis pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn the save and send the Indians to their second straight over the birds.

Jeremy Sowers went for the Indians to start the game, and was good after a shakey first that saw him allow two runs. He lasted 6.1, allowing four runs on six hits. His fastball seemed to have pretty good movement, and he continues to make progress in his development in trying to make sure he’ll be a part of the starting rotation in 2009. The bullpen of dispair saw Masa Kobayashi not retire a batter and allow a run on two hits.

Rafael Perez, who is the best of the pen’s bunch right now, went 1.2 scoreless innings, and picked up the win to improve to 2-2. Lewis’ 9th inning gave him his second save of the season. It’s the second night in a row the team threw him out in the 9th, and the second time he was able to come through with a good outing. The Indians will continue their series with the Orioles tonight. Anthony Reyes, who’s 3-and-1 with a 3.86 ERA, will start for the Indians. The Orioles will send out Jeremy Guthrie, who’s 9-and-8 with a 3.26 ERA. First pitch at Progressive Field is set for 7:05 p.m.

The Indians have had a tendecy to fall behind and fight back, only to then fall short. That was the storyline at Progressive Field on Tuesday evening, as the Tigers used an early 4-0 lead vs Matt Ginter and then iced the game with a key two-run homer off of Rafael Betancourt to top the Indians 8-5 in front of 30,625 who chowed down tons of $1 hot dogs.

Ginter showed why he’s had career trouble in the Majors, as he had little command and the Tigers made him work, as he was only able to last 4 innings and threw 77 pitches. He allowed four earned runs on 8 hits, and unlike the night before when Paul Byrd was able to control his pitches inside, Ginter was nowhere near as consistent, and the Tigers buried him for it.

He allowed a solo homer to Miguel Cabrera in the 2nd to give Detroit a 1-0 lead, but then in the fourth was hit hard for three runs, the biggest of which was a shot by Edgar Renteria to deep left that scored two runs and put him on second to make it 3-0. The battle between Ginter and Renteria clearly went to the hitter, as he took the 3-2 pitch and made Ginter pay for trying to be too fine, driving the ball for the biggest hit of the game.

The Indians offense didn’t go too quietly vs Tigers starter Armando Galarraga. David Dellucci, hitting in the two-hole, made it 4-1 in the bottom of the 4th with a double to right that scored Grady Sizemore. Gary Sheffield then made it 6-1 Detroit in the 5th with a two-run double off of Juan Rincon, who is showing why he was available in the middle of the season.

A Jhonny Peralta triple and Shin-Soo Choo double brought two more runs in for the Indians and made it 6-3. Again though, with the team trying to fight back, the bullpen blew any chance, as Betancourt allowed a two-run homer to Brandon Inge in the 8th to make it an 8-3 game. The Tribe closed out the scoring with a Ryan Garko double to score a run to make it 8-4, and then Sizemore scored in the 9th on a wild pitch to make it 8-5.

The loss throws the indians to 46-59, while the Tigers continue to keep hope alive in the Central at 52-52. Ginter suffers the loss to fall to 1-2, Galarraga improves to 9-4 with the win. The Indians will continue their series with the Tigers tonight. Cliff Lee, who’s 14-and-2 with a 2.29 ERA, will start for the Indians. The Tigers will send out Nate Robertson, who’s 6-and-8 with a 5.63 ERA. First pitch at Progressive Field is set for 7:05 p.m.

Home cooking is starting to taste good again to the Indians, who Friday night in the kickoff of Beach weekend (whatever) took advantage again of Twins pitcher Livan Hernandez in beating Minnesota 5-2.  The Indians roughed up Hernandez back on June 12th, as they scored 7 runs against him on 12 hits in just three innings in a 12-2 win.

Tonight they jumped on him for four runs in the first inning to set the pace, also sending 8 men to the plate.  Ben Francisco hit a sac fly with two on that scored Grady Sizemore from second when Carlos Gomez slammed against the wall and laid on the ground hurt.  Shin-Soo Choo hit another sac fly to make it 2-0 that scored Jamey Carroll.  Kelly Shoppach two batters later hit a double that scored Jhonny Peralta and Casey Blake to make it 4-0.

Cliff Lee was on again for the Indians, as the Cy Young candidate went 8 innings, throwing another gem.  He allowed two runs on six hits, striking out 10.  The Tribe MVP improves to 14-2 on the year, the first pitcher in the Majors to win 14 games this year.  He allowed a single run in the 3rd on a Denard Span single, and another in the 6th on  Joe Mauer double, but other than that was again solid.

The Indians offense also got a homer from Franklin Gutierrez in the 9th spot in the order which made it 5-1 in the second.  They pounded out 12 hits on the night, with Blake, Peralta and Gutierrez all with more than one hit. Masa Kobayashi came in to take the final inning for Lee and quickly allowed a hit and a Justin Morneau homer to make it 5-4.   Delmon Young then doubled and Eric Wedge moved to Rafael Perez.

Perez got Mike Redmond to lineout to first, then got Brendan Harris to ground out to the pitcher to get two quick outs.  The threat was gone when Nick Punto grounded out to second on a great play by Asdrubal Cabrera to end the game.

The team, now 45-56, will look for two in a row over the Twins on Saturday night at 7:05 when it’s the return of Fausto Carmona (4-2, 3.10) from the DL vs Scott Baker (6-3, 3.26).

While winning the “Ohio Cup” is about as much of a joke as anything when it comes to baseball bragging rights, what will also go down as a joke in the 2008 season is how bad the Indians played against not only their National League rivals, but against the NL as a whole. Following the teams 9-5 loss Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field, the Indians wrap up their season vs the NL with a mark of 6-12, and a pretty sad 1-5 mark against the Reds.

Sunday’s loss drops the team to 37-45, right back to 8 games under .500, and 22-22 at Progressive Field. The offense as usual made a rather bad pitcher, in this case the Reds Bronson Arroyo, look like someone heading for the Cy Young. Entering action vs the Indians, Arroyo was 4-7 with an ERA of 6.52. Instead of pounding him like Indians teams in the past would have done, they went quietly inning by innings, and by the time Arroyo left, he had allowed one earned run on two hits over six innings.

Aaron Laffey got the start for the Indians, and did a nice job till the 5th, when the Reds offense went off against him for five runs on five hits, putting 8 men to the plate. David Ross scored the first run on a wild pitch, then Jeff Keppinger doubled in a run, Brandon Phillips singled in another, and Edwin Encarnacion hit his 13th homer of the year to make it 5-0.

Grady Sizemore got the Indians back into the game with a solo homer in the 6th to make it 5-1, and a Shin-Soo Choo double that was botched in center allowed another run to come across to make it 5-2. Kelly Shoppach had a chance for the inning to continue but struck out, getting Arroyo off the hook. Rick Bauer took the spot of Laffey in the 6th, and ran into trouble in the 7th, then allowing Adam Dunn, who’s been an Indians killer all season, to take him deep for a three-run shot that made it 8-2.

The Indians loaded the bases in the 7th, but a Ben Francisco ground out ended the inning. Shoppach doubled in another run in the 8th when Jhonny Peralta scored to make it 8-3. Francisco made it look somewhat interesting in the 9th with a two-out, two-run homer that made it 9-5, his 6th of the year.

The Indians could for sure have their season for all intensive purposes ended this week as they travel to Chicago to take on the White Sox for three starting on Monday night. Jeremy Sowers (0-3, 5.97) will go for the Indians vs Gavin Floyd (8-4, 3.39) for Chicago at 8:11pm.

As the Indians continue to try and fight and stay in the AL Central race, the two things they seem to have going for them as of late is the pitching of starters C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee. Last night it was the pitching of Lee that led the team to a 4-1 win over the Giants, and Friday night it was Sabathia’s turn - giving the team another strong outing as the Tribe spanked the Reds 6-0.

Sabathia, who continues to hear his name in trade talks almost non-stop by the local and national media, remanis focused on the task at hand. Friday night he went 8 innings, allowing 0 runs on 4 hits, and striking out 11 while walking 2. It’s the fifth time this season he’s thrown double digit K’s, and over his last three starts he’s 3-0, allowing just 4 earned runs. He moves to 6-8 on the season.

On offense, the team put up a crooked five spot in the 6th off three Reds pitchers to blow the game open. They batted around that inning, putting up the five runs on four hits to go along with a Reds error. The big hits were a Casey Blake two-run single, and a Grady Sizemore double that scored two more runs. Sizemore opened the scoring in the 5th inning with a solo homer off Reds starter Daryl Thompson, his 18th blast of the season.

Overall the offense put up 10 hits on the night, Jamey Carroll continued his hot hitting with three hits, and is now hitting .304. Shin-Soo Choo and Blake each had two hits, as did Sizemore. The win puts the Indians now at 37-43 on the season, 2-2 on this homestand. They still trail the White Sox by 7.5 in the Central, as Chicago of the AL topped Chicago of the NL Friday afternoon.

Two struggling pitchers go at it Saturday night at Progressive Field, as Paul Byrd at 3-8 with a 5.21 ERA takes the hill for the Indians vs Johnny Cueto (3-8, 5.01) at 7:05pm.

While the white flag has not officially been raised, let’s just says it’s on the pole and in position. The Indians have reached a point in the 2008 season many thought they would never get to - last place in the division, and basically ready to call it quits and get ready for a fire sale to start building for the 2009 campaign. Last night at Progressive Field, the team lost their 6th game out of their last 8, making Barry Zito look like the Barry Zito of old, falling to the Giants 4-1.

Coming in with a mark of 2-11, Zito threw one-run ball over 6.2 innings, making the Indians batters look more like a Double A club, because calling them a Triple A club at this point would be too generous. Yes, many agreed that Zito had his best stuff Wednesday night, commanding the plate and throwing well to both sides of the plate, but again, this is Barry Zito - a pitcher that has been back and forth from starter to bullpen, and a pitcher that was 2-11 coming in.

While Zito controlled the Indians at the plate, Jeremy Sowers did what he could to keep the Indians in the game. He ran into trouble right away in the first, allowing two quick runs, but settled down from there. His main enemy at the plate was Jose Castillo, who was a triple away from the cycle, hitting a double, homer and single in four at-bats. His solo homer in the third put the Giants up 3-0, and with the Indians offense going quietly in the night, that was more than enough for Zito.

The offense finally broke through with their only run of the game in the 7th, when Shin-Soo Choo singled in Kelly Shoppach to make it 3-1. It was all the offense the team would show vs Zito, and four Giants relief pitchers. The team put up 6 hits, and against Zito, a pitcher who averages three walks per outing, they never got a free pass the entire night.

The loss puts them at 35-43, and with the Royals beating the Rockies, a team the Indians were swept by over the weekend, the team is now in last place in the division by .5 game. They are 7.5 back of the White Sox, who lost on Wednesday night. Tonight is the finale of the set, with Cliff Lee at 10-and-1 with a 2.45 ERA going for the Indians. The Giants will send out Matt Cain, who’s 4-and-5 with a 4.31 ERA. First pitch at Progressive Field is set for 7:05 p.m.

The Indians dreams of a weekend sweep in L.A. vs the Dodgers were swept away by one bonehead base running decision by third base coach Joel Skinner in the 5th inning that allowed the Dodgers to escape with a 4-3 win to salvage the finale of the three-game set.  The loss puts the Indians back at 35-41, and they end the six-game stretch vs the Rockies and Dodgers at 2-4 when it could have easily been 3-3.

The mistake came with the Indians down a run, and Jhonny Peralta on first with David Dellucci at the plate.  Dellucci doubled down the first base line, and Peralta came racing around second to third.  Skinner waived him home, and Andre Ethier’s throw to second baseman Luis Maza came into the plate with plenty of time to spare, nailing Peralta and ending the threat.

Fromt there, the Indians had just one hit, a double by Peralta in the 7th with two outs, but from there, were shut down the rest of the day and never really came close to getting that tying run across the plate again.  The loss again was suffered by Paul Byrd, who allowed four runs on five hits in the first inning to fall to 3-8.  A James Loney RBI double brought in two runs, then catcher Russell Martin homered, a Byrd trademark, to bring in two more runs to make it 4-0.

The Indians did rally off of Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley in the third to make it 4-3.  Shin-Soo Choo hit a fielders choice to drive in a run, then a hit by Ryan Garko past short make it 4-2.  Casey Blake hit a ground out to short to make it 4-3, but as stated above, that was about all she wrote for the Indians offense for the rest of the day.

Four Dodger relief pitchers shut the Indians down, as they allowed just one hit, no walks and four strikeouts over the final four innings.  Byrd would have been great minus that first inning, as he went 7 innings, allowing the four runs on seven hits, not allowing a walk and striking out one.  His ERA sits at 5.21 following the loss.

The Indians get Monday off as they get back home for two more series’ vs the National League this week. Tuesday night it’s the return of Omar Vizquel to Progressive Field, as the 32-44 San Fran Giants come in for the first of three, then the Reds come in over the weekend for the rahter overrated “Battle of Ohio” part two.