Indians Confidential

Second and third with no outs usually is a recipe for a team to get two if not more runs in an inning. The Indians have tried to break that trend in 2010, and once again Sunday in Pittsburgh it was that type of inning that came back to bite them.

The inning was the 8th with the game against the Pirates tied at three. They got a leadoff single from Austin Kearns, then a disputed double from Russell Branyan that almost nailed first base ump Bill Hohn.

Then with a chance to go up at least one, if not two runs, they failed. Miserably.

First it was Jhonny Peralta, who hit a weak flair to center field that wasn’t close to deep enough to score Kearns. That point was proved when Pirates CF Andrew McCutcheon threw home to make sure Kearns stayed put.

Then it was Aaron Hernandez, who with the infield in hit a grounder to second, and Neil Walker picked it up and ran it himself for the second out.

The inning ended when Jason Donald got behind in the count with two strikes, then hit a routine grounder to short. Inning over, no runs, game may have well have been over.

The Pirates on the other hand, the 2nd worse team in the Majors with 24 wins, took advantage of runners on with no outs. They got two on quickly in the 8th off Jensen Lewis, then scored when a sac fly by 2008 2nd overall pick Pedro Alvarez scored a run, and they added another on a single by short stop Bobby Crosby, who was hitting .214 entering Sunday.

The loss was complete when Pirate closer Octavio Dotel closed the door on the 5-3 win with a 1-2-3 ninth.

The shame was the solid outing by Justin Masterson, who went 6 innings for the Tribe, allowing two runs and striking out seven with allowing just five hits. Rafael Perez threw a wild pitch to allow the game to be tied in the 7th, then Lewis took the loss with the two-run 8th.

Carlos Santana also saw a day go to waste, as he went 3-for-4 with a homer, double and single with all three Indians RBI’s.

The team gets Monday off as they head to Philly to take on the Phillies for three starting on Tuesday at 7:05pm.

Indians Locker Room Interview with relief pitcher Tony Sipp following the teams tough 3-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox.

The Indians had a golden opportunity to go home with a .500 road trip, but an early lead against the Sox #1 pitcher was’t enough in a frustrating 8-7 loss to Chicago. The loss means the team comes home for a 10-game homestand going 4-6 on their latest trip on the road.

“I’m disappointed that we couldn’t win the ball game and end up with a .500 road trip. We started off great scoring six runs off their No. 1 guy, chasing him out of there after the third inning,” Manny Acta said.

The Tribe got off to a great start, as they got a three-run homer from Lou Marson and beat up Mark Buherle for a 6-2 lead with Jake Westbrook on the mound. Austin Kearns also had three hits for the Indians.

Westbrook was on his way to his first decision in nine starts against the White Sox, but he couldn’t hold the lead. Westbrook gave up a double to Alex Rios in the fourth inning, and Rios’ scored on Carlos Quentin’s single.

Alexei Ramirez and Gordon Beckham hit back-to-back singles off Westbrook in the fifth. Ramirez scored on Vizquel’s sacrifice fly, and Rios followed with a RBI single. After a walk to Konerko, Kotsay followed with a RBI single to tie it 6-6.

Quentin then hit the go-ahead two-run single in the seventh inning to give Chicago a lead they would never lose. Tony Sipp took the loss in relief for the Tribe, who fall to 21-34 on the year.

After winning the first two games of the series, the Indians failed to complete their first three-game road sweep over the White Sox in 11 years.

They are back at home for the first of 10, as they host the Boston Red Sox Monday night.

Once again the pitching is starting to catch up to the awful hitting, as Thursday afternoon in Detroit the team allowed 12 runs in losing to the Tigers 12-6. The throwers for the Indians allowed 12 runs on 17 hits, and while David Huff was pretty bad, Tony Sipp was worse.

The offense did its job for once, as they took a 5-1 deficit and turned it around with 5 runs in the 4th inning to build a 6-5 lead. Shin-Soo Choo was a big piece of the rally, as he had two doubles on the day and 2 RBI. The team also took advantage of some Tigers errors.

It meant next to nothing though as the Indians staff allowed the Tigers to score for the next three innings to go ahead 12-6. Huff allowed 5 runs on 6 hits in three innings in his first game after being hit in the lead with a line drive from Alex Rodriguez Saturday in New York.

Sipp was really bad, and it may be time to think about throwing him back to AAA Columbus. He gave up 5 runs on three hits, walking two and allowing two homers in only being able to retire two batters. It’s the second straight outing he has really struggled, and right now the Indians cannot hide his lack of getting batters out.

The team now heads to Chicago with a mark of 19-33. They have a three-game set starting with the White Sox Friday night.

On a day when starter Justin Masterson deserved better, the bullpen couldn’t do its job, and it cost he and the Indians. A late rally by the Yankees sent the Indians to their 30th loss on the season after dropping a 7-3 decision to New York in the Bronx. Masterson was great for 6 innings, not allowing a run and only allowing four hits as the Indians built a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the 7th.

That’s when things fell apart, as a Derek Jeter single scored two runs, then Tony Sipp was called upon to relieve Masterson, and things got worse. Way worse. First he allowed a Curits Granderson double, and then the key hits of the game, a three-run blast to Mark Teixeria to give New York a 5-3 lead, a lead they wouldn’t give up.

The Yankees put the game away with two runs in the 8th off of newly called up Jensen Lewis. He gave up two runs on three hits in an inning. Sipp suffers the loss to move to 0-1, and A.J. Burnett gained the win for the Yankees to move to 6-2 on the season. The Indians offense staked the team to a 3-run lead, as a Trevor Crowe single scored a run in the 3rd, and then in the 7th an error allowed Luis Valbuena to score, and then Jason Donald crushed a triple to score another run. It wasn’t enough.

The Indians fall to 18-30 on the season. They will stay in New York for the holiday on Monday, as they wrap up the 4-game set with the Yankees.

It was one of those nights where it seemed that everything that could go right for the Indians did. And that was nice to see. From four long balls to a great outing by Aaron Laffey, the Tribe started their weekend series way out West in Seattle with a solid 9-0 win.

As mentioned, the team had its own version of home run derby, with Travis Hafner, Ryan Garko, Jamey Carroll and Ben Francisco all going deep off Mariners pitching. Laffey was solid all night, allowing just 3 hits in the shutout effort over 7 innings, walking three and striking out seven. His is now 4-2 on the year and his ERA is also a solid 3.71.

Three relievers – Joe Smith, Tony Sipp and Chris Perez wrapped up the win, with Perez looking by far the best he has had since coming to the Indians, striking out two in the 9th. So in the end, it was a lot of positives, and actually not much to complain about.

The team has quietly won three of four on the road trip, and while it doesn’t mean much, they are now 39-58 on the season. Saturday it’s Jeremy Sowers for the Indians vs Erik Bedard at 4:10 pm.

The first half of the 2009 season is officially over.

Thank Heavens.

Justin Verlander has owned the Indians this season, he’s 3-0 with a 0.39 ERA against Cleveland this season.  Sunday it was business as usual, halting what Eric Wedge thinks is a pretty good offense to to no runs on five his with three walks and eight strikeouts over 7 innings.  In the end, Tomo Ohka was no match for Verlander and the Tigers, as Detroit rocked the Indians 10-1.

The first half of hell ends at 35-54, 19 full games under .500.  The team sits 14 games under .500, they are 19-25 at home and 16-29 on the road.  They have used used 26 different pitchers to date, including Tony Sipp, Matt Herges, Mike Gosling, Vinnie Chulk, Luis Vizcaino, Greg Aquino, Rich Rundles, Winston Abreu, Chris Perez and Ohka.  Yes, it’s been a tough season.

“It’s been a disappointment,” Eric Wedge said. “There’s a long way to go, and I still feel good about the lineup we are putting out there every day, but we’ve got to improve the rotation and our bullpen.”

Improve our rotation?  How about give it and that bullpen which is flat out awful and find a way to get some runs across against the AL Central teams that are pounding the Indians night after night.

The team is going nowhere fast, and if the second half is as bad as the first, you can bet there will be plenty of changes this offseason.

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.