Indians Confidential

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.

Every once in awhile, the Indians show signs of being an actual baseball team. Saturday night was one of those nights, as they got 8 very good innings from Carl Pavano, as usual having to hang on in the end as they beat the Tigers 5-4.

The reason they had to hang on was – why else – the pitching of closer (and I use that term loosely) Kerry Wood, who allowed a two-run homer from Miguel Cabrera to make it a 5-4 game.

Wood though did enough to wrap it up, getting a fly out and line out to end the game. The save for Wood was his 12th of the season. As for Pavano, he was the story, allowing two runs on seven hits, not allowing a walk and striking out six. It was his best outing in some time, as his control was very good, and he stayed out of bad innings for the most part.

The win for Pavano improves him to 8-7 on the season, dropping his ERA to 5.13. On offense, the Tribe got a run in the first on a sac fly from Victor Martinez, then after the team fell behind 2-1, the got the lead for good when Travis Hafner got a two-run RBI single scoring Grady Sizemore and Martinez to make it 3-2 in the top of the third.

An Asdrubal Cabrera single scored another run in the 7th to make it 4-2, and a Jhonny Peralta double gave the team the 5-2 lead in the top of the 8th. Little did the team know that they would need each and every one of those runs, as Wood almost gave it all back in the 9th.

The offense outhit the Tigers 12-8, as Hafner went 2-for-4 to raise his average to .288. Cabrera is hitting .304 after he went 3-for-5. Sizemore is hitting .232 after going 2-for-5.

The team is now 35-53, 18 games below .500. They will have Tomo Ohka (0-2) vs Justin Verlander (9-4) Sunday at 1:05 in the last game before the All-Star break to wrap up this awful first half.

When the Indians break a losing streak, let’s just say they really know how to break a losing streak. For the first time since May 27th, the Tribe scored over 10 runs in a single game, pouring it on the equally as awful Oakland A’s in a 15-3 romp at Progressive Field in front of 26,557.

The night belonged to outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, who belted two homers and had a career-high 7 RBI. It’s his second career two homer game, and he was 4-for-5 with a stolen base to go along with it (13-for-13 in that department this season). There’s no denying that Choo has become a bright spot in this dark season, as following Friday’s game he’s hitting .301 with 12 homers and 53 RBI.

The win for the Indians breaks their five game winning streak, and considering they scored just 13 total runs in that five-game streak, it was nice to see an offense that was supposed to be much better than what it’s showed finally round into form, even if it’s just for one night.

Oakland though are by no means world beaters, as they are now 33-45, last place in the AL West. No one mistakes this team whatsoever for those great A’s teams in the late 80’s and early 90’s with players like Jose Conseco, Mark McGwire, Terry Steinbach and pitchers like Dave Stewart and Dennis Eckersley.

Instead, this A’s team rolls out players like Matt Holliday, an over the hill Jason Giambi, Kurt Suzuki, Ryan Sweeney, and more real no name players that will never make Oakland into any sort of force in the American League.

Back to the Indians, the club pounded out 15 hits with their 15 runs, and other than Choo’s two dingers, Travis Hafner also got in on the action, hitting a solo shot in the 2nd inning for the Indians first run after they trailed early 2-0. For Hafner, it was his 9th homer of the season.

After Oakland scored single runs in the first and second off of starter David Huff, the Indians offense caught fire, scoring the single run in the 2nd, three in the 3rd, four in the 4th, five in the fifth, and then single runs each in the 6th and 7th for the 15 spot on the scoreboard.

Huff went 6 innings, allowing three runs on 8 hits to earn his 4th win against 3 losses. He walked one and struck out four in the win.

Saturday at 7:05pm the team will celebrate the 4th with another fireworks display (Friday night’s was a Michael Jackson tribute that lasted about 14 minutes). Oakland will go with Vin Mazzaro (2-3, 2.95) vs Carl Pavano (6-7, 5.56) for the Tribe.

The question now should not be IF the Indians are going to make a change at the manager spot – it’s WHEN.  Tuesday night not even their Cy Young award winner from a season ago, Cliff Lee, could stop the bleeding of a losing streak that just keeps growing, as Lee allowed a season-high-tying 7 runs in three and a half innings as the Indians fell to the White Sox 11-4 in a rain shortened game.

The team has now dropped 12 of their last 14, and 7 of their last 8 at Progressive Field, which saw another sparse crowd of just 14,793, most of which left during the second rain dealy.  The Tribe should really thank Mother Nature for ending this debacle, as there was a 32 minute waste of a dealy to start the game, a 30 minute dealy at about 8:45pm, and then the final dealy which was 57 minutes starting in the top of the 7th which in the end was the nail in the coffin.

You have to wonder just how many runs and hits the White Sox would have had off Indians pitching, as off of Lee, Mike Gosling and Matt Herges, Chicago put up 11 runs, 17 hits and pounded out three homers.  They scored in every inning except the 2nd and then the 7th, when the rains hit again and the game was called.

The only thing the team has left to do is get rid of manager Eric Wedge and GM Mark Shapiro’s spot with the franchise should also be carefully looked at, as this team is in one of the ugliest tailspins we’ve seen for some time.  Lee, their MVP from last year, was awful.  He got pounded for 7 runs on 11 hits with one walk and three strikeouts.

The Indians offense was paced by Travis Hafner, who homered, and Asdrubal Cabrera, who hit a double to score three runs to make it a 9-4 game in the fifth.  Hafner has hit in 9 of his last 12 games and has three homers and 9 RBI over that stretch.

The likely White Sox sweep will come Wednesday night at 7:05pm as Jeremy Sowers tries to follow up his solid previous Friday night outing vs the Reds.

Today the Indians signed their 13^th round selection from the 2009 First Year Player Draft…Today the Indians signed RHP JEREMY JOHNSON out of Washington State University… They have now signed 18 of their 50 selections and 13 of their top 16 choices.

INF ASDRUBAL CABRERA will begin a 20-day rehab assignment at AA Akron tomorrow night when they take on AA Trenton…LHP AARON LAFFEY (4.0IP/65P) will make his 2^nd rehab start as well tomorrow night for Akron.

FOLLOW THE TWITTER: Get your official Cleveland Indians updates, breaking news and behind the scenes information on twitter… The official behind the scenes voice of the Cleveland Indians can be found at http://twitter.com/tribeinsider

MYSTERY BALL 2009: The 5th Annual Mystery Ball charity function will take place on Saturday June 27th vs. Cincinnati Reds… The Indians Wives Association will be selling 1,200 signed baseballs at $50 apiece of players, coaches and managers from the Indians roster & around Major League Baseball…Tickets will be sold at Gates A and C once gates open…A silent auction will take place during the game with items like a KERRY WOOD game used glove, VICTOR MARTINEZ catching mask & other great items …Proceeds will benefit the Providence House, Ohio’s first crisis nursery

PRONK PROGRESS: Since returning from the DL TRAVIS HAFNER is hitting .355 (11-31) w/2 2B 3HR & 9RBI in 11G (.710SLG/1.169ops) …He has hit in 7 straight games (9-20, 2HR, 8RBI) after yesterday’s pinch hit single in Chicago…His season total OPS of .996 would rank 5^h in the league if he had the required PA’s…

While Sunday nights game vs St.Louis was a pitchers duel in every stretch of the word, Monday’s matchup with the Brewers was more like a bad beer league softball game. Walks, blown leads, six homers, and 26 runs later, the Indians again have only themselves to blame for a sickening 14-12 setback to a Milwaukee team that looked like more than once they were ready to pack it in for the night. The Indians blew some big leads – 8-3 in the 4th and 12-7 after 6 innings.

They still lead 12-8 heading into the 8th, when the bullpen from Hell, who had been doing much better as of late, went back to the form that gave the team this lousy record in the first place. Luis Vizcano started the inning for the Indians, and got an out but then allowed two walks. Matt Herges then came in and gave up another walk to load the bases, and then a sac fly to make it a 12-9 game. Enter Rafael Perez. The matchup for Perez is one that he probably wishes wouldn’t have happened, as power hitter Prince Fielder took his first pitch, a rather weak attempt at a fastball, and deposited it 400 feet into the stands for a grand slam and a 13-12 Milwaukee lead.

That wasn’t all.

Perez then allowed a single, a walk, and then another single by Matt Gamel to score another big insurance run to put the Brewers ahead by two at 14-12. Perez, was loudly booed by the Indians faithful at Progressive Field as he left the game, and he deserved it. The Indians were able to get out of the inning, but by then the offense was pooped after putting up 12 runs and could do no more, finally settling for the two-run setback.

The offense can’t be blamed, as the team hit four homers (Shin-Soo Choo, Victor Martinez, Mark DeRosa, and Travis Hafner), and had 11 hits. They were able to build those big leads, only to see the pitching staff, led by starter Carl Pavano who has now had two bad starts in a row, give it right back, and then some. Milwaukee seemed dead after they were able to get to 8-7 in the 6th, and then DeRosa and Hafner each homered in the bottom of the inning to build on the lead to 12-7.

The team got just five innings out of Pavano, who allowed 6 earned runs on 9 hits, walking one and striking out two.

The Tribe is now 29-37 on the year, and 4-3 as the homestand enters its final two games vs Milwaukee Tuesday and Wednesday night both at 7:05pm.

The month of April has come to a close for the Indians, and just like the past few seasons, the team has come out of the gates very slow.  With a mark of 8-14, the club is 4 games back in the AL Central, which could be worse if one of those teams like the Tigers or White Sox had gotten off to a better start.

The club was 5-7 at home, 3-7 on the road.  They ended the month losing 6 of their last 10, and were 4-6 vs the East, 4-5 against the Central, and 0-3 vs the West.

Here are some highlights and grades from the first month of the season:

Best Win: 4/18 at New York 22-4 – By far this was the teams shinning moment of the month.  They put up a crazy 14 runs in the second inning, and on the day scored 22 runs on 25 hits.  The sad part, they lost the next day after Carl Pavano’s best start could not be closed out by the bullpen.

Worst Loss: 4/29 vs Boston 6-5 - Fausto Carmona was dominating the Sox through five innings, but the wheels started to come off, and by the time Rafael Betancourt left the game, it was tied at 5.  Then in the 10th inning former Indian farmhand John Van Early hit a towering homer off of Jensen Lewis to win the game.  Sure would have been nice to win this game to start getting some momentum going for May.

Grades:

Offense – C-: The team was so inconsistant this month, it’s hard to give them anything better than this.  They had their moments, like the 22-run game vs the Yankees, and a couple of games vs Texas (8 runs), KC (8 runs), NYY (10 runs) and Boston (9 runs).  The problem right now is you just simply don’t know what your going to get.

Some of the key players on the team that were being counted on for offense did nothing.  Jhonny Peralta is lost at the plate (.211 this month, 0 homers, 6 RBI).  Kelly Shoppach is hitting just .231, 2 homers, 6 RBI, and one guy that was starting to show some life – Travis Hafner, .270 with 4 homers and 8 RBI, is on the DL for at least the next two weeks.

Starting Pitching – C: The starters had their major issues early, but did start to come on late, with Cliff Lee (1-3, 3.94) and Fausto Carmona (1-3, 6.28) pitching a bit better.  Lee threw 8 scoreless vs the Red Sox Monday, but the offense couldn’t score.  Who would have known that Aaron Laffey, who didn’t even start the season with the club, would be the best starter in April.  He’s 2-0 with a 2.41 ERA.  Carl Pavano (0-3, 9.50) and Anthony Reyes (1-0, 7.58) have done little to give much hope for the rest of 2009.

Bullpen – D: If it were not for Tony Sipp and Kerry Wood, this would have been an F for sure.  Sipp has been outstanding in 3 shots out of the pen, not allowing a hit and walking one and striking out 6.  Wood has 4 saves and an ERA of 6.75, but seems to have the look of the closer the team has needed.  Vinnie Chulk threw away a possible win in NY, but otherwise has been good in 6 outings, throwing an ERA of 1.93.

Jensen Lewis has allowed 5 homers in 12.1 innings, Rafael Betancourt has given up 11 hits and 6 earned runs in 10 innings, Joe Smith has been pretty bad, and Rafael Perez is awful, with an ERA of 11.70 allowing 13 earned runs in 10 innings.  If this unit does not get better, this team is going to struggle all of 2009.

The Indians today suffered a blow on offense, as DH Travis Hafter was placed on the 15-day DL with soreness in the shoulder that was operated on this past offseason. Hafner has appeared in 17 games for the Indians so far this season and is hitting .270 (17-63) with 10 runs scored, 5 doubles, 4 home runs and 8RBI. He currently owns an on-base % of .370 with an on-base+slugging % (OPS) of .910. Today marks the 4th DL stint of his Major League career.

The team needed to bring up a pitcher, so they called up lefty Rich Rundles to take his spot on the roster. Rundles has gone 0-1 with a 1.50 ERA in 7 appearances out of the bullpen at Columbus (6.0IP, 3H, 2R/1ER, 3BB, 7K) after being optioned out of spring training on March 15. He has not allowed a run in his last 4 appearances (3.0IP, 1H, BB, 4K) with the Clippers and has limited AAA hitters to a .136 (3-22) average against so far this year. He wears #56 and will be in uniform tonight as the Indians take on the Red Sox at 7:05PM ET in Progressive Field.

The offense has had severe moments of drought already in this first month of the 2009 season, and now with losing Hafner it remains to be seen if someone else can step in and take up the slack. Tonight Kelly Shoppach is hitting in the 9th spot as the DH.