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 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.

No matter what uniform he wears, there’s no denying that Jim Thome loves to hit in Cleveland. The Tribe’s all-time leader in homers, now playing for the rival White Sox, turned back the clock on Tuesday, slamming two homers as the Indians lost to Chicago 7-4.

Thome isn’t the player he use to be, as even after going 2-for-3 with two homers, four RBI and two walks, he is hitting just .227. It was his first multi-homer game since March 31st, 2008, against (who else?!) the Indians. He may not be the same player, but he sure looked like the old “good old boy” that Tribe fans cheered for a number of seasons at Jacobs/Progressive Field.

Enough of Thome, the Indians once again were a team that looked like one of the leagues worst. Starting pitcher Jeremy Sowers got rocked for 5 runs on 7 hits in four innings, and while he struck out three, he also allowed three homers. He has an ERA of 12 after two losses, and is fooling no one. There’s a reason he was in the minors, and he’ll have a quick ride back probably after this loss.

The Indians did make this a game for sometime, as they fell behind after Thome’s first homer, but came back with a run in the 2nd to make it 2-1, then two in the third that tied the game at three. They took the lead for a brief time with a run in the fourth on a Asdrubal Cabrera ground rule double.

That lead was very short lived, as Thome’s second homer put the Sox back in the lead for good at 5-4, and then per usual in crunch time, the bullpen couldn’t keep it within striking distance, as Tony Sipp gave up a two-out single with the bases loaded to Corky Miller to score two runs to put it out of reach at 7-4.

The team has been void of power as of late, as they have not hit a homer in 6 games (53 innings), and they are 1-4 on this homestand with only a shot to go 2-4 with a win in the afternoon game tomorrow. On a positive note, a win tomorrow and they would win a rare series.

The loss drops them to 12-22 on the season, a full 7 games out of first. The homestand wraps up with a noon game on Wednesday.

Pitcher Anthony Reyes said Sunday after the Indians were swept by the Tigers that once the team started playing better, they would be fun to watch. Monday night, while most Cleveland fans were watching the Cavs sweep the Hawks, the Indians did play better, and yes, for the first time in awhile - they were fun to watch.

They hit well, pitched pretty good, and played solid defense, and with it came their first win since Wednesday, a 9-4 beating of the rival Chicago White Sox. The win puts them at 12-21, and while it still seems like we’re in for a long season, 12-21 is better at this point than 11-22.

The offense finally came out of their funk against White Sox starter Gavin Floyd, who could not get first pitch strikes and couldnt’ get his curveball over. They pounded out 13 hits, and four players had two or more hits, led by Jhonny Peralta who was 3-for-5 with three RBI. Peralta, who was sat down for two games by Eric Wedge, is 6-for-9 since being put back in the lineup Sunday.

Shin-Soo Choo also had a pretty good night at the plate, going 2-for-4 with three RBI. The team got off to a good start, scoring two runs in the first and then putting up a nice to see four-spot in the 4th to take a 6-0 lead. That would be all it would take for Carl Pavano to throw his 3rd win of the season. He was solid, not outstanding by any means, but was able to get out of trouble a couple of times.

Pavano went 6.1 innings, allowing four runs on 10 hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Since starting the season 0-3, he’s won three in a row, throwing 7.1 innings in a May 1st win over the Tigers, 6 innings in a win last Wednesday vs the Red Sox, and against the White Sox went into the 7th to gain the win. His ERA has dropped from an 81.00 after his first start to 6.45.

“It finally felt like a real baseball game,” Mark DeRosa said. “Any win right now is big.”

You can say that again. A couple more wins and the team can start thinking about getting back into the race in the AL Central. For now, a win tomorrow and they will win a series - and that’s good news any way you look at it.

With the Indians’ recent success at home, they now travel to the once dreaded West Coast. The Tribe is headed to Colorado for 3 games and San Diego for an additional 3 game set. This very well could be a blessing in disguise. The Indians currently sit in 3rd place in the American League Central well with in reach of the Chicago White Sox, and coupled with Grady Sizemore welcoming the summer breezes by tearing the cover off the ball.

All the while the Indians are beginning to score more and more runs a game. Now they meet two teams who have been less proficient than the Tribe at scoring runs. The Colorado Rockies average only 4.17 runs per game, and the San Diego Padres average a dismal 3.79 runs per game. In comparison, the Indians currently average 4.57 runs per game this season. The Indians need to embrace this west coast trip and take advantage of this disparity. If the Indians are going to make a run at the White Sox, there is no better time than the present.

FIREWORKS NIGHT ADDED MAY 26:  The Cleveland Indians today announced they have added a FIREWORKS NIGHT to the Indians vs. White Sox MEMORIAL DAY game at 7:05PM on May 26.   This date will also be highlighted by SUGARDALE DOLLAR DOG NIGHT.  Great Lower Level Seats Still Remain

While Jake Westbrook was awfully good, John Danks was just a bit better, and because of it the Chicago White Sox avoided a sweep in Cleveland as they eeked out a 2-1 win on Thursday afternoon. Westbrook (0-1) made two mistakes, both solo homer to Juan Uribe and Joe Crede, the 8th and 9th batters in the Sox order. Westbrook, who shined in the playoffs for the Tribe last season, lasted 7.1 innings, allowing two runs on six hits. The story though was Danks, who even getting the no decision pitched a whale of a game, holding the Indians without a hit for the first five innings. In 6.2 innings, he gave up just 1 earned run on two hits. The Sox pen then didn’t allow a hit as Crede’s 8th inning solo homer was the difference.

For the Indians, they struggled all day, getting just a handful of runners on, and then not being able to take advantage of it when they did get on. They left four men on base. Westbrook was able to sail through the Sox order with basic ease the first time around, not allowing a hit himself until the 5th. The problem was the bottom of the order, as both Uribe and Crede came back to haunt Jake after he fell behind in the count to put the ball out of the ballpark. The Indians only run came in the 7th to tie the game at one, when Ryan Garko doubled home Travis Hafner, who had walked, to make it 1-1.

The Indians board a plane and head out west, as their first road trip will be a 6-game west coast ride as they travel to Oakland to play the A’s and then three in Los Angeles. Tomorrow night their opener with the A’s is at 10:05 PM.