Series Rewind: Indians-Yankees

Most of the time splitting a four game series in New York with the Yankees is cause for celebration for the Cleveland Indians. While the Tribe has many things to be encouraged about after the inaugural series in New Yankee Stadium the thought that they had the chance to christen the new venue by sweeping the Yankees out of their new home has to eat them alive.

The first game of the series featured the last two AL Cy Young award winners in Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia. Unlike some Cleveland fans I wish CC Sabathia no ill will. He resigned here when he was younger and never had any qualms about saying he was going to test the market. That being said, I hope he pitches like crap every time he faces the Tribe.

Both aces labored in and out of trouble all game with Lee somehow scattering seven hits and three walks over six innings while Sabathia surrendered five hits and five walks in only five and third.

After Lee left the game after the sixth with the score tied at one the Indians erupted for nine runs in the top of the seventh off the Yankee bullpen. This included a grand slam by Grady Sizemore and a solo shot my Victor Martinez. The Indians finished off the game with a final score of 10-2.

The struggling Rafael Perez pitched two rough innings, giving up one run while Eric Wedge trotted out Rafael Betancourt to pitch the meaningless ninth. We’ll come back to this point later in Bullpen Management 101.

Game two began what looks to be the rechristening of Yankee Stadium as Coors Field Northeast. The Yankees hit five solos homers en route to a 6-5 victory over the Indians. Anthony Reyes pitched decently but did not make it beyond five innings. Home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi did not help either he or Yankees starter Joba Chamberlain with one of the most inconsistent strike zones I have seen n quite some time.

The Yankees held a 3-2 lead going into the fifth inning but the Tribe managed to plate three in the top of the fifth to take a 5-3 lead. Here is where the Bullpen Management 101 would have been beneficial to Eric Wedge.

Wedge pitched Perez and Betancourt in the 10-2 blow out the day before, therefore neither was available to pitch in the second game. Perez has been horrid so pitching him two innings in a meaningless game made sense. Betancourt has been up and down and is coming off a bad 2008 but why pitch one of your bullpen stalwarts and leave yourself shorthanded for the next game.

Well that is what Wedge did and long man Zack Jackson cam on to pitch the sixth. He lasted 2/3 of an inning (four batters) giving up two hits including a homerun to Robinson Cano to make it 5-4 Indians. Then Joe Smith came on for one batter to end the sixth.

Instead of rolling with Smith in the seventh Wedge went with veteran Vinnie Chulk, who is the last man in the bullpen. Let me repeat. Vinnie Chulk is the last man in the bullpen. Why is he pitching the seventh inning of a 5-4 game? Because Wedge pitched Betancourt the day before instead of Chulk.

Yes, hindsight is 20/20 but Wedge left himself short in the pen on a day he knew he had a starter in Reyes who struggles to get past five or six innings routinely. Chulk promptly gave up a couple of walks and made an error himself to turn a 5-4 lead into a 5-5 tie after seven. Would have Betancourt done better than Chulk? Who knows but the ODDS were that Betancourt would done better than Chulk.

So with the game tied in the bottom of the eight Jensen Lewis came on struck out two and surrendered a pop up to Derek Jeter. Unfortunately, the New Yankee Stadium jet stream turned this routine pop up into the worlds weakest homerun and a 5-5 tie into a 6-5 Yankee lead.

Phil Cuzzi then reared his ugly head again with another inconsistent inning behind the plate as he rang up Mark DeRosa in the bottom of the ninth with two men on and Mariano Rivera on the hill. Not the reason the Indians lost but the poor game called by Cuzzi was extremely noticeable.

If the Tribe was upset with their pissing away a game they came out like gang busters on Saturday on National TV. They drubbed the Bronx Bombers 22-4 behind a 14 run second inning. The Indians belted 25 hits, including six homers, tied a club record with 50 total bases, and set a club record with 52 at-bats in the game.

Asdrubal Cabrera hit a grand slam to highlight the 14 run second and Mark DeRosa continued his hot streak with six RBIs. DeRosa, Sizemore, Shin-Soo Choo, Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner also went yard for the Erie Warriors. Fausto Carmona gave up four runs in six innings but looked more consistent than his previous two starts.

Up two games to one, the Indians had a chance to take the first ever series at New Yankee Stadium but the Tribe bullpen would not let that happen. Carl Pavano ignored the Yankee venom and turned in a stellar six inning, four hit, one run performance and left the game with a 3-1 lead.

The Indians failed to capitalize on a bases loaded situated in top of the seventh and Wedge called for the scuffling Perez to start the bottom of the seventh. Two hits and one run later it was 3-2 lead for the Tribe. Jensen Lewis relieved and after getting one out dug in to face pinch hitter Jorge Posada.

Posada lifted a fly ball to deep right field that Trevor Crowe had a bead on. He got back to the wall and was met by the outstanding arms of two Yankee fans in the front row. Cuzzi, umpiring second base this time, signaled home run as Wedge came out to argue.

The play went to MLB review and the umpiring crew left the field while replays appeared to show the fans reaching over the wall and making contact with Crowe’s glove in the field of play.

This is the key issue of the play. Whether fan interference occurs is decided by whether (1) the player is reaching into the stands or (2) the fans are reaching into the field. In situation (1) the ball is fair game and a home run. In situation (2) the ball is in the field of play and the batter should be out.

In my humble opinion, it definitely appeared to be situation (2) but the umpires thought otherwise and the play stood, 4-3 Yankees. Once again not something that caused the Indians to lose the game but it definitely didn’t help things. Rafael Betancourt then squashed all hopes of an Indians comeback by relieving Betancourt and allowing three more runs to make it 7-4 Yankees. Ball game.

So while the Tribe did put two whoopings the Yankees and somewhat ruin their opening series the fact that potentially let a sweep of the Bronx Bombers slip away is disconcerting. The offense has begun to wake and the starters have shown signs of life but the bullpen, that was supposedly improved, can’t get the game to lock down closer Kerry Wood to save their life.

The Indians sit at 4-9, 3.5 games behind the Royals, Tigers and White Sox who are at 7-5. The Twins sit a game behind the AL Central leading tri-fecta with a 7-7 record. Even though they could, and I argue should, be 7-6 or 6-7 they have a chance to make up ground this coming week. Their next six games are against the Royals and Twins, all at home.

Series Rewind: Indians-Royals

The Tribe dropped their third series in a row, losing the first two of three to division rival Kansas City. Fausto Carmona started off very rough giving up three runs in the bottom of the first. He rebounded from there to give up only one run the next four innings but that’s where the Indians’ trouble for the first half of the season lie.

Their starting pitcher only went five innings, taxing an already frail bullpen. Carmona tossed 106 pitches in just five innings and was pulled. In this game Rafael Betancourt and Masa Kobayashi were able to hurl three combined innings of scoreless baseball to keep the Tribe in the game. Unfortunately, it was the Indians’ offense that kept them out of it.

Royals’ starter Zack Greinke was good but not great, needing 104 pitches to get through five innings himself. The Indians helped his out by going 4-13 with RISP, with most of those hits in the ninth inning, and starting 12 men on base. Once again failure to get the clutch hit doomed the Tribe.

In game two, the Indians’ bats came up empty again. Tribe starter Carl Pavano improve on his opening performance of 1 IP, 9 ER with a six inning effort in which he yielded four ER. His only real fault was allowing two runs in the bottom of the fifth after the Tribe had tied the game at two in the top of the inning.

The Indians’ bullpen could not jeep the Tribe in this game as after Rafael Perez came on in the 7th inning with a 4-3 deficit. He looked shaky in that inning but manager Eric Wedge sent him out in the 8th and the game derailed. Perez promptly game up a run to widen the gap to 5-3. He then loaded the bases with one out when Wedge finally pulled the plug and called on Vinnie Chulk, who promptly game up a grand slam to Kansas City catcher John Buck. 9-3. Ballgame Royals.

The Indians’ managed to avoid the sweep with a 5-4 victory on Wednesday. Recently promoted Aaron Laffey was solid in his 2009 debut giving up only 2 ER in 5 1/3 innings. He had a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the sixth but a fielding gaffe by Shin-Soo Choo put runners on second and third instead of first and third.

By overthrowing the cut-off man Choo turned a ground ball double play into a run scoring out and allowed the runner on second to eventually score and tie the game at two. He did redeem himself later in the game, nailing Mark Teahan at second but when a team is scuffling, things like hitting the cut-off man are magnified ten fold.

The Indians broke through for three runs in the 7th to take a 5-2 lead but another managerial head scratcher by Wedge almost cost them the game again. Jensen Lewis worked out of a jamb in the bottom of the sixth, getting the final out of the inning. He then worked a sketchy seventh inning, giving up a run to make the score 5-3.

For the bottom of the eighth, Wedge sent Lewis back into the game after struggling to get through the seventh. Just as he did the night before, sending a struggling Perez back in for a second inning. However, this was Lewis’ third inning he was pitching in which is odd for any reliever who in not the long man or mop up guy. Teahan drilled his single that Choo threw him out at second at and Mike Jacobs immediately followed with a home run to make it 5-4. If SHOULD have been 5-5 if Teahan had not gotten greedy, but thanks to Choo redeeming himself it was only 5-4.

Cue Rafael Betancourt v.2007 for 2/3 of a hitless inning and Kerry Wood for a seven pitch, perfect, 1-2-3 ninth for the save and the Indians hung on to win 5-4 and move to a putrid 2-7 for 2009. It’s nice to have a legit, flame throwing closer. It may make the ninth inning anti-climactic but it’s a nice change of pace.

So the Indians shuffle off to New York for a four game series with the Yankees to christen New Yankee Stadium. The only way the Tribe is going to get back into the swing of things is to start winning series. Three out of four would be ideal but is going to be tough even with the Yankees starting slow.

Series Review: Blue Jays-Indians

Well at least they won one. The Tribe dropped the first two in almost the same fashion they dropped all three to the Rangers to open the season. They got behind early thanks to poor starting pitching and then failed to come through with the clutch hit with runners in scoring position. The ugly numbers:

Game 1 - 1-5 RISP, 11 K, 8 LOB, 1 DP
Game 2 - 1-9 RISP, 9 K, 8 LOB, 2 DP
Game 3 - 2-7 RISP, 11K, 11 LOB, 1 DP
Totals - 4-21 RISP (.190), 31 K, 21 LOB, 4 DP

The strikeouts totals are maddening. The Tribe striking out over 10 times a game is just a killer. Teams are going to make outs but when a third of those outs are completely unproductive it makes it very difficult to win.

Not that advancing runners into scoring position would have mattered with the prestine .190 average with RISP. Add into in that your first two hitters Grady Sizemore (10 K in 25 AB for the season) and Mark DeRosa (11 in 26) are your main culprits it means the table isn't getting set as much as you need either.

Victor Martinez looks to be back to a hitting machine and Travis Hafner is actually showing signs of life despite still look a bit slow on his swing. Shin-soo Choo has started to rake and Rayn Garko has been an OBP machine. If the Tribe can cut down on the strikeouts and improve in the clutch this team will score a boatload of runs in 2009.

The starting pitching remains horrid. Scott Lewis landed himself on the DL with elbow soreness that he has had the last few starts of spring but never said anything about. Aaron Laffey will start in his place on Wednesday.

Cliff Lee had another poor outing giving up four runs in five innings pitched. He did rebound in the last two innings of the start by working out of jams for the first time in a while but had already worked his pitch count over 100.

Anthony Reyes was the first Tribe starter to last over five innings going six strong on Sunday. He gave up four runs but three came after Shin-soo Choo lost a ball in the sun in right field. Still he put the Indians in position to win and beat out the Washington Nationals for last remaining win less team... phew!

The bullpen was very bipolar as Vinnie Chulk looked decent in his Tribe debut and Jensen Lewis bailed the Tribe out of a mess on Sunday to help secure the victory. And what can you say about Kerry Wood? An Indians closer blowing away the side, all via strikeout, in the 9th inning was a sight for sore eyes.

On the other end of the spectrum Rafael Perez now sports a 14.73 ERA with three walks and no strikeouts. Joe Smith and Masa Kobayashi continue to walk opposing batters at an alarming rate and Rafael Betancourt has been so-so at beast in his appearances.

But hey they finally won one, and even at 1-5, only sit 2.5 games behind the 4-3 Detroit Tigers. A seven game road trip to Kansas City and having the honor of opening up New Yankee Stadium await them this week. Anything less than a 4-3 trip may leave them in an April hole that they are all too familiar with under Eric Wedge.

Series Rewind: Indians-Rangers

The Texas Rangers wiped the floor with the Indians in Arlington, Texas to kick off 2009. Three games, three losses for the Erie Warriors: 9-1, 8-5 and 12-8. Yup, that’s 9.7 runs/game allowed. Easy to do when your starters rattle off the following gems:

Cliff Lee: 5 IP, 10 H, 7 R/ER, 1 HR, 0 HBP, 1 BB, 5K, 12.60 ERA
Fausto Carmona: 5 IP, 7 H, 6 R/ER, 1 HR, 1 HBP, 2 BB, 4 K, 10.80 ERA
Carl Pavano: 1 IP, 6 H, 9 R/ER, 2 HR, 0 HBP, 3 BB, 1 K, 81.00 ERA

With 22 earned runs in 11 innings that is a cumulative 18.00 ERA by the starting staff. It’s tough to win when you are behind by 6 or more runs after three innings gentlemen, and I use that term loosely. Scott Lewis the bar has been set low for the home opener, my friend, god speed.

The offense slowly got itself together after looking putrid versus Kevin Millwood on Monday. The actually had a few extra base hits on Wednesday before jacking five homeruns on Thursday. It is difficult, however, to win a game when you are playing catch up after just a few innings.

A few feathers for some caps and some guys who need to be scalped.

FEATHERS IN THEIR CAP
· Masa Kobayahi – 2 Scoreless IP, 1 H, 1 BB in 2 appearances. No alternative lifestyle adult movie appearances. I don’t know which was more unlikely.
· Joe Smith – An easy scoreless inning of relief. Nice Tribe debut.
· Zach Jackson – Showing why he won the long relief spot in the pen.
· Victor Martinez – 5-12 with a long HR. Power slowly coming back but still a hitter.
· Travis Hafner – You hit the ball fair over the wall on a fly. It’s a start I guess.
· Trevor Crowe – Looked smooth in RF despite taking an 0-5 collar at the plate.
· Grady Sizemore – Two 2-R HR on Thursday. Three of his four this in the series were XBH.
· Asdrubal Cabrera – 2-2, 2 BB, 2 R, 1 RBUI on Thursday after looking overmatched the first two games.

SCALP ‘EM
· Starting pitching – See above. Special recognition for Carl Pavano for getting the Tribe down 5-0 after 14 pitches. FOURTEEN F’N PITCHES!!!
· Hitting with RISP – 1-4 on Monday. 1-16 on Wednesday. 1-5 on Thursday. That’s 3-25 overall. A sparkling .120 clip. Not good.
· Grady Sizemore – He led of each game with a strikeout. Table setting 101 says this is poor form. Six Ks in 14 ABs is also way too high.
· Jensen Lewis, Rafael Perez, Rafael Betancourt – You all pitched pretty well but you all gave up a home run in one of your appearances. Shame!
· Kerry Wood – Struck out the side but looked shaky giving up 2 hits, a walk and a run.
· Mark DeRosa – 0-12 collar for the series with 5 Ks. No a good debut. Hopefully the friendly confines of Progressive Field lead you to many hits.
· Travis Hafner – He still looks over matched to me despite the HR.

The Indians return home to Progressive Field for a 3 game set with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Tribe is 0-3, 2 GB Kansas City in the AL Central. Toronto is 3-1 and leads the AL East by ½ game over Baltimore and Tampa Bay.

A bad start for the Indians but keep this in mind… the last time the Tribe started 0-3 was 1996 and they won the AL Central that season.

Texas Baseball Masacre

Well the only way to go is up. The Tribe got rolled by the Texas Rangers 9-1 getting outplayed in all aspects of the game. Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee came off a brutal spring with an even worse opening day performance: 5 IP, 10 H, 6 R/ER, 1 monster HR to Hank Blaylock.

He got hit in his pitching arm in the 2nd and promptly gave up 4 runs with two outs for a 4-0 Texas lead. He went unscathed in the 3rd and 4th before Blaylock's jack in the 7th. He couldn't spot his fastball and most of his stuff was up in the the zone and against the potent Rangers, that is a recipe for disaster.

Cliff Lee's worst game last year was at Texas where he gave up 6 runs in 5 innings. He had a 6.17 ERA versus Texas last year. He had a 6.42 lifetime ERA versus Texas coming into today's game and it just went up. He historically struggles versus Texas. But let's see how he does on Saturday versus Doc Halladay and the Blue Jays before going ballistic.

I was more disappointed in the Indians managing only 5 hits and a walk versus the Rangers. Kevin Millwood was brilliant but other than a Shin-soo Choo liner in the 7th none of them were hard shots. I expect nothing from Travis Hafner until I see something that looks like Travis Hafner and a slap hit to left is not Travis Hafner.

He got into a number of 0-2 counts and those rarely turn out well. He did battle but produced an easy, inning ending double play with runners on first and third in the 3rd. I will say he actually looks a bit athletic after his weight loss. He scored the only run on a wild pitch that I don't think he scores on at his previous weight. But the Indians need the Pronk version of Travis Hafner not the slap-hitting version.

One game but a crappy one at that. Fausto Carmona looks to rebound from an awful, injuried plagued 2008 on Wednesday. New day, new ballgame. Go Tribe.

Tribe Looks to Rebound in '09

The Cleveland Indians stumbled to a disappointing 81-81 record in 2008 after an ALCS appearance in 2007. Injuries on offense decimated the Tribe in the first half of 2008 and forced the trade of veterans CC Sabathia and Casey Blake for prospects. The Indians’ 2008 bullpen rivaled their infamous “Bullpen from Hell” of the 1980’s as they did everything in their power to torture Tribe fans on a nightly basis.

But as the Cleveland Indians’ 2009 campaign gets sets to begin there is cause for optimism along the shores of Lake Erie. Despite those injuries on offense the Indians scored the seventh most runs in MLB with 805 and led all of MLB with 379 runs in the second half.

The offense should be as good, if not better, than last year with a healthy Victor Martinez, the heart and soul of the ball club. Infielders Ryan Garko and Asdrubal Cabrera came into Spring Training in shape and focused. Shortshtop Jhonny Peralta looks to build off of a 40 double, 20 homerun season while Grady Sizemore looks for an encore to a 30 homerun, 30 steal campaign.

The wild card is DH Travis Hafner. Can he return to his 2004 to 2006 form where he averaged 34 homers, 38 doubles, 111 RBI and hit well over .300? A nagging shoulder injury led to a substandard 2007 and a disastrous 2008 that saw Hafner hit .197 with little or no power. If he even returns to 75% of his previous form the Indians’ offense could be one of the elite in 2009.

General Manager Mark Shapiro was aggressive in the off-season in addressing the Tribe’s much maligned bullpen. Shapiro inked bona fide closer Kerry Wood to provide stability to the Indians’ weak link in 2008. Submarine reliever Joe Smith was also acquired via a three team trade to help provide an established hierarchy in the bullpen.

With Wood penciled in for the ninth inning it allows Rafael Perez, Jensen Lewis and Smith settle into their set-up roles in the 7th and 8th innings. Rafael Betancourt could work his way back into the back end of the bullpen after a horrendous 2008. After a dominant 2007 Betancourt was lit up for 11 homeruns and a 5.07 ERA in 2008. The Indians also have a wave of arms waiting in the minor leagues in case of injury or performance issues.

The starting pitching, which has been the stalwart of the Indians during the past few years, is now the main cause for concern. Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee is coming off a 22-3 season with a sterling 2.54 ERA. That may me too much to expect in 2009 but you could put Lee down for 15-16 a year prior to his poor 2007.

But after Lee there are a bunch of question marks. Is the real Fausto Carmona the 19 game winner of 2007 of the wild throwing, emotional wreck of 2008? Having Martinez back behind the plate for his starts may prove to be the calming influence he needs. Carmona responded by having an excellent spring.

Carl Pavano, Scott Lewis and Anthony Reyes round out the Tribe’s starting rotation to start the season. Pavano looks to rebound from four injury riddled years with the New York Yankees. Reyes brings his own injury concerns after arriving in 2008 from the St. Louis Cardinals. Lewis was a late 2008 surprise going 4-0 in four September starts for the Indians but was roughed up in the Arizona spring after winning the job.

The Indians also have depth sitting in AAA Columbus if one of the previous three starters struggles. Aaron Laffey was the Scott Lewis of 2007 and is looking to rebound from an injury filled 2008. Jeremy Sowers was the Laffey of 2006 and has struggled mightily in the majors since the start of 2007. David Huff has torn up each and every level of the minors and looks to be primed and ready if and when the Indians call. Zach Jackson starts the season as the long reliever but odds of him starting a game at some point are good.

Tons of questions for the 2009 Tribe but there are a plethora of options for answers to those questions. Manager Eric Wedge has the versatility in the field to mix and match line-up which always seems to be his MO. The season may hinge on Wedge’s ability to keep his bullpen fresh while dealing with a lot of uncertainty in the rotation.

If Wedge can effectively use the bullpen and not wear out the back end, a la Perez and Betancourt in 2007, the Indians should be able to stay in more games than not with their offense. Wedge will also have to be aggressive in addressing and shortcomings in the shaky starting rotation. If one the starters can not perform Wedge and Shapiro can not hesitate to make a change.

The Indians face a brutal start to 2009 with ten of their first 13 games away from Progressive Field. They also play the powerful Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays 21 times in the first two months of the season. The Indians have been notorious slow starters throughout Wedge’s tenure. The only season they started out well was in 2007… the only season they have made the play-offs under Wedge.

There are a lot of questions and some adversity to face at the start of the 2009 season for the Cleveland Indians. That shouldn’t damper the Indians’ outlook for the new season. They are healthy, hungry and looking for redemption from a bad end to 2007 and a sub par 2008. They just need something to bring in all together…