10-2 beating in Colorado

Remember all the hopes I had for this series? Yeah, they were crushed last night. Just an absolute terrible performance. The offense was schooled by a 22 year old rookie and Paul Byrd, well, pitched like Paul Byrd. Byrd gave up 5 runs in 4 innings. Elarton gave up 2 runs in 2 innings and my main man Rick Bauer gave up 3 runs in 2 innings and should be sent back down very soon. Sizemore misplaced a deep flyball terribly allowing a Jeff Baker inside the park homer, and where was the backup on that Benny? Just not a good game. not happy. The Indians had a chance off Reynolds in the sixth when they had the bases loaded with no outs, but Garko struck out and Choo lined into a double play. If that ball gets past Quintanilla, it's a completely different game. Oh well, better luck next time tribe.

Morgan Ensberg eh?

Come on Mark Shapiro. I keep telling you to mix up the roster, and this is the kind of stunt you pull. You bring in Morgan Ensberg? Come on, give me a break. Yes, the 3rd base position is rather awful with Casey as the full time starter and Marte playing sparingly. But Ensberg can not be counted on to be a starting 3rd baseman and he's pretty much just another strikeout machine. The Astros no longer wanted him, the Padres tried, and failed. The Yankees didn't even want him and they're notorious for keeping formerly good players on the roster. Ensberg hit 36 Homers with 101 RBI and a .283 batting average in 2005. That is a fantastic season, but he's struggled since. He's been a .230 average hitter since and looks foolish the majority of the time and is always a strikout threat. He's really not that great of a 3rd baseman either, in the same category as Casey. So unless Shapiro wants him to DH, Casey will still probably get the majority of the time if he gets called up. Keep trying Mark, you'll figure it out eventually...hopefully.

Rockies series preview

I'm excited for the series, actually. The Indians have won the last 2 series and I am looking forward to some offense in Colorado. The pitching matchups are rather favorable, so I like the chances for the series win, maybe even a sweep.

Tonight: Byrd vs Greg Reynolds

Reynolds is a super prospect. The #2 pick in the 2006 draft out of Stanford, he has the potential to be fantastic. But fortunately for the Indians, he hasn't really figured out the big leagues yet and is struggling with a 1-4 record and a 6.69 ERA. Byrd hasn't been pitching well lately, so like usual with him, it's a tossup.

Prediction: 8-7 Indians

Wednesday: Laffey vs Jeff Francis

Didn't Jeff Francis used to be good. This is a very favorable matchup for the Indians. Laffey is pitching spectacular and the Rockies have never seen him before. Whereas Francis has been kind of aweful lately sporting a 2-6 record and a 5.49 ERA. I definitely have high hopes for this matchup.

Prediction: 7-1 Indians

Thursday: Sowers vs Jorge de la Rosa

It should be evident by now how little I care about Sowers, so no point in talking about him anymore. De la Rosa hasn't exactly been on fire this season, being demoted to the bullpen and all. But he pitched 5 shutout innings in his last spot start. So who knows what can happen. Let's hope that the usual de la Rosa shows up and Sowers can actually make it through 5 innings.

Prediction: 6-5 Indians

Other things I'm looking forward to:

Probably just seeing how the Indians do at Coors Field.

Also, having the Indians play a team with a worse record than them after having an awesome season last year. At least the Indians aren't the only team in the boat.

Solid 7-3 win

Almost every thing went right in the win. The Indians got to Maddux early and exploited his mistakes, which included an uber rare fielding error that lead to Ben Francisco's 3 run homer. CC also pitched well enough to win, going 8 innings while giving up 6 hits, 3 runs and striking out 10. Kobayashi pitched another scoreless inning to further show who should be the indians closer. And what seems to be a common occurance lately, Grady homered, again. That's 17 on the year for him, which is second in the league to only the fantastic Josh Hamilton. CC is now on the top of the American league strikeout list with 97. Again, how is this guy 5-8? Let's hope for another series win when they take on the Rockies this week.

Former Indians out for blood

I wrote about it in my series preview. What were the former Indians going to do to us? The question was answered last night. Jody Gerut went 3 for 5 with 2 RBI and the game tying homer in the 8th off of Rafy Perez. Kouzmanoff had a monster night going 2 for 5 with a grand slam off Ed Mujica in the 10th inning to put the game out of reach making the final score 8-3. In the series he's now 5 for 9 with 2 HR's, 2 doubles and 6 RBI. I really miss this guy. The Indians got 3 quick runs off Baek in the first but he shut them down the rest of the way and they failed to score the next 9 innings. Cliff pitched strong as usual giving up 2 runs in 6.1 innings, but once again the bullpen blew the lead. Mujica gave up 5 runs in the 10th inning, I won't be surprised if he's sent down to Buffalo very soon. Brian Giles is 3 for 10 this series, so it might be his turn sunday to let loose. And doesn't Kouzmanoff look really good in an Indians uniform? Let's hope for a good sunday to win a second straight series.

Interesting 9-5 win

Rain delay can't stop Grady Sizemore from leading indians over the Padres. The game started a little after 7, Grady hit a homer, then 5 hours later he hit another one. Rain delay made this one a long one, but well worth the wait. After the rain delay, Kelly Shoppach, in a hit and run situation half swung and poked the ball just over the fence in right for one of the more rediculous homers I have ever seen. Kouzmanoff then doubled in a run and Adrian Gonzalez hit a 2 run HR to take a 4-3 lead. Choo had a big 2 run single and Grady blasted his second homer that scored Kelly. Kouzmanoff then hit a homer himself before the Indians put the game out of reach with 2 runs in the 8th. Masa shut them down for his 3rd save. Game over. I did predict an indians loss, but that's only because Sowers was starting. That prediction was right, he didn't get out of the 5th inning and gave up 9 hits and 4 runs being once again highly ineffective. I really wish they will send him back down. The bullpen did show up huge giving up only the Kouzmanoff homer in almost 5 innings if relief. Fantastic game, if the offense keeps showing up and the bullpen is dominant, I see more victories in the future. I'm hoping for a sweep after this surprising win.

Indians vs Padres preview

OK, the Indians finally won a series taking 2 of 3 from the Twins. I think that this really could start a trend. I see no reason in why the Indians can't take 2 of 3 from the Padres.

Tonight: Banks vs Sowers

It's no secret that I don't really care for Jeremy Sowers and would almost rather have Scott Elarton starting tonight. I think that the Padres will get to Sowers and he'll be out by the 5th inning. Whereas, I really like this kid Josh Banks. He's 2-0 with a .39 ERA in 4 games including 2 starts. That's 23 innings and only 1 run, that's like Cliff Lee numbers from earlier this season. The Indians never do well facing a young pitcher for the first time and their lineup isn't prepared to score enough runs to combat Sowers performance.

Prediction: 7-2 padres

Friday: Baek vs Lee

Cha Seung Baek is under rated. He didn't pitch that great for the Mariners earlier this year so they dealt him to the Padres. But they had Baek as a reliever and the guy's a starter, he just isn't that great out of the pen, it happens. However, he's facing the amazing Cliff Lee and doesn't really stand a chance.

Prediction: 5-2 indians

Sunday: Maddux vs Sabathia

Maddux is pitching well again this year. in 14 starts he has a 3.33 ERA, but only a 3-4 record. Sounds like he should be on the Indians. CC is out to prove that he is the best 8 loss pitcher in the majors and looks to improve on his complete game shutout of the Twins and shut down the Padres.

Prediction: 4-1 Indians

Other things I'm looking forward to:

Seeing old Indians. We've got Brian Giles, who we gave away for Ricardo Rincon. Thanks John Hart for that one, that really worked well. We've been looking for a corner outfielder as good as Giles ever since. We also have kevin Kouzmanoff, who we traded for Josh Barfield. Yeah, we needed a second baseman, but we also needed a third baseman, and I would much rather have him around than Casey Blake starting every day. There's also Jody Gerut, who was amazing in 2003 and we thought he was going to produce like that every year. But he got hurt and this is his first year since 2005. I miss them all, but having Brian Giles the last 10 years would have been nice.

Just what the doctor ordered

With a mismatched lineup and seemingly no one in the lineup to give run support to laffey, the Indians found a way to trample the Twins in a lopsided 12-2 victory. Laffey, as usual, was lights out giving up 1 run in 6 innings. And my prediction was right for this one by the facy that the Indians could get to Livan early and send him to the showers. He gave up 12 hits and 7 runs in only 3 innings. Then they got 5 runs off of the Twins bullpen that set up the easy win for Laffey. Choo hit a big 3 run homer, Sizemore hit another solo shot, Shoppach had 2 RBI in his first official game as the Indians number 1 catcher and Benny had 3 RBI in a 4 for 5 night. This is exactly what we needed going into the weekend interleague series againt the Padres.

Injuries cause roster shuffle

This time Mark Shapiro was forced to shuffle around the roster. Victor needs surgery on his throwing elbow and could be out at least 2 months. That's a powerful blow to the roster with Victor being the best all around offensive player on the Indians. Shoppach will get the majority of the playing time and they called up Yamid Haad from Buffalo to be the backup catcher. I'm pretty confident that Kelly can do the job and I am almost excited to see what he can do with regular playing time. The other news is that Josh Barfield hurt his finger and he was also placed on the DL. He was called up on Tuesday to replace Asdrubal on Tuesday and was hitless in all six of his at bats. Since Cabrera was sent down to Buffalo to become a better hitter, he's going to stay down there as planned. So to take his spot on the roster is Jorge Velandia, who is a utility player who is 33 and has played for 5 major league teams in 9 seasons. The most games he ever played in was 62 in 1999. He is primarily a defensive specialist. His offense is quite lacking. In 236 major league at bats, he has a 1.82 batting average, 2 HR, 23 RBi and 64 k's. Jamey Carroll should get the majority of the playing time at second base. This is definitely not the same team that I was expecting to see at this point when the season begain. Oh well, the best needs to be made out of the situation.

They keep doing this to me

I was bummed just about the whole game yesterday. The Indians were down 6-1 most of the game, so I wasn't overly thrilled. Then Shoppach hit a solo homer, then Grady hit a 3 run homer to make it 6-5, I really thought that they were going to come back and was just waiting for it to happen. Then Borowski came in. Game over. Byrd pitched poorly once again giving up 6 runs in only 3 innings. Then, once again, it was Scott Elarton to the rescue with 3 solid innings of relief. Elarton has not given up a run since his first outing where he gave up 3 in that extra inning game a few weeks back. I think it's time to plug him into the rotation until the opposition figures out how to hit him. He' being wasted in long relief. Rick Bauer pitched for the second time this season giving up no hits or runs in his inning to lower his ERA to a stellar 13.5. Also, Victor's hurt, that's definitely not good. I still like tomorrow's matchup of Laffey vs Livan, so here's to hoping for better tomorrow.

The amazing CC Sabathia

We really needed this one. The offense didn't show up once again. But, it didn't really matter as CC pitched a complete game shut out of the Twins to secure a 1-0 victory. Sabathia allowed 5 hits, struck out 5 and didn't allow a walk. Scott Baker was almost equally impressive. Baker went 7 innings, giving up the lone run in the first inning on a Garko single that scored Ben Francisco. But yeah, it was pretty much the CC Sabathia show all night. He was able to escape a few times thanks to some Minnesota baserunning blunders that looked quite little league, but I'll take it. So once again, thanks again to CC for saving the day and giving me hope once again that will probably get shattered, but oh well, they're the Indians. CC is by far the best 4-8 pitcher in the game right now.

indians vs twins preview

OK, it's a 3 game series. We can't split this one. We have to win it. And, I like our chances at home against the Twins.

Tuesday: Sabathia vs Baker
This should be an interesting game. Baker has made 7 starts this year with a 4.03 ERA. But only has a 2-0 record. He doesn't go deep in the game, so he doesn't get many decisions and the Indians have a chance against the Twins bullpen, as long as it's not Joe Nathan. The bad news is that the Indians have lost the last 4 games that CC has pitched and he is only 3-8 on the year with a 4.81 ERA. This is definitely a toss up.
Prediction: 5-3 Indians

Wednesday: Blackburn vs Byrd
Congradulations again to Paul for getting his 100th career victory. But he really hasn't pitched well this season and I never count on much from him. Blackburn had pitching good all year until his last start where he gave up 7 runs in 4 innings against the White Sox. I'm hoping he continues his losing streak and the Indians figure him out after losing 3-0 to him earlier in the season.
Prediction: 9-7 Indians

Thursday: Livan Hernandez vs Laffey
Yes, Livan Hernandez is still pitching. First time in the American League. He had been pitching well earlier in the season, but he's been ineffective his last 4 starts and his ERA has ballooned to 5.32. Whereas Laffey is the best 3-3 pitcher in the league. It's about time he got a win.
Prediction: 8-2 Indians

Another prediction for the series: Shapiro makes some more moves. Dellucci gets demoted, Marte gets traded and Jensen lewis gets sent down, again.

GO TRIBE!

Indians split series = Moral Victory

We didn't lose a series this time, woohoo. Going into the game I felt really good. The amazing Cliff Lee vs an awful Dontrelle Willis definitely meant success in my mind. And for once, the Indians came through with my prediction. A stellar 8-2 victory was just what we needed. All be it that all of the runs came in the first 2 innings and the bullpen technically didn't give up a run the last 7.2 innings. I was a little scared when there was a rain delay after 4.5 innings. If the game hadn't resumed, it wouldn't have counted since it wasn't through a full 5 innings. But luckily, the weather cleared up and the Indians were able to get the easy win. Although the Indians didn't score after the second innings, it was fine by me, I figured the Indians could hold an 8 run lead..... Dontrelle was as expected. Ineffectively wild and grooved two fastballs that Garko and Shoppach took deep. That was really all we needed. Cliff got the victory going 5 innigns, he would have gone longer, but the rain delay cut his night short. The Rafy's were effective and Masa shut them down preserving the 8-2 victory. But let's just talk about Cliff lee real quick. Come on, I wasn't sure this guy was going to make the team out of spring training. He's been unbelievable going 10-1 this season and the first AL pitcher to 10 games. So way to go Cliff, hopefully you keep it up and not fall apart once the opposing team realizes that you're Cliff Lee.

Shuffle Time, part 2

It's finally happened. Asdrubal Cabrera's day has finally come. He has officially been demoted to AAA for some find tuning. And believe me, he needs a lot of tuning. Cabrera's glove is above adequate, but his offense has been downright awful. He's batting a paltry .184 with 1 HR and 14 RBI in 158 At bats. He's also struck out 40 times with a .282 OBP. Last year, in 159 at bats, he had 3 HR, 22 RBI, .283 average, 29 K's. Either every pitcher in baseball figured him out or he just isn't the same guy as last year. He is only 22, time at Buffalo may be nice. People had to have known this was coming after he has been splitting so much time with Jamey Carroll, who hasn't exactly been setting the world on fire either. To counteract sending Cabrera down, they recalled Josh Barfield, who of course was supposed to answer all of our second base prayers last season. He wasn't that bad last year, he just wasn't the player that they had expected him to be. I think the reason that it has taken this so long to happen is the fact that Barfield hasn't exactly been playing well this season in Buffalo and they kept hoping that Cabrera could return to old form. Something like this had to happen, and we'll see if it works. Here's a heads up call to David Dellucci and Andy Marte, you two could be next.

Typical Sowers

The worst part of Westbrook going on the DL is the fact that it means Jeremy Sowers is now part of the regular rotation. Yes, he's a lefty and that makes it slightly more dificult to hit his pitches. But the guys a soft tosser. If he missed his spot just once, it's out of the park. Some pitchers can get by with mistakes because they either throw hard or their pitches have a lot of movement. He's a second rate Jamie Moyer in my mind. I really wish Adam Miller was healthy and ready. I almost am tempted to have Brian Slocum to start a couple games, he wasn't too bad at AAA. Maybe the recent minor league signings can do something. Just because no one else wants Dan Reichert and John Halama, does not mean that they can't pitch for the Indians. It's almost getting sad at this point, I can't wait for Fausto to return. But anyway, Sowers went 4 runs giving up 7 hits and 5 runs. However, Elarton did actually pitch well going 3 scoreless innings, maybe he's next in line to get a start, who knows anymore. And the Indians game was also sad beacuse the Indians had a great chance in the 8th loading the bases with 1 out against Miner. But of course, Peralta and Francisco struck out ending any chance of a comeback. Well there it is, another disappointing day for Indians fans.

6 run inning dooms Indians

The game was going well as planned. Until the 8th inning. The Indians were up 3-2 following a key double by Kelly Shoppach in the 2nd and a Garko sac fly in the 6th. Then the wheels came off of the bus. Laffey had pitched well, going 6.2 innings giving up only the two runs. Then Masa came in. He gave up a HR to Thames to lead off the 8th. He struggled some more and Betancourt came into the game. Wasn't Rafy good last year? This year he's been quite terrible. This time he gives up a grand slam to Edgar Renteria (who I have never liked since the 97 World Series). When the ball left the park, my heart sank, I flipped the channel in disgust and called it a day. The Indians refuse to let Aaron Laffey win his fair amount of games. There is no reason for him to have a 3-3 record with a 2.98 ERA. Another sad day for the Indians and quite possible the low point of the season.

100 wins for Byrd

Paul Byrd has been around a long time, 13 years to be exact. It may have taken him some time to get 100 wins, but it's still quite an impressive accomplishment. Byrd went 7 innings giving up 4 hits and 2 runs. He outpitched Justin Verlander to drop one of the top young pitchers in the game to 2-9. Casey had another big double and Garko added a late homer to seal the deal. Masa pitched well again and Borowski has somehow found a way to pitch better. Maybe he actually was hurt but I have been rather impressed with him lately. Anyways, great performance by Byrd and i'm happy for the guy. It's hard to win 100 games with a 88 mph fastball.

15-9 Indians

Well this game was definitely unexpected. I had predicted a 3-1 Indians victory. I was completely wrong. Cliff was not on at all and the Indians offense got to Ponson early and got into that horrendous bullpen that they have. I don't even know where to start with the Indians offense. Garko had a rediculous game going 4 for 5 with 6 RBi and key hits every time. David Dellucci, who I do not think there is a reason for him to still be with the ball club, came through with a big 3 run HR that probably earned him a spot tomorrow. Grady had another homer, Victor had 2 RBI and Ben went 5 for 6. Betancourt and Kobayashi were solid out of the pen, but Rick Bauer did not do himself any favors by giving up 3 runs in his inning and may not see another appearance for a while. I love seeing the Indians offense, and hopefully they show up in the finale as well

Bullpen Shuffle

Mark Shapiro once again thinks that the only thing the Indians need to change is the bullpen. Come on, Mark, it's time for something a little bigger than this. Get rid of Dellucci, trade Betancourt, trade Marte, do something of significance. Just once. So here it is: Mastny and Jensen get sent back to buffalo after the 12-7 loss and Brian Slocum and Rick Bauer were called up to take their places on the roster. I was not surprised that Mastny got sent down. He was completely useless giving up 5 runs in less than 2 innings in his first major league start. I was surprised to see Jensen get sent back down, why call up a reliever for one game? I understand when that happens to a starter, but they need to stop toying with Jensen. Either keep him or Cleveland or keep him in Buffalo for longer than a week. I actually thought they might call up Rick Bauer soon, he was pitching lights out in Buffalo and is sort of a veteran, even though he's never really stuck anywhere since his best season for the Orioles in 2002. Slocum last pitched for the Indians in 2006: in 8 games and 2 starts, he had a 5.6 ERA 3 HR and 11 runs in 17.2 innings. We'll see if this actually works out well or not. I've always liked Jensen, so Slocum and Bauer have to pitch lights out or else Shapiro's just going to keep shuffling the bullpen for no apparent reason.

Westbrook back on DL

Jake Westbrook is back on the DL after only one start since his previous DL stint. Jensen Lewis is called up to take his spot on the roster. I was one who didn't think that Lewis shouldn't have been demoted in the first place. But, Westbrook was supposed to pitch tonight and Jensen isn't really a starter, so who's going to start tonight? When I first heard that Westbrook went on the DL last night during the game, I was predicting it would be Scott Elarton. I was caught completely off guard when I found out that it's going to be Tom Mastny starting tonight. This will be Mastny's first start in the major leagues. After last night's amazing win, we needed someone who could shut down the Rangers offense. I'm guessing Mastny will go 5 innings tops, bullpen will be over used once again and assuming that the offense get's to AJ Murray quickly, this could be another 13-9 game. Hopefully it goes the Indians way again. This is another turn in the road to what has been an overall weird season for the Indians so far.

Indians vs Rangers, Round 2

OK, the last time these two teams meant it did not go very well for the Tribe. The Rangers took 2 of 3 from the Indians about a week ago at the Jake. Nothing really went well for the Indians and Fausto got hurt in the process. Playing on the road against the hot rangers is not my idea of an easy series. But once again, based on the pitching matchups, I'm optimistic that this could be the series that we win.

Tonight: Mathis vs Laffey

Laffey has been pitching lights out this season. He is overshadowed by Cliff's domination and no one seems to be talking about him. He has 1.59 ERA in 6 starts. But sadly, the Indians offense doesn't show up when he starts and he's only 3-3. Mathis went 6 strong innings the last time he faced the Indians giving up only 1 run in 6 innings. The chances of this rookie doing it again is not very likely so I'm feeling confident tonight.

Prediction: Indians 5-1

Tomorrow: Westbrook vs Murray

Westbrook is making his second start since returning from the DL and I am expecting a strong outing. I have no idea what to expect from AJ Murray though. He's making his only second start of the year and his 4th start ever. He's pitched well and was able to beat the Athletics last week. The indians don't really do well against pitchers they're seeing for the first time. So this game is definitely a toss up.

Prediction: 4-3 Indians

Wednesday: Lee vs Ponson

Yes, Sidney Ponson is somehow still pitching. He and Bartolo Colon go to the same buffet's in the offseason and he's looking plump as ever. But somehow, someway, he's pitched himself to a 4-1 record, 3.83 ERA in 8 starts so far. Yes, the same Sidney Ponson who the Twins didn't want last year and the Cardinals who'll take on any one with an arm didn't even want after 2006. He did not face the Indians last week and I'm interested to see how the Indians do against him. But, Cliff is starting, and Cliff is pure awesome. I feel very confident in predicting a victory every time he starts, even though he's been slightly shaky in his last 3 starts.

Prediction: 3-1 Indians

Thursday: Sabathia vs Millwood

Remember when Kevin Millwood used to be good? Oh, yeah, he played for the Indians then. He's extremely inconsistent and has not been on the top of his game lately. Sabathia is back to the Sabathia that we know and love so I see no worries here either. But like always, the game hinges on the Indians offense showing up. I know the pitching will be there, it's that little league offense that's been killing us. They have to turn it around sometime. right?

Prediction: 4-2 Indians

Are you kidding me?

I can't even remember the last time the Indians won a series. Apparently the Indians were the perfect remedy for the Royals to start turning things around. Going into the series, they had lossed 11 straight, now they've won 2 straight and pretty much dominated the Indians today. Brian Bannister did whatever he wanted to the entire game until Grady hit a solo HR for the Indians only run of the game in this horrific 6-1 loss. Bannister gave up 5 hits, 1 ER in 7.1 innings. Byrd pitched how I thought he would, giving up 6 runs and 9 hits in 4.2 innings. The lone bright spot was Scott Elarton's 3.2 innings of scoreless relief. These are the games that he should be in before being put into tight situations. The way Byrd has been pitching lately, I think that his starting spot should be in question. I would almost give Elarton a shot, it is the reason he was called up, right? He's a starter, not a reliever. I don't understand why teams think that former starters that can't cut it anymore as starters can be relievers. Look at Brett Tomko and Glendon Rusch as examples. I say, just let the guys start or get rid of them. Yeah, I'm not very happy right now and I'm not very excited about seeing the Rangers again after what happened last time we played them and I don't think anyone wants to see Josh Hamilton again.