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.