Month: April 2006 (Page 10 of 17)

After a superb first two outings in which he allowed only three runs combined, Jake Westbrook had an uncharacteristically rough start Friday night, giving up five runs in six innings as the Tribe lost to the Tigers 5-1. Conversely, Tiger starter Kenny Rogers was very sharp, giving up only one run through eight. The lone Indians run came in the sixth when Eduardo Perez grounded into a double play, scoring Hafner.

Being a sinkerball pitcher, it’s unlike Westbrook to give up three home runs in a game. He missed his spots over the plate and Detroit made him and and the Tribe pay.

“I just got carried away with trying to throw the ball too hard,” he said. “You can’t make bad pitches against that team.”

The Cleveland Indians and Mr. Dolan, as I stated consistently for the past few weeks, will suffer from trying to find that “steal” when signing pitchers. The never got a true number one starter. C.C. Sabathia is a solid number two pitcher and may be a number one a couple years down the road.
The lose of Bob Howry and still using Bob Wickman as our closer will hurt the Tribe as this long season continues. Howry was “automatic” for two innings and Wicky did have luck and talent on his side last year. Cleveland has a very good offense, but I don’t believe they can continually out score their opponents to win games.
It’s still early in the season, but I think our magician GM Mark Shapiro needs to start making some calls and shore up this very mediocre pitching staff.

What has been a strength for the Indians so far this season has doomed them the past two nights. The Tribe’s bullpen couldn’t hold a lead as they lost to the Mariners in the rubber match Thursday night, 9-5. Jason Johnson left the game in the sixth with a 5-3 lead but the bullpen was unable to sustain it. Indians pitchers as a whole walked nine Mariners in the game.

“We put them in position to win,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said. “It’s uncharacteristic of guys who are usually aggressive over the plate and throw strike one, strike two.”

Our relievers have not been sharp recently which has led to our two-game losing streak.