Category: Cleveland Indians (Page 40 of 96)

The Tribe’s strange season continues. For the fourth time in the last five series, the Indians have won the second game after losing the first game. The Tribe got a big three-run home run by Aaron Boone and Victor Martinez awoke from his slump to deliver four RBI as the Indians destroyed the A’s 11-2 Wednesday night.

In their last 13 games, the Indians have won four times by at least nine runs — 11-0, 9-0, 14-2 and 11-2 — and also lost by scores of 11-0, 10-3 and 14-2.

“We would like to keep going this way and eliminate the other ones,” Boone said. “It is bizarre. Every time we’re in one, I’m on the bench going, ‘Gosh, we’ve played in a lot of these.'”

Paul Byrd pitched very well for the Tribe and earned his first win since May 3, which was coincidentally against the A’s. The Indians pounded out 15 hits in the game, including four home runs. Victor Martinez homered off ex-Indian Steve Karsay in the eighth and Grady Sizemore homered for the third time in the last four games.

After a rough month of April, Paul Byrd has seemed to settle down. He has pitched pretty decent in his past seven or eight starts and is finally starting to look like the Byrd of 04′ and 05′. As far as these insane, lopsided games the Indians have been a part of recently, I wish I had an answer for it but I don’t. I’ve never seen anything like it. How do you get blown out in the first game of the series and come back to rout the same team the next day as many times as the Tribe has in the last few weeks? Totally mind-boggling.

A couple of three-run innings by the A’s led to their 7-6 victory over the Indians Tuesday night. With the Tribe holding a slim 2-1 lead, Jake Westbrook served up a three-run homer to Frank Thomas. The Tribe then scored in the fifth, sixth, and seventh to build a 6-4 lead but it didn’t last long as Eric Chavez’s two-run shot off Scott Sauerbeck in the eighth tied the game. An Aaron Boone fielding error in the same inning set up Oakland’s seventh and go-ahead run. The Indians were able to find some success off Oakland stud Barry Zito, tagging him for six runs and 10 hits in seven innings. Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner each homered and Ronnie Belliard had two RBI but Cleveland’s bullpen struggles were really the story of the game.

Some interesting stats on Sauerbeck this season: He has a horrendous 6.23 ERA but opponents are only hitting .196 off him. Besides the nine walks, five of the nine hits he’s given up this season have been doubles or home runs. Too many times he puts himself into jams via the walk so the hits he does give up are extremely costly.

Struggling Jhonny Peralta was dropped from the third spot in the lineup for the first time this season. Hitting in the six hole Tuesday, Peralta struck out three more times, bringing his K total to 64 and dropping his average to a dreadful .232.

Hot prospect Andy Marte has not gotten off to the fast start that many had hoped for. The main selling point for the Tribe behind the Coco Crisp deal, Marte is hitting only .257 with two homers and 13 RBI through 53 games in AAA. However, the organization does not seem too worried about Andy’s slow start and is not ready to hit the panic button just yet.

“I think it is a case of trying to make a positive impression in a new organization,” said Director of Player Development John Farrell. “Some of the fundamental changes we’ve made are beginning to carry over into games”.

Marte is only 22 and he has a lot of years ahead of him. He has a proven track record through every level of the minors of being a middle of the order power hitter. Hopefully, for the Indians’ sake, it’s just a matter of him trying too hard with a new team. He’s one of baseball’s top 10 prospects for a reason and I’m sure things will work itself out in the end.

C.C and the Indians did not expect this. Sabathia has proven over the past month that has the ability to step up and pitch like a legitimate No. 1 starter. However, he hit a little bump in the road Sunday night. Sabathia was lit up for seven runs in five innings, including giving up three home runs, as the Tribe fell 14-2 to the Angels in the rubber match of their series. Relievers Jason Davis and Guillermo Mota accounted for the other seven runs. On the other hand, Angel starter John Lackey gave up only two hits in seven innings and earned his first win in seven starts. First baseman Kendry Morales and cather Mike Napoli each had three RBI and four different Angels homered in the one-sided slugfest. The Tribe avoided the shutout thanks to back-to-back home runs by Victor Martinez and Ben Broussard in the ninth.

Unfortunately, the Indians are starting to make a habit out of these lopsided blowouts. They have lost by at least seven runs in each of their last three defeats. With the exception of the home run he gave up to Guerrero, Sabathia was throwing way too many balls over the middle of the plate and looked off his game all night long.

The Tribe gave the Angels a taste of their own medicine as their offense erupted in a 14-2 victory Saturday afternoon. With the game tied at two, the Indians exploded for eight runs in the sixth. Half of those runs came as a result of Travis Hafner’s third grand slam of the season. He celebrated his birthday in a Pronk-sized way, going 3 for 4 with a home run, double, and a career-high six RBI.

“I love to be in that situation,” Hafner said. “It’s a great opportunity to just go out ready to hit. You know the pitcher has to come after you with his best stuff, and you have to be ready to hit it.”

The Angels’ fielding woes were partly to blame for the Tribe’s offensive onslaught. They committed three errors in the ballgame and only four of the 14 runs scored by the Tribe were earned. The most costly error came in the sixth by Vlad Guerrero. With two outs and runners on second and third, Guerrero dropped a Ronnie Belliard fly ball down the right field line to kick start the rally. Cliff Lee rebounded from an awful month of May, giving up only two runs in seven innings.

Lee looked like his old self Saturday, which is good to see. For the past two series now, the Indians have gotten blown out in the first game and came back to win the second. The Indians have a great chance to win another series with C.C on the mound Sunday.