Category: Cleveland Indians (Page 50 of 96)

The Indians got back on the winning track, edging the Kansas City Royals 6-5 Friday night. Jhonny Peralta delivered the big hit in the seventh when he doubled home three Indians to make it 6-3. Bob Wickman entered in the ninth and got his fourth save of the season. Victor Martinez’s 15-game hitting streak ended as he went 0 for4. Cliff Lee went 5 2/3 innings and gave up three runs, while Danny Graves got the win for the Tribe. Eric Wedge didn’t downplay Peralta’s clutch performance.

“Peralta stepped up big time,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said. “He’s comfortable in those situations. He likes being up in those situations. He’s had a great deal of success with runners in scoring position, as well as late in the game.”

When you need a win who better to face than the hapless Royals. Peralta came through with the huge hit and the pen finally was able to hold a lead.

His debut was superb. His second major league start wasn’t as sharp. Fausto Carmona gave up eight runs in 5 1/3 innings as the Tribe lost to Baltimore Thursday afternoon 9-4. Carmona ran into trouble in the sixth, surrendering six runs in the inning. On the positive side, Victor Martinez hit a home run in his third straight game, extending his hitting streak to a current major league best 15 games. Starter Eric Bedard got the win for the Orioles, becoming the third pitcher in the majors to reach the four-win mark this season. Left-hander Rafael Perez was recalled from Akron to take the place of Matt Miller, who was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained elbow.

“We didn’t do a particularly good job of executing from a pitching standpoint, and that obviously played into it,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said.

The big inning continues to plague the Indians. Most of their losses this season have resulted when Tribe pitchers have given up three or more runs in a single inning.

The Cleveland Indians need pitching and the organization needs to spend money to get it. I have said from the day one, the Dolans are managing this team as if they are losing money. A new Forbes study shows the Indians have a higher valuation than any team in their division. This is why my frustration is so high when we refuse to pay for pitchers that would add value to this team.

Mark Shapiro has done a remarkable job of putting together an offense that is complete from top to bottom. This offense is on pace to put record numbers up for Cleveland. It would be a mistake to let this offense go to waist this season with the average bunch of arms we have on the mound. The Tribe needs to make a “big move” and run at the pennant this season or by July we will already be saying wait till next season.

Travis Hafner has arguably the catchiest nickname of any Cleveland athlete. He even has a candy bar named after him. Problem is, it seems that his popularity and appreciation as a baseball talent is limited to the city of Cleveland and it’s fans. He had comparable numbers the last two seasons to his fellow left-handed DH David Ortiz, who garners the majority of the attention.

Hafner was fifth in the A.L. MVP voting last season, but has yet to make an All-Star team. He could walk down the street of virtually any major North American city without getting recognized. His ‘Q’ rating is about what you’d expect of the under-secretary in the Department of the Interior.

However, as baseball writer Ken Rosenthal points out, Pronk is a player to be reckoned with and his time in the spotlight will come soon one day.

Hafner hits everywhere, everything and everyone — except, perhaps, Tigers left-hander Mike Maroth, against whom he is 2-for-18. As Shapiro says, “You can’t typecast him as one type of hitter.” This is Shapiro’s 15th year with the Indians. He has seen Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome come through the organization. Yet, he says that none of those sluggers matched the combined approach, focus, toughness and intelligence of Hafner.

The tables were turned Wednesday night as the Orioles delivered a blowout of their own against the Indians, pounding them 18-9. In the strangest and most bizarre game of the year, the Tribe held a 7-3 lead going into the bottom of the fifth. But it was then that the Baltimore bats came to life against Jake Westbrook and everything went downhill for the Tribe. The Orioles scored seven in the fifth and five more in the eighth to blow the game open. Jhonny Peralta and Todd Hollandsworth both committed errors in the eighth. To make matters worse, Rafael Betancourt and Matt Miller both had to leave the game in the sixth with injuries. Wedge said one of them would most likely have to go on the disabled list. Victor Martinez, Jhonny Peralta, and Aaron Boone all homered for the Tribe.

“It was a bad night, all the way around. It’s one game,” said manager Eric Wedge.

One minute it looks like we are going to cruise to another victory and in the span of an inning, we lose the lead and two of our pitchers are hurt. Luckily we have talented arms in Triple-A that can temporarily help fill the void in the bullpen.