Category: Cleveland Indians (Page 53 of 96)

Jake Westbrook pitched another fantastic ballgame, allowing only one run on two hits in 7 1/3 innings as the Indians won their fifth straight, beating the Twins 3-2. The Tribe earned their first sweep of the season and beat one of the game’s best pitchers, Johan Santana, in the process. Eduardo Perez took Santana deep in the fourth and Aaron Boone delivered a two-run double in the sixth.

“We’re six games into the season,” cautioned Perez. “But we’re getting good pitching, good fielding and guys like Travis Hafner are really hitting well.”

The Indians sure are doing a good job of putting the past behind them. They know they can’t have a repeat of the last two Aprils when they struggled out of the gate. They are really clicking in every facet of the game, it’s just too bad they have a day off. Hopefully that won’t affect our momentum going into the Seattle series.

The Tribe beat the Minnesota Twins 3-0 Saturday, extending their win streak to four. Jason Johnson was superb in his first outing as an Indian, giving up only four base hits in seven innings. Travis Hafner continued his hot streak, going 3 for 3 while hitting his fourth homer of the season. Wickman shut the door in the bottom of the ninth to get his second save of the season.

What a great performance by Johnson. I didn’t really know what to expect from him but he came in and pitched an excellent ballgame. At least for one day, Shapiro looks like a genius for signing Jason in the offseason.

The baseball season is just beginning and you can already see that the Indians and manager Eric Wedge were determined to avoid a slow start. Cleveland is swinging the bats; they are advancing the runners, and just playing smart baseball.
The injury to C.C. Sabathia is the only bad news coming out of the Indians camp so far. The power has been tremendous for this early in the season and people are starting to take notice.
The pitching will be tested early since the rotation is already going to change. The bullpen will have to pick up where it left off last year, even with all the new faces.
This team is already looking more confident than last year. I still believe we need a legitimate number one starter to make a run at the pennant.

The Cleveland Indians and Brandon Phillips have quietly parted ways. Phillips, who was once thought to be the “jewel” in the trade that also gave the Indians Grady Sizemore and Cliff Lee, never materialized into the player that Cleveland had hoped.
The Tribe patiently waited each year for the Phillips to turn the corner and it never happened.
The Cincinnati Reds offered Cleveland a player to be named later or cash, giving the Indians until the middle of June to decide.

In their home opener, the Indians treated the sellout crowd to quite an offensive show, beating the Minnesota Twins 11-6 Friday afternoon. The Tribe was helped by two Travis Hafner home runs and a grand slam by Casey Blake as they pounded out a total of 17 hits. Paul Byrd was a little shaky in his Indians debut, allowing five earned runs in six innings but pitched well enough to get the win. Byrd knows the Indians must get off on the right foot this season and so far is pleased with the results.

“This is a good team that went through a lot last year,” he said. “We wanted to get off to a good start, and so far, that’s what we’ve done.”

After the season opener, the Tribe has looked very impressive the last three games. They’re getting decent starting pitching and are hitting the ball extremely well. So far, the Indians are living up to the one through nine philosophy once again.