Cleveland Indians vs. Oakland Athletics
By: Twisted
Wind and rain are not the only bad words to describe Cleveland this weekend. The Indians fall on the short end of the series losing two of three in front of the home crowd to drop to 5-7 on the year. That makes us, drum roll please, 3-6 versus the west coast here in the early going. However, it could always suck more, we could be like the Detroit “Overrated” Tigers who are now 2-10 and dead last in runs scored and allowed. Nevertheless, before you jump off either of these teams bandwagons and join the few Royals fans still out there, remember its only game twelve, which means one-hundred fifty more to go.
Normally we would usually start with the “Good” but given the circumstances and the numerous players in attendance for the bad this series, we shall go in reverse.
The Bad
Friday Night
Besides the national weather service calling for severe storms, Cleveland Indians ace pitcher CC Sabathia forgot to show up to the game. Unfortunately, this was not the first time this year CC has pitched horrible. What is worse for a fan then seeing his/her team get clobbered? Seeing it in the rain, with a fifty-nine minute delay. That subsequently ended an eighth inning rally.
CC Sabathia
He wants resigned right. Because right now I am seeing a pitcher that has proven to be excellent years before just throwing batting practice to teams in a “these games count” situation. CC’s horrendous Friday night versus the As adds to his subpar stats of 2008. 0-2, 11.57 ERA, 14.0 Inning pitched, 24 hits, 18 runs, 9 walks, and 13 strikeouts. The big man needs to fix it and fix it fast or else it can be troublesome to the team and his stock.
Faustro Carmona
Congratulations on your contract, now what happened? Carmona walked eight in 3.1 innings. He only gave up two hits, however; the control has been a problem all season with seventeen walks in 16.1 innings. Not good for the guy that just signed a huge deal and came in fourth last year in the Cy Young voting.
Victor Martinez
Since coming back from his injury, Victor has been cold. Hitting only one for eleven in this series is a real concern. One good thing we can take is that Oakland did not get a single stolen base.
Casey Blake
Zero for four… Enough said. He did so horrible that Andy Marte finally got some playing time on Sunday. Who is the next member of our bad list.
Andy Marte
He finally gets playing time and goes zero for two with two strikeouts. He is trying to earn a spot and blows his chances any time soon with his play today.
Asdrubal Cabera
I don’t know where the .283 hitter of last year went but this years version is stinking up the place. Going two for ten versus the As and on top of that, he stuck out three times.
Half-and-Half
Franklin Gutierrez
He went two for eight, however; getting two doubles and scoring two runs when on base means we have to give him a pat on the back. Anytime we can get someone to score lately is nice
Rafael Perez
Perez was atypically battered. The left-hander, who gave up only 12 runs in more than 60 innings a year ago, allowed four runs, three of them on a homer by Bobby Crosby. Now if Perez puts stats up like this again then we will have to worry but for now, one game in a week is understandable.
Michallucci
This may be a surprise, however; this platoon of Jason Michaels and David Dellucci went six of fifteen with two runs and fours RBI. Their bats came alive at home in meaningless games however. Still a small bit of good news.
Jhonny Peralta
Entering this series Peralta was arguably the Tribe’s hottest hitter. On Friday night, he added to his three game homerun streak. However, since then he is hitless.
Good
Faustro Carmona Contract
The Indians and Carmona announced on Thursday that they have agreed to a four-year, $15 million pact, through 2011. The deal also includes individual club options for 2012, '13 and '14. If the deal maxes out, Carmona will make $43 million, with the potential to make another $5 million in escalators.
Bullpen
The dominating bullpen was asked to put in some overtime this weekend pitching 12.1 innings. That’s with 9 hits, 8 strikeouts, and 4 runs allowed
Jensen Lewis
Lewis came in to sort out Carmona’s mess with the bases loaded and worked out without any damage. Lewis pitched 2.2 dominating innings giving up two hits and two strikeouts. Lewis is one of our hottest bullpen pitchers so far.
Masahide Kobayashi
Kobayashi pitched five games giving up six hits and two runs. This weekend he pitched twice for two innings and one hit given up. The young Japanese pitcher is starting to look very promising for the Indians future.
Rafael Bentancourt
Bentacourt has turned it around since the begging of the season. This weekend he came in and took care of the As batters only allowing one hit in two inning of work.
Joe Borowski
This wasn’t a save situation which may explain why he pitched well. Came in for one inning and struck out a batter, lowering his season ERA to 13.50.
Grady Sizemore
Grady was consistent in this series. Batting .333 and getting a stolen base. More importantly Sizemore only stuck out one time.
Travis Hafner
Hafner’s bat woke up against the As batting .333 with three RBI. Hafner is doing a great job getting on base and scoring. Scoring two of the four times he reached base.
Ryan Garko
Garko is arguably the most consistent hitter for the Indians so far in this short season. Reaching base safely six times and hitting four of the last ten.
Jamey Carroll
Officially had only one at bat in this series, however, he scored three times. Drawing two walks and being hit by a pitch gave Carroll more scoring opportunities.
The 54,257 Fans
Thank you to all those fans who bared the rain, wind, and cold to support your struggling Indians!
Player of the Series
Cliff Lee
Cliff Lee was fighting for the number five spot in the rotation this year and currently he has the best record for all Indians starters. 2-0 with a 0.61 ERA. Lee went eight innings giving up one run on two hits and eight strikeouts. Cliff Lee is the only pitcher to beat the Oakland Athletics so far this year. Lee has pitched 14.2 innings giving up only six hits, two runs, one walk, and twelve strikeouts.