Losing Streak Over, But Series Lost To LA

Okay then. After the dreadful Detroit series last week I really wanted the Tribe to come out all guns blazing against Anaheim. It didn't really work out like that unfortunately. In fact, it got so bad that at one stage the Indians' losing streak had grown to 6 games. Finally the team saved some dignity and won yesterday's final game of the series, rallying from behind to beat the Angels 6-5. It's been a pretty miserable week for the Tribe, and with the Browns back in town and having a successful first pre-season game, the Indians are going to have to turn on the form to keep the fans flocking to the park (not that they really were before, but that's a whole other conversation). The team are going to need all the help they can get in the push for October baseball.

I don't have too much time this morning, plus I don't have a great deal to say either as I got the chance to watch exactly zero minutes of Tribe baseball over the weekend. The MLB.com highlights just do not do the game justice at all, so I'm not going to go into a big re-cap today based on the highlights I saw. Instead, here are some quick-fire points I'd like to make about the series:

• Nick Swisher. The guy had a pretty consistent series overall and his 2 run homer really got us back into yesterday's game. Hopefully he can start to produce like this a lot more often as we go forward.
• The errors. Guys, come on, sort it out! Still the defensive errors are costing the Indians dearly. Did you all see that abysmal throw attempt to 1st base by Ubaldo on Saturday? He never stood a chance.
• Speaking of Ubaldo, he actually had the best outing by our starting pitchers over the series. Kazmir got shelled in Friday's start for 5 runs in just the 1st inning, creating a hole the Indians could not dig out of. Masterson had a really off day yesterday, surrendering 4 runs in the first 2 innings and letting Angels get on base at will. Thankfully the team did rally back that time. But Ubaldo's solid if unspectacular 6 and a 1/3 innings of work on Saturday turned out to be the best performance out of all three starters, despite Jimenez losing that game. He kept the Tribe in the game and that's all you can ask from him.
• Credit must go to Carlos Carrasco. Recalled from Columbus for this series against Anaheim, he was called into action earlier than I'm sure he thought he would be. After Kazmir was pulled after 3 innings on Friday, Matt Albers managed to pitch an inning in relief before turning the ball over to Carrasco. The 26 year-old right-hander pitched 5 shutout innings to keep Tribe hopes alive but the offense never got the key hit to pull close to the Angels. It was a very positive outing for Carrasco, who has had a very poor year every time he's pitched in Cleveland (he's often been fantastic down in Columbus though). Carrasco can have my Player Of The Series award for his troubles too. 
• As another reward for Carrasco's efforts on Friday, Francona announced he will be the starter on Wednesday against the Twins. It gives Scott Kazmir a well needed rest, who apparently is suffering from fatigue, a dead arm kinda thing. Fair enough, Kaz hasn't thrown this many innings in a season in years so it's better to be safe and not wear him down.

That'll be it for today. Cleveland travel to Minnesota now for a three game series against the Twins. The Tribe have to use yesterday's win as a springboard to break out of this slump they've been in. It's got so bad lately that I'm no longer paying much attention to what the Tigers are doing. No, I'm more worried about the bloody Royals, who sit just a 0.5 game behind us now. Kansas City have been on a tear lately and the Indians must start winning again before we end up stuck in third in the division, let alone how many games behind in the wild card. 

Thanks for reading.

First Half Season Review: Pitchers

Yesterday I rounded off my review of the Indians' position players for the first half, you can find that here (or just scroll down you bums). Today the focus is on our pitchers, who've had a mixed season but overall I'd say they've been alright. Especially when you consider that many predicted the rotation to be a complete train-wreck this year. Without further ado:

Rotation

Justin Masterson A-

First time All Star Justin has rediscovered some of the magic he had in 2011 and has been the undisputed leader on the Tribe rotation. The biggest surprise has been his ability to get strikeouts, with 137 K's in 135.1 innings, good enough for 6th overall in the entire league, 4th in the AL. Not bad for a groundball pitcher huh? He's run into a bit of trouble lately, especially with his control (54 walks, 4th highest in the league), but he continues to pitch well every 5 days and has become the most reliable pitcher on the staff. Hopefully he can remain this good in the second half, maybe even get close to 20 wins. That would be fantastic.

Room for Improvement: Limit the walks.

Corey Kluber B+

A revelation this year and continuing to get better as the season progresses. Kluber has cemented himself as a solid number 2 behind Masterson since Zach McAllister got hurt in June. He has flourished with the added responsibility. Brilliant so far.

Room for Improvement: Keep doing what you're doing,

Zach McAllister B+

Zach started the year wonderfully before a finger injury at the beginning of June halted his progress. Showed enough of his supreme talent in his 11 starts though and can hopefully return to that level of effectiveness when he comes off the DL later this month. His introduction back into the rotation could be like a new signing and could just be what the rotation needs for the playoff-push in the second half.

Room for Improvement: Get healthy and pitch exactly the same as you did before.

Ubaldo Jimenez C-

Just when everyone had given up on him, Ubaldo somehow managed to sort himself out. We have finally begun to see flashes of the player we thought we were acquiring in the 2011 trade. It's not been all roses though. Jimenez's pitch counts are astronomical, hitters are nearly always pushing him to 3-2, and as a result he barely makes it past the 5th inning anymore. Some of that is luck and some of it is down to the defense, but Ubaldo has to find a way to pitch deeper into games if he is to have a future in Cleveland after 2013. At the moment, most people don't imagine him as part of the 2014 rotation. He has to prove them wrong in the second half.

Room for Improvement: Get at least 6 innings in the majority of your starts. Must pitch longer.

Scott Kazmir B-

We should all be celebrating the fact Kazmir even made it out of Spring Training, let alone to the half way point of the season. He's not the star he was in Tampa Bay anymore but we realise that, so expectations were low to begin with. Still, Scott has been a solid back-of-the-rotation starter, eating innings and has become one of the feel-good stories of 2013. A pleasant surprise all in all.

Room for Improvement: Keep contributing like you have. Limit the hits.

Trevor Bauer D

In the handful of spot-starts Bauer made in the first half, he's shown he's still not quite MLB-ready. Not yet anyway. Trevor is still struggling with his control, walking 16 batters in just 17 major league innings. The problem is, he's hardly setting AAA alight either. His numbers in Columbus aren't exactly mouth-watering, a 4.06 ERA in 14 starts, 76 hits and 9 HRs in 77.2 innings. I think Bauer could benefit from spending the majority of the second half in Columbus, and only join the big club in September. The elite talent is still obvious, he has possibly the best stuff on the roster, but a bit more seasoning at the AAA level is necessary to harness that potential.

Room for Improvement: Work on that control, have to limit those walks. Be patient, your chance will come.

Carlos Carrasco F

Carrasco's 6 starts with the big club can be considered a train-wreck by all accounts. He only pitched 1 quality start, against the Royals on June 17th, when he pitched 7.1 innings of 1 run ball and deserved a victory his team-mates couldn't provide. Aside from that single game he's been hideous. 47 hits and 29 earned runs in just 28.2 innings leaves him with a sky-high 9.10 ERA at the All Star break. The centre-piece of the 2009 Cliff Lee trade has failed to rebound successfully from the Tommy John surgery that kept him sidelined in 2012. It's not all doom and gloom for Carrasco though; he's been lighting up Columbus, with 60 strikeouts in 54.2 innings, with an impressive 3.29 ERA. He just hasn't put it all together at the major league level yet. There's still time, but he has to prove it to the big club, and the fans, sooner rather than later.

Room for Improvement: Transfer dominance from AAA level to major leagues. Avoid controversy.

Bullpen

Chris Perez D+

What a roller-coaster of a season so far for Perez, but he's actually been very good since his return from the disabled list. With expectations at an all time low, Perez seems to be pitching better than ever before, with 4 relatively incident-free saves within a period of 5 days in the run-in to the All Star break. He now needs to carry this consistency into the second half and become the closer he was in 2011 and 2012.

Room for Improvement: Keep your mouth shut and pitch. Stay healthy.

Vinnie Pestano D

Oh Vinnie, what happened man? Pestano has not been the same pitcher we've been accustomed to seeing so far in 2013. He's been struggling, the life in his fastball just doesn't seem right, and it's led to questions about his health and/or mental approach. Whatever the problem is, Vinnie needs to take these few days of rest to re-focus and fix himself. If its a physical problem, hopefully the club can give him the time he needs to recuperate. Pestano at 100% takes our bullpen to another level.

Room for Improvement: Fix what's ailing you and return to the Pestano we all know and love.

Joe Smith C

Normally one of our best bullpen guys but even Smith has struggled at times this year, especially lately (could be to due to being over-worked). Like Pestano, Joe needs to re-energise himself during the break and prepare himself for the second half. We're gonna need him at full health for the run-in.

Room for Improvement: Embrace the responsibility of carrying the load when the rest of the bullpen is failing.

Cody Allen B+

Arguably the lone bright spot in this year's bullpen, Cody Allen has established himself as a very good relief pitcher, maybe even a future closer (his strikeout rate of 11.80 K/9 is astounding). I've been extremely impressed with his composure and ability to handle the high-pressure situations that Francona throws him into. Excellent so far.

Room for Improvement: Keep it up.

Matt Albers C

Albers has been better than I thought he would be during the first half but like so many others he needs to cut down his walks if he wants to be an effective reliever in this bullpen. To his credit he has given up the least amount of home runs (2) amongst the bullpen staff with 10+ appearances.

Room for Improvement: Work on your control.

Bryan Shaw C

Shaw gets a bad rap from some fans but he's largely been effective in his 39 appearances thus far. Nothing spectacular but he's got the job done. I'd prefer if Francona left him out of some of the more volatile situations though. Shaw should strictly be used in emergencies during tight games, as I'd prefer to see Allen or Smith.

Room for Improvement: Limit the walks and hits.

Rich Hill D-

After starting the season so well, Hill has been a disaster ever since, with a lot of fans expecting the news of his release weeks ago. Rich is still capable of getting outs and there's been signs of him turning things around lately, but the fan's confidence in him is still pretty low. I'm a big fan of that sweeping curve ball though, the way it leaves hitters completely frozen at the plate. Hill needs to pitch better in the second half, like he did to end the first, or he won't last the year in Cleveland.

Room for Improvement: Cannot afford to keep walking the first batter you face or your days are numbered.

Nick Hagadone D

The once-promising left hander has had his fair share of troubles like the rest of the bullpen and needs to make the most of his next opportunity with the big club when his name is called again. Like Hill he needs to work on his control and limit the walks, or the Tribe will look elsewhere for left handed relief.

Room for Improvement: Cut down those walks and be prepared next time you make it to the bigs.

Not applicable for grading: Brett Myers, Scott Barnes, Matt Langwell, Joe Martinez, Danny Salazar, David Huff, Preston Guilmet, CC Lee

Myers was one of the off-season signings acquired to help shore up the rotation but injury has ruled him out of having any effect on the Indians in the first half. Danny Salazar is the highlight of this bunch, his impressive debut last week causing a quite a stir.

So there you have it, my review of each player as the first half has come to an end. The second half will reveal whether the Indians pitching staff are pretenders, like the previous 2 years, or contenders; can the Tribe actually make a real push for a playoff spot? Our hopes will lie largely with the rotation and the bullpen, and their collective performances will determine just how far these 2013 Indians will go.

Thanks for reading, enjoy the All Star Game tonight.

That's More Like It; Indians Sweep Reds

The Indians bounced back from their miserable road-trip in Boston and Cincinnati, beating the Reds twice in  a row at home, snapping the 5 game losing streak they were in. There was even better news in the shape of Pittsburgh doing us a favour, beating the Tigers twice and allowing us to climb back to within a 0.5 game in the AL Central. Let's look at the positives from this mini two-game sweep against our Ohio foes:

Good Pitching = Wins

Both the starters in this series pitched fantastic games these past two days. Justin Masterson started things off on Wednesday, lasting 6 innings and giving up only 4 hits and 1 run, a solo homer by Joey Votto in the 1st inning. He settled into his groove after that mistake and struck out 7 Reds batters, his two-seam fastball breaking down and away from hitters beautifully. He did walk 4 batters but that was a minor blemish on an otherwise perfectly pitched game. Masterson picked up his 8th win of the season in the process, a quite amazing feat considering how hard he struggled last year to earn victories. He's on track to get a career high in wins if he can continue this pace. The bullpen came in after Masterson finished his 6 innings and were relatively incident free for once, Cody Allen and Joe Smith combining well to get the Tribe to the 9th. Vinnie Pestano, newly elected closer, came in and immediately gave up a lead-off homer to Xavier Paul which helped unsettle the Tribe faithful but he dug in and got through the rest of the inning unscathed. The Indians won 5-2 in the end and snapped out of their losing streak in the process. Masterson got his run support from Mark Reynolds and Jason Giambi, the heavy hitters both striking for home runs to fuel the Tribe offense. Reynolds hit his homer, his 13th of the year, in the 3rd inning to tie the game and Giambi smashed a 3 run bomb with 2 outs in the 6th inning for 3 RBI to put the game beyond the Reds.

Scott Kazmir went one better than Masterson last night, lasting 7 innings, surrendering 8 hits and only giving up 1 run. Kazmir also limited his walks, allowing just the 1, and struck out 5 Reds batters to earn his 3rd win of the season. It was a very impressively pitched game by Kazmir, a performance he was due after going through a bit of a rough patch lately in his comeback tour. He got all the run support he needed when the Tribe exploded in the 4th inning for 7 runs, chasing Reds starter Homer Bailey from the game. With 2 outs in the 4th, the Indians were relentless and kept lining hits into the corners to pad their lead. With such a commanding lead, the bullpen could relax when they relieved Kazmir in the 8th and Nick Hagadone and Matt Albers pitched a clean inning each to get the Tribe to the finish line for a 7-1 Indians win and the series sweep.

Player Of The Series

There are many deserving candidates for the award this series, with nearly everybody having a good game. But my award goes to Yan Gomes, who despite playing in just one of the two games, had a fantastic day at the plate yesterday. This award is as much for his great game yesterday as it is for his impressive performance so far in 2013 and I thought it was about time I recognised his greatness here at England Tribe. Gomes got 3 hits yesterday, leading the team, and an RBI as well, which leaves him with a .319 batting average with 5 home runs and 13 RBI in total so far. The 25 year-old Brazilian backstop is impressing every day he plays and has grown into the perfect back-up catcher when Santana needs a day off behind the plate. Keep it up Yan, and congrats!

So the Indians have broken out of their funk just in time, as they begin what is arguably the toughest stretch of the schedule this campaign. The Tribe welcome the resurgent Rays to Cleveland for a three-game series beginning today, before jetting off to New York, Detroit and Texas for a long and season-defining road-trip.

Thanks for reading.

Cincinnati Crush, Tribe In Free Fall

How the mighty have fallen. The Indians are in a bit of a slump at the moment and after losing this short two-games series in Cincinnati, have now lost 5 games in a row. It began on Monday afternoon, when the Indians kept the game close and even tied it late on with a pinch-hit solo home run by Jason Giambi, but it wasn't enough as the Reds came back that very inning to add two more runs, winning the game 4-2. Cleveland looked to split the series last night but got off to a rough start and never recovered, losing 8-2 and with it, the series.

Now we shouldn't be too hard on our Tribe; we are in the midst of a very tough schedule and these recent losses to the Reds and the Red Sox should probably have been expected. They are two great teams, contenders in their respective divisions for sure, whereas we are still very much a work in progress and still trying to find an identity. So despite it being sad to see our boys drop these games, don't be too hard on them, since we're not really supposed to be challenging these teams anyway. The frustration is understandable of course, hopes are much higher this year and the hot start has helped increase expectations but like I said, the Indians are very much a developing ballclub and will have these losing streaks from time to time. The key is to quickly find a way to prevent this drop from turning into a season-ending tailspin like the last two years. That remains to be seen but I still have faith this new group will find a way to stop the bleeding and turn things around.

Suicidal Bullpen

The biggest factor in the Tribe's recent decline in form has been the bullpen's inconsistency and inability to hold onto a lead. We're losing these games because we're shooting ourselves in the foot with these terrible performances from our bullpen. What was considered to be the rock of this team entering 2013, the Indians bullpen has regressed significantly and is costing us games, especially of late. They were the shining light of 2012. We might have sucked on the field and at the plate but we all knew are bullpen was legit and the envy of many major league clubs. How times have changed huh?

I actually like this group on the whole but I feel we are still sorely lacking some experience. We're throwing Bryan Shaw, Cody Allen, Scott Barnes and Nick Hagadone into some pretty tight spots and asking these young guys to perform miracles. It's no surprise when they get destroyed. I'd prefer to see us make a move for a veteran arm for the 'pen, particularly a left-hander since we really lack any talent there. I like Rich Hill, his breaking ball can be a thing of beauty, but if he continues to come into games and walk the first guy he faces I'm going to scream. Matt Albers has hardly been used and has looked mediocre at best when he has. Since Corey Kluber looks better and better after every start, is there anyway we can move Brett Myers into the pen when he comes back from his rehab stint? It's not like he's a stranger to being a relief pitcher and he'd certainly qualify as an experienced arm, something the bullpen desperately needs. I know we're paying him $7 million to be in the rotation but maybe we can use him to address a more glaring need for now. It's an interesting thought and something I hope the Indians are at least considering.

The normally dependable trio of Smith-Pestano-Perez has also seen it's share of failures this year and is perhaps the most worrying trend. Smith I still like a lot and I felt bad for him entering the game on Sunday in Boston, it was an impossible situation for anybody. He'll be ok. Pestano just needs to get healthy and I think he'll be fine in the long-term as well. The news that he is the closer now Perez is on the DL is good, I think this move was going to happen eventually anyway. Despite earning 6 saves this year, Perez has been downright horrible for the Indians and it probably didn't help he missed most of Spring Training. I expect him not getting a proper pre-season has been somewhat responsible for his decline this year but the writing has been on the wall for a while now. Remember the blown home-run call Angel Hernandez made against Oakland a few weeks ago? Yeah, that was Perez's pitch that should have been ruled a homer and a blown save, but luckily for him he escaped. The meltdown he had against the Mariners, giving up back-to-back home runs, was bad enough but his car-crash of a performance at Fenway on Sunday really stole the show. We'll never truly know if his shoulder was hurting before he took the mound but his performance would indicate that was the case.

Where do we go from here? Well I'm honestly losing patience with Perez these days and he is not the elite closer many fans try to make him out to be (his 3.29 career ERA is far too high for that). He's had a really good past two years with us but now I think the Indians need to look to sell as high as possible over the next couple of months. I'd be overjoyed if he returned from the DL and became the second-coming of Mariano Rivera but it's unlikely to happen. I have a feeling a change of location for Mr Perez could be beneficial for all parties.

Player Of The Series

A tough pick in what has been a largely miserable trip to Cincinnati but Ubaldo Jimenez's solid effort on Monday cannot be ignored. He was chased from his last start against Detroit after only 4 innings but he rebounded with style against the Reds on Monday afternoon. Facing one of the National League's toughest lineups, Ubaldo pitched 7 strong innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 runs, walking 4 and striking out 6 batters. If we're nit-picking, the walks could be better but it was a great effort from Ubaldo and it was reassuring to see him bounce back so well after that loss against Detroit. He kept the Indians in the game and that's all you can ask from him. Congrats Ubaldo!

Cincinnati remain our opponents as they travel to Cleveland today for another two-game series. The Tribe send our ace Justin Masterson to the mound, he of the 7-3 record and 3.20 ERA. Justin will face-off against the veteran right-hander Bronson Arroyo, who sits at 5-4 with a 3.39 ERA. We have to put an end to this losing streak as soon as possible and it should start tonight with Masterson. Hopefully our top guy can quieten the Reds' bats and we can get back to winning ways. We need our offense to wake up for that to happen!

Thanks for reading.