Tigers Get Revenge, Win Series

Detroit came to town and won both matchups in this two-game series, cutting the Tribe's lead in the AL Central to a 0.5 game. Max Scherzer silenced the Indians' bats on Tuesday, only giving up 2 hits in his 8 innings of work, the Tribe getting 3 hits total in a 5-1 loss. Cleveland fared much better against Tigers ace Justin Verlander last night but it wasn't enough as they fell 11-7 to lose the series.

There's not a great deal to discuss here and I need to make this post relatively quick anyway. Corey Kluber pitched a solid game on Tuesday to keep the home side in the game but never got the run support. Kluber pitched 6 1/3 quality innings, giving up 8 hits and 3 runs whilst striking out 8. It was the 2 long balls in the 6th inning that condemned Kluber to the loss, but it was a decent outing before that.

Ubaldo Jimenez couldn't summon another miracle start last night, getting hit pretty hard by this powerful Detroit lineup. He lasted 4 innings, giving up 7 hits and 6 runs, walking 3 and striking out 3 before exiting the game early. Not Ubaldo's best effort obviously but I don't think there's cause to panic again, facing this Detroit team is a tough prospect for every pitcher.

The Indians tried to keep things close in both games but unfortunately relief pitcher David Huff couldn't stem the Tigers' tide. He pitched in both contests and couldn't get the job done in either. On Tuesday he surrendered 2 hits for 2 runs in just a 1/3 of an inning's work in the top of the 9th, putting the game beyond Cleveland's reach. Last night Huff came in to relieve Ubaldo and managed to last the entire 5th inning but got shelled. He gave up 4 hits for 3 runs with 2 strikeouts, giving the Tigers an insurmountable lead that Cleveland's subsequent rally couldn't top. It's always frustrating to watch your relief pitchers come in to save the day and get destroyed and it's tough on Huff, a pitcher I've always kind of liked despite not really knowing why. I enjoyed the majority of his 2009 rookie campaign and was really happy when he managed to reach double-digit wins that year (Huff finished 11-8 in 2009, despite possessing a 5.61 ERA). So it saddens me to see him toil away fruitlessly in the bullpen, bouncing between the majors and AAA. His future with the Tribe doesn't look good but I hope he can turn things around, work with Mickey Callaway on his technique and get back to being at least a league-average reliever.

Player Of The Series

It's always difficult to choose a bright spot when your team gets swept in a series but I can't ignore the recent efforts by Michael Brantley. He was consistently good in this short two-game series and got 3 hits for 4 RBI, including the Tribe's only run of the game on Tuesday. He's been hitting well for a while now, batting .319 this month with 1 HR and 12 RBI. His .309 batting average and 51 hits this season now lead the team in both categories. I like how Brantley is developing and progressing in 2013 and he has slotted in well wherever Francona has put him in the lineup. Keep it up Mike, you win the award for this series.

So the Tribe now travel to Fenway Park for a four-game series with the Red Sox, who've cooled off a bit since we last faced them but are still one of the better teams in the American League, with a 28-19 record so far. We'll have to be careful of the superhuman David Ortiz (as always) but I think we can use this Boston series to rebound from this Detroit hiccup and get back to winning ways.

Thanks for reading.

Indians Split Double-Header With Yankees

A beautiful sunny Monday in Cleveland saw a rather mixed bag for the Indians in their double-header against the Yankees. Let's take a look:

The Good...

The first game of the day saw an absolutely stunning pitching performance from Justin Masterson. Backed by a 1st inning home run from Jason Kipnis (his fifth homer of the season), Masterson was untouchable. He lasted the entire 9 innings, giving up 4 hits, 3 walks and striking out 9 Yankees in a memorable outing for the 1-0 complete game shutout. Despite only having Kipnis' homer for support, Masterson didn't need anything else and protected the thin lead with ease. Masterson now sits at 6-2 with a 3.14 ERA, joint first in the majors in victories. Francona said, "Masty went out and did exactly what you want your ace to do. From the very first pitch of the game, he had power, he had breaking ball, he attacked hitters." A near perfect performance from our number one guy, a very well pitched game. It'll earn Masterson the Player of the Series award from me as well.

The Bad...

Unfortunately things didn't go quite so well for Trevor Bauer, up from Columbus for the day to make the spot-start in the second game of the double-header. He pitched the best game of his young Indians career so far but he had no help from the offense, who struggled to muster any sort of attack in a 7-0 whitewash by New York. Bauer lasted 6 1/3 innings, surrendering 6 hits for 3 runs, 2 of them earned, whilst he walked 2 and struck out 4 batters. Despite getting the loss, the improvement in Bauer's performance was notable. For one, he kept his walks down to just 2, which is significantly better than his previous two starts where he walked far too many hitters. Bauer now sits at 1-2 for the year, with a 2.76 ERA.

He wasn't helped by his bullpen. Nick Hagadone came in to relieve Bauer and immediately allowed one of Bauer's runners to score. Hagadone is really struggling of late, still adapting to life in the majors and he had a torrid time against the Yankees. He only lasted a third of the 7th inning and was hit 3 times by the Yankees, giving up 4 runs, 3 of them earned, striking out 1 and walking 1. Matt Albers and David Huff pitched the rest of the game and didn't allow any more runs but the damage was done off Hagadone and the Indians never recovered.

It was a frustrating game for the Indians offense, who have been so potent of late but stumbled in this series. The Yankees sent former Indians draft pick Vidal Nuno to the mound and he stifled the Tribe lineup over 5 innings of work to earn his first major league win. He allowed only 3 hits and the Tribe had no answer for him, nor Adam Warren who pitched the final 4 innings for the Yanks, also allowing no runs and only 2 hits, earning the save. It was a very disappointing game for the Indians offense to say the least.

... And The Ugly

I mentioned on Sunday after the 4-3 win in Detroit that the Indians might look at the Lonnie Chisenhall situation sooner rather than later and that's exactly what they did. They made a decision on Chisenhall much sooner than I expected though, sending him down to AAA Columbus on Monday and recalling pitcher David Huff, who pitched in the second game against the Yankees yesterday.

I can understand this move certainly. With Vinnie Pestano still out for a bit, the bullpen needs another arm and Huff can do that job, so I can see why the struggling Chiz is the one who has to make way. Still, I can't help but think sending Lonnie back to AAA after making him the everyday starter at third base could be slightly detrimental to his long term prospects. When he does make it back to Cleveland, and that will certainly be this year, we'll see if the trip back to Columbus did him more harm than good. I don't expect that to be the case, I think mentally this is a good move for Lonnie and he should make it back to the bigs a stronger player.

But Nino over at The Tribe Daily made a good point that Lonnie doesn't have anything more to learn at the AAA level, that he can work out his problems whilst still being part of the Indians team. I agree and I especially agree with Nino that we don't want this to become another Matt LaPorta situation. However I can see why this move will be beneficial for Lonnie. Now he can get away from the limelight of the major leagues and fix his batting mechanics in a more relaxed setting, where the fans and the media aren't dissecting and criticising his every move. He needs to snap out of this funk and get back to what made him successful in Spring Training, because right now Chisenhall is not playing like the guy we know he can be. It's not pretty, but sending him back to Columbus to fix his plate approach is ultimately the right move.

So after two games against the Yankees the Tribe now fly to Philadelphia for two games against the Phillies before getting a day off on Thursday. Scott Kazmir (2-1, 4.87 ERA) will look to continue his good start to the season against the Phillies' Jonathan Pettibone (2-0, 3.63 ERA) tonight, first pitch at 7.05 pm ET. Lets hope the offense can get back on track and put up some big numbers.

Thanks for reading.