Tribe Miss Out On Mets Sweep

The Indians took two out of three from this series against the visiting New York Mets and should really have completed the sweep. Behind a dominant Scott Kazmir the Tribe easily won Friday's opener 8-1, then took game two convincingly, winning 9-4 on Saturday. Sunday's contest was a closely fought battle and was tied 1-1 until Chris Perez blew the game in the 9th inning, and the Mets emerged victorious 2-1 to salvage some pride.

Right, I have next to no time this morning to wrap up this series so unfortunately you guys are going to get my series recap in bullet points. Here we go:

• Scott Kazmir. So much for that arm fatigue huh? He looked amazing on Friday, practically untouchable. Kaz pitched 6 strong innings, scattering 4 hits, didn't allow a run and didn't walk a single batter. To top it all off he had 12 strikeouts. 12! Scott was dialled in and it was easily the best game he's pitched this year, and probably one of his best games ever. 
• Nick Swisher. Dude picked a good weekend to get hot. Swisher had 5 hits in the series, including 2 home runs for a total of 6 RBI. His grand slam in the 8th inning of Friday's game was a thing of beauty, he absolutely launched that ball into the stands. I'm really hoping this was a sign of things to come from Swisher in September. Lately he's been playing like the player we all hoped he would be when we signed him. Keep it up Swish, and take home the Player of the Series award whilst you're at it.
• Congratulations must go to Jason Giambi, who recorded the 2,000th hit of his major league career late in Sunday's game. He blooped one into left field to reach the milestone and it's quite an achievement. Well done big guy! I was really happy to see him get it done, in what will almost certainly be his last season as a professional. He was replaced by pinch-runner Mike Aviles, who then proceeded to ruin the occasion by getting caught trying to steal second base, a totally unnecessary and frustrating move that late in the game.
• Drew Stubbs had a pretty awful weekend and continues to be the black hole in this lineup. He had 7 strikeouts over the course of this Mets series, including 4 in Sunday's game (the ol' Golden Sombrero). There are times he looks completely hopeless at the plate, like he is already consigned to defeat. I love what Stubbs brings to right field as a defender, he covers a lot of ground out there, but he has been a huge disappointment with his bat in 2013. This Mets series was yet another example.
• Speaking of disappointments, nothing can go right for Asdrubal Cabrera right now. Don't get me wrong, it's all his fault. Apart from smashing a welcome 3-run homer during Saturday night's win, Cabrera had an awful series. He got the only RBI of the game on Sunday, but that was only because he was hit by a pitch in his calf with the bases loaded. He had so many chances to bring runners home during this series and failed nearly every time. His worst moment was during the 8th inning rally on Sunday, when with 1 out and the bases loaded, he swung twice at a pitcher with known location problems, connecting the second time to result in an inning-ending double play. It was a complete joke and a perfect moment to sum up what an awful 2013 Cabrera has had.

Anyway that'll do it for me this morning, I gotta run. The Indians face the Royals tonight to start a three game series. The resurrected Ubaldo Jimenez (10-9, 3.79 ERA) takes the mound for the hometown team and will face KC's Ervin Santana (8-8, 3.33 ERA), who I always think looks like Snoop from The Wire.

Thanks for reading.

Indians Just Capital, Defeat Washington

I returned home this evening from watching the Man of Steel to catch the last couple of innings from today's 2-0 win over the Nationals, sealing the series win on Father's Day. An Indians victory for all the Dads out there, nothing better. Let's take a peak at how we fared in the series:

Pitching Good...

Justin Masterson went toe-to-toe with Washington's Gio Gonzalez in the first game of the series on Friday and came out victorious, although he didn't officially earn the win. Masterson pitched a very solid 7 innings, only getting into trouble once in the 3rd inning, when his control let him down and he allowed the Nationals' only run on a wild pitch. Besides that he was almost lights out, allowing just 2 hits and 1 run to go along with 10 strikeouts, the most he's gotten since his 11 strikeout game against Seattle on May 19th. Unfortunately Justin wasn't eligible for the win, exiting with the game tied, but the Indians emerged victorious eventually with a walk-off infield single by Jason Kipnis. With 1 out in the bottom of the 9th and Drew Stubbs at third, Kipnis got good contact and Stubbs was running for home the second the ball left the bat. Drew's speedy legs carried him home to beat Washington first baseman Adam LaRoche's throw to score the winning run, carrying the Indians to a 2-1 win to kick off the series.

Corey Kluber was sublime for the second start in a row this afternoon, pitching an absolute beauty in the Cleveland sunshine to earn his 5th win in 2013. Kluber went 8 innings again, this time allowing 7 hits to the Nats but he didn't walk anybody and got 8 strikeouts. More importantly, he didn't allow a single run, lowering his ERA to a very respectable 3.58 to go along with a 5-4 record. I'm almost lost for words to describe Kluber these days. He's become something of a revelation and has really carried the torch recently, especially since Zach McAllister went on the DL. Kluber was backed by Carlos Santana's 30th RBI of the season in the 4th inning and then got an extra run in the bottom of the 8th thanks to a sac-fly from Kipnis. Vinnie Pestano finished things off for his first save of the season to earn the Tribe the 2-0 victory and series win overall.

Pitching Bad...

I hate to be a negative Nancy after this successful series win but I feel this needs to be addressed, at the very least mentioned:

Is it time to start worrying about Scott Kazmir?

Kazmir hasn't been very good lately and hasn't pitched well this month at all. He hasn't had a win since May 30th, a 7 inning beauty against the Reds. But looking at his starts recently, that victory looks to be a bit of a blip on what's turned into a sub-par couple of months for Kazmir. Since that W against Cincinnati, Scott has given up 4+ runs in his last three starts and his game against the Nationals on Saturday was probably his worst of the season so far. Kazmir lasted only 2 2/3 innings, giving up 4 hits and 5 earned runs, walking 4 Nats and surrendering 3 home runs in that short space of time. Ghastly numbers, that leave him with a 3-4 record and a 5.89 ERA, not pretty to look at I know. In 55 innings he's allowed 68 hits, 12 for home runs, 23 walks and 55 strikeouts. I'm a bit worried about Scott, his inconsistency is causing me some concern. I hoped he would overcome his struggles adapting to life in the major leagues after his time away, getting progressively better as the season wore on but that hasn't happened yet. There's still time I know, and he's hardly been a disaster, but there's just something off with him that I can't put my finger on, only to point out the obvious and says he's not been very good. I've been a big fan of his comeback this season and want him to do well; Here's hoping he can.

Kazmir departed Saturday's game leaving the Indians to dig out of a 5-0 hole, which they duly did, taking a 6-5 lead into the 8th inning, before the heart of the bullpen took over. Ah yes, the bullpen...

Joe Smith entered the 8th inning and gave up a home run with 2 outs to make it a tie-game. The Nationals didn't stop there, hitting another home run, this time off Pestano in the 9th, and again with 2 outs, to take a 7-6 lead and eventually win the game. It was a demoralising loss, after battling back so impressively, only to throw away all that hard work. It hurt even more to see our best relief pitchers get crushed, wasting away what looked like a hard-fought win (and what could have earned the sweep). Looks like our bullpen problems haven't been fixed after all, although Pestano went some way towards making amends with his series-winning save today. Anyway, that's all the negativity for today, we still won overall and that should be celebrated.

Player Of The Series

Two in a row for Mr Corey Kluber! I didn't think he could pitch any better than he did against Texas on June 11th (8 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K) but he proved me wrong. Even without Bryce Harper the Nationals are still a force offensively, despite their other injuries as well. Kluber stifled the Washington lineup today, keeping them off the scoreboard and out-duelling their ace Stephen Strasburg (returned from the DL today, and lasted 5 innings). I'd argue that Kluber has elevated himself to become our number 2 starter in the wake of McAllister's injury and he deserves all the praises he gets. Congrats again Corey.

Cleveland remain at home to welcome the Royals tomorrow evening to begin a three game series against our division rivals. Kansas City have their big winter free-agent acquisition James Shields toeing the rubber tomorrow, who is quietly having a good season in KC despite his 2-6 record (he has a 2.79 ERA). The Indians send Carlos Carrasco (0-2, 15.26 ERA) to the mound, a man who hasn't gotten into any rhythm yet in 2013, due to his suspensions and demotions. He really needs a quality start to get his season under way and must put behind him all of his early season problems if he's to stand any chance at remaining with the club and not at AAA Columbus.

Thanks for reading.

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.