Archive for April, 2009
Just when things were looking better for the Indians, they found a way to disappoint fans once again. The Indians had snapped the Red Sox 11 game winning streak on Tuesday night and were looking to take the third game of the series on Wednesday. They had a 5-0 lead going into the 6th inning, and that’s when things started to fall apart. The Red Sox scored 2 in that inning, 3 in the 8th, and capped off the improbable comeback with a go-ahead home run in the 10th from Jonathan Van Every, who was making his first start of the season.
The Tribe got home runs early in the game from Mark Derosa and Kelly Shoppach, but went scoreless in the final 6 frames, allowing the Red Sox to slowly creep back into the game. The loss will go to Jensen Lewis for giving up the home run to Van Every, but it was Betancourt who had the really poor outing, giving up 3 hits and 3 runs in just 1/3 of an inning of work. Derosa wasn’t much help, making an error in that inning that allowed 2 of those runs to score.
The Lame Performance of the Night has to go to Jhonny Peralta, who was 0 for 5 with 3 strikeouts and 5 left on base. He’s down to a .211 batting average on the season. There’s a reason he hasn’t been starting on my fantasy league team.
As you’re all aware, the Boston Red Sox are in town for the first part of this week. They are one of the most popular teams in baseball, and they usually draw pretty good size crowds, even when on the road. A look at last night’s attendance at The Jake shows the Indians are facing a major attendance problem. The announced attendance was 19,613, which is just 43% capacity. That number was about double the actual attendance, according to my sources. In some other games this season, actual attendance has been as low as 5,500.
This is a major problem for a team that once set a record for most consecutive sellouts in this stadium. Jacobs Field (if the Progressive corporation wants me to attach their name to the stadium, they can pay me directly, otherwise they can KMA) is not the huge draw it once was, and apparently neither are the Indians. I know times are tough, but this is our baseball team, the same team that was rescued from the depths of obscurity a decade ago to become perennial contenders. If we can’t come out to see them play, how long can they last in this decaying town?
The Indians promotions this year are intriguing, if not a little bizarre. They’ve got an 80’s weekend coming up in June to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the movie Major League (with Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn bobblehead). One of the promotions that weekend will be a Shin Soo Choo 80’s bobblehead, which features our star outfielder dressed as Sonny Crockett from Miami Vice, standing on one of those Simon games (4 color buttons, follow the pattern. You know the game). It’s the weirdest promo I’ve seen in a while, but if anyone gets their hands on one I’d sure like to have it (email thatrichguy @ yahoo.com for contact info, I’ll throw you a link if you have a website). Let’s hope some of these free goodies will get some fans in the seats. Nobody wants to go back to the ho-hum days of the late-80’s when we lost every year and nobody was even there to see it.
Mark DeRosa scored the game-winning run after Red Sox reliever Javier Lopez dropped a flip throw from first baseman Kevin Youkilis as the Tribe beat the BoSox by a final score of 9-8. DeRosa went 4 for 5 with a home run in the game to lead the Tribe, and Kerry Wood picked up a win after pitching a scoreless inning of relief.
Anthony Reyes got the start for the Indians in this game but was just terrible, giving up 7 earned runs in just 2 innings. NASA should have the results of his ERA calculation later next week.
John Buck hit two home runs, including a grand slam in the 8th inning, as the Royals beat the Indians 9-3 on Tuesday night. Carl Pavano didn’t pitch well, giving up 4 earned runs in 6 innings of work, but his ERA came down dramatically after his 1 inning, 9 earned run first start of the season last week. His current 16.71 ERA is reasonable when compared to the 81.00 ERA he brought into the game. The Indians goat in this game was Rafael Perez, who gave up the grand slam to Buck in his one inning of work and can now boast an ERA higher than Carl Pavano’s. Despite 10 hits the Tribe’s offense looked anemic, garnering just one extra-base hit during the game, a double from Victor Martinez.
The Indians moved to 0 and 5 on the season with a 5 – 4 loss to Roy Halladay and the Toronto Blue Jays today. Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee was outmatched by the Blue Jays ace who finished 2nd in Cy Young voting last season. This is the first time in 24 years that the Indians have started a season 0 and 5. The 1980’s Indians were expected to lose, the modern Indians are supposed to be contenders.
Carl Pavano’s debut with the Indians didn’t last long, as he was knocked around for 9 earned runs in just inning pitched. Do the math, I’ll wait. That’s right, his ERA after one start now stands at 81.00! The Yankees fans complained for years about what a money drain the oft-injured Pavano was, but the Indians picked him up on the cheap in the offseason. It looks like this is one bargain deal that is really just a scam, because Pavano can hurt a team just as much when he’s pitching as when he’s sitting on the bench collecting paychecks.
The current score of the game is Rangers 9 Indians 3.
Rangers pitcher Vicente Padilla is shutting down the Indians through 4 innings, only allowing 2 hits to Victor Martinez. I wish the same could be said for the Indians starter. Fausto Carmona has given up 4 earned runs in just 3 innings of work. That includes 5 hits and 2 walks, for a WHIP that is too high to mention here. Let’s hope the Tribe bats can wake up before this game gets out of hand.
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