Sabathia, Tribe beat Santana again!
January 25, 2008Weekend Recap…Buckeyes win, Tribe takes 2 of 3, michigan still sucks
January 25, 2008Two quotes to open- the first is from yours truly before yesterday’s masterpiece…
“The Tribe sends Fausto Carmona to the mound tonight against Josh Beckett. This is a very important game for Carmona. It may give us an indication if he is ready to pitch in the post-season.”
The second is from the AP wire after the win…
“Carmona reminisced about his personal Boston massacre on Tuesday, but the right-hander was able to block it out during a late July game that had October-like electricity.”
October-like electricity. I’d say so. Carmona was fantastic last night. He carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning. His line- 8 innings, 0 runs, 2 BB, 4 Hits, 6 K’s. On a night when Beckett was great, Fausto was even better. He got some help. It hurts me to even type it, but Casey Blake made some nice plays at third last night. He made snares of line drives the camera couldn’t even catch up to.
Then there was the play at the plate. Ortiz hits a ground ball into shallow left center that Barfield catches up to. Crisp, who had been on second decides to try and score. Barfield throws a one hopper to Victor. Martinez had to catch the ball on the right side of the dish, and turn to get Coco. He blocked the plate with his entire body. As Rick Manning said in the broadcast- he sat on the plate. It was brilliant.
I am a still nervous about Fausto’s arm strength down the stretch. He has never thrown this many innings before. But I will say that he passed the last two major tests I had for him with flying colors. Since the Oakland start when he gave up 8 runs in the first inning Fausto is 5-0 with a 1.57 era. He has surrendered 6 runs in 5 starts, and given up only 27 hits compared to 30 strike outs. I know that 5 of those starts were against Texas, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, and Toronto, but against similar opponents C.C. is only 2-2.
Carmona is proving to be the #2 guy the Indians need. Consistency is key, and so far Fausto has been that and more. Now, do we have a #3 for the playoffs?
