Does This Look Familiar?
May 15, 2008Daniel Gibson: Out For Game 6
May 15, 2008The Indians beat Oakland 4-2 Thursday afternoon for a sweep of the series. The Indians also took the season series from the A’s 5-4.
The streak however is dead, well sort of. With one out in the second inning, and the scoreless streak at 44.2 innings for Cleveland starters Aaron Laffey unleashed an errant throw to first which enabled Bobby Crosby to score from second. So an unearned run scored. Meaning the consecutive streak of no earned runs by a starting pitching staff is still alive at 55.1 innings. Perhaps we should drop the streak talk. That’s a lot of variables there.
The Indians did record their first sweep of the year. Well, sort of. The Indians and Royals have yet to make up a game from the end of April, in which the Tribe won the first 3 games in that series. Technically, if the Tribe wins that remaining game it would be the first sweep, although not the first completed sweep…oh never mind.
What we know for certain is that the Indians are going into the start of inter-league play on a hot streak. They have won 8 of their last 10 games, and the last 3 series. They are in first place in the A.L. Central with a 22-19 mark. Cleveland travels down I-71 for a showdown with the Reds at the Great American Ballpark this weekend. Jeremy Sowers will get the nod on Friday, going against rookie sensation Johnny Cueto, who has been less than sensational this month with a 7.59 ERA. Tribe fans know that this means nothing against the Indians however. Young struggling pitcher that the team has never faced before? Sounds like Sowers better be prepared to extend that streak…
Now, I didn’t get to see any of the game, and listened to just a little so I don’t know the circumstances that led to Travis Hafner’s stolen base in the 5th. I can only assume that it was a botched hit and run in which the catcher failed to catch the ball properly or get a throw off. It was Hafner’s 7th steal of his career and first of the year. He had 1 swipe last season, but you have to go back to ’04 to find his next one.
With Victor taking the afternoon off, the lineup was quite strange. Sizemore and Peralta followed by Francisco, Garko then Hafner. All I can say is that it worked. The 2 through 5 hitters had 7 of the team’s 9 hits. They put together just enough to get runs in the 1st and 3rd before Peralta, who was the catalyst all day offensively, homered in the 7th for an insurance run.
The ninth was an adventure, with Betancourt giving up 2 singles and a walk before being lifted for Kobayashi. A wild pitch allowed the only other Oakland run, as Kobayashi struck out the final two A’s for the save. Betancourt ends up with a hold, though he was very close to blowing another save. Perhaps the Indians will be players in the Huston Street sweepstakes, as Peter Gammons discussed on ESPN last night. Or maybe they’ll just keep trotting Joe Borowski and the amazing 84 mph fastball out to the mound in the ninth when he returns.
11 Comments
whats the streak of no runs in evening games?
That’s funny, Rick.
I wonder if Yahoo! Sports has yet made an effort to erase from their records that brilliantly prescient article they had posted a few days ago about how the Tigers and Indians were both “disasters.” Let’s assess the charge in light of a few more days of play. Tigers: massively expensive overhaul of their team in the off-season in a blatant move to challenge the Indians’ supremacy in the Central leaves them wallowing in last place, behind the mighty Royals. It’s still early in the season, and so the word “disaster” seems a little precipitous and overwrought, even a touch juvenile and, what’s more, ill-timed, given the state of China and Burma these days, but at least there is something like evidence to support the claim that the Tigers have not met expectations so far. As for the Tribe, who admittedly have not completely laid waste to their Central League opponents nor tied up home-field advantage into the ALCS in May, I don’t think I need to update any of the site’s readers on the current state of the team.
Goddamn disaster, I tell you.
For the record, I Googled but could not relocate that gem of an article. I might like to have a copy, too, come October. There are few things in life that I savor as much as a fountain-green glass of absinthe. Second to that, it’s journalistic haste.
Rick Bauer 0 0 0.59 15 0 0 0 9 15.1 8 1 1 0 1 9 17 1.11 0 14
WHY ISNT THIS GUY IN THE MAJOR LEAGUES?? HIS NUMBERS WITH TX 2 YEARS AGO WERE STELLAR. TOP 20 RELIEVER – 3.50 ERA IN OVER 65 GAMES!
HE GOT A RAW DEAL WITH THE ORIOLES AND THE WORST GM JIM BEATTIE… THIS GUY CAN PITCH! IF CLEVELAND DOESNT BRING HIM UP, I WOULD PICK THIS GUY UP IN A HEARTBEAT AND BRING HIM UP!!!! LISTENING YANKEES!!!! HOW CHEAP ARE THE INDIANS THAT THEY RATHER PLAY JORGE JULIO?? WASTING A REAL TALENT!
>>first completed sweep…oh never mind.<<
This for the team that opened and closed last regular season with home wins… on the road.
Why can’t Kobayashi be closer? I’d rather use our prospects to get hitting instead of a closer, mostly because I think Kobayashi can be a good closer. He has probably been our most consistent reliever and he has closing experience, albeit in Japan. Still though, it looks like Borowski will get the job back when he is healthy so it might not matter
interesting…rafi lifted for kobayashi. never saw that coming…oh wait….
Baseball- it’s the button next to the ‘A’ push it again…
Laffe’s reward for great pitching is to be sent back down? He could easily be 4-0 with a bit of run support.
I haven’t seen where Laffey was sent down. Someone has to be sent down to make room for Sowers to pitch Friday night’s game (because of the doubleheader on Monday). Even if Laffey is the one sent down, he’ll be brought back up for his next start. It sure is nice to have 7 starting pitchers…
Hafner’s stolen bag was a real one… There was a guy on third, so I don’t think they expected it, but he went on first move and they couldn’t even throw down he had such a good jump. Great awareness, actually…
Actually, Jason Tyner has been designated for assignment, which surprises me because with the premium on hitting this year, someone might take a chance on Tyner. Then again, nobody wanted him before the season began…