Baseball Update: Indians Lose in Extras, Aeros Washed Out and Scrappers Advance

I know it is the second weekend in September and the traditional beginning of the football season. I know that the site was pretty much all football yesterday, but there is still some baseball left to be played. While up near Lake Erie the Indians continue to struggle and did not  snap their losing streak last night with their 2-1 loss against Kansas City, two area minor league teams continue to coast even with fall soon approaching. The following post is a brief snapshot of the Indians loss to the Royals last night as well as an update on the Double-A Akron Aeros and the short-season Class A Mahoning Valley Scrappers.

For the few that were actually paying attention to the game last night, it was an absolutely painful experience. Justin Masterson was solid not spectacular through six innings. The Indians already came into the game losers of eight of ten. Travis Hafner actually had three hits and a meaningful two-out RBI. Miguel Olivo hit the game-winning home run in the 12th. Tony Sipp and Chris Perez combined to throw four shutout innings from the bullpen. Michael Brantley went 0-for-4 yet kept his average at .324. And wait, Miguel Olivo hit the game-winning home run?

That is correct loyal Tribe fans, as the Royals took a 1-0 lead with a run-scoring groundout by Olivo in the third, and Hafner tied things back up in the seventh with one of his three singles. The Cleveland bullpen was holding things steady through their first five innings after Masterson, and although Zack Grienke was very good against the Indians yet again, the contest heading to extra innings with neither team doing anything offensively. Once Eric Wedge tossed Jose Veras out for a second inning in the 12th however, it was all bad as the sometimes-heroic Olivo took him deep to left field in just the third extra-base hit of the night but what turned out to be the deciding factor.

Conclusions here from Cleveland: Although you might have thought the Indians were grinding it out and still posted a solid post-All Star break record, think again. The team is now just 29-31 since the beginning of July, and and for the month of September so far are hitting .247 with a 5.11 team ERA. Yikes. Maybe this might do the team some good to actually be able to understand how to struggle at the major league level, but it is downright difficult to watch for many fans out there including me. Now on to the actually entertaining information:

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Meanwhile, my hometown Akron Aeros currently maintain a 2-game to nothing edge over the Reading Phillies in the Eastern League Southern Division Championship. Friday night’s game however, was washed out five hours before game time at FirstEnergy Stadium in Reading where the Aeros looked to extend their 2009-high ten-game winnings streak with a clean sweep into the EL Championship for the fifth year in a row. Who knows what could happen in the coming days with the next two games in Reading and the finale, if necessary, back in Akron. The day off allowed the rotations to be reset and maybe allowed Reading to catch up to the red-hot Aeros.

In games one and two, it was solid starting pitching and some power from the Akron bats that propelled the good guys to the victories. Texas native Josh Tomlin got the nod in game one and delivered seven innings with eight strikeouts as a fielder’s choice and an error brought home two runs in the second for his only blemishes. John Drennen homered in his fourth consecutive game, tying a record that was set by Carlos Santana earlier in the season and Akron took the opener Wednesday 9-3. The very next day, the Aeros and skipper Mike Sarbaugh turned to EL Pitcher of the Year Jeanmar Gomez who did not disappoint, leading the way for a 5-2 victory as Santana himself homered.

Looking into the crystal ball, both the Northern Division regular season champions the Connecticut Defenders and the Aeros hold 2-0 advantages after the rain outs Friday night. Both teams will look for sweeps Saturday and it seems like there is no holding back the match-up that I witnessed earlier in the season and labeled as the Championship preview. While the Defenders have the batting average champion in Brock Bond and the RBI lead in Brett Pill, the biggest story surrounding their roster is the absence of top prospect Madison Bumgarner. The lanky lefty recieved the call up to San Francisco when Tim Lincecum went down with the injury, leaving the Connecticut rotation with a giant hole at the top. It will be interesting to see how the two heavyweights fair in over the weekend and into the Championship Series next week.

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In other minor league news, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers advanced to the New York-Penn League Championship by sweeping their best-of-three series with a 3-1 victory over the Brooklyn Cyclones Thursday night. The Scrappers however, are still waiting to find out the identity of their opponent in the final round. The Lowell Spinners and Staten Island Yankees were washed out Thursday, and then the observance of September 11th pushed the deciding rubber match to Saturday evening. Everything will be on the line for the Red Sox-Yankees affiliates as they clash for the right to face the Scrappers from nearby Youngstown.

(The top photo is of Miguel Olivo and is via Mark Duncan/AP. The Aeros photo is of pitcher Josh Tomlin sporting the team’s favorite camo uniforms during the contest with Reading Wednesday night and is via Karen Schiely with the Akron Beacon Journal.)