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June 10, 2009Brian Windhorst Shoots Down SLAM-Generated Wallace/Randolph Rumors
June 10, 2009Wahoo!!! The Indians, for the first time since April 7th, are no longer residing in the basement of the sad sack AL Central after their come from behind 8-4 win over Kansas City at Progressive Field last night. “We don’t want to be in last place,” said starting pitcher Cliff Lee, “We want to make our way to the top.”
I’m not saying its going to happen, but last night was their first step in making that move. It certainly didn’t come easy.
This was a strange game on both ends. Lee wasn’t on his “A” game which is usually required as the Tribe offense has an uncanny knack for snoozing when #31 is on the mound for them. He trailed 2-0 in the sixth when bad breaks looked like they’d kill him.
With two out and nobody on, Mark Teahen and Miguel Olivo hit bloop singles. However, on Olivo’s ball to right, Teahen, a noted bad base runner, tried to get to third. Shin-Soo Choo threw a strike to third where Jamey Carroll was straddling the bag. Old man Mike Reilly was right there in position to see Teahen over-slide the bag, resulting in the third out. But he missed it.
The picture says it all.
Naturally for the Indians, the next batter, Willie Bloomquist, reached on an infield single scoring Teahen. Then, in a strange, but aggressive move, Royals manager Trey Hillman called for a double steal with his catcher, Olivo, as the lead runner. Kelly Shoppach was caught completely off guard and his throw sailed into left, allowing Olivo to score. The result was a 4-0 Royals lead.
Meanwhile, KC’s Brian Bannister, who should change his name to Larry Dolan since he owns the Indians, was working on a two hit shutout at that point. It looked bleak for the Red, White, and Blue. But you should never underestimate Eric Wedge’s Grind-ball!
In the bottom of the sixth, Jamey Carroll lead off with a walk and Victor Martinez followed with a single. The potential for a big inning looked dead as Choo hit a tailor made double play ball to first basemen Billy Butler. Butler, not exactly Keith Hernandez with the glove, threw wide of second and Bloomquist had to dive to keep the ball from going into left field. Carroll scored from third to put the Tribe on the board at 4-1. Mark DeRosa, in the first of his two big at bats, singled to load the bases.
Up came the recently activated Travis Hafner in a big spot. Hillman went to lefty John Bale to face him. Pronk hit a grounder right to Butler at first, who came home for the out, except Olivo came off the bag too early and Martinez was ruled safe by home plate umpire Chuck Merriweather. Shoppach hit a sacrifice fly to the warning track in right, to bring the third run in. Jhonny Peralta, pinch hitting for Luis Valbuena, tied the game at four with an RBI ground out.
So essentially, the Wahoo’s scored four runs in the sixth, none of them coming via the hit. These were the kind of breaks they haven’t been getting earlier in the season.
After a scoreless seventh from the duo of Luis Vizcaino and Rafael Perez, the Tribe took control in the home half. Juan Cruz replaced Bale for the Royals to face the top of the Indians order. He loaded the bases on a single, a walk, and a hit batsman with one out. Hillman had enough of Cruz and went to veteran Jamey Wright.
Bad move.
DeRosa, the Indians do-everything guy, crushed Wright’s second pitch into the right field stands for a grand slam, putting the bow around the Indians 8-4 comeback. “I just wanted to get the guy in from third,” DeRosa said. “Sometimes you try so hard to get everybody in, you end up failing. Whenever you come up in those situations in a tie game, you want to be sure to get one in.”
He did more than that.
The Grinder praised DeRosa after the game. “DeRo has been a great teammate. Anything we ask him to do, he does it. He plays right field, left field, first base, third base. He fills in at any spot in our lineup. He’s a baseball player in every sense of the word.”
This was the type of production the Indians were looking for when they traded for him this winter. Interestingly, the same four guys who scored runs in the sixth to tie the game, scored on the DeRosa grand slam.
Perez, Matt Herges, and Kerry Wood finished off the shell-shocked Royals over the last two innings without trouble. This was a huge win for the Tribe, who looked all but dead after trailing 4-0 in the sixth and managing just two hits. “We’ve battled hard,” DeRosa said. “But at the same time, we feel like we’re capable of way more than being one game above the cellar.”
Can things actually be turning around for our boys? They have won nine of 15 and seven of 10 at home, with eight straight at The Jake coming over the next week plus. They look to continue their solid play with Carl Pavano (604 4.63 ERA) on the hill tonight against KC’s Gil Meche (2-5 4.08 ERA).
12 Comments
Perez’s slider looked great against Jacobs. Herges’ double play ball was also a huge plus.
Great comeback win. Still seven back, but at least these guys are looking like they’ve played baseball before…
Wow, either Wedge is a big fan of DeRosa or he’s trying to talk him up for any potential trades as well.
Break up the Indians!
Talk to me in August.
@Denny: “He’s bakes great pies, does his own laundry and cleans up the sink after he shaves. He prefers classical music in the locker room, drives a hybrid and loves babies. After the game, he planted a few trees downtown, drove home a drunk stranger and then watched tape to see how he could have hit that home run even further.
Really, the consumate player.”
I’ll relish this, even if it lasts just a day.
@Scott – I don’t have any kids yet, but I’m pretty sure I want my first daughter to have an arranged marriage with his firstborn son.
Am I the only one who thinks that Herges is just as surprised at his success as the rest of us?
Yes, can’t wait for them to win the Central and then get absolutely embarrassed in the playoffs. Bravo.
If someone from the central were to make it to the Playoffs at least we wouldnt be as bad as the Rockies in the World Series from two yrs ago.
Yay Tribe, making the summer a little less miserable (today).
Honestly though, 7 games isin’t really that much. There is plenty of time to go. Take it one day at a time, if these guys believe and take the “one day at a time” mindset, they could really do some work.
arent there over a 100 games left in this season for the tribe? Admittedly the first 2 months have not been so good, but the again it could be worse. If the tribe plays the way they have played after the all-star break the past 2-3 years they can find themselves in the hunt going into september. Now, it would be a quick exit if they do get to the top of the AL central because their pitching blows right now.