Tribe Powers Their Way to Another Series Win

It doesn’t seem that long ago where I lamented the fact that the Indians seem to lose each and every Sunday. Yesterday was another flip side moment. After their first series loss in the last two and a half weeks against the Rangers, the Wahoo Warriors took another three gamer from a division foe in Minnesota, capping the weekend off with a 7-4 win Sunday. After being two hit by Tribe killer Scott Baker in Friday night’s 11-0 loss – their third straight – it seemed as though the Columbus Crew bottom half of the order was finally catching up to Eric Wedge.

Going into Saturday’s game, the bottom four of the order were a combined 3-38 – usually including the likes of Andy Marte, Chris Gimenez, and the like. The veterans had to do more. As the Grinder put it “we needed some help from the guys on top. Those are the guys who have been around the block a few times.” So after finding their power stroke in Saturday’s 7-3 win (Shin-Soo Choo’s first homer since July 9th coupled with Grady Sizemore’s 16th), the hits kept on coming Sunday afternoon. This time, it was against another noted Tribe nemesis Nick Blackburn.

Staked to a 3-0 lead on a Delmon Young two-out homer in the bottom of the second, Blackburn couldn’t make it out of the third. Kelly Shoppach and Sweet Luis Valbuena opened the inning with back to back solo jacks that brought the Tribe to within one. Valbuena’s moon shot was to the upper deck in right. A clearly frustrated Blackburn hit Andy Marte next. Sizemore then shocked him by crushing a two-run bomb to right – the third home run of the inning – to put the Tribe ahead 4-3. A lead they would never relinquish.

The offense wasn’t done there. #2 hitter Jamey Carroll singled, and was driven home by Asdrubal Cabrera’s double. After Choo’s groundout moved AC to third, Jhonny Peralta singled him in for the sixth run of inning, chasing Blackburn. “Guys are playing loose and having fun,” said Sizemore. “We had kind of fallen back and now we’ve got nothing to lose. So now we can go out there and just relax and play, and sometimes you get your best baseball when you’re playing that way. We’ve got a chance to make some things happen here late and see where it goes.”

Laffey, the Indians top remaining starter since the trades of Cliff Lee and Carl Pavano,  pitched into the sixth, despite not having his best stuff. He gave up five hits and walked four to go with the three, second inning earned runs. “I’m drained,” said Laffey. “It seemed like every pitch today was a life or death pitch. I didn’t have my best stuff and I wasn’t on the plate.”

“It wasn’t easy for Aaron,” said the Grinder. “They did a pretty good job against him, but he did a pretty good job as well. He made pitches and bowed his neck.”

Laffey is now 7-3 with a 3.37 ERA in part because his bullpen picked him up.  Joe Smith, Tony Sipp, and Chris Perez got the Tribe to the ninth unscathed and continued their high quality late inning relief. Smith got two big outs with a man on to close out the sixth.

Sipp, the lefty, had a big job to do this weekend, knowing he’d face the middle of the order in a tight situation (Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Jason Kubel – all lefties who have killed Indians pitching all year). In the seventh with two on and one out, Sipp induced right-handed Orlando Cabrera to hit into a big inning-ending double play.

Perez-Right got the one man he faced in the eighth and now has 11 consecutive scoreless appearances. Just like the game before, the bullpen actually was a team strength for the Grinder’s Group. “These might be the best two bullpen days we’ve had,” said Wedge.

The Tribe now heads back home to face yet another playoff contender, the AL West leading LA Angels. Fausto Carmona takes on rookie Trevor Bell on Tuesday night. Jered Weaver faces Jeremy Sowers Wednesday night, and John Lackey takes on Justin Masterson in the series finale Thursday.The Wahoos are looking to knock another contender of kilter.

“It’s always fun to be the spoiler,” Sizemore said. “We just want to finish strong. We’re not worried about anybody else right now. We want to keep doing what we’ve been doing these last two weeks, trying to win series and grow as a team.”

(Note: The Indians currently have a .65 percent shot at the post season.  Feel the excitement!)