White Sox blast Carmona, Tribe’s rally comes up short on opening day

With all the special ceremonies for the late great Bob Feller surrounding this particular opening day, it was disappointing to see how the Tribe kicked off their 2011 campaign. Starter Fausto Carmona was absolutely shelled by the White Sox offense and did not escape the fourth inning as the White Sox built a 14-0 lead after four innings. The Indians mounted a furious comeback with ten runs in the final four innings before coming up short as the Sox took the first of three games this weekend by a 15-10 count.

Carmona got ahead of hitters early in the ballgame, but he was victimized by a tight and wildly inconsistent strike zone from home plate umpire Mike Winters. The most outrageous call came with a 2-2 count to cleanup man Paul Konerko. The sinker was right over the plate and clearly in the upper half of the strike zone, but Winters called it a ball to draw the count full. The next pitch was a Konerko single to right that scored the first run of the day. Fausto then struck out Alex Rios which in theory would have ended the inning. But, with just two outs, Carlos Quentin delivered a single to left that brought home a second run in the first, a frame where Carmona was forced to throw 36 pitches.

From there, things only got worse for the Tribe sinkerballer. After a 1-2-3 second, Carmona surrendered gopher balls to both Chicago newcomer Adam Dunn and Quentin in a four-run third inning. Then, came the fourth inning and Fausto’s absolute meltdown where the righty faced four hitters, did not retire one of them, and was chased from the game by a two-run Dunn double. Reliever Justin Germano played the role of gasoline man on the already-raging blaze, letting Carmona’s two runners in, giving up four hits, and allowing four runs of his own. Just like that, the fans started heading for the exits with a 14 glaring at them next to opponent’s name in only the fourth inning, like some sick April Fool’s joke.

I’m going to be primarily in Fausto’s corner after this one. I don’t like to be that guy, but the two called third strikes in the first and third that the Tribe ace failed to get were real game-changers. To me, it would have affected any starter, but we all know that Fausto has battled his emotions on the mound in years past. I thought he got ahead of batters initially and a lot of the hits in the first and third innings were bloop jam-shots that came with two strikes. Only after things snowballed on him did he start to hang his pitches and relinquish the long balls. Personally, I would’ve been much more concerned if Fausto had come out and walked five or six White Sox and then got knocked around. Instead, he walked only one hitter. This implosion will have a lasting effect on Fausto’s season ERA, but other than that, I’m still looking at mainly positive things to come from our number one starter.

Oddly enough, instead of rolling over at 14-0, the Indians got on track and finally chipped away at left-hander Mark Buerhle, who was nearly flawless in his first five innings. With the bags juiced and one out, Tribe catcher Carlos Santana erased the goose-egg with a liner to center field. Pronk and Orlando Cabrera followed with singles of their own that put three more on the board for Cleveland. Buehrle would finish the sixth and then call it a day, holding the Tribe to 4 runs, 8 hits, and 1 walk while striking out… no one.

That’s right, no wigwamers were fanned by the White Sox ace. In fact, just two hitters went down on strikes the entire game for Cleveland (Choo in the 8th, Hannahan in the 9th). For the past two years, whether or not the statistics support, it just seemed like the Tribe was swinging and missing more often, so it’s nice to see improvement there. On the other hand, Tribe pitchers struck out 14 White Sox. Skipper Manny Acta keyed in on the importance of decreasing walks (just two today) and increasing strikeouts in 2011, and the Indians at least accomplished that in Game 1.

Other than Germano, the rest of the Tribe ‘pen performed admirably. Frank Herrmann pitched two innings and struck out five while giving up one run. In the ninth, Pestano blew away Morel, Lillibridge, and Castro as he K’d the side on pretty much nothing but fastballs while sprinkling in a single to Teahen. Pestano doesn’t have world class stuff, but I love this guy’s no-fear approach.

Chicago’s bullpen was far from lights out today, as Will Ohman, Tony Pena, Chris Sale, and Jesse Crain allowed six runs over the final three frames. The Tribe bats connected with home runs from newcomer third baseman Jack Hannahan (a solo shot) and Santana (two-run blast) in the seventh against Ohman. I had a feeling Hannahan would hit in the early going, for no other reason than next-to-nothing is expected of him. As for Santana, I think I’m in love all over again. He certainly looks like he hasn’t skipped a beat coming off the knee injury.

The real chance for the Tribe to put the pressure on Chicago came in the bottom of the eighth. Down 15-9 with two outs and runners on the corners, Chris Sale struck out Shin-Soo Choo in a seven pitch at-bat to end the threat. If Choo had connected on a pitch and driven it into the gap or over the wall, the outcome could have been very different. In all, the two teams combined for 25 runs, a Tribe opening day record, and 35 hits (18-17 in favor of Chicago).

It would be wrong for me not to mention the fabulous job that I thought the Indians did in paying homage to their fallen legend, Bob Feller. In pregame ceremonies, each Indian donned a #19 jersey and a silent first pitch was held with the help of Bob’s wife, Anne Feller. The baseball that Anne set onto the pitching rubber had written on it “Bobby, Keep Pitching, Anne”. A touching video that outlined Feller’s accomplishments not just with the ball club, but as an American hero rounded out emotional festivities. Rapid Robert will clearly be on the minds of Indians’ players, personnel, and fans all season long.

The Indians look to bounce back tomorrow at 1:05 as Carlos Carrasco takes the bump against Chicago right-hander Edwin Jackson.

(Photo: Tony Dejak/AP)