While the Indians 10-6 loss was really not news to anyone, the real story was David Dellucci getting a start in left field for the Blue Jays…. OK, I’m kidding. DD did get the start, going 0-2 with a walk and a runs scored, moving his season average to a hefty .185, but hey, DD is got the last laugh as his team won.
Now to the important stuff.
King Carl Pavano got his first start after a 10 day layoff and hoped to continue his string of good starts. While his stamina was there, unfortunately his stuff wasn’t. “It’s just one of those games where I struggled to get the ball down,” Pavano said. “I left a lot of balls up. I don’t think I got a ground-ball until the fourth inning. The balls that I did leave up, they hammered and made me pay.”
Pavano gave up four solo homers; Vernon Wells hit his in the second, Aaron Hill in the fourth, and two in the fifth from Alex Rios and Marco Scutaro. He had his chances to get through the fifth, but just couldn’t get the third out. Rios’s solo shot led off the fourth, but Pavano got the next two batter she faced. At 4-1, the damage seemed to be minimized. Then Scutaro, “the new Mike Sweeney” as Scott calls him, hit the first of his two homers and the flood gates opened. [Read more...]
Boy do our Indians know how to kill momentum. It always seems as if they get us sucked back in to a peak, and then do something to let us down. Sometimes it’s a bad start, other times it would be the bats completely falling asleep.
Another Tribe loss came in the soon to be vacated Metrodome (thank goodness). To me, this place should have been blown up years ago. There is nothing in baseball that bothers me more than when the Twins collection of slap hitters (not named Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau) pound the ball into that joke of a turf and beat out infield hits.
What is hotter right now, Cavalier fans over their team’s sudden collapse or the Tribe bats? Again, with literally nobody watching them thanks to a two hour rain delay (seriously, can this team ever catch a break?), the Indians offense and bullpen drove them to a 12-7 come from behind win at Progressive Field over the one team they seem to own, the Tampa Bay Rays. Not only was this the first time all season that our Wahoos have won three straight games, it was also their 16th consecutive win over Tampa Bay at home. Seems odd doesn’t it? Well this isn’t your ordinary, average bad baseball team.
For the second straight night at the Great American Ballpark, a Tribe starter lasted only three innings. David Huff gave up 6 runs on 3 homers in his first two innings of work. Joey Votto crushed a three run homer, his second of the night, in the second inning to put the Reds up 6-4. Huff would pitch a scoreless third inning before being replaced by Greg Aquino. Four pitchers out of the Tribe’s much maligned bullpen would pitch 6 scoreless innings allowing the Tribe offense to battle back and score three runs for the victory. 
