The Indians just keep the train rollin’. They do it with power. They do it with some speed. They do it with solid defense. They do it with a lock down bullpen. They do it with quality starting pitching.
Wait….what did I just say?
Yes, that’s right, they do it with solid starting pitching.
A night after Justin Masterson was sharp for six of his seven innings of work and the Indians caught a major break from the umpiring crew, they went for a four-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics with Scott Kazmir on the mound.
Kazmir’s story has been well documented. He went from 21-year old phenom to All-Star to broken down to out of baseball at 27. He spent 2012 in the Independent Leagues trying to remake himself. The Indians watched him throw this winter and decided to give him one last shot on a minor league deal. He came to Goodyear this Spring with an outside shot at becoming the Indians fifth starter. He ended up not only getting the job, but won it in a walk. Manager Terry Francona spent the month of March raving about him. Unfortunately the injury bug bit him and the start to his season was postponed by a DL trip. [Read more...]
Some 13 years ago, I had a Nintendo 64 and “All-Star Baseball 2000″. I got my parents’ money’s worth on that game dozens of times over as my dad and I would play for hours on end. In that game, based off the 1999 roster, Bartolo Colon was the Indians’ ace. He sported a fastball, curveball, slider, and changeup. That fastball I vividly remember: 98, 99, 98, and so on as I retired hitter after hitter. I probably pitched with Colon half the time as he was a dominate hurler and made winning quite easy.
Zach McAllister started out strong, and for the first three innings, pitched like the guy who has quickly become the most consistent and effective starter after being a Columbus Clipper for a good chunk of the first half of 2012. He scattered a few hits, but he was able to keep the ball on the ground and add a few strikeouts with that low-90′s fastball.
The Indians tacked on a first inning run after singles by Kipnis and Choo, a walk by Santana, and an RBI groundout by Travis Hafner. They added another in the sixth with Jason Donald coming home to score following a single, stolen base, and a RBI single from Jason Kipnis. Cleveland stranded 11 runners on base for the second straight night, but they finally broke through in the eighth inning. That’s when after two-out singles from Donald and Brantley that Kipnis delivered with his fourth hit of the night, a two-run triple that right fielder Josh Reddick misjudged at the wall. A wild pitch from Brian Fuentes let in the third run in the inning, and the Tribe took the 5-1 lead. Seven different Indians had hits in this one, with Hafner, Choo, Hannahan, and Donald collecting two each. Early in the season, when the Tribe was going right last year, their bread and butter was scoring with two outs. That seems to be happening again. 
What a treat! It’s my weekend at WFNY, and Ublado Jimenez pitched last night. Now, if you guys have read this or follow me on a regular basis, you know that I’m far from Ubaldo’s biggest fan. In fact, my Twitter profile lists me as a “Ubaldo Trade Skeptic”. Anyway, back to the action on the field where Ubaldo earned his second straight win by pitching good enough against an admittedly weak Athletics lineup. The eye-popping portion of Jimenez’s statline is, of course his five walks over six innings. Worse than that, however, and the root of my frustration in watching him pitch, was the startling number of hitters that he started with a 2-0 count. Six, yes SIX, of the first nine hitters last night saw two outside the strike zone from Ubaldo to begin their at-bat. Against a better offense with an element of patience, Ubaldo will get eaten alive with that type of output. Jimenez has avoided being hit hard at all in the ’12 campaign, but his pitch count has been driven up early in his last two starts, and that’s only going to continue as AL hitters get the book on him. Ubaldo’s stuff is undeniably tough to hit. He made one mistake on a hanging breaking ball to Josh Reddick in the third inning that he deposited in the right field seats. That happens, and I’m not holding it against him. No, it’s far more frustrating to me when you consistently work from behind in the count and give guys a free pass on base. Are we sure Tim Belcher didn’t step down from his pitching coach role primarily because he couldn’t stand Ubaldo’s lack of first pitch strikes? I’m not ruling it out. 
