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By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sportswriter
POSTED: 06:53 p.m. EDT, Apr 03, 2008
CLEVELAND: There are few things that generate more optimism among the home fans than watching one of their starting pitchers throw a no-hitter. Unless the opposing starter is doing the same thing.
So it was Thursday at Progressive Field. For four innings, neither Jake Westbrook nor Chicago White Sox starter John Danks gave up a hit.
Both pitchers eventually succumbed, but Westbrook gave up one hit too many as the Tribe lost for the first time this season, 2-1.
It wasn't the number of hits Westbrook allowed, but their distance. A.J. Pierzynski was the first White Sox batsmen to hit safely, bouncing a single to center field with one out in the fifth. No big deal for Westbrook. He took a deep breath and retired the side.
But in the sixth, the ninth batter in the White Sox lineup, Juan Uribe, whacked the first pitch of the inning over the wall in left for a home run that gave the Sox the lead. The Indians eventually tied the score, but Westbrook gave up a leadoff home run in the eighth to Joe Crede.
''It was a bad pitch to Uribe, and he made me pay for it,'' Westbrook said.
Normally, a pitch that is down in the strike zone is a tough pitch to hit. In fact, as a sinkerball pitcher, that's where Westbrook tries to throw the ball, but not when Uribe is at the plate.
''The pitch was down and in, just where he likes it,'' Westbrook said. ''Yeah, it's usually a good pitch but not to him. I was just trying to get ahead.''
The pitch to Crede was a bad pitchers' pitch under any circumstances.
''Two-and-0, and I throw it middle, middle,'' Westbrook said.
Two mistakes, two runs, victory avoided. You could hardly blame Westbrook if he had wanted to kick the dog (but not actually doing it) after a performance that was almost exceptional but resulted in no better outcome than if he had given up 10 runs and failed to finish the first inning.
Maybe if Westbrook were younger, if he hadn't been through scores of starts and endured almost everything a pitcher can experience, at best his outing would have engendered mixed feelings: a combination of anger and depression.
But Westbrook has grown emotionally as he has developed into one of the more reliable starters in the big leagues. Now, he takes such games as inevitable, realizing he will have another start in five days.
''I'm still frustrated, but yeah, that's about how it is for me,'' he said. ''My mentality is that I try to get deep in games and give the team a chance to win. There are a lot more games to be pitched. If I'm as consistent as I was today, things will work out.''
Insufficient run support is nothing new to Westbrook. In his 25 starts last year, the Tribe averaged 3.84 runs, including two or fewer in 10 of his outings. In three of Westbrook's four starts against the White Sox, his offense scored zero, one and two runs.
''I can't feel bad about the way I pitched today,'' he said. ''I pitched pretty well and did my job. I'm still going to think about it, but I'm not going to think about it too long. Even if I had won, I would think about what I could have done better.''
Westbrook lasted 71/3 innings, allowing six hits and one walk. He struck out three and induced 11 batters to beat the ball in the dirt for 12 outs.
''I think his confidence has grown in a big way the last three or four years,'' Indians manager Eric Wedge said. ''There is something to be said when someone does everything possible to prepare. Jake definitely leads the pack in that area.''
Danks left before Westbrook, working a solid 62/3 innings and permitting only two hits. He walked two and struck out two.
Danks said the prospective no-hitter was not something he thought about.
''It never crossed my mind,'' he said.
What made Danks so tough to hit?
''He did a good job mixing his pitches,'' said Indians first baseman Ryan Garko. ''His cutter was a little better than I've seen it, and he did a good job of pounding the strike zone.''
Wedge thought that the Tribe offense should have gotten to Danks.
''We had some decent swings early and didn't get anything for them,'' Wedge said. ''Then we fell off a little bit. We didn't make the adjustments.''
Things might have turned out different had Nick Swisher of the White Sox not made a tough catch of Franklin Gutierrez's drive to the center-field warning track in the second inning.
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com.
CLEVELAND: There are few things that generate more optimism among the home fans than watching one of their starting pitchers throw a no-hitter. Unless the opposing starter is doing the same thing.
So it was Thursday at Progressive Field. For four innings, neither Jake Westbrook nor Chicago White Sox starter John Danks gave up a hit.
Both pitchers eventually succumbed, but Westbrook gave up one hit too many as the Tribe lost for the first time this season, 2-1.
It wasn't the number of hits Westbrook allowed, but their distance. A.J. Pierzynski was the first White Sox batsmen to hit safely, bouncing a single to center field with one out in the fifth. No big deal for Westbrook. He took a deep breath and retired the side.
But in the sixth, the ninth batter in the White Sox lineup, Juan Uribe, whacked the first pitch of the inning over the wall in left for a home run that gave the Sox the lead. The Indians eventually tied the score, but Westbrook gave up a leadoff home run in the eighth to Joe Crede.
''It was a bad pitch to Uribe, and he made me pay for it,'' Westbrook said.
Normally, a pitch that is down in the strike zone is a tough pitch to hit. In fact, as a sinkerball pitcher, that's where Westbrook tries to throw the ball, but not when Uribe is at the plate.
''The pitch was down and in, just where he likes it,'' Westbrook said. ''Yeah, it's usually a good pitch but not to him. I was just trying to get ahead.''
The pitch to Crede was a bad pitchers' pitch under any circumstances.
''Two-and-0, and I throw it middle, middle,'' Westbrook said.
Two mistakes, two runs, victory avoided. You could hardly blame Westbrook if he had wanted to kick the dog (but not actually doing it) after a performance that was almost exceptional but resulted in no better outcome than if he had given up 10 runs and failed to finish the first inning.
Maybe if Westbrook were younger, if he hadn't been through scores of starts and endured almost everything a pitcher can experience, at best his outing would have engendered mixed feelings: a combination of anger and depression.
But Westbrook has grown emotionally as he has developed into one of the more reliable starters in the big leagues. Now, he takes such games as inevitable, realizing he will have another start in five days.
''I'm still frustrated, but yeah, that's about how it is for me,'' he said. ''My mentality is that I try to get deep in games and give the team a chance to win. There are a lot more games to be pitched. If I'm as consistent as I was today, things will work out.''
Insufficient run support is nothing new to Westbrook. In his 25 starts last year, the Tribe averaged 3.84 runs, including two or fewer in 10 of his outings. In three of Westbrook's four starts against the White Sox, his offense scored zero, one and two runs.
''I can't feel bad about the way I pitched today,'' he said. ''I pitched pretty well and did my job. I'm still going to think about it, but I'm not going to think about it too long. Even if I had won, I would think about what I could have done better.''
Westbrook lasted 71/3 innings, allowing six hits and one walk. He struck out three and induced 11 batters to beat the ball in the dirt for 12 outs.
''I think his confidence has grown in a big way the last three or four years,'' Indians manager Eric Wedge said. ''There is something to be said when someone does everything possible to prepare. Jake definitely leads the pack in that area.''
Danks left before Westbrook, working a solid 62/3 innings and permitting only two hits. He walked two and struck out two.
Danks said the prospective no-hitter was not something he thought about.
''It never crossed my mind,'' he said.
What made Danks so tough to hit?
''He did a good job mixing his pitches,'' said Indians first baseman Ryan Garko. ''His cutter was a little better than I've seen it, and he did a good job of pounding the strike zone.''
Wedge thought that the Tribe offense should have gotten to Danks.
''We had some decent swings early and didn't get anything for them,'' Wedge said. ''Then we fell off a little bit. We didn't make the adjustments.''
Things might have turned out different had Nick Swisher of the White Sox not made a tough catch of Franklin Gutierrez's drive to the center-field warning track in the second inning.
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com.
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