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Starter goes distance. Sizemore, Garko hit homers
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Thursday, May 15, 2008
CLEVELAND: Shutouts have become the coin of the realm for the Indians. Pitchers throwing blanks at the opposition has developed as the team's everyday currency, not unlike the U.S. dollar or the English pound. No big deal.
If the cash-strapped offense can't buy a run, no problem. The pitchers will pick up the tab and throw a shutout. That's the way it was again Wednesday night as C.C. Sabathia pitched a complete game to deliver the Tribe's seventh shutout of the season to defeat the Oakland Athletics 2-0 at Progressive Field.
Make it five shutouts in the past eight games for Indians pitchers, who all of last year threw eight. To draw on another comparison with last season, in the 38th game of 2007, the Tribe earned its second shutout.
Put it another way, the 21-19 Indians lead the major leagues in shutouts, two ahead of their nearest competitor, the Tampa Bay Rays.
''It's pretty special stuff that
the pitchers are putting together right now,'' said Indians manager Eric Wedge, who is not one to employ hyperbole, nor did he on this occasion.
''Obviously, these guys are going well beyond the call of duty right now, but really, all we want them to do is keep us in games,'' Wedge said.
Considering how scarce runs have become, that's exactly what the starters are doing. Granted, the rotation has yielded only one run in the past 481/3 innings, but in the past four games, the Tribe has scored only nine runs.
''This is a crazy game, but you don't expect a pitcher to throw a shutout every game,'' Grady Sizemore said. ''We have to do our part and score some runs and play defense behind him.''
Sabathia (3-5, 5.47 ERA) gave up five hits — a bloop single and an infield roller among them — and only two walks, striking out 11, many of the victims standing frozen in their tracks as they watched strike three cross the plate.
''I think I got a couple of lefties out on fastballs,'' Sabathia said. ''The rest were cutters and change-ups. Luis [bullpen coach Luis Isaac] told me I had a good change-up when I was warming up in the bullpen.''
Naturally, Sabathia demurred when asked if the pitchers feel pressure to keep rival teams scoreless because of the club's offensive deficiencies.
''It's tough to go out there thinking that you're going to hold the other team without a run or maybe give up one,'' he said. ''I think we're aware of how good we are. This is a pretty good starting staff.''
The turning points in the game were twofold. When Sabathia walked to the mound to start the game was the first; when Sizemore whacked the second pitch of the first inning over the left-field fence for his seventh home run was the other.
''You like to get on the board first to build momentum,'' Sizemore said. ''We didn't put runs on the board and run away with it, but C.C. didn't need much.''
Few scoring chances presented themselves against Joe Blanton (2-6, 3.69 ERA), but with two outs in the fourth, Ryan Garko sailed a drive over the wall in left for his fourth home run of the season.
''The way all our games are going, a three-run lead seems like six, and a three-run deficit seems like six,'' Garko said. ''Blanton didn't make many mistakes. Every other pitch he threw me was right on the corner. C.C. didn't make any mistakes.''
Blanton has a lousy record, but he is not an easy mark. He held the Tribe to four hits and two walks in seven innings and was in trouble only once.
Legitimate threats have been so scarce for the Indians, they can hardly afford to pass up any, particularly slam dunks. But Wednesday night, that's exactly what they did.
Ben Francisco opened the fifth inning with a double and landed on third when Casey Blake and Sizemore followed by drawing walks to load the bases. With nobody out, even a double play would have scored a run and increased the lead to 3-0.
At least most double plays would have yielded that result, but not the one Jhonny Peralta bounced into. Peralta slapped a one-hopper back to the mound that Blanton turned into an easy 1-2-3 double play.
Even so, Blake moved to third, from where he should have scored easily on David Dellucci's smash to the right side. But Mike Sweeney — a good first baseman when nobody else is available — made a diving stop and threw out Dellucci to end the inning.
Sabathia came into the game with a 2-7 record and 6.84 ERA against the A's. Since he began his career, he has had trouble performing against the team that plays its games 20 miles from where he grew up and still lives.
His failures are duly noted by his buddies back home, who root for the A's and give him grief.
''I haven't checked my phone yet,'' Sabathia said. ''I'm sure they watched the game, because they thought it would be a bad result [for me]. But I'm expecting to get their texts.''
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com.
CLEVELAND: Shutouts have become the coin of the realm for the Indians. Pitchers throwing blanks at the opposition has developed as the team's everyday currency, not unlike the U.S. dollar or the English pound. No big deal.
Get the full article here.
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