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Do IT this week: Layering
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sports writer
POSTED: 12:10 a.m. EDT, Apr 09, 2009
ARLINGTON, TEXAS: Ladies and gentlemen, these are the Indians' two marquee starters.
An anouncement is necessary, because otherwise it would be difficult to tell that Cliff Lee is the ace of the staff and Fausto Carmona No. 2.
As did Lee in Monday's season opener, Carmona stumbled through his first start of the year, as the Rangers decked the Tribe for the second game in a row, 8-5 Wednesday night at The Ballpark in Arlington. Carmona went one better than Lee, who started the opener. But all that means is Carmona gave up six runs and Lee yielded seven, with both pitchers able to last only five innings.
In fact, the two starters had much in common in their initial outings of the season. Lee and Carmona gave up all the runs in two innings, the same two innings. Carmona allowed a home run. So did Lee.
The bottom line: Combined, the earned-run average of Lee and Carmona is 11.70, and the Tribe is 0-2 as a result, although that's not the only reason.
''They were similar,'' Indians manager Eric Wedge said. ''I think Fausto showed sings of locking it in and putting together a string of hitters, then he would slip out of it.''
Carmona (0-1, 10.80 ERA) didn't have quite the command of his sinker that he needed.
''I tried to keep the ball down, but I got a couple of pitches up,'' he said. ''I threw a lot of sinkers, nothing different. Now, I have to be ready for next time.''
No matter how well a pitcher performs, he needs at least a run or two to win. In Lee's start, the Indians scored once. Wednesday night, the offense improved but only marginally, despite appearances to the contrary. Moreover, the Tribe stranded 10 runnners.
Five runs from one game to the next is a 500 percent increase, but it's how the offense scored that's instructive. It wasn't with a hitting barrage, unless seven hits constitutes a barrage.
''The offense showed some signs of getting better that we can work off of,'' Wedge said. ''That's not to say we didn't miss opportunities. We had chances to come back and didn't take advantage of them.
''This is all part of early-season growing pains, and I guess we're going to have to go through them.''
The biggest hit for the Indians was Ben Francisco's two-run homer in the sixth inning, when the only other aggressive batting move was Jhonny Peralta drawing a walk.
In the fourth, the Tribe had a chance to put together a multi-run rally against Texas starter Vicente Padilla, but it turned out to be an illusion. Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner led off with singles, andafter Peralta struck out, Shin-Soo Choo walked to load the bases.
The inning didn't go down as a total waste, because Ryan Garko was hit by a pitch to force in the team's first run. But Francisco followed with a fly to left, and Asdrubal Cabrera struck out for the second time.
In the seventh, the Indians struck again after Grady Sizemore led off with a ringing double to right. But two outs later, Sizemore was only on third. Hafner followed with a ground ball to shortstop, and rookie Elvis Andrus threw away the ball for an error, allowing Sizemore to score.
Choo put the offense in gear in the eighth, when C.J. Wilson hit him in the knee with a fastball. Garko took advantage of that gaffe by whacking an RBI double.
To put the Tribe's offense for the first two games in perspective: one run scored on a wild pitch, one on a hit batter, one on an error and three on two hits. Moreover, one runner that scored reached when he was hit by a pitch.
And nobody can say that the Rangers didn't try to cooperate, considering they committed three errors.
This isn't exactly what Wedge has in mind when he talks about one through nine being productive, though to be fair Martinez was robbed twice by the defense, once on a drive to right that Nelson Cruz ran down.
Carmona was leveled for four runs in the second inning that began with a Cruz homer. Cruz also homered in the seventh off Rafael Perez. Although Carmona displayed a certain degree of proficiency, he gave up seven hits, five for extra bases.
Perez wasn't the only Tribe reliever to give up a home run. Rafael Betancourt's workmanship in the sixth was marred by Andrus' homer. It was the first of the kid's big-league career.
''Those (home runs) were big the way we were pushing to come back,'' Wedge said. ''It probably would have been a different game if they had kept the ball in the park.''
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at http://www.ohio.com/tribematters. Follow the Indians on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ABJ_Indians.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS: Ladies and gentlemen, these are the Indians' two marquee starters.
An anouncement is necessary, because otherwise it would be difficult to tell that Cliff Lee is the ace of the staff and Fausto Carmona No. 2.
As did Lee in Monday's season opener, Carmona stumbled through his first start of the year, as the Rangers decked the Tribe for the second game in a row, 8-5 Wednesday night at The Ballpark in Arlington. Carmona went one better than Lee, who started the opener. But all that means is Carmona gave up six runs and Lee yielded seven, with both pitchers able to last only five innings.
In fact, the two starters had much in common in their initial outings of the season. Lee and Carmona gave up all the runs in two innings, the same two innings. Carmona allowed a home run. So did Lee.
The bottom line: Combined, the earned-run average of Lee and Carmona is 11.70, and the Tribe is 0-2 as a result, although that's not the only reason.
''They were similar,'' Indians manager Eric Wedge said. ''I think Fausto showed sings of locking it in and putting together a string of hitters, then he would slip out of it.''
Carmona (0-1, 10.80 ERA) didn't have quite the command of his sinker that he needed.
''I tried to keep the ball down, but I got a couple of pitches up,'' he said. ''I threw a lot of sinkers, nothing different. Now, I have to be ready for next time.''
No matter how well a pitcher performs, he needs at least a run or two to win. In Lee's start, the Indians scored once. Wednesday night, the offense improved but only marginally, despite appearances to the contrary. Moreover, the Tribe stranded 10 runnners.
Five runs from one game to the next is a 500 percent increase, but it's how the offense scored that's instructive. It wasn't with a hitting barrage, unless seven hits constitutes a barrage.
''The offense showed some signs of getting better that we can work off of,'' Wedge said. ''That's not to say we didn't miss opportunities. We had chances to come back and didn't take advantage of them.
''This is all part of early-season growing pains, and I guess we're going to have to go through them.''
The biggest hit for the Indians was Ben Francisco's two-run homer in the sixth inning, when the only other aggressive batting move was Jhonny Peralta drawing a walk.
In the fourth, the Tribe had a chance to put together a multi-run rally against Texas starter Vicente Padilla, but it turned out to be an illusion. Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner led off with singles, andafter Peralta struck out, Shin-Soo Choo walked to load the bases.
The inning didn't go down as a total waste, because Ryan Garko was hit by a pitch to force in the team's first run. But Francisco followed with a fly to left, and Asdrubal Cabrera struck out for the second time.
In the seventh, the Indians struck again after Grady Sizemore led off with a ringing double to right. But two outs later, Sizemore was only on third. Hafner followed with a ground ball to shortstop, and rookie Elvis Andrus threw away the ball for an error, allowing Sizemore to score.
Choo put the offense in gear in the eighth, when C.J. Wilson hit him in the knee with a fastball. Garko took advantage of that gaffe by whacking an RBI double.
To put the Tribe's offense for the first two games in perspective: one run scored on a wild pitch, one on a hit batter, one on an error and three on two hits. Moreover, one runner that scored reached when he was hit by a pitch.
And nobody can say that the Rangers didn't try to cooperate, considering they committed three errors.
This isn't exactly what Wedge has in mind when he talks about one through nine being productive, though to be fair Martinez was robbed twice by the defense, once on a drive to right that Nelson Cruz ran down.
Carmona was leveled for four runs in the second inning that began with a Cruz homer. Cruz also homered in the seventh off Rafael Perez. Although Carmona displayed a certain degree of proficiency, he gave up seven hits, five for extra bases.
Perez wasn't the only Tribe reliever to give up a home run. Rafael Betancourt's workmanship in the sixth was marred by Andrus' homer. It was the first of the kid's big-league career.
''Those (home runs) were big the way we were pushing to come back,'' Wedge said. ''It probably would have been a different game if they had kept the ball in the park.''
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at http://www.ohio.com/tribematters. Follow the Indians on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ABJ_Indians.
Comments
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akron, oh
Posted 12:13 AM, 04/09/2009
Cheap organization cheap results.
Akron, Oh
Posted 07:28 AM, 04/09/2009
Things are looking up. The Tribe scored their first runs by putting the bat on the ball and not by a wild pitch or hit batsman. It was really exciting to watch. :)
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 07:43 AM, 04/09/2009
When your a cheapskate owner like Dolan, this is the result - LOSSES.
Cheap Cheap Cheap - Happy Easter !!!
Akron, Oh
Posted 07:46 AM, 04/09/2009
2 down 98 to go! Who gets to 20 losses first - Lee or Carmona? Hey why not both?
Anti-Politically Correct & Anti-GOP, OH
Posted 07:50 AM, 04/09/2009
Not looking too good already this year.
Akron, Oh
Posted 07:51 AM, 04/09/2009
The real problem is; indians don't get to face their pitchers!
Posted 07:58 AM, 04/09/2009
I was reminded that last year Lee started out with a 1-2 record. You people are sooooooooooo negative its a wonder any team can stand to stay in Cleveland.
Akron, Oh
Posted 08:47 AM, 04/09/2009
Paul - recheck your facts Lee was not 1-2 - CC maybe.
Anti-Politically Correct & Anti-GOP, OH
Posted 08:56 AM, 04/09/2009
Lee went a dozen games or so before he lost his first one.
Akron, Oh
Posted 10:38 AM, 04/09/2009
Something like 5-0 in April - right spd?
Stow, OH
Posted 11:01 AM, 04/09/2009
The pitching is bad enough,but the hitting is awful.There is no way Hafner should be in the 4 hole hacking away with men on base while he tries to get his swing back.This team is still terrible at the fundamentals of the game,they have no speed,etc.
Remember how nice it was to have Lofton get on base and watch him steal bases ?This team has very few options to manufacture runs ,which makes for a long ,long season ahead .
akron, OH
Posted 11:59 AM, 04/09/2009
must be the brown football fans comments here.BASEBALL PLAY 162 GAMES NOT 16!!!!!!
Farragut, TN
Posted 04:35 PM, 04/09/2009
The Indians, based on currently-available evidence, have the most abysmal starting pitching in Major League Baseball. What makes it worse is that they are currently pitching in pretty good climatic conditions. What happens when they have to pitch in cold, windy conditions? I'm glad I haven't ordered any tickets to witness this debacle.
