If you are a Cleveland Indians fan, you know that last night's game had all the makings of another 1-0 loss staring you right in the face. The Blue Jays had managed to push a run across the plate in the top of the fifth against C. C. Sabathia, and Toronto ace Roy Halladay was equally, if not more, dominant. But, as Sabathia was able to work out of trouble in the seventh, Halladay was not, and the Tribe took advantage for a 6-1 victory in their series opener at Progressive Field.
A scuffling Travis Hafner and Ryan Garko started the Indians' seventh with back-to-back singles. Indians manager Eric Wedge called for Asdrubal Cabrera to bunt, but Halladay was unable to find the strike zone and walked Cabrera on four straight pitches. Casey Blake continued his reversal of fortune from 2007 as he delivered a 2-run double off the wall in left for a 2-1 Tribe lead.
Grady Sizemore weakly popped out to shortstop, and it looked as if the Indians were poised to squander another opportunity for more runs, but Franklin Gutierrezwalked to load the bases with one out, and set up a lefty-on-lefty match-up of Jesse Carlson versus David Dellucci.
Wedge played the odds to perfection, as he sent up Ben Francisco up to pinch hit as Toronto countered with Jeremy Accardo. Francisco hammered a 2-run double of his own for a 4-1 lead. A wild pitch and sacrifice fly made it game, set, and match for Cleveland as Jensen Lewis and Masa Kobayashi each pitched a scoreless inning of relief to close to door on the Blue Jays.
Despite their recent offensive struggles, the Indians have a few good trends going for them. They won the first game of a series, as they did consistently in 2007, for the second series in a row. Sabathia seems to be back to form after his half month from Hell. Lewis and Kobayshi look to have become alternative options for Uncle Eric out of the pen, so he won't have to pitch the Fightin' Raffy Brothers to death.
Travis Hafner did go 2-3 with a double and a walk, and looked composed at the plate for the first time in a while; but did he look awful on that strikeout in the ninth.
Regardless, the Indians remain a game and a half out of first in the underachieving AL Central as they approach the quarter-pole of the season.
It's Tribe Time now. Believeland.
comments (2) write a comment »
write a new comment
2 months ago
I know we like to scrutinize every at bat Hafner had. But I'm taking the 2-3 with a walk and the strikeout. The game was pretty much won, and he was probably just up there trying to hammer the ball. It was nice to see him walk and then do something I've been saying he had to do for awhile now, go the other way with that double.
But yeah it was a great win. I guess I shouldn't have been shocked to see Halladay come out there for the 7th the way he was pitching, but I was because he did reach 100 pitches and you could tell he was starting to tire at the end of the 6th. Plus the guy has pitched 4 complete games this year.
I'm glad Gibbons left him in though of course.
about 1 month ago
Sabathia has been back about 3 games before this one. Only problem that he's been having to deal with lately is his own offense.
Cleveland and Chicago are really similar right now on how their offense is working. It's either a very big inning with over 2 runs or so, or it's nothing.
I'm still very happy about the win, but we really need to become more consistent throughout EACH inning. This one-out-of-nine big inning thing kinda scares me.
write a new comment