Friday night the Cleveland Indians will travel down the I-71 interstate to take on their in-state "rival", the Cincinnati Reds. This will be the first of two series between these teams, which will see each team with a three game home set.
The Indians hold the overall series record against the Reds by a count of 29-22 with the Reds not having won a season series from the Indians since the inaugural 1997 Interleague season.
Coming into 2008, the Reds and Indians were worlds apart in their quests for a championship.
The Reds were coming off of a disappointing 72-90 record and fifth place finish in the National League Central Division. They continued to have problems with their pitching staff not keeping them in ballgames, mainly from the bullpen where the Reds were dead last in the National League with a 5.10 ERA.
To fix this, the Reds went out in the off-season and signed closer, Francisco Cordero, to a 4-year $46 million contract to finish out games and stabilize the bullpen. You can say what you want about the amount of money being spent on a closer, but to this point he has done his job.
Another big move was the trade that sent outfielder Josh Hamilton to the Texas Rangers. In return, the Reds acquired starting pitcher, Edinson Volquez, who has dazzled in his first eight starts with a 6-1 record and a 1.12 ERA. He also has 57 strikeouts in 48.1 innings.
The Indians on the other hand came into 2008 as the reigning American League Central Division Champions and were one game away from the World Series before the Red Sox came from a 3 games to 1 deficit to defeat the Tribe in the ALCS and then sweep the Rockies in the World Series.
The Indians made very few moves in the off-season with the only real signing being relief pitcher and former Japenese closer, Masa Kobayashi. In what has turned into being a problematic bullpen with Joe Borowski’s injury and Rafael Betancourt’s struggles, Kobayashi has been a savior of sorts saving two games with a 1.86 ERA.
2008
Coming into the series, the Reds currently stand 18-23 and in last place in the NL central, but have won three in a row and 6 of 10.
The Indians come into the series, 22-19, first place in the AL Central and have won three in a row and 8 of 10.
Stats
Cincinnati:
4.44 Runs per Game (11th in NL)
.329 OBP (8th)
46 HR (3rd)
4.71 ERA (14th)
.339 OBP Against (11th)
45 HR Allowed (14th)
Cleveland:
4.24 Runs per Game (11th in AL)
.316 OBP (11th)
30 HR (10th)
3.26 ERA (1st)
.314 OBP Against (4th)
36 HR Allowed (6th)
Key Hitters to Watch:
Cincinnati:
Brandon Phillips: The former Indians second baseman acquired in the 2002 Bartolo Colon deal continues to thrive in the “Great American Small Park”. He was a 30HR-30SB guy a year ago and is well on his way to another with a .288 AVG, 7HR and 6SB.
Joey Votto: The rookie first baseman hit three home runs in a game last week and now sits at eight total. He is not bad with putting the ball into play either, hitting .276.
Edwin Encarnacion: A developing 25-year old third baseman who has power. He is improving with his plate discipline and has a .259 AVG, eight home runs and 19 RBI.
Ken Griffey Jr.: Griffey has hit the second most HR in Interleague history with 49. He also has hit 37 career HR against the Indians, though he has now slowed as he has hit the age of 38. He currently stands at .250, four home runs and 19 RBI.
Adam Dunn: The all-or-nothing walk machine that is Dunn, has had a rough go of it this year. He is currently hitting just .207, but still has seven homers and 20 RBI.
Cleveland:
Grady Sizemore: The all-everything center fielder has been the only consistent producer on the Indians offense to date. He leads the team in home runs with seven home runs, is second in on-base percentage at .379 and leads the team in steals with seven. Not to mention his gold glove defense.
Ryan Garko: The Indians first baseman will likely sit out at least on game this weekend, with Travis Hafner likely to play some first base, but even when not in the lineup, watch for Garko to pinch hit in some key situations. He has slumped for about a month now, but has started heating up this week with two home runs.
Victor Martinez: A clean-up hitter with no home runs is hard to come by, but that has been the way the Indians season has gone offensively. Though, Victor has still hit the ball pretty well, leading the AL with a .333 batting average.
Travis Hafner: The big slugger has continued his rapid descent from the elite for a second consecutive season. He has shown less plate discipline, hit for a lower average, .222, and only hit three home runs to date. The Indians need his bat to awaken ASAP if they are to be serious contenders for the AL crown.
Ben Francisco: The “savior” of the left field platoon for the Indians, Francisco was promoted to take the place of the struggling Jason Michaels who was shipped out to the Pirates. Since his call-up on May 6, Francisco has hit .346 with three doubles and four RBI.
Pitching Matchups:
Friday 7:10: Johnny Cueto 2-4 5.91 ERA vs. Jeremy Sowers 0-0 5.06 ERA
This match-up looks to be the one with the most chance for some offensive fireworks.
Cueto, a rookie, has struggled for most of the year after his amazing first start. He has allowed five runs or more in four of his last six starts and has allowed a total of nine home runs in 45.2 innings of work.
Sowers will be making his second start of the year nictitated by the rainout last Sunday in Cleveland. In three career starts against the Reds he is 0-2 with a 9.60 ERA. Bad potential match-ups against Sowers are Brandon Phillips, 3-8 with a homer and four RBI, and Ken Griffey Jr., 2-6 with a homer and two RBI.
Saturday 3:55: Aaron Harang 2-5 3.32 ERA vs. Fausto Carmona 4-1 2.40 ERA
This will be great pitching match-up number one. A pair of great right-handers who can go deep into ballgames with out a lot of damage.
Aaron Harang is 3-1 with a 2.38 career ERA in seven starts against the Indians. He is a dominant power pitcher who can pile up some strikeouts. Match-ups against Harang to watch for are Grady Sizemore, 6-16 with two doubles, and Casey Blake 4-15 with four doubles. The only home run against Harang by an Indians is by Jhonny Peralta, but he is only 3-13 with 5 K’s.
Fausto Carmona will be the opposing pitcher, has had only two appearances against the Reds, both out of the bullpen in 2006. Both were scoreless. One Red has had some experience against the sinkerballer, Corey Patterson, who played in the AL with the Orioles last season. He has a 4-10 batting record against Carmona with an RBI and two stolen bases.
Sunday 1:15: Edinson Volquez 6-1 1.12 vs. Cliff Lee 6-0 0.67
Who could have predicted this match-up before the season being a pairing of each leagues ERA leaders? This has the makings of a great duel.
Edinson Volquez as mentioned before was brought over from the Rangers for Josh Hamilton and has been flat out amazing. He can lose command as evidenced by his 26 walks in 48 innings, but he has yet to allow more than one earned run in any start this year. The Indians do have one game of experience against Volquez. The Indians roughed him up for six runs in 1.2 innings. Grady Sizemore is 2-2 against him with a home run.
Cliff Lee is in another world at this moment, he has shown unbelievable command of his pitches, mainly his fastball, which has led to increased strikeouts and batters hitting more ground balls. In five career starts against the Reds, Lee is 3-1 with a 5.60 ERA. Once again, watch for Ken Griffey to be a key, he is 4-11 with three home runs against Lee. Also watch Ryan Freel who is 4-8 with two RBI and a stolen base against Lee.
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4 months ago
Great outlook on the series Michael. I can only hope I have tickets to when the Reds come here.. Last year I used the "text a message to the tribe" on the scoreboard to send them "Brandon Phillips was a Jerk". We then spent the game watching for it.
I'm glad we get Volquez against our best pitcher.. it's so nice seeing our best guy against their best guy, cause our guy is usually better. Thank god, but I'm looking forward to seeing Volquez pitch.
4 months ago
It will be an interesting series. Indians historically struggle against rookie pitchers they haven't seen before. They get two of them so thank the lord they are hitting the cover off of the ball... oh yeah...
Well, hey, Jeremy Sowers is batting 1.000 in his big league career which is a HUGE upgrade over The Pronkey!
Ha! I'd still rather be "rivals" with the Pirates but the Reds will suffice.
F Sam Wyche.
Go Tribe!
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