Lee Wins Again; Offense Awakens

It’s about time the offense came to the party. Because it ain’t no party with out the bashin’.

Cliff Lee Again?: Cliff Lee pitched 27 consecutive scoreless innings, and it came to an end when he gave up a three run home run to Wladimir something or other in the 7th.

So the final line, Six plus, 3 ER, no walks again, he gave up his first home run of the year and 3 strikeouts.

By far not his best, but he was scoreless till the 7th. After the first two batters Wedge should have probably taken him out, but with a guy in his first start of the year, you probably figure Lee can get the job done.

No harm no foul, it was 8-0 at that point..

Lee’s ERA rose to .96.. OH MY HOW COULD HE..

Hey still hasn’t hit the 1.00 yet.

Offense Hits: Hey the offense hit.

You know it’s gonna be a good night when Grady Sizemore leads the game off with a blast.

Carroll follows up with a hit, Victor knocks him over from his new spot, and Garko drives him in with a sac fly.

Franklin Gutierrez has the best bat tonight though, hitting in the SIX spot, he had 2 hits for 3 runs batted in and a run scored.

He is on a bit of a roll lately, so let’s hope that continues.

I’m not sure what I feel about the new lineup. Hafner when he gets back, I don’t know where he will hit. I’m not in favor of Victor at the three hole, I think our must clutch hitter has to be the cleanup guy, and I think had Garko not been struggling, he would have been in the three hole tonight.

I’d say maybe fifth if Wedge really wants to make the change. Or perhaps just give him a day or two off, see what happens. We will find out tomorrow.

I’m also not in favor of Casey Blake hitting so I high. I know he leads the team in RBI, but you just can’t do that right now.

Tomorrow is the finale, and the Indians could use a series win. Miguel Batista against Paul Byrd.

[BOXSCORE]

Tribe Blow Late Comeback

After tying the game up in the 8th inning, the Indians seemed they wouldn’t let this one slip away after all. That was until Adrian Beltre got his hands on a pitch.

I’ve got a complaint: Adrian Beltre did hit the big home run in the 9th inning that started the big inning for the M’s. But all night he was ticking me off with his antics at the plate.

If you watched him against Carmona, he would continuously lean out of the way like all of Carmona’s pitches inside were going to hit him. Beltre walked three times in that game, and really that type of crap just lights a fire under me. If I was Carmona I would have pegged him for real or just started throwing something that would really make him move.

With that: Let’s get to Carmona…

So far this year he has pitched well, but there is one difference between Carmona last year and this year.

It is the walks. He is walking a lot more people than he did last year. For him it is not a problem, because at any time he can record two outs with one pitch, but you do have to wonder why he is walking so many people. Maybe hitters have just given up and said “lets not even swing at that stuff”, who knows. Still can’t fault the effort Carmona gave tonight, and had Cabrera not commit an error to extend an inning and eventually let them score an unearned run, we might have had a different outcome.

Betancourt blew the game in the 9th.. That’s all there is to it.

But Craig Breslow.. WHY? Why has it taken Wedge so long to get him in the game.. And then you put him in the worst possible situation, when you need to keep it at least a little closer?

Wedge needs to start using Breslow more, he waited way to long to use him, and I think it has been just about two weeks since he pitched. Last night was not fair to him at all.

Silva Shuts Offense Down: Carlos Freaking Silva? How is he pitching so well this early?

I don’t know, but he continued again tonight against us. He really isn’t a good match for a patient hitting team like the Tribe, but you figure with the recent struggles, the offense might have been primed to break out against him.

Guess not. Early they got to Silva, with a pair of doubles in the first by Sizemore and Dellucci. Travis Hafner continued to suck it up as he wasn’t able to keep the rally going. Dellucci got stranded on base after being on 2nd with no body out and that was it for the time being.

The offense scored again after that Sizemore and Dellucci combo did it again.. This time Hafner grounded out, which knocked in a run. That was it for scoring.

Victor Martinez’s hit sreak is up to 11 games.

Everyone else went hitless, except for Franklin Gutierrez, who had THREE hits.

Tonight it is Cliff Lee and Jarrod Washburn, this is a must win. It is our best vs their worst so far this year.

[BOXSCORE]