The Cleveland Indians used a five run fifth inning and a seven run eighth to their advantage as they beat the Tampa Bay Rays 13-2 on Thursday night.  That is exactly the way you want to start off a four game series against the Rays who are in first place in the East Divsion.

The Indians had 14 hits and and scored 13 runs off of those 14 nine hits.  Three home runs really helped out that is for sure.  David Dellucci and Ben Francisco both hit two-run bombs while Shin-Soo Choo and Casey Blake both had solo home runs.  Dellucci, Francisco, and Blake weren’t done however as Francisco added a two run single and Delluci and Blake both one run single in the ninth inning. Jamey Carroll added rbi ground out in the game while Johnny Peralta also had a rbi single.

Aaron Laffey pitched six innings to improve to 5-5 on the season.  Laffey gave up four hits and two runs in his six innings of action.  Rafael Perez pitched the seventh and eighth innings before he turned things over to who finished off the Rays to end the game.  Juan Rincon pitched the ninth inning and loaded the bases full before finally getting out of the jam and ending the game.

The Indians will be looking to go up 2-0 in the series when they send Cliff Lee to the mound on Friday.

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The Cleveland Indians finished up a very dissapointing series with the Colorado Rockies with a 6-3 loss.  The loss on Thursday was the third straight loss to the Rockies and the Indians are sure glad to get out of the Rocky Mountains.  The Indians hitters never really got going at Coors Field.  Maybe they were just trying to hit home runs all the time, but they sure struggled all series long.  The Indians pitchers sure didn’t have any problems giving up runs either however.

On Thursday night it was Jeremy Sowers taking the loss and dropping to 0-2 on the season.  Sowers pitched six innings and gave up ten hits and four runs.  Jeff Baker hit a solo home run off of Sowers in the sixth inning.  Other then that the other three runs were all scored on singles.

Masa Kobayashi had a rough outing as he gave up a pair of two run singles in the seventh inning and allowed two more runs to score.  Those two runs were pretty big as they were two insurance runs for the Rockies.  Joe Borowski came in and pitched a scoreless ninth inning to hold the Rockies at six runs.

Ben Francisco hit a two run home run in the first inning but then the Indians didn’t score again until the sixth inning when Casey Blake hit a solo home run.  Now that is why I wonder if the Indians batters were swinging for the fences the entire series.  They know how Coors Field plays, and I think they were all going up there to hit a home run, instead they were either striking out or flying out.  Shorten those swings and just get some singles and doubles boys.

The left right away out of Denver and flew to Los Angeles where they will begin a three game weekend series with the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Let’s see if the Indians can turn things around and get some wins out in L.A.

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The Cleveland Indians scored seven runs on Tuesday night but the bad news was that the Texas Rangers actually scored 12 runs.  The Indians made things interesting in the seventh and eighth innings but then the Rangers answered back with three runs of their own in the eighth inning.

Tom Mastny was absolutely rocked as he only lasted 1 1/3 innings as he gave up six hits and five runs.  Mastny gave up two home runs in the game as he pitcher terribly.

The Indians bullpen wasn’t much better however.  Jensen Lewis, Edward Mujica, and Rafael Perez, all gave up two runs each in the game.  Scott Elarton also gave up one run.  Just a bad performance by everyone that pitched for the Indians.

Shin-Soo Choo had a two run double in the seventh inning and then a solo home run in the ninth inning to lead the Indians with three rbi at the plate.  Ben Francisco, Ryan Garko, and Jhonny Peralta all helped out with one rbi each but it wasn’t enough for the Indians.

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Casey Blake cracked two home runs and finished with seven rbi as the Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers on Monday night by the score of 13-9.  It seemed like the teams were playing home run derby out there as both teams combined for six home runs in the game.

Besides Blake’s huge night, Ben Francisco had a two run home run and finished the game with three rbi.  David Dellucci also added a two run home run in the eighth inning and Asdrubal Cabrera had a rbi double in the third inning.  That is a lot of production up and down the lineup for the Indians.

Masa Kobayashi pitched 1 2/3 innings to get the victory for the Indians.  Kobayashi did give up one run in but still picked up his third win of the season.  Rafael Perez and Joe Borowski pitched the final  2 1/3 innings to finish up the game.

Starting pitcher, Aaron Laffey was roughed up in only five innings of action.  Laffey gave up 11 hits and eight runs as he was hit very hard all night long.

In the end however, it was a good win for the Indians.  Indians Blog

The Cleveland Indians completed a three game sweep of the Oakland Athletics with a 4-2win on Thursday afternoon.  It was a big series for the Indians as they improved to 22-19 on the season.

Aaron Laffey pitched seven innings to pick up the win which was his second of the sesaon.  Laffey only gave up five hits.  He did let one run score when he had a bad throw to first base in the second inning and a runner scored.  Other then that one error, Laffey had a good game all around.

Jensen Lewis, Rafael Betancourt, and Masa Kobayashi pitched in the game out of the bullpen.  Betancourt gave up one run that was charged to him on a Kobayashi wild pitch in the ninth inning.  Luckily for the Indians, Kobayashi was able to get out of the inning as the A’s stranded two runners on base to get his second save of the season.

The four runs put up by the Indians came from four different players.  Jhonny Peralta had a solo home run, Ryan Garko had a rbi double, Ben Francisco and Travis Hafner both had rbi singles in the game.

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The Cleveland Indians have placed starting pitcher Jake Westbrook on the 15 day disabled list.  The move is retroactive back to April 20th.  A left intercostal strain is the cause for Westbook’s trop to the disabled list.

Aaron Laffey or Jeremy Sowers would be the most likely to be called up to take Westbook’s spot on the roster.

The Indians have also recalled outfielder Ben Francisco from Triple-A Buffalo.