Today’s series finale against the Texas Rangers was not as good of a game as it’s 12-8 final score MIGHT indicate. The game was basically over before most fans in the Rangers’ stadium were settled in their seats.

One of the Indians’ offseason acquisitions, Carl Pavano, made his Indians debut against Texas on Thursday and it was a very brief and forgettable debut. Having given up 7 runs in the first inning and not able to record an out in the second inning, he’s going to be one of many topics burning up Cleveland’s sports talk radio shows and internet message boards. After pitching 1 inning and giving up 9 earned runs, it’s hard to imagine why. However, the Indians’ starting pitching in all three of the games was lousy and is already justifying a lot of the offseason skepticism surrounding the starting rotation and what to expect of the Indians in 2009.

In the season opener, the Indians offense was only able to score a single run, which came on a passed ball. As the series went on, the offense got progressively better. Thurdays game featured five home runs by Indians hitters, led by two two-run home runs. Victor Martinez, Kelly Shoppach and Travis Hafner (yes, Pronk!) also added solo shots.

One of the bright spots of the series was the long-relief work of youngster Zach Jackson. Jackson come on with 2 on and nobody out in the second inning in relief of Pavano. Faced with the task of sparing Eric Wedge from having to start burning through arms in the bullpen already, Jackson did not disappoint. He did allow a pair of runs, but he also struck out six batters and allowed only four hits in his four innings of work. That’s a better line than any of the starting pitchers’ performances so far.

With the opening series disaster behind us, Tribe fans and players alike can focus on baseball’s return to Cleveland for tomorrow’s home opener at 4:05pm. The gates will open at 2:00pm and the Indians suggest being in your seats by 3:15pm to take in all the pregame festivities.  

Series Recap:

Overall Record: 0-3     Series Record: 0-1

The Good

• Home runs by Francisco (1), Sizemore (1,2), Martinez (1), Hafner (1) and Shoppach (1)
• Relief work by Zach Jackson: 4 innings, 2 runs, 6 strikeouts, 4 hits
• The Series is over

The Bad

• Lack of offense in series opener
• Shoddy defense

The Ugly

• Indians starters (Cliff Lee, Fausto Carmona, Carl pavano): 0-3, 18.00 ERA, 23 hits, 22 earned runs, 4 home runs in 11 COMBINED innings
• Carl Pavano: 0-1, 1 inning pitched, 9 earned runs, 2 home runs

Next Up: The Toronto Blue Jays come to Cleveland for a 3-game series to kick off the home portion of the 2009 season

The only two runs that the tribe were able to get off of the White Sox came in the sixth inning when Jhonny Peralta doubled to score Asdrubal Cabrera and Grady Sizemore. Other then that double, the Indians struggled at the plate and when they did have a little rally going, they grounded into doubleplays.

Jeremy Sowers started the game off awesome but ran into trouble as he only pitched 5 1/3 innings. Sowers took the loss after being charged with all four runs that the White Sox scored. Three of the four runs the White Sox scored came via the home run ball as they took Sowers deep twice in the game.

The Indians will now be off on Thursday and will begin a weekend series with the Kansas City Royals.

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Kelly Shoppach and Shin-Soo Choo both hit two run home runs to lead the Indians at the plate. Shoppach also added another rbi with a single that scored Choo. Grady Sizemore had another good game as he had a two run single to finish with two rbi. Jhonny Peralta and Ryan Garko finished up the scoring with an rbi each.

On the mound, Fausto Carmona tossed six innings and allowed seven hits and four runs.  Fausto threw the ball well enough to pick up the win and improve to 7-5. Rafael Perez gave up a run and then Rafael Betancourt and Jensen Lewis finished things up in the eighth and ninth innings. Lewis did have some problems however as he allowed two runs on a Magglio Ordonez home run.

Good series for the Indians! Indians Baseball

Besides Franklin’s solo home run, the Indians got two solo home runs from Grady Sizemore who finished the game with two rbi. Ryan Garko also added a rbi single in the fourth inning for the Indians offense. There wasn’t much offense and it would have been nice had there been some runners on base with the three solo home runs being hit.

Brendan Donnelly picked up the win after throwing a scoreless ninth inning. Jensen Lewis recorded his seventh save of the year by throwing a scoreless inning in the tenth inning. Zach Jackson started the game and pitched 6 1/3 innings while giving up seven hits and three runs to get the no decision. Jackson gave up two home runs while striking out six batters.

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Grady Sizemore had a huge day as he went 4-5 with seven rbi! Sizemore had a three run home run, three run triple, and a rbi single in the game. Talk about production with the bases loaded by Sizemore! Shin-Soo Choo added a two run home run and Jhonny Peralta added a solo home run to finish out the Indians scoring.

Cliff Lee improved to 18-2 on the season as he shut down the Royals offense for seven innings. Lee gave up six hits and three runs while striking out seven batters. Rafael Betancourt and Brendan Donnelly pitched the final two innings of the game to keep the Royals at three runs.

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On Tuesday night it was Matt Ginter who took the loss after only pitching four innings.  It was a bad start by Ginter as he gave up eight hits and four runs.  Ginter is now 1-2 on the season for the Tribe.  Juan Rincon allowed two runs as well did Rafael Betancourt.  Bad night but those three Indian pitchers.

David Dellucci, Jhonny Peralta, Shin-Soo Choo, and Ryan Garko all had one rbi each for the Tribe.  The other run was when Grady Sizemore scored on a wild pitch in the ninth inning.  The offense wasn’t bad, the pitching staff just gave up too many rns.

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The Indians sent Aaron Laffey out to start the game but he didn’t throw that good at all.  Laffey gave up 12 hits and eight runs in only four innings of action to take the loss.  Laffey was hit early and hard in the game and was never able to settle down.

The Indians bullpen wasn’t able to stop the bleeding as Tom Mastny gave up three hits and four runs and Jensen Lewis gave up four more hits and two runs.  Just a bad outing by the Indians pitching staff in the game.

Ryan Garko hit a two run home run and finished the game with four rbi to lead the Tribe at the plate.  Grady Sizemore stayed hot as he his his 25th home run of the season as well.  Shin-Soo Choo recorded two rbi while David Dellucci, Jhonny Peralta, Andy Marte, Sal Fasano, and Sizemore all finished the game with one rbi each.

All the blame has to go on the pitching straff in this game.  Anytime your offense puts ten runs up on the scoreboard you should be on the winning side of the game.  Indians Baseball Blog

Matt Ginter took the loss for the Tribe and is now 1-1.  Ginter didn’t throw the ball too badly as he pitched six innings.  He allowed seven hits and three runs with one of those hits being a solo home run that proved to be the game winner in the 5th inning.

Rafael Betancourt and Juan Rincon pitched the 7th and 8th innings and did not have any problems.

Grady Sizemore got the Indians on the plate in the first inning with a solo home run that he hit off of Jered Weaver.  Franklin Gutierrez had the Indians second and final run of the game on a rbi triple that scored Kelly Shoppach in the 2nd inning.  The bats were held to those two runs as they did not score again the in the final seven innings of the game.

The Tribe can still win the series on the road if they can beat the Halos on Wednesday afternoon.

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Jensen Lewis gave up a two run home run to Miguel Cabrera in the bottom of the ninth as the Tigers went on to win.  Lewis is now 0-3 after taking the loss.  Paul Byrd got the start on the mound for the Tigers and pitched six innings while allowing nine hits and three runs.  Rafael Betancourt gave up a home run in the seventh inning and was charged with three runs.  Bad outing by those three Indians pitchers.

Grady Sizemore had rbi singles in the second and fourth innings to lead the Indians at the plate with two rbi.  Jhonny Peralta, Jamey Carrol, Casey Blake, and Shin-Soo Choo all finished up with one rbi apeace in the game.

The Indians will now start up a series with the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday.  Indians Blog

Kobayashi fell to 4-4 as he took the loss for the Indians.  C.C. Sabathia started the game for the Tribe and got a no decision after throwing eight innings and giving up seven hits and five runs.  Four of the five runs were earned.  Sabathia had some troubles in the game as Pierzynski and Jermaine Dye both hit home runs in the first inning but after that he settled down for the most part.

Sizemore and Jamey Carrol both had two rbi each for the Indians.  Jhonny Peralta was the other player to record an rbi in the game where the Indians struck out 11 times and left 18 runners on base.

The Indians are now off on Thursday and will start up a series with the Minnesota Twins on Friday.

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