Indians fans have waited several months for some exciting baseball. What’s another day?

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 Cleveland Indians stay busy this off season as they announced on Tuesday that they have signed starting pitcher Carl Pavano to a one-year contract. Pavano who has battled injuries that last few seasons signed for $1.5 million but could earn up to $5.3 million if he meets all of his incentives.

I like this move personally. If Pavano is healthy he will be a bargain for the Indians as he throws the ball well when he is 100% healthy. He posted a 9-8 record in 26 starts after signing a four-year, $39.95 million contract with New York in December 2004.

Pavano will look to join the rotation of Cliff Lee and Fausto Carmono. The tribe will be without Jake Westbrook until the middle of the season as he is still recovering from elbow reconstruction surgery. Aaron Laffey, Anthony Reyes, Jeremy Sowers, Scott Lewis and Zach Jackson are the other pitchers in contention for starting jobs in Cleveland in 2009.

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The Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs worked out a four player trade on Wednesday. Mark DeRosa will be coming to the Indians in exchange for Jeff Stevens, Chris Archer and John Gaub.

DeRosa will be a free agent after the 2009 season and will be due $5.5 million next season but he is a very versatile player that can play pretty much every position besides catcher and pitcher. This is a steal for the Indians in my opinion!

GO TRIBE!

The Cleveland Indians have made a splash at the Winter Meetings out in Las Vegas! Late Wednesday night, he took part in a three team trade involving the New York Mets and the Seattle Mariners. The Indians gave up their centerfield prospect in Franklin Gutierrez as he was sent to the Mariners, but in return got infielder Luis Valbuena from the Mariners and right-handed reliever Joe Smith from the Mets.

The trade came together because of the Mets’ interest in Putz, the Mariners’ interest in Gutierrez, the regular communication between Shapiro and his good friend Minaya and the Tribe’s recent talks with Seattle regarding Putz

Look for the team to also announce a two year deal with closer Kerry Wood possibly on Thursday and if not then on Friday. All that is left for Wood to do is pass a physical in Cleveland and then sign a two year contract that is to be worth $20 million dollars. There could be a option for a third year in the contract but as of right now that is uncertain.

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What a turnaround in the last year for starting pitcher Cliff Lee! It was announced on Thursday afternoon that Lee had been chosen as the 2008 American League Cy Young winner after receiving 24 of 28 first-place votes and 132 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Lee went a major league best 22-3 this season with a 2.54 ERA. Talk about a complete turn around after being sent down to the minor leagues the season before. Lee hopes to come back just as strong in 2009 and help the team compete for a playoff spot.

Lee received a $250,000 bonus for winning, and the price of Cleveland’s 2010 club option increased from $8 million to $9 million.

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The Cleveland Indians played the Boston Red Sox tough but they fell just short on Wednesday night. A Mark Kotsay rbi double in the eighth inning provided the Red Sox with the winning run as they went onto beat the Indians by the score of 5-4.

Rafael Perez was the losing pitcher as he gave up the winning run for the Red Sox in the eighth inning. Perez allowed two hits and one run in his one inning of action. Fausto Carmona was the starting pitcher but he got rocked for five hits and four runs in just one inning of action.

All four of the Indians runs came via singles as Shin-Soo Choo, Jhonny Peralta, Victor Martinez, and Josh Barfield all had rbi singles.

The Indians will have a chance to get a split in the series as they take on the Red Sox once again on Thursday.

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The Cleveland Indians picked up a very nice win on Monday night as they beat the Boston Red Sox by the score of 4-3. The win was big for the Indians as the Red Sox are in the playoff race and are out there battling for every win that they can come up with.

The Indians beat Josh Beckett which was even more impressive. Shin-Soo Choo, Jamey Carroll, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Travis Hafner all had an rbi in the game. There wasn’t much offense, but the Indians did the best with their opportunities and that is why they came away with the victory.

Zach Jackson was the winning pitcher as he tossed six innings and only gave up six hits and two runs. It was a very good quality start for Jackson who improved his season record to 1-3. Rafael Perez gave up one run in relief before Jensen Lewis finished things up to get his 12th save of the year.

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The Cleveland Indians got two rbi’s each from Jhonny Peralta and Shin-Soo Choo as they beat the Minnesota Twins by the score of 6-4. The Indians are playing spoilers right now against the Twins as they just can’t get over the hump and catch the Chicago White Sox.

Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner each had one rbi each as well for the Indians.

On the mound it was Cliff Lee starting the game and throwing 6 1/3 innings. Lee was charged with ten hits and four runs as he wasn’t his usual self on Wednesday night. Lee walked three batters while striking out five and giving up one home run.

Edward Mujica ended up picking up the inning as he recorded the final two outs in the seventh inning. Jensen Lewis picked up his 10th save of the season in the ninth inning.

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The Cleveland Indians picked up a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night. Great win for the Indians as they had ten hits compared to the Twins five hits. The tribe sure put a damper on the night for the Twins as the White Sox lost and they could have picked up some ground in the division.

Scott Lewis improved to 2-0 on the season as he picked up the win. Lewis tossed six innings of shutout baseball and only allowed three hits. Rafael Betancourt, Rafael Perez, and Jensen Lewis all tossed one inning in relief. Lewis picked up the save even though he did allow one run to score in the ninth inning.

All three of the Indians’s runs came via the home run ball. Kelly Shoppach got things started with a solo home run in the fourth inning and then Shin-Soo Choo added a two-run shot in the fifth inning. There wasn’t a lot of offense, but it was enough to get the win on Monday night.

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The Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles kicked off a series on Monday night and things did not go good for the Indians. They tribe’s pitcher just had problems all night long with keeping the ball down and the Orioles batters made them pay with four home runs.

Fausto Carmona got rocked in the game as he only lasted 5 1/3 innings. He was charged with six hits and seven runs. Carmona also walked four while striking out five in the game. He got into trouble in the sixth inning when he was pulled after only getting one out. Juan Rincon was unable to get out of the jam in the sixth inning as he was also charged with two runs. Brendan Donnelly had a terrible inning in the eighth as Adam Jones took him deep for a three run shot and then Ramon Hernandez added a two run home run that extended the Orioles lead to 14-3.

Asdrubal Cabrera got the Indians on the scoreboard in the second inning when he hit a ground rule double that scored Shin-Soo Choo. Cabrera then added a rbi single in the fourth inning as he finished the game with two rbil. The other run for the tribe came in the fifth inning when Franklin Gutierrez hit a rbi sac fly that scored Ryan Garko.

Hopefully the Indians can bounce back on Tuesday night and even up the series at one game each.

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