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 were up 6-0 but wasted that big lead and ended up losing to the Detroit Tigers on a walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.  Talk about a terrible way to end a game after being up 6-0.

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

It clearly wasn’t the Cleveland Indians night as they were hammered by the Detroit Tigers 9-2.  The Indians scored first in the game but the Tigers then scored nine unanswered runs to pick up the victory.  So that is what life is like after CC.  Not looking good that is what it is.

Jeremy Sowers was the starting pitcher who took the loss.  Sowers lasted 5 2/3 innings while givng up ten hits and and seven runs.  Six of those seven runs were earned and charged to Sowers who dropped to 0-5 on the season.  Sowers gave up two home runs in the game as did reliever Brian Slocum who gave up two solo home runs.  Masa Kobayashi was finally able to pitch a scoreless inning in the eighth for the Indians.

The two runs that the Indians were able to get came in the first inning when Jhonny Peralta hit a two run home run and Casey Blake scored.  That was all the offense however as the Tribe struck out ten times in the game and only had two hits.  Just a bad night all the way around the for the Indians.

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For the second straight night the Chicago White Sox finished the game with a walk off home run against the Cleveland Indians.  On Wednesday night, it was A.J. Pierzynski who hit a home run off Masa Kobayashi to win the game for the Sox.  It sucks that it happened that way because Grady Sizemore had just tied the game at 5-5 in the ninth inning for the Indians.

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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Talk about an up and down game for the Cleveland Indians and all of their fans.  After going ahead in the top of the 10th inning with a Casey Blake home run, Joe Borowski blew the game as he gave up a solo home run to Alexei Ramirez and then a rbi single to Orlando Cabrera and the Chicago White Sox beat the Indians 3-2.  Very frustrating way to end what was an exciting game.

Cliff Lee pitched eight innings while only giving up six hits and one run.  Ramirez had a rbi sac fly in the second inning off of Lee for the White Sox only run in the game until the 10th inning when all hell broke loose.

Kelly Shoppach got the Indians on the scoreboard with a solo home run in the sixth inning.  The only other run for the Indians came in the top of the 10th inning when Casey Blake hit a home run off of White Sox relief pitcher Matt Thornton.

The Indians will now have to win on Wednesday to avoid the three game sweep to their rivals in the central division.

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Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Jeremy Sowers only lasted three innings as he gave up eight runs on Monday night.  Sowers put the Indians in a big hole against the Chicago White Sox and they went on to lose the game by the score of 9-7.  Your starting pitcher has to pitch better than that to give your team a chance in the game.

Tom Mastny gave up one run while pitching three innings of relief.  Edward Mujica and Joe Borowski both threw scoreless innings in the game.

The Indians did make things interesting in the ninth inning as they scored three runs but still lost the game by two runs.  Jhonny Peralta led the Indians with a solo home run and three total rbi in the game.  Shin-Soo Choo had two rbi, Jamey Carroll and David Dellucci both chipped in with one rbi each.

I do like the Indians chances on Tuesday night however.  Cliff Lee will take the mound against the White Sox starter John Danks.

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Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Cliff Lee really stepped up on Thursday night when the Indians really needed him to.  Lee tossed eighth inning and struck out 11 Giants batters while only give up four runs to get the victory.  With the win, the Indians were able to avoid the three game sweep by the Giants.

Lee is now 11-1 on the season with a 2.34 era!  Lee was dominating on Thursday night as he rarely made a mistake.  The only one to score off of him came in the fourth inning when Rich Auruilia had a rbi single.  Other then that, Lee was on top of his game!

Joe Borowski pitched the ninth inning to pick up his sixth save of the season.

It was the Jamey Carroll and Jhonny Peralta show at the plate for the Indians.  Carroll went 2-3 with two rbi while Peralta went 1-4 with two rbi.  One thing that was bad as far as the Indians offense was that they never scored another run after the fourth inning.  It was like the Giants were always hanging around and with one rally cold have tied or taken the lead.  The Indians didn’t take advantage of all the runners on base as they stranded 16 of them in the game.

The Indians will now play a big weekend series with the Cincinnati Reds.  The Reds are struggling right now so hopefully the Tribe can take two of three or even sweep the Reds!

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The San Francisco Giants have the Cleveland Indians number as they once again beat the Indians.  The Indians lost 4-1 and have now dropped the first two games of the three game series with the Giants.  The Indians will now have to win on Thursday to avoid an embaressing three game sweep in the series.

Jeremy Sowers pitched seven inning but gave up nine hits and three runs.  Five walks really hurt Sowers in the game and also a home run that he gave up.  Sowers is now 0-3 on the season.  When will Sowers get in the win column? Maybe we should run some sort of contest!

Rafael Betancourt served up a solo home run in the eighth inning as he pitched one inning in the game.  It was an insurance run that you never want to see the opposing team get as it makes it that much tougher for your team to come back in the game.  Joe Borowski got an inning of action in the ninth inning and pitched a scoreless inning.

Shin-Soo Choo had a rbi single in the seventh inning that scored Kelly Shoppach.  That was the only run for the Indians in the game.  It is hard to score runs when you only have six hits in the game and did not hit a home run.

So will the Indians avoid the three game sweep on Thursday against the Giants?  I’ll have to take the home town Indians in that bet.  What do you think leave us a comment!

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It was an exciting end to the game on Tuesday night but the Cleveland Indians rally came up just short and the Indians lost to the San Francisco Giants by the score of 3-2.  Kelly Shoppach was up to bat with two outs in the ninth inning with two runners on base but struckout to end the game.

Rafael Betancourt ended up taking the loss after pitching 1 1/3 inning.  Masa Kobayashi also gave up a run in relief after Betancourt left the game.  Both of those runs really hurt the Indians as they were in line to win the game up until that eighth inning.

Indians starting pitcher Aaron Laffey pitched the first 6 2/3 innings of the game and didn’t do that badly.  Laffey allowed four hits and only one run in the game.  It is too bad that the bullpen blew it and he ended up with a no decision in the game.

The Indians were the first team to score in the game as Ryan Garko had a rbi single in the first inning that scored Grady Sizemore.  Dave Delluci had a rbi ground out in the ninth inning that scored the Indians second run.  It would have been awesome to see the rally happen in the ninth inning, but as we mentioned before Shoppach just couldn’t get the job done.

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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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