The 2009 Major League Baseball season officially started on Monday, April 6th for the Cleveland Indians. As far as the citizens of Cleveland are concerned, the season started on Friday, April 10th.

The 16th home opener played at Jacobs…oops….Progressive Field marked the beginning of the latest “This is our year” talk around town. Everyone in attendance was ready to put the opening series the Indians played in Texas behind them. There was a sense of optimism and excitement in the air. It turns out that Mother Nature, along with the Indians’ pitching staff, had other plans in mind. Included in that was a rain delay of almost 4 hours.

With rain in the forecast and rather cool temperatures putting a chill on things, the Indians hurlers were about as miserable as the weather. Starter Scott Lewis started the game off well by getting through the Toronto order relatively easily. However, once he faced them a second time through, things changed quickly. Lewis’ final line was 4 1/3 innings, 4 runs (all earned), 3 strikeouts and one walk. Not terrible, but not too great either. Enter, the bullpen…

The combination of Rafael Betancourt, Joe Smith, Rafael Perez and Masa Kobayashi ended up allowing up 9 runs (all earned), with 4 walks and no strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. Defensive misques by Jhonny Peralta and Shin-Soo Choo also helped throw gas on the fire.

The Tribe’s offense deserves some credit for trying to smash their way to a win, however. Travis Hafner went 2-4 with one home run, one double and 3 runs batted in. Hafner’s double just missed being a home run by a couple feet as it blasted off the wall of the visitor’s bullpen fence. Victor Martinez and Choo also added homers and Ryan Garko reached base 4 times with 3 walks and a base hit. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough offense.

Saturday’s afternoon game featured cool temperatures but an abundance of sunshine. If felt like a good day to win the first game of the season. Once again, however, it wasn’t meant to be.

Starter Cliff Lee continued the trend of the starters not getting out of the fifth inning by giving up 4 runs (all earned) and 4 walks, combined with 5 strikeouts. Lee’s record currently stands at 0-2 and his ERA actually DROPPED to 9.90. Yikes! Joe Smith and Vinnie Chulk helped keep Toronto’s hitters in check as the offense attempted a comeback.

The big offensive hit was provided by a struggling Mark DeRosa. With the bases loaded and 2 out in the 9th inning, DeRosa lined a pitch off the wall in left field that cleared the bases as he checked into second base with a double. It was his first extra-base hit and first RBI’s as an Indian. That would be as close as they would get though as Victor Martinez would eventually strike out to end the game, stranding DeRosa at second base.

Sunday’s game had a bit of a sense of urgency to it. Fans had been teased a few times in this young season already, feeling like the Indians we going to finally get a “W”. On top of that, they were already off to their worst start since 1985. Could this be the day it finally happens?

Starting pitcher Anthony Reyes, making his first start of 2009, gave the best performance of any starter to that point. He went six innings, allowing 4 runs (all earned) and 2 walks, while striking out 3 batters. Jesnen Lewis relieved Reyes and earned his first hold of the season and lowered his ERA to 4.91.

While all of this was going on, the offense was doing their part as well. Travis Hafner added his 3rd homer of the season, a 2-run shot, which was also his 150th career home run. Mark DeRosa added his first homer as an Indian, also a 2-run shot. The key hit, however, came off the bat of rookie Trevor Crowe. After striking out with the bases loaded and two out earlier in the game, he found himself in that same situation but this time, he ripped a double that short-hopped the wall in right center. By the time Crowe pulled into second base with his first major league hit, two runs had crossed the plate.

After all of this, closer Kerry Wood entered in a non-save situation since the score was 8-4. After starting with a 3-0 count to the lead-off hitter, Wood regrouped and preceeded to strike out the side in a dominating way. It was something Indians fans haven’t been able to enjoy since the days of Jose Mesa. And with that, it FINALLY happened! Kerry Wood and the Tribe wrapped up their first win of the season, now “improving” to 1-5 on the season.

And now all of North East Ohio can breathe a big sigh of relief…

Series Recap:

Overall Record: 1-5     Series Record: 0-2

The Good:

• Home Runs by Hafner (2,3), Choo (1), DeRosa (1), Martinez (2)
• Anthony Reyes gets first win by an Indians starter
• Kerry Wood stiking out the side to close out Sunday’s win
• Trevor Crowe and Mark DeRosa’s RBI doubles (2 RBI and 3 RBI, respectively)

The Bad:

• Starting pitching of Scott Lewis and Cliff Lee
• Bullpen performance on Friday’s home opener
• Scott Lewis placed on the DL with mild forearm strain
• The attendance on Saturday and Sunday

The Ugly:

• The weather on Friday, which featured a 3 hour and 47 minute rain delay

Next Up: After a brief homestand, the Indians travel to Kansas City to face the Royals (3-3) for a 3 game series. Monday and Tuesday’s games start at 8:10pm EST while Wednesday’s game will be at 2:10pm EST.

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 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 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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Three Cleveland Indians pitchers combined to shut out the Oakland Athletics 4-0 on Tuesday night.  It was a big win for the Indians as the improved to 20-19 on the season.

Starting pitcher Paul Byrd pitched 7 1/3 innings while only giving up five hits.  Byrd struck out seven batters and did not walk a batter.  Rafael Perez pitched 1/3 of an inning and then Masa Kobayashi pitched 1/3 of an inning as well to get the Indians out of the eighth inning and then pitched the ninth inning to finish the game.

The Indians were struck with one run going into the bottom of the eighth inning but then Ryan Garko gave the Indians some insurance runs when he hit a three run home run to extend the lead to the 4-0.  The first rbi for the Indians came from Travis Hafner who had a rbi single in the first inning

There wasn’t much offense, so it was a good thing that the pitching straff stepped up and held the A’s to zero runs.  Not the way you want to always in a game, but a win is a win the Indians will take it!

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The Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners battled for 11 innings on Thursday night and it was the Indians coming out on top with the 3-2 victory.  The Indians gave up the lead in the ninth inning, and then had to score runs in the tenth and eleventh innings to finally beat the Mariners.

Rafael Betancourt blew the save in the ninth inning and then Masa Kobayashi pitched the final two innings of the game to pick up the win.  Starting pitcher Paul Byrd tossed 7.2 innings of four hit baseball as he got the no decision.

Asdrubal Cabrera only had one hit in the game as he went 1-4, but that one hit was the game winning hit in the eleventh inning.  Cabrera singled to right and scored Jason Michaels for the winning run.  The Indians tied the game in the tenth inning when Grady Sizemore walked with the bases loaded.  The other run for the Indians came in the fourth inning when Travis Hafner doubled to score Victor Martinez.

It was a good win for the Indians who are now 14-15 in the season and only one game away from the .500 mark.

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Don’t let that 7-2 score fool you too much, the Cleveland Indians and the Seattle Mariners were tied heading into the ninth inning, but the Mariners came out and scored five runs in the inning to win the game 7-2.

Rafael Betancourt took the loss for the Indians.  Betancourt ended up giving up three of the five runs in the ninth inning.  He wasn’t the only player to suck it up out of the bullpen however as Craig Breslow gave up two runs.

Starting pitcher Fausto Carmona lasted 6.2 innings as he gave up eight hits and two runs.  Carmona did walk four batters however, so he does still need to work on his control.

David Dellucci and Travis Hafner both had one RBI each at the plate for the Indians.  Not very much offensive production for the Indians on Tuesday night.

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The Cleveland Indians lost to the New York Yankees 5-2 on Monday night as they dropped their season record to 12-14.  Aaron Laffey had a no hitter going into the sixth inning but that is when everything came undone for him and the Indians.

Laffey ended up taking the loss as he gave up four runs on only three hits in 5.2 innings.  One bad inning was all it took for Laffey to pick up the loss and lose the game for the Indians.  Jensen Lewis tossed two innings in relief and gave up one earned run.  Jorge Julio pitched the final 1.1 innings to finish out the game.

Travis Hafner and Jason Michaels both had an RBI for the Indians.  Both runs came in the fifth inning for the Indians.  You can’t expect to the beat the Yankees when you can only put two runs on the scoreboard.  The offense should have had a better output then what they showed on Monday night.

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The Cleveland Indians were unable to get things going again after a run batted in early in the second inning as they went onto lose to the Minnesota Twins 2-1 in 10 innings.  This loss puts Cleveland at 7-12 and their 12th loss in their last 16 games.  The tribe needs to get back on the roll before their find themselves falling farther behind in the season standings.

Paul Byrd started the game for the Indians and pitched seven innings.  Byrd allowed six hits and one earned run.  He pitched very well, he just didn’t have any run support in the no decision.  Masa Kobayashi and Rafael Perez pitched the final 2.2 innings.  Perez took the loss as he gave up a single to Justin Morneau in the 10th inning that gave the Twins the win.

Travis Hafner got his 3rd double of the year while Franklin Gutierrez was able to knock in his 5th RBI of the season for the Indians.  Other then that, there wasn’t any offense for the Indians.

With the Cleveland Indians coming off a two game losing streak in the middle of a bad losing slump all together, they will really have to come together as a team to take a chance at winning against the Royals in Kansas City on Tuesday.

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