By Mike Brandyberry
One play can make the difference in a game and that was evidence Friday evening when the Marlins defeated the Indians, 3-2. Joe Smith’s inability to cut down a lead runner, hung out to dry was the difference in the game.
The game was decided in the late innings, but was crafted by outstanding pitching performances from the Indians Justin Masterson and the Marlins Carlos Zambrano.
“I thought it was a well pitched ball game on both sides, a little better on their side,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “Zambrano did a good job and when you only score two runs, you have to play near perfectly.”
The Tribe jumped ahead early in the bottom of the second inning with some two-out thunder. After two outs were retired, Johnny Damon walked and Casey Kotchman doubled down the right field line. Damon chugged around, all the way from first base to score the game’s first run. After Jose Lopez walked, Shin-Soo Choo singled to center field to score Kotchman and give the Indians an early 2-0 lead.
By Matthew Van Wormer
The Indians matched their season high win streak with a 6-5, extra inning victory yesterday and look to extend it tonight when they host the Miami Marlins for their first Interleague series of 2012. Jose Lopez and Carlos Santana were the heroes yesterday as the Indians game from behind twice to win the ballgame.
Indians hitters showed great patience at the plate yesterday, drawing eight walks in the game, something they will have to continue to do tonight against Carlos Zambrano (1-2, 1.88 ERA). The Marlins have won each of Zambrano’s last three starts after losing his first four.
By Craig Gifford
Joe Carter had his best years and biggest moment of his baseball career as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. The greatest Indian of those teams that struggled to win games in the 1980s may well best be known to Cleveland sports fans for being traded away in a deal that laid the foundation for the Tribe’s success in the 90s. However, on Sunday, Carter will be immortalized with a bobblehead doll day.
Does he deserve such an honor? Yes.
The key statement in that first paragraph is Carter was the best player to wear a Tribe uniform in the 1980s. For six seasons he did all he could to get the Indians over the hump. The piles upon piles of losses cannot be pinned to Carter.
During his time in Cleveland, from 1984-1989, Carter hit 151 home runs. That included a career-high 35 in 1989 and 32 in 1987 – the season Sports Illustrated erroneously predicted the Tribe would find their way back to baseball’s postseason for the first time since 1954. The popular magazine was only eight years early.
Compiled by Jason Kaminski
At Fenway Park, the Cleveland Indians score 11 runs in the fifth inning to beat the Boston Red Sox, 19 – 0, and give Herb Score an easy win over Willard Nixon. The big blow in the inning is a grand slam by Vic Wertz. It is the worst shutout pasting ever by Boston and the most runs ever in a shutout for the Indians.
By Sean Tuttle
The tallest player in the minors is now coming out of the Akron Aeros bullpen. On May 5, the Cleveland Indians acquired, Ludovicus Jacobus Maria van Mil a.k.a. Loek Van Mil, from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in an outright trade for future considerations. The Indians immediately assigned Van Mil to the Akron Aeros.
Van Mil, 27, was born in Oss, Netherlands. At a height of seven feet, one inch he is currently the tallest player in the minor leagues.
He has pitched for the Netherlands national baseball team, appeared in the 2007 Baseball World Cup, and was selected to appear in the 2008 Summer Olympics, but missed the tournament because of injury.
By Craig Gifford
The Cleveland Indians simply were not going to accept losing the finale of their brief two-game series with the Seattle Mariners on Thursday afternoon.
Twice, things looked bleak for the home team. However, the Tribe put together come-from-behind rallies in the eighth and eleventh innings to avoid losing. Cleveland completed the sweep of Seattle, with a 6-5 win in 11 frames at Progressive Field.
With Detroit losing to Minnesota in an afternoon tilt, the Indians, standing at 22-16, are now four games up in the AL Central Division. It is the team’s largest division lead since they led by as many games on June 3, last season.
By Matthew Van Wormer
The Indians go for their fourth straight win as they take on the Mariners this afternoon, looking to hold on to, at least, a three game lead over their next competitor in the Central Division, the Detroit Tigers. An offensive outburst by the Tribe gave them a 9-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night that they will look to build on.
Shin-Soo Choo continued to thrive in the leadoff spot in the order, going 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored in the winning effort for the Indians while Ubaldo Jimenez had a great outing, getting ahead of hitters and keeping them off the base paths. Jimenez was able to get ahead of 16 of the 24 hitter he faced in his fourth victory of the year.
Compiled by Jason Kaminski
At League Park, Tris Speaker of the Cleveland Indians collects his 3,000th hit off Tom Zachary of the Washington Senators. Zachary leads Washington to a 2 – 1 victory. George Uhle is the loser.
By Christian Petrila
The Indians offense didn’t care that it was going up against a former Cy Young winner, and Ubaldo Jimenez didn’t care that fans were out looking for reasons to criticize him, as the Indians took the first of two against Seattle, 9-3.
The Mariners wasted no time getting to Ubaldo Jimenez, scoring a run in the first inning on an Ichiro RBI groundout. Following the game on Twitter, some people were already hitting the Ubaldo panic button. Although he did throw 27 pitches in the first, 21 of them were for strikes, so he was consistent. The Mariners were just doing an excellent job of fouling off pitches. Things would start getting wacky in the bottom of the frame, though.
With the usually untouchable Felix Hernandez on the mound, the Indians struck for four runs in the first. Considering Hernandez went eight innings and struck out 12 when the Indians visitedSeattleearlier in the season, four runs in one inning seemed like a miracle. However, it wasn’t so much the runs as it was the way the Indians got the runs that surprised many fans.
By Matthew Van Wormer
With yesterday’s win against the Minnesota Twins, the Indians were able to split their six game road trip and come back home exactly where they were when they left, four games over the .500 mark and with a two game lead on the Detroit Tigers. Things could have gone better but the Indians may have finally figured some things out in the two games they played against the Twins.
Tonight will be a great test to see if the Tribe is ready to start putting some room between themselves and their division rivals. They welcome the Mariners into town for their second straight two game series. In addition to the Seattle ballclub, Progressive Field will also be hosting hundreds of dogs as they celebrate Puppy-Palooza. Hopefully none of the four legged creatures leave anything on the field when they have their pre-game parade along the warning track.
It will be a battle of two pitchers heading in opposite directions. “King” Felix Hernandez (3-2, 2.29 ERA) will throw for the Mariners while Ubaldo Jimenez (3-3, 5.18 ERA) goes for Cleveland. Hernandez has pitched well for most of the season, a victim of a low amount of run support, while Jimenez struggles to find the strike zone and giving up far too many hits when he does find it.
