Player of the Game

It was a battle of the bats in today's "Player of the Game" race. Shelley Duncan came out on top today to win his first PoG award of the year. Duncan's score of 7.50 included a three-run homer in the 2nd inning and 3 walks. Casey Kotchman came in second with a score of 6.95, which also included a home run, in addition to 2 singles, a walk, and a stolen base.

Feathers Up

After giving up 3 runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning, the Indians hitters retaliated with 6 runs of their own. Michael Brantley reached on an infield single and advanced to third on an Asdrubal Cabrera single to right field. Shin-Soo Choo then hit a double in the gap, scoring both Brantley and Cabrera. After falling behind in the count, Royals pitcher Luis Mendoza intentionally walked Travis Hafner, setting up a 3-run shot over the left field wall by Shelley Duncan. Mendoza then walked the next two batters, Casey Kotchman and Jason Kipnis. Kotchman scored on a single hit by Jack Hannahan. This is the third time in 3 games that the Indians have batted around in an inning and scored at least 5 runs in the inning in which they batted around.

Casey Kotchman shows off his speed and great base running skills by stealing his second base of the year and scoring from second on a short single to left field. Kotchman's second stolen base ties the amount of steals he recorded all last season.

Pronk is back! Travis Hafner blasted a solo shot into the restaurant in right field at Kauffman Stadium, over all of the right field seating. Kansas City announcers said that might be the furthest ball hit to right field in that ballpark. At 456 feet, that was the 10th longest home run in Kauffman Stadium history and the first one to land in Rivals Sports Bar. The Indians continued to hit in the 5th inning. They sent 9 batters to the plate and added 4 more runs, including Hafner's home run.

Casey Kotchman and Jason Kipnis went back-to-back in the 8th inning. After two outs were recorded, Shelley Duncan walk and scored on Kotchman's homer. Kipnis then decided to join the hitting parade and hit a home run of his own.

The Indians wore out the Kansas City bullpen so much this series that in the 9th inning, they brought in center fielder, Mitch Meier, to pitch.

After entering the series with a 1-4 record, the Cleveland Indians completed a sweep of the Kansas City Royals, and are now back to a .500 winning percentage.

Feathers Down

Ubalbo Jimenez had a rough start to today's game. After over thirty pitches the first inning, which fortunately did not lead to any runs, Jimenez threw almost as many pitches in the second, giving up a total of 5 hits and 3 runs over the two innings. By the end of the third, his pitch count was at 78 pitches. Jimenez was taken out after 5 innings and 111 pitches, but remained in the game just long enough to get the win.

Play of the Game

Travis Hafner hits a mammoth shot

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 13 - Kansas City Royals 7

Player of the Game

Jason Kipnis won tonight's Player of the Game, coming in for the ejected Jack Hannahan. From the 9th spot in the lineup, Kipnis hit a two run opposite field home run and later singled and scored the go ahead run in the 10th inning. All this was worth a PoG score of 5.48 and his first award of the season. As of this point no player has won two Player of the Game awards.

Feathers Up

It's nice to know that the Indians do have the ability to score more than four runs in a game, even if it is only against the Royals.

Jairo Asencio was very impressive tonight in the 9th inning to keep the game even going into extra innings. This kid may actually be worth all the trouble the Indians went through to get him.

Feathers Down

Early in the game, Jonathan Sanchez hit Shin-Soo Choo with a pitch. This came after Sanchez broke Choo's hand last season and combined with all the balls that have been thrown at him already this year, Choo was incensed. His screaming match lead to the benches being warned. To start the next inning, Jeanmar Gomez, who had been throwing a perfect game, hit the first batter intentionally leading to his ejection along with Manny Acta and Jack Hannahan. No Royals were ejected.

Manny Acta hurt the Indians flexibility for the second time this season by misusing the designated hitter spot in the lineup. Today, rather than placing the slow-footed Shelley Duncan in that spot, he placed Jose Lopez there. This hurt the Tribe when Jack Hannahan was ejected for sticking up for Shin-Soo Choo. Jason Donald was forced to move to third, where he later made an error that cost the Indians a run. If Duncan had DH'd he would have gotten a half day off and the Indians would have still had plenty of infield and outfield defensive flexibility. General Rule: If a player isn't good enough to be in the starting lineup, he isn't good enough to DH.

For the first time this season the Bullpen Mafia was tasked with keeping a game close late and they were not up to the task. The combination of Rafael Perez, Joe Smith, Tony Sipp and Vinnie Pestano pitched a total of 2.1 innings and gave up 3 earned runs as well as one of Josh Tomlin's. Pestano finished off the comeback by giving up a solo home run to Yuniesky Betancourt in the 8th inning for the blown save.

Play of the Game

Jeanmar Gomez hits Mike Moustakas leading to the ejection of three Indians.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 11 - Kansas City Royals 9

On the Indians off day, they signed veteran outfielder and free agent, Johnny Damon. Damon is rumored to have signed a one-year, $1.25 M deal with a no-trade clause, $1.4 M in performance bonuses, and an option to opt out and return to the free agent market once Grady Sizemore returns from the DL. The Indians signed Damon with hopes of improving their slumping offense. It is currently unknown when Damon will join the team and who he will replace on the active roster.

Player of the Game

There were 3 players that were very close in today's "Player of the Game" race. Asdrubal Cabrera came out on top with a 9th inning home run, which added to a double and a run scored earlier in the game, giving him a score of 4.45. Jason Kipnis came in close second with a score of 4.34, which included a 2-run triple, a run scored, and a stolen base. Shin-Soo Choo finish in third place today, with a score of 4.26, which included 2 singles, 2 RBI, a run, and a stolen base.

Feathers Up

The Indians came out hitting today, scoring 7 runs to start the game. The Indians sent 11 hitters to the plate in the first inning. Michael Brantley led off the game with a single. Asbrubal Cabrera then doubled, and Shin-Soo Choo, Shelley Duncan, and Casey Kotchman singled before Jason Kipnis cleared the bases with a triple. The offense continued as Jack Hannahan singled and Brantley doubled. This 7-spot in just one inning was more than the Indians have scored in a single game so far this season.

Derek Lowe pitched very efficiently, with less than 80 pitched going into the bottom of the 7th inning. Lowe ended up pitching 6.2 innings today, giving up 3 runs on 11 hits and recording the win.

Runners were more aggressive and more successful on the base paths today. Choo and Kipnis each had a stolen base today, and no runners were caught stealing.

Solid defense helped the Indians get out of potential run scoring situations as they turned 3 double plays today.

Almost every batter in the Indians line up today contributed to their offense, all except one getting at least one hit. Travis Hafner was the only Indians who did not get a hit today, with Michael Brantley, Shin-Soo Choo, and Asdrubal Cabrera recording multiple hits. The Indians ended the game with 11 hits.

Feathers Down

Manny Acta is getting annoyed with all of the Johnny Damon questions. He would much rather focus on the current team and their performance.

Play of the Game

Jason Kipnis hits a 2-run triple

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 8 - Kansas City Royals 3

The Indians will be taking the show on the road for the first time in 2012, traveling to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City to face the Royals. The season has been dismal to this point with the Tribe only managing one win so far. Last series they were swept by the White Sox in a series shortened to two games by snow. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and the Indians will remember how to hit against the Kansas City pitching staff.

Derek Lowe, RHP, 1-0, 0.00 ERA vs. Luke Hochevar, RHP, 1-0, 2.84 ERA

Lowe was surprisingly effective in his first start, allowing no earned runs in the Indians only win of the season. His goal for that game was the same as it will be for the next one. Throw strikes and keep the ball down in the zone. If his sinker is working anywhere near as good as it did last week this should be no problem. Hopefully Jack Hannahan and Casey Kotchman will have recovered from their defensive lapses by then and the Tribe infield will be ready to go behind him.

Luke Hochevar has been starting for the Royals since 2008 and has become a very effective innings eater for their team. Last year was his best season at 11-11 with almost 200 innings pitched in 31 games and he hopes to improve on that effort this season as he nears his prime years. The Indians have fared well against Hochevar in the past, especially Shin-Soo Choo who has a batting average over .500 against the right-hander in more than 20 at bats. Choo has 3 home runs and 10 RBI against him as well.

Jeanmar Gomez RHP, 0-0, 0.00 ERA vs. Jonathan Sanchez, LHP, 1-0, 3.60 ERA

Gomez pitched in the finale against the White Sox in relief as the Indians needed a little help in the bullpen to make up for Masterson's early departure. The shuffling of the rotation along with the off days allowed him to throw 2 innings in that game and still be ready for the second start against KC. Gomez was perfect in that outing (his second career appearance out of the bullpen) and was fantastic in Spring Training. Hopefully he will continue his success on Saturday in Missouri.

Jonathan Sanchez is a newcomer to the Royals after being an integral part of the San Francisco Giants starting rotation for 4 years. Last season was disappointing for Sanchez, but he has already started off on the right foot with the Royals, winning his first game against the AL West favorite Los Angeles Angels. Sanchez was only able to go 5 innings in the game as he was already at about 100 pitches thrown. This bodes well for the Tribe as the one good thing the Indians have done offensively is work the count. Carlos Santana is tied for first in the AL in walks while Michael Brantley, Shin-Soo Choo, Shelley Duncan and Travis Hafner are all in the top 20.

Ubaldo Jimenez, RHP, 0-0, 2.57 ERA vs. Luis Mendoza, RHP, 0-1, 1.59 ERA

The suspension is finally over as Jimenez prepares to take the mound for the second time this year. Ubaldo kind of fell apart after pitching 5+ perfect innings in his first start, but if he can match his last outing every time he pitches it might make it worth losing the top two pitchers in the farm system. He goes up against Luis Mendoza who has been in the Majors since 2007, but has only made a total of 17 starts. Mendoza had an amazing Spring, leading the Cactus League in ERA. Of course Spring Training stats are meaningless as soon as April begins, but with his success in his first start against Oakland, you have to wonder if Mendoza has finally turned things around.

Player of the Game

Travis Hafner won today's Player of the Game as he reminded everyone of what Pronk can do. Hafner hit a solo home run followed by a two run double for a PoG score of 6.06. Also in the running for the award today was Shelley Duncan who also hit his first home run of the season for a score of 4.94.

Feathers Up

Justin Masterson actually pitched a little better than his line shows. Of his 8 hits allowed, only one went for extra bases and many of the others were weak singles through holes in the infield. He didn't have a whole lot of movement on his pitches, leading to the lack of strikeouts and his defense wasn't strong behind him, but he maintains a 2.77 ERA for the season through two games.

With no one out and runners at first and second in the 4th, Jason Kipnis took a bad swing and whiffed on a fastball at his shoulders. Realizing he was outmatched, either he or Manny Acta called for a sacrifice bunt that Kipnis executed beautifully. If either Jack Hannahan or Michael Brantley could have went on to do something remotely positive, something good could have even came from it.

Aided by a postponed game yesterday and another day off tomorrow, Jeanmar Gomez was able to pitch out of the bullpen today. Gomez will still make his scheduled start Saturday, but his availability today allowed the Indians to save their normal relievers and get through a couple innings without incident.

Feathers Down

The Indians gave a couple runs away early in this game as Jack Hannahan botched a throw on a sacrifice bunt and Casey Kotchman dropped one from Asdrubal Cabrera. These two plays lead to two unearned runs in addition to the 3 runs that the White Sox legitimately scored off of Justin Masterson. The Indians also scored their first run on a gift from the White Sox. Asdrubal Cabrera was given a double on a bad play by Kosuke Fukudome and scored on a wild pitch.

The Indians had great chances to score in both the third and fourth innings, but were unable to come up with anything. When the team batting average is below .200 it is really tought to get more than one hit in an inning. The answer to this problem isn't to try and miraculously get all their hits in the same inning, but rather to increase the team batting average by getting more hits in any inning.

Of course, the ultimate reason the Indians lost today didn't have anything to do with any of that. The 5 run 6th inning provided by Dan Wheeler and Rafael Perez sealed the Indians fate.

Play of the Game

Travis Hafner made a return to Pronkville with this solo home run.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 - Chicago White Sox 10

Just prior to the Opening Day, the Indians signed short stop Asdrubal Cabrera through the 2014 season and today the Indians have extended catcher Carlos Santana through 2016 with an option for 2017. Santana's contract is worth a total of $21 million which could end up being a steal if he continues to improve the way he is projected to. The Tribe already had Santana under control through 2016, but by guaranteeing him money now, they will end up paying a lot less then they probably would have to through the arbitration years. As it is the highest single season payout for Santana would be his 2017 option of $12 million. 

This deal is similar to the one Grady Sizemore signed in 2006 as it involves a very young player through his first year or two of free agency. As always with a long-term contract there is some risk, but in this case that risk is small, especially considering that the entire contract is valued at less than a single season of Prince Fielder. For those who may be of the mind that the Sizemore deal was a mistake or failure, realize that for the $23 million total value of his contract he played in almost 700 games and hit 113 home runs with 475 runs scored and 110 steals. He could have played two seasons at that rate and been a steal, but he played four great seasons and two subpar. If Santana can produce what he did last year every year for the length of his contract, he will have earned every penny of it.

Player of the Game

With what ended up being a useless home run in the bottom of the ninth, Jose Lopez takes home tonight's Player of the Game. His final score was 2.76. Josh Tomlin had the exact opposite score with a -2.76 for his effort. Tomlin is the first starting pitcher to record a negative score in a game this year, although he pitched better than the results show.

Feathers Up

Josh Tomlin had great control all night, allowing him to strike out a career high 7 batters and only walk one. His one walk came on a questionable call. His consistency in the strike zone did hurt him a little as both A.J. Pierzynski and Alejandro De Aza hit home runs in the first inning off Tomlin.

Feathers Down

In his first career start, Chris Sale was dominant. The young left hander only allowed three hits and one run during 6.2 innings pitched. The only run came when he hit Shin-Soo Choo and Choo stole second off of A.J. Pierzynski. Choo later scored on a Carlos Santana single.

It always amazes me that players who aren't good enough to crack the everyday lineup somehow find their way into the top of the lineup when they do play. Today, Jason Donald lead off and Jose Lopez hit fifth, rather than moving Jason Kipnis and Shelley Duncan up in the order.

Play of the Game

Shin-Soo Choo's stolen base off the Chicago battary of Chris Sale and Pierzynski immediately after getting hit in the thumb with a pitch.

Runner Up: Alex Rios dropping an easy fly ball to give Aaron Cunningham two bases. This play was entertaining, but unimportant as far as the actual game was concerned.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Chicago White Sox 4

The Indians managed to pull one out against the Blue Jays in the opening series after playing a whopping 37 innings of baseball. Aided by an off day and great starting pitching, the Indians bullpen should be remarkably intact although three pitchers, including closer Chris Perez pitched in all three games. The White Sox lost their last game with the Rangers before coming to Cleveland and are tied with the Indians for third place in the Central with a 1-2 record after just one series. Each team will be going with a trio of young starters for this series as Ubaldo Jimenez is currently serving his 5 game suspension. Some players to look out for in this series include the "young as ever" Paul Konerko who hit .417 against the Rangers in the opening series and the resurgence of Adam Dunn, who has already hit his first home run. After a dismal 2011 where he only hit 11 total home runs to go along with a .159 batting average, the White Sox have placed renewed confidence in him, hitting him third in the lineup.

Chris Sale, LHP, 2-1, 4.18 vs. Josh Tomlin, RHP, 0-1, 6.18 ERA (Spring Training)

Sale will be making his first career start after being a part time closer in 2011. He is a young hard-throwing lefty, so it will be interesting to see how the Indians left handed heavy lineup matches up against him. The lineup that the Indians have put out for each of the first three games includes only Casey Kotchman and Shelley Duncan as right handed bats (along with the switch hitting Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana), so will see if Manny Acta intends on playing his strengths or if he will shuffle some things around to create what he perceives are better match-ups.

Josh Tomlin will be making his first start of 2012 as well and if the first three games are any indication, we should be in for a treat. Tomlin was somewhat of a surprise in 2011, but he doesn't seem to be a fluke. His primary goal should be to throw strikes and let his defense work behind him. Tomlin doesn't really have the stuff to strike batters out at will or comeback from behind, so it is integral that he get ahead often. If he is on, look for there to be very few base runners, but watch out for the occasional long ball if he makes a mistake.

Philip Humber, RHP, 1-0, 3.18 ERA (ST) vs. Justin Masterson, RHP, 0-0, 1.13 ERA

Humber will be making his first start of the season as the White Sox fifth starter. He has been around since 2006, but never pitched more than 10 games in a season before last year. A success story for Chicago, Humber started 26 games, going 9-9 with an ERA under 4.00.

Justin Masterson will be making his second start for the Tribe, taking advantage of an early season off-day to move up in the rotation. His first start was spectacular and brought back memories of last season, when he was practically unhittable during April. Although he didn't get the win, he did strike out 10 batters in 8 innings, good enough for second in the American League to this point. His sinker looked especially good last time out, which is great as it is his out pitch. 

John Danks, LHP, 0-1, 4.50 ERA vs. Jeanmar Gomez, RHP, 1-1, 1.37 ERA (ST)

The White Sox ace will be going up against the Indians number five starter as the rotation gets shuffled and Jimenez finishes out his suspension (he will be able to pitch the second game of the next series). As a long-term member of a Central Division foe, the Indians have seen him many times in the past. In the past 3 seasons, Danks is 2-3 with a 4.06 ERA against the Tribe, although there are some new members on the team this year who have never faced him. 

Jeanmar Gomez was the Indians most dominant pitcher during Spring Training this year and won his position handily, defeating David Huff and Kevin Slowey for a spot in the rotation. He has pitched in parts of the last two seasons and has seen some success, particularly against the White Sox, where he is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA. He will be looking to prove himself to the team early as David Huff may challenge him for his spot when he comes off the disabled list in a couple weeks.

Player of the Game

Carlos Santana takes home today's Player of the Game award with two home runs including a two-run shot in the 5th inning that gave the Indians the lead. Before today, Santana lead the league with 4 walks in 2 games, but today he turned that patience into power. His final PoG score was 7.50, just beating out Derek Lowe who had a 6.98.

Feathers Up

Manny Acta has kept the lineup the same through the entire series. This has been an issue ever since Eric Wedge was manager. Finally, Acta is willing to play his best players every game without worrying if the bench players get playing time. This allows players to know where they stand in the lineup and get comfortable. It also means we have yet to see the travesty that is Lou Marson step onto the field.

With a fine outing by Derek Lowe today, all three Indians starters so far have been absolutely fantastic. No pitcher has given up more than 2 runs and all three went 7 or more innings. All the credit for this belongs, of course, to current Indians pitching coach and developer of the Bullpen Mafia, Scott Radinsky.

Milestone: Joe Smith's shakey, but still statistically real hold moved him into fifth all-time as a Cleveland Indian in holds with 43 (tied with Rincardo Rincon.

Feathers Down

After three games, it seems very obvious that the Indians and Blue Jays are extremely close matched teams. Coming into the season the two teams had exactly split the all-time match-up and even though the Indians lost the series this time, the closeness of each game, especially the 16 inning opener has shown their equivalence. The Indians are a little luckier than the Jays in one case though. The difference in divisional talent means that the Indians still have a chance at either first or second place in the Central, while the Blue Jays will probably have a tough time fighting for third in the AL East.

Play of the Game

Vinnie Pestano gets Joe Smith out of a jam by striking out Brett Lawrie.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4, Toronto Blue Jays 3

Player of the Game

With a dominating performance, today's starter, Ubaldo Jimenez takes home "Player of the Game" honors with a score of 4.66. With Justin Masterson winning on Thursday, only starting pitchers have won this award this season. Jimenez was able to make the start today despite his 5 game suspension for hitting Rockie Troy Tulowiski in the spring. Jimenez was appealing his suspension, but will drop the appeal after his start today. In his performance today, Ubaldo pitched a perfect game through 5.2 innings and hitless ball through 6. Jimenez pitched 7 innings, allowing just one hit and 2 runs. He did not get the decision in today's game.

Feathers Up

Jason Kipnis provided the only hit for the Indians in the first 8 innings of the game with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 5th inning. The Indians took advantage of an opportunity when Casey Kotchman reached on an error with 2 outs before Kipnis homered. 

Toronto closer Sergio Santos blew a save in the bottom of the ninth inning when Asdrubal Cabrera tied the game with a solo shot to right field, causing the game to go into extra inning for the second straight time.

The Indians defense was solid through the first 2 games of the year. In 28 innings the Indians have not committed a single error. Today's defensive efforts were topped by a few nice plays by left fielder Shelly Duncan.

Pure Rage Chris Perez made a comeback today. After his sub par outing on Thursday, Perez pitched the top of the 11th inning today, retiring all 3 batters he faced, striking out one.

Feather Down

The Indians offense lacked today, recording only 2 hits in regulation, both home runs. Fortunately, that was enough to keep them in the game, but needless to say, these boys need to start hitting.

Tony Sipp did not have his best stuff today. He let the Blue Jays take the lead in the top of the 12th inning, giving up 2 doubles, a single, and 2 runs before recording a single out. After getting the first out of the inning, Sipp gave up another RBI single before being pulled by manager Manny Acta.

Play of the Game

Asdrubal Cabrera ties game with homer in bottom of 9th. See it here

Final Score: Toronto Blue Jays 7 - Cleveland Indians 4