Player of the Game

David Huff earned today's 'Player of the Game' with a score of 2.61 after pitching 5.2 innings only allowing 5 hits and one earned run. This marks his second award in as many starts and the 4th consecutive day the starting pitcher has won the 'Player of the Game'. Seven of the last nine winners have been pitchers showing another drop off in offensive production. In the last 5 games, the Indians have only scored 6 runs, never scoring more than 3 in a single game.

Feathers Up

David Huff should have considered changing his name before his call up this season as he is a completely different pitcher. After his last two seasons I was just about ready to give up on him, but he has shown talent in his first two starts this season that we have never seen from him in the past. The announcement that Alex White will be joining the bullpen upon his return means that we will be seeing a lot more David Huff for the rest of the season.

Vinnie Pestano made his triumphant return to the Bullpen Mafia today striking out the side in the 8th inning. This comes after two terrible outings by the rookie righty after which he shaved his head. Does lack of hair make you a better relief pitcher? Anecdotal evidence says yes.

Ezequiel Carrera used his pesky base running abilities to score the only Indians run. Carrera was safe on an error, stole second, went to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch. Because of this run, Ervin Santana's no hitter is irrelevant as far as baseball history goes, as it was not a shut out. If only the Indians were able to not make five errors, they could have won.

Feathers Down

This team is ridiculously inconsistent on defense. The Indians made 5 errors today, including 2 by players that have played well for the most part this season on defense. Asdrubal Cabrera bobbled a ball at short and Matt LaPorta turned a splendid play into an error by throwing a ball into the baserunners face. The other errors belonged to Austin Kearns, Lonnie Chisenhall and Carlos Santana. Santana not only made an error attempting to catch a runner stealing, but he also allowed a passed ball that lead to the Angels second run.

The Angels have been the toughest pitching team the Indians have played against this season. Amost every game played between the two teams has been closely contested and today's game was no different. This is the last time the Indians play the Angels during the regular season and that is great news for the Tribe as they have lost two games each time the two teams have played a three game series.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 1 - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 3

Player of the Game

With a Player of the Game score of 4.46, Josh Tomlin won his 7th “PoG” Award of the season. His 7th “PoG” ties him for third on the team for the year. Tomlin pitched 8 innings with 2 runs allowed on 4 hits in his loss to the Angels. Matt LaPorta, with his solo shot in the bottom of the 7th, took second place honors tonight with a score of 2.79.

Feathers Up

Jason Kipnis got the first extra base hit of his career with a double in the third. This was the second hit of his young career, with the first coming walk-off style last night to win the game.

The great pitching tonight by both Jared Weaver and Josh Tomlin made for some exciting baseball. Josh Tomlin pitched a gem of a game, allowing just 2 earned runs on 4 hits in 8 strong inning. At one point in the game, Tomlin retired 12 straight Angel batters. He showed great control tonight, just walking one batter, an intentional walk to Kendrick in the 7th inning.

Matt Laporta ruined Jared Weaver’s shutout by taking him deep in the bottom of the 7th inning. That was only the 6th home run surrendered by Weaver this season, and the first one since June 8th.

Justin Germano pitched a perfect game for the Columbus Clippers tonight. This has nothing to do with the Indians game tonight, but it is a great glimpse of what the Indians have in store for the future. Congratulations, Justin!

Feathers Down

Get ‘em on, Get ‘em over, leave ‘em stranded? In both the third and the fourth innings, the Indians did a great job of getting runners on and playing small ball to get them over, but they failed to get them in. In a pitcher’s duel, like the one we saw today between Jared Weaver and Josh Tomlin, every run is critical. The Indians need to take advantage of every scoring situation they get. In the bottom of the 9th, with the bases loaded and 0 outs, the Indians were unable to score any runs. 

Once again, the starting pitcher made a strong appearance and did not get the win. Tonight, it was due to the lack of run support.

Final Score: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 2 - Cleveland Indians 1

Player of the Game

Fausto Carmona won his first 'Player of the Game' award since May 8th for his performance in tonight's game. Carmona earned 5.06 'POG' points by pitching 6 scoreless innings, only allowing 4 hits and striking out 3. This marks three positive outings in a row for Carmona who seems to be turning things around after having a rough time in June and spending much of July on the disabled list. He probably should have had a win as well, but the Indians bats didn't show up until the 9th and the bullpen wasn't as perfect as it has been most of the season.

Feathers Up

Jason Kipnis made his first Major League hit a special one as the Indians used it to beat the Angels in walk off fashion. Kipnis becomes the third Indians rookie to make their first hit count as Ezequiel Carrera drove in a run with his first hit and Lonnie Chisenhall's was a double (later in that game he hit an RBI single). 

The Indians ended their losing streak in style with Kipnis' walk off single. The Indians 4 game losing streak seemed longer than it actually was, since the last time they won was July 18th. This series becomes important because the Indians lost two to the White Sox who are now in contention and are currently in a series against the Tigers. As long as the Indians win this series, they will gain at least a game on the loser of the White Sox/Tigers series.

Feathers Down

How about earning a starting pitcher a win every once in awhile. The last time through the rotation every starter pitched well except for Josh Tomlin, but not a single one earned a win. The offense is mostly to blame as during the last five games they have only scored 5 runs once scored 3 or less the other 4 games.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 2

Player of the Game

Justin Masterson took the loss and the 'Player of the Game' today as somehow he only allowed one earned run, but lost 4-2. Masterson pitched 7 innings and only allowed 4 hits while striking out 6. He was even able to get out of the base runners he allowed out by pitching out on a hit and run. When the game was over, Masterson had a 'POG' score of 5.48, 4 points higher than the next best player. Joe Smith, Asdrubal Cabrera, Travis Hafner and Matt LaPorta all had scores over 1.00.

Feathers Up

Lonnie Chisenhall has begun to come around, especially looking good on low inside pitches. Last series the Chiz kid took a ball on the inside corner at his knees out of the ball park, two days ago he hit a double and today he had a strong single on an inside fastball. You need a lot of bat speed and quick reflexes to put balls that far inside into fair territory and Chisenall has it.

Some oddities in the Indians schedule (the All-Star break, off days and rain outs), have lead to Justin Masterson pitching in 5 of the Indians last 15 games. The Indians know who their best pitcher is and they have used him well. Masterson has responded by pitching 29.2 innings during that span, only allowing 5 earned runs and striking out 27. If it weren't for the unearned runs, Masterson would probably have gotten his 3rd win in those 5 games.

Feathers Down

Ezequiel Carrera's 2 run dropped catch error brings up the idea that maybe Michael Brantley should be playing center field. Brantley has a lot more Major League experience in center than Carrera and has about equal speed with better off-the-bat instincts. It also seems at this point that Grady Sizemore will never really be able to play center field again at 100%. This means that if the Indians care more about winning than about offending Grady (and they seem to since Manny Acta did not shy away from dropping him down in the lineup), they will move him to left field upon his return and use Brantley in center field. If this is going to happen anyway, there is no reason Brantley shouldn't be playing center right now. If this option is unsuitable, the Indians could always put Rick Manning back out there as he's always ready to play.

After Carrera's error, two more Indians errors combined to allow another run. Asdrubal Cabrera misplayed a ball at short, then Carlos Santana threw the ball into center field when trying to catch Alex Rios stealing allowing the runner, who shouldn't have been on in the first place to get to third. Add in a single by Mark Teahan and you have one of the least earned runs you will ever see. Asdrubal needs to tighten his defense up if he wants serious attention as a possible Gold Glover. This was his second error in the last 4 games.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Chicago White Sox 4

Player of the Game

With an amazing score of 1.27, Joe Smith was tonight's Player of the Game. Smith pitched one scoreless inning with a strikeout, earning him his second "Player of the Game" award this season. With a single and a double, Lonnie Chisenhall was a close second with a score of 0.93.

Feathers Up

Jason Kipnis made his much anticipated Major League debut at second base for the Indians. Though he did not do much on offense, Kipnis showed off his defensive skills with a great play up the middle to retire Mark Teahan at first. Kipnis also showed how much of a team player he could be when he took one for the team: he refused to move out of the way of an inside pitch in the 8th inning, which brought Carlos Santana, the tying run, to the plate.

Lonnie Chisenhall tried to jump start the Indians offense in the 5th inning with a 2-out double. Austin Kearns followed with an infield single. The Indians were unable to capitalize, and remained shut out through 5.

Carlos Carrasco pitched a solid game, despite giving up a 3-run shot to Carlos Quentin in the 5th. Carrasco ended up pitching 6.1 innings, allowing 3 walks, 6 hits, and striking out 6.

The bullpen was able to keep the Indians in the game. Rafael Perez, Joe Smith, and Frank Herrmann pitched a combine 2.2 innings, allowing a total of 2 hits, 2 walks.

Feathers Down

Carlos Carrasco had a slow start to the game, walking the first 2 batters he faced. Though he got out of the inning with no damage, it is never good to see a pitcher start a game with control issues. In the first inning alone, Carrasco made 23 pitches (9 Strikes, 14 Balls).

Cleveland's offense lacked the entire game. The Indians only had 3 base runners through 6, with only one of those (Lonnie Chisenhall) able to get into scoring position. The Indians ended the game with just 5 hits.

Final Score: Chicago White Sox 3 - Cleveland Indians 0

Player of the Game

Lonnie Chisenhall takes home his first career 'Player of the Game' for a meaningless home run hit while down 3 in the 9th inning. The Chiz Kid also hit a single earlier in the game making this only his 3rd multi-hit game of the season. The home run was the second of his career and it came off Twins closer Joe Nathan. He earned 3.31 'POG' points in this game and his season average of 0.85 points per game is already better than Jack Hannahan (0.79) Ezequiel Carrera (0.69), Lou Marson (0.66) and Austin Kearns (0.55).

Feathers Up

If the Indians can keep playing .500 ball while half the roster is out, they should be fine. Grady Sizemore, Michael Brantley, Travis Buck, Trevor Crowe and Mitch Talbot should all be back soon, so the guys playing right now just have to keep the team afloat until their return.

Travis Hafner was able to score on a passed ball after he doubled thanks to some aggressive baserunning. This was huge when it happened as it tied the game and with two outs in the inning. Carlos Santana ended up grounding out after the passed ball, so had Hafner not scored then, he never would have. It was Pronk's great baserunning instincts and his sneaky speed that surprised Drew Butera and allowed him to score.

Hopefully by beating the Twins in the first two games, but letting them win the last two the Indians have heated up the Twins bats as they will go on to face the Tigers next. Of course if the Twins beat the Tigers, we will have to start rooting for the Twins to lose as well.

Feathers Down

The Indians outfield problems hurt the team again today as Luis Valbuena was forced to play left field with the absence of Shin-Soo Choo, Sizemore, Brantley and Buck. Both Brantley's (stomach sickness) and Buck's (headache) ailments are not serious so they should be fine to play on Friday with an off day tomorrow. If either one can not play then the Indians may make another roster move to bring up another outfielder. This could be either Shelley Duncan, Jared Head or Chad Huffman. There is a 99% chance it would be Duncan, but I just thought I'd throw some other names out there just to be sure.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 - Minnesota Twins 7

Player of the Game

With 6 strikeouts and only 4 hits allowed during his 7.2 innings pitched, Justin Masterson dominated the Twins tonight. The biggest trouble Masterson had during the night was caused by an error on a ground ball, followed by a seeing-eye single. This threat was handled with ease with a strike out of Jim Thome and a double play. Masterson has been the rock of the Indians rotation this season and deserved another win that he was robbed of. Even without the win, he earned 8.56 'POG' points for his 9th 'Player of the Game' of the season. This puts him firmly in second behind Asdrubal Cabrera who has 12.

Feathers Up

Since there was no offense to speak of, here are a couple more feathers you can add to Justin Masterson's cap. According to Pitch/FX, Masterson threw only one breaking ball the entire night, splitting his 103 other pitches pretty evenly between 4-seam fastballs and sinkers. This change change in strategy worked well and seems to be a growing trend with Masterson as he sticks with the pitches that work the best. Justin did a great job keeping the ball down which, along with his good downward movement lead to...

...a ridiculous amount of ground outs. 15 of Masterson's 23 outs recorded were on the ground including just one double play. Most of these were easy outs although a couple ground balls were turned into singles and there was one error. Of course if you want something done right you have to...

...do it yourself, and Masterson did. 5 of those 15 ground outs were recorded by Masterson himself on easy bouncers to the pitcher. This shows how big of a ball hog Masterson is and how he doesn't trust anyone else on his defense. Three of the 5 outs made by the pitcher were in the first inning, starting the game off in impressive fashion.

Luis Valbuena's versatility was a huge asset to the Indians tonight as Michael Brantley was pulled from the game before it started with an illness and Travis Buck was removed after being struck by a pitch. This left the Indians with their only two outfielders, Austin Kearns and Ezequiel Carrera in the field already, meaning an infielder would have to play left-field. Luckily, the Indians and Clippers have been working Valbuena in the outfield all year and he was able to play there without incident. Of course with the way Justin Masterson pitched, a rock could have played left field and there wouldn't have been much difference.

Feathers Down

The lineup was pretty weak today showing the Indians lack of depth with the injuries to Shin-Soo Choo and Grady Sizemore. With Michael Brantley out as well, the outfield consisted of Carrera, Buck and Kearns, none of whom deserve to be starting on any Major League team. The lineup was also missing Travis Hafner who had a scheduled day off and was replaced indirectly by Lou Marson in the lineup. Looking at the starting lineup, it isn't very surprising they were only able to score a single run tonight.

Credit given were credit is due: Glenn Perkins had an extremely easy time mowing through the Indians lineup in the top of the 9th. While he was not that much of a starting pitcher, he looks like a force to be reckoned with coming out of the bullpen.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 1 - Minnesota Twins 2

Roster Update: It was Jeanmar Gomez who was removed from the roster for the return of Fausto Carmona, which means David Huff will remain in the Indians starting rotation. The Tribe now has the normal 5 man rotation and 5 man bench.

Player of the Game

Lou Marson showed up on offense and won his first 'Player of the Game' in the last 65 games. Marson was a huge contributor to the Indians win, hitting a double and a home run and scoring twice. His final 'POG' score was 4.68. If anyone was wondering who had the largest total score on the day, it was David Huff, who won the award in the early game. Michael Brantley, Asdrubal Cabrera and Ezequiel Carrera all stood out as well as all three earned a score of more than 1.25 in both games. Brantley played especially well in the second game with 3 hits and 3 extra bases.

Feathers Up

That's what you call a Twin killing.

Ezequiel Carrera showed off his speed today as he turned in his first two steals of his career, one in each game. The second steal came off a pick-off move where Carrera was running on first movement and he still beat the throw to second. Zeke was a spark to the offense in both games as he turned a single, an error and two walks into 3 runs and an RBI. The Indians have made good use of Carrera's speed so far this time up as he has played in every game as either a starter or pinch runner.

The Indians scored 2 runs in the 5th by doing exactly what they needed to do. With two outs, Lou Marson on second and Carrera at first, both Michael Brantley and Asdrubal Cabrera had bloop singles just beyond the infield. Had either player tried to hit a home run the inning would have probably ended before a single run scored, but because they were willing to shorten their swings and just make contact, the Indians pushed two runs across the plate.

The Indians kept scoring late in the game to cement the victory, including some 2 out runs and two separate RBI singles by Travis Hafner. The last run, which was scored when Carlos Santana tripled in pinch runner Luis Valbuena, did make the game a 4 run game, taking a save opportunity away from Chris Perez, making that play a feathers down.

Feathers Down (AKA: Something bad Austin Kearns did)

Today Austin Kearns turned a single into a double when he didn't pay attention to Alexi Casilla running the bases. While Casilla was burning his way toward second, Kearns lightly tossed the ball to the cut off man without looking up. Later in the game Kearns was caught stealing because he is very, very slow and should never even attempt to steal. This ends "Something bad Austin Kearns did."

Joe Mauer is a hit machine and he rapped out 6 more in today's double header. The only thing good about that is the Indians still managed to win both games. Hopefully he got these 3 hit games out of his system early in the series and will slump during the next two games, only batting .350 or so.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 - Minnesota Twinkies 3

Player of the Game

In his first game this season, David Huff earned his first win since May 29th, 2010 and this game's 'Player of the Game' award. Huff pitched 7 innings allowing no earned runs, 5 hits and only two walks while striking out 5. Huff earned 8.07 'POG' points in the win with one of the better starts of any Indians pitcher this season. Hopefully Chris Antonetti will agree that he deserves a second start and he will not be removed from the roster before the night game. Asdrubal Cabrera (5.61 'POG' points) had a great day as well with his 3 run home run that provided the difference in the final score. Vinnie Pestano (1.77) also played well as the impromptu closer as he picked up his second save of the season in relief of Chad Durbin.

Feathers Up

Lonnie Chisenhall has slightly underperformed expectations, most noticeably with his batting average of .213, but he has still contributed to the scoring effort. The Chiz Kid has been on base in 15 out of his 17 games played including today when he was safe on an error and scored on Ezequiel Carrera's double. As far as the team is concerned it is better to allow Chisenhall to play everyday and struggle as Lonnie playing poorly is about the same as Jack Hannahan playing the best baseball of his career. It also should get this struggle out of the way early so he can reach his full potential in time for when the Indians really need him.

David Huff was very impressive in his 2011 debut, going 7 shut out innings. Huff was able to avoid a lot of the problems he had in 2010, most notably his control. While only walking 2, David also managed to avoid throwing any pitches straight down the middle of the plate. He did an especially good job of pitching around the Twins only real power threats, Jim Thome, Michael Cuddyer and Delmon Young. These hitters went 1-8 against Huff with a walk and 3 strike outs. It was his third career shutout of 6+ innings and his first since 2009.

It ain't over yet. Stay tuned for game 2 coming up at 8:10. The Indians will need to make another roster move prior to the game as expected starting pitcher, Fausto Carmona is still on the disabled list. The most probable player to be sent down is Jeanmar Gomez as David Huff pitched so well today it would be very hard to not give him another start. Carmona will be pitching against Scott Diamond in his Major League debut.

Feathers Down

Seeing Jim Thome play in Twinstripes makes me long even more for the day that he could return to the Indians to end his career. I would love nothing more than if the Indians were able to trade for Thome to give him one more shot at a World Series championship as the Indians greatest all-time slugger.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 - Minnesota Twins 2

Player of the Game

Jeanmar Gomez did not win today's 'Player of the Game' with a score of -4.51. It is not his first of the season after allowing 5 runs in 5.1 innings and taking a loss. In fact, Carlos Santana won the 'Player of the Game' with his mammoth solo home run in the first inning along with a single later on in the game. It is his 4th award of the season and he scored 3.48 points for the game. Santana is now third on the team in total points for the season behind only Asdrubal Cabrera (149.5) and Michael Brantley (115.6) with 107.3.

Feathers Up

Travis Hafner hit a home run in the first inning, but was then overshadowed as the next hitter, Carlos Santana hit an even bigger home run, knocking it straight out of the stadium to give the Indians a 2-0 lead.

Early in the season I said that all the Indians would have to do to make the playoffs would be to win 50% of their games for the rest of the season. Since June 12th they have done the absolute minimum amount of winning necessary to stay in first place and they remain the 5 games over .500 that they were on that day. Since then, the Indians have never won or lost more than 3 consecutive games.

Feathers Down

The Tribe had a bunch of two out run scoring opportunities, but were only able to take advantage once, when Travis Buck hit a 2 out double in the first inning. Overall the team left 11 runners on base.

As go Michael Brantley and Asdrubal Cabrera, so go the Indians. Today, their combined 0-10 leaves little surprise to why the Indians were only able to score 3 runs. The lineup after those two (outside of Lonnie Chisenhall) all played well, but for some reason were unable to knock in each other. Also, with no runners on base, Oriole pitching was able to work around Travis Hafner, not giving him a good pitch to hit after his home run in the first inning.

It took a squeeze bunt to ruin Joe Smith's scoreless streak as the Orioles ended his 27 straight games without allowing an earned run. Smith gave up a double, a ground out and a bunt to give up the run.

Grady Sizemore hurt his leg turning around first base on a double in the first inning. Grady was noticeably limping before he slid into second and was immediately removed with what was called a knee contusion. Of course it seems very improbable that he bruised his knee while running, but since the Indians never tell the whole truth about injuries, this is all we have to go on for now. Hopefully he will not need to go on the disabled list for the third time this season as the Indians are having major problems with outfield depth at the moment.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 - Baltimore Orioles 8