Player of the Game

Today’s player of the game was Orlando Cabrera. Cabrera stole the award from Brantley with his bases clearing double in the 9^th inning, giving him a “POG” score of 4.06. This was Cabrera’s sixth “POG” this year, tying him for 5^th among active players on the team.

Feathers Up

After a couple of horrible starts, Carlos Carrasco pitched well today in his 7 inning performance. Carrasco gave up only 3 runs on 5 hits and struck out 6 Birds.

Ezequiel Carrera showed off his arm today on a relay throw that nailed Derrek Lee at the plate. Carrera hit the cut-off man, Orlando Cabrera, setting up an accurate throw to Lou Marson to prevent another Oriole runner from scoring in the 4^th. 

 The Indians showed great plate discipline in the 9^th inning, drawing three straight walks with one out, bringing the tying run to the plate. This set up for a bases-clearing double by Orlando Cabrera, bringing the Indians within one run.

The 6-man bench was put to use for the third game in a row. Grady Sizemore and Matt Laporta were used to pinch hit late in the game after they had both been given the day off.

Feathers Down

 The Bullpen Mafia was not too intimidating tonight. Rafael Perez had a rough outing, retiring only one batter and surrendered 1 run on two doubles. His relief, Frank Hermann, walked two batters and gave up a double. In total, the two gave up 3 runs on 3 hits with 2 walks.

The Indians batters were only able to get one hit through the first five innings of the game. Mchael Brantey reached on the first Indians hit of the day in the 4^th inning, but was immediately erased on an Asdrubal Cabrera double play ball.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 - Baltimore Orioles 6

Player of the Game

Grady Sizemore won tonight's player of the game after accounting for 3 of the 6 Indians runs in what ended up being a one run game. Grady hit a double and home run, scoring twice and knocking two in. For those who think the math is wrong a 2 run home run counts for 2 RBI and a run, but only 2 runs for the team. Grady scored 5.66 'POG' points giving him more than one point in each of the Indians last four games. It is Grady's 5th of the season. Asdrubal Cabrera (4.20 'POG' points) and Matt LaPorta (2.91) each had great games as well as did the entire bullpen (7.04 combined score).

Feathers Up

It may seem repetitive to keep mentioning the bullpen night after night, but if a player hit a home run every single game it would be worth mentioning and what the Bullpen Mafia is doing is helping the team win a lot more than a single home run. Yet again the bullpen, tonight consisting of Chad Durbin, Rafael Perez, Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez, kept the opposition from scoring a single run to maintain a perilous one run lead for 4 innings. Every relief pitcher tonight got a decision with the first 4 getting holds and Chris Perez getting a save.

The Indians had a 6 man bench available for the second night in a row and will have it for tomorrow's game as well as only 3 starting pitchers are currently on the roster. Of course everyone is well rested right now so it isn't really necessary and the 6 players, have had a total of one at bat in the last two games. Hopefully Ezequiel Carrera will at least get one start before he's removed from the roster either for Jeanmar Gomez or Fausto Carmona.

The Indians grabbed a tie for first place in the Central Division last night and maintained first tonight by beating the Orioles. If they can just win every game for the rest of the season, they will be all set as the 2011 Central Division Champions.

They are who we though they were. The Orioles score a lot of runs and have terrible pitching. Not many surprises so far this series.

Feathers Down

We've mentioned this before on BurningRiverBaseball, but it may be time to move Carlos Santana down in the lineup. One spot lower would have helped today as Grady Sizemore had a great game from the 5 spot and the Indians probably would have scored a few more runs without Santana's 0-4 performance. Santana left two runners in scoring position and struck out twice. This is not to say he is not a good hitter, just that he isn't as good as Sizemore and could benefit from a position in the lineup with less pressure.

Josh Tomlin made it through 5 innings to keep his record going, but just barely. Tomlin allowed 3 home runs (his only weakness this season) for a total of 5 earned runs. The first home run came off a 3-1 count where one of the balls was called for Tomlin going to his mouth while on the mound. It is possible that the combination of his poor control and his distress over being called for a free ball lead to the meat ball pitches he threw to Matt Weiters and Nolan Reimold that turned into home runs in the second inning.

Orlando Cabrera was thrown out stealing by 5 feet after getting a great jump. Might be time to get some younger wheels in there at second base. Off the top of my head, maybe someone like Jason Kipnis. Just a suggestion.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 - Baltimore Orioles 5

Player of the Game

Carlos Santana hit a home run, a double and knocked in 3 to win tonight's 'Player of the Game' with a score of 6.01. This marks the first time that Justin Masterson didn't win this award in his last 4 starts. It is just Santana's third 'Player of the Game' of the season.

Feathers Up

The Indians came back strong and well rested after the All-Star break, scoring 8 runs for the first time in the last 10 games. They started off especially strong with both Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana hitting home runs for a quick 3 run lead that the Indians would never relinquish.

Lonnie Chisenhall was back in action after having his face destroyed a week ago with the aid of a new batting helmet. Lonnie and his new helmet went 0-3, but it's just good to have him back in the lineup.

The Bullpen Mafia had another strong showing tonight, especially Vinnie Pestano and Tony Sipp who pitched a perfect 8th and 9th innings, striking out 5 of the 6 batters faced.

Feathers Down

Justin Masterson allowed more than double his usual amount of runs by giving up 4 in 6 innings. He also allowed 8 hits, including 4 doubles. On a positive note, he struck out 8 batters in those innings.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 8 - Baltimore Orioles 4

Player of the Game

This will be the only game of the season that the 'Player of the Game' is not an Indian. Try as hard as they could, neither Tribe representative was able to make a big enough difference in the outcome of the game. This is also the only game of the season where I keep track of both teams scores as this is very complex and time consuming. The final team 'POG' scores were 21.00 for the NL and 3.27 for the AL. Adrian Gonzalez was the American League's best player with a final score of 3.15, but the real 'Player of the Game' was Prince Fielder, who won the game with a 3 run home run and finished the game with a final 'POG' score of 5.42.

Asdrubal Cabrera

Asdrubal started at shortstop for the American League due to the fact that the shortstop who was voted into the game, Derek Jeter, didn't even bother to show up. While he absolutely deserved the start, he wasn't all that spectacular as he went 0-2 with a strike out before he was replaced by former Indian shortstop, Jhonny Peralta. Cabrera was unable to show off his glove as well as he muffed the only ball hit to him. Overall this game really isn't important and he didn't give up any unearned runs so hopefully he had a good time at his first of what should be many All-Star games.

Chris Perez

The Rage was alive and raging in Phoenix as Chris Perez pitched a scoreless inning against the National League. He pitched the 6th inning and didn't have a lead at the time so it was a little different situation than he is used to. None of that mattered to Perez as he still excelled, striking out NL MVP Joey Votto and only allowing one hit to his former teammate Yadier Molina. His scoreless outing kept the American League within three runs. With Mariano Rivera also sitting out, Chris Perez was the best closer available to the AL, but manager Ron Washington still decided to use him early in the game.

Of the game itself, the American League was hurt by injuries and drop outs as some of the best players in baseball were kept out of the game. Felix Hernandez, Justin Verlander, Jon Lester, C.C. Sabathia, David Price, James Shields, Mariano Rivera and Alex Rodriguez all dropped out of the game beforehand for one reason or another while Josh Beckett and Miguel Cabrera were each injured during the game and were unable to play. The players lost by the NL were no where near the stature of those lost by the AL and this really slanted the odds toward the NL before the game even started.

Final Score: American League 1 - National League 5

Austin Kearns is being removed from my black list, because he has a positive 'POG' score in his last 7 games and because I'm ending all running bits before the All-Star break. If you aren't a regular reader of my post games, you probably don't have any clue what I'm talking about. Of course you might not know what a 'Player of the Game' score is in the first place, so click here to find out about my 'Player of the Game' scoring system and here to learn about why Austin Kearns has been not mentioned on this site for the last couple weeks. Look out for all new bits in the second half, like one where I will use Pronk for every noun, adjective and verb in an entire game recap and another where I'll make up clever nicknames for everyone like "That Guy" and "Mr. Dude." Oh, yeah, Orlando Cabrera now has 2,020 career hits. Don't think I forgot.

Player of the Game

Frank Herrmann won his 4th 'Player of the Game' of the season, coming into the game as middle relief, taking over for Carlos Carrasco in the 4th inning. Herrmann pitched 2 scoreless innings and struck out a batter. All of his 4 awards have come in Indians losses, so he's got that going for him. Four 'POG's ties him with Grady Sizemore, Carlos Carrasco and Shelley Duncan for the season. For an expanded up to date look at this seasons 'POG' standings, check out the 'Player of the Game' tab at the top of the page sometime tomorrow.

Feathers Up

Vinnie Pestano came back today and struck out the side in one inning, throwing nothing but heat. This comes after 3 straight bad outings by Pestano, the Indians top set up man. Since he returned from his back injury on June 11th, he has only had 2 games off in a row once so look out to see what he can do with 3 days off during the All-Star break.

The next game recap will be on Tuesday night, when I'll be covering Asdrubal Cabrera and Chris Perez's accomplishments at the All-Star Game.

Feathers Down

Jose Bautista: 4 Games played, 3 home runs, 5 RBI, 5 runs scored, 5/15 and only 4 walks.

Carlos Carrasco struggled for his second start in a row, going only 3 innings, but I'm going to ignore how terribly the Tribe has played this series and chalk it up to being very tired.

The Indians were out of this one early and saw their best shot at scoring big disappear in the first inning when Grady Sizemore and Austin Kearns each got out with the bases loaded. This type of negativity is exactly why I banned him from the blog in the first place.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 1 - Toronto Blue Jays 7

Player of the Game

Tonight's 'Player of the Game' belongs to Grady Sizemore for doing almost enough for the Indians to win. Grady hit the huge 2 run home run early in the game to tie the game at 3, but was unable to come through in the 9th inning with a runner on second. Overall Sizemore went 2-4 with 2 RBI and a run for a 'POG' of 4.58. Justin Masterson actually managed to lower his average 'POG' per game score by pitching only one inning in relief. He still has the best average on the team earning 3.54 points per game.

Feathers Up

The Indians offense has returned after a short absence. Over the last 25 games where the Indians have been 13-12, they have scored 4.08 runs per game after a terrible stretch of 10 games where they went 1-9 with 2.10 runs per game.

The Indians attempted a third comeback in a row against the Jays, but were unsuccessful for the second night in a row, losing the game in the 10th after Travis Buck tied it with an RBI double in the 9th.

Feathers Down

STOP PITCHING TO JOSE BAUTISTA! HE IS NOT HUMAN.

Apparently Manny Acta has a shorter memory than most Indians fans. After Travis Hafner hit a single in the 9th inning, he was pulled for a pinch runner. That pinch runner was not much faster than him and the increased odds of him scoring must have been far below the chances of the Indians scoring a single run, getting into extra innings and the 3 spot in the order coming to bat again.

For those who think that Josh Tomlin has been a better pitcher than Justin Masterson this season because he has more wins you should understand that there is a big difference between smoke and mirrors and true swing and miss talent. This is not to take anything away from Tomlin who has been very dependable all season and has been amazingly consistent to start his career, but if the Indians have an ace, it is without a doubt, Justin Masterson. This comment was spurred by the current poll on Indians.com in which 48% of fans have voted Josh Tomlin as the best pitcher on the Indians this season. Also, the pitching rotation will be reordered after the All-Star break with Masterson as the ace.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 - Toronto Blue Jays 5

Player of the Game

Michael Brantley showed tonight what a good hitter does when you give him 6 at bats. Brantley won the 'Player of the Game' for getting 4 singles, 2 runs, 2 RBI and generally being the center of all the Indians offense on the night. Quite a few Indians had good offensive nights, most notably the bottom of the lineup guys, including Jack Hannahan ('POG' score of 2.60), Lou Marson (2.03) and late-inning pinch hitter, Travis Buck (3.00). Brantley scored 5.25 points for himself as the Indians went on to score 7 runs.

Feathers Up

Three New York Yankees, including starting shortstop Derek Jeter, have decided not to play in this years All-Star Game. The great news here is that Asdrubal Cabrera is the default replacement for Jeter, so he should get to start the All-Star Game after all. Also, since Mariano Rivera dropped out as well, Chris Perez is now the top closer on the American League roster.

Just like Travis Hafner, Matt LaPorta has come off the disabled list on fire. LaPorta has had 2 total bases in each of his first three games back including a run scored in both tonight's and last night's contests.

The Indians mounted another comeback tonight, in like fashion as the one last night. In the 8th inning, down 6 runs, the Indians had their first 4 hitters get singles, followed by a Travis Buck double to score three runs in the inning and make the game a little more manageable.

Feathers Down

Mitch Talbot pulled another stinker tonight allowing 8 earned runs in 5.1 innings. A couple of the runs could possibly have been considered unearned, but a scoring change switched a Jack Hannahan error into a single. Either way Talbot has allowed more than 6 runs in each of his last two starts. Talbot is a pitch-to-contact type of pitcher and much of his struggle has just been balls that were hit to the wrong place. He was also hurt tonight by some less than perfect defense mostly between the combination of Hannahan and Lou Marson.

Orlando Cabrera is leaving runners on base like it's in style. Very rarely does a player get a chance to knock in 7 runners from scoring position in two days, but Cabrera not only had that chance, but managed not to knock a single one of them in. Over the last 2 games Cabrera is 0-8 with one double play and 7 RISPLOB.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 - Toronto Blue Jays 11

Player of the Game

Travis Hafner brought a new meaning to the late inning comeback as he blasted a grand slam deep into the right field seats to win the game in the bottom of the 9th. This, combined with his two singles earlier in the game, earned him a 'POG' score of 7.52 and his 7th 'Player of the Game' of the season. There is no more dramatic ending to a baseball game than what he just did, taking a 3 run deficit and turning it into a one run win on a single pitch.

Feathers Up

The Jays carried a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Frank Fransico was the Toronto pitcher. Travis Buck led off with a single against Frank Francisco. Matt LaPorta doubled to put two runners in scoring position. Jack Hannahan walked on a 3-2 pitch.  Manager John Farrell signaled for LOOGY Luis Perez. Michael Brantley was ahead in the count, 3-1, then swung through two pitches. Asdrubal Cabrera ripped a 1-2 pitch to left for an RBI single.  With the bases loaded, Pronk stepped in and launched a fastball over the right-field wall. He knew it was gone as soon as he hit it. I have yet to find the last Indian to hit a walk off grand slam when down by three in the 9th. Tonight, we were all witnesses.

In the first inning, rookie starter Zach McAllister worked around a two-out walk to Bautista. Bautista is the leading home-run hitter in the majors since the start of 2010. When the Tribe played the Jays back in May, it seemed he was never worked around.

McAllister gave up five hits and the three runs (two earned). He threw 94 pitches. Not a bad Major League Debut.

The Blue Jays scored two in the fourth for a three-run advantage and had the bases loaded with one out and Eric Thames in a 3-0 count. McAllister came back to get Thames to pop to left. Bautista grounded sharply into the hole at short, where Asdrubal Cabrera turned what could have been a two-run single into a 6-4 force by making a superb grab-and-spin.

After the offense left 9 men on base tonight, the Tribe rallied in the 9th.

Feathers Down

Lonnie Chisenhall was hit in the helmet by a pitch from Jays starter Carlos Villanueva in the second inning. Chisenhall exited and was replaced by Jack Hannahan. Villanueva's pitch to Chisenhall struck the right ear flap and moved across the face. Indians head trainer Lonnie Soloff treated Chisenhall, who went to his knees for a half-minute before standing. The Indians later announced that Chisenhall left because of a facial contusion. Earlier this season at Class AAA Columbus, Chisenhall suffered concussion-like symptoms after a head-first slide. He missed time because of it. I don't anticipate him missing any time due to the bloody nose.

The Blue Jays scored in the second when Travis Snider drove in Aaron Hill with a single to center off McAllister. The run was unearned because of a rare error by shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera.

Tribe batters were 0-8 with runners in scoring position before the 9th inning tonight. They left 12 runners on base Wednesday night against the Yankees.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 - Toronto Blue Jays 4

Player of the Game

Justin Masterson dominated the Yankees for his 7th 'Player of the Game', although at this point no one should be surprised when he dominates anyone. Masterson earned a season high 9.58 'POG' points, good for the third highest score of the season, behind Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Carrasco. Over 8 innings Masterson struck out 6 and only allowed 3 hits. He also pitched a shut out for the 8 innings he was in the game and lowered his ERA to 2.66. This now places him at 8th in the American League in ERA among starters.  

Feathers Up

Matt LaPorta returned to the Indians lineup right on schedule and rapped out two singles in his first game back. Tonight LaPorta was hitting 8th, but it is hard to say enough about how much his bat will help the lineup. Even though he will be replacing Carlos Santana at first, he will actually be replacing Lou Marson in the lineup and at this point in time in the season, Marson is undoubtedly the worst offensive player of the team.

In other injury news, Asdrubal Cabrera was able to start the night after twisting his ankle on a defensive play at short stop. This is fantastic news as the Indians don't have a single suitable replacement defensively for Cabrera and he has been the best offensive player on the Tribe as well. 

Feathers Down

Vinnie Pestano came in for a non-save situation in the 9th and turned it into a save situation. He was blown up for 3 hits and 3 runs allowed without getting a single out. Chris Perez came into the game and helped him out, earning the save. This is his third let down in his last 5 games although almost every other appearance has been perfect. Before Pestano came in Justin Masterson had been throwing a three hit shutout.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 - New York Yankees 3 (and good riddance)

Player of the Game

Frank Herrmann won his third 'Player of the Game' of the season for his 2 shut out innings in relief of Carlos Carrasco. Herrmann earned 1.54 points and has earned more than .80 points in his last 6 appearances. Carrasco earned -8.29 'POG' points in what was undoubtedly his worst start of the season. The negative score knocked him below Josh Tomlin in average score per start in what has been a close three pitcher race to see who is the Indians best starter. Justin Masterson still leads the pack with an average game score of 3.33.

Feathers Up

Thanks to two sacrifice flies in the 9th inning by Lou Marson and Michael Brantley, the Indians avoided the embarrassment of being shut out for the 10th time this year.

The Indians are finally starting to use Frank Herrmann a little more, giving the top bullpen pitchers more rest. Herrmann may be essential down the stretch as Tony Sipp, Rafael Perez and Vinnie Pestano near 80 games played. Herrman has pitched multiple innings in his last 4 games and has not given up a run in his last 6. Tonight Herrmann went 2 innings and only allowed 2 singles. On the season he has had only one terrible outing, where he gave up 3 home runs in 2 innings against Boston on May 25. Before and since that outing Frank has been a very reliable, if underused, part of the bullpen.

Feathers Down

Carlos Carrasco had issues with his control early in the game which, along with a bad throw from Cord Phelps, lead to the Yankees early 5 run lead. He picked a bad team to throw balls to as the Yankees currently lead the American League in walks (327) and are well known for their patience at the plate. Carlos only ended up walking 3 batters, but 2 of those came in the 2nd inning and both runners scored. 

C.C. Sabathia hates runners in scoring position. Both times the Indians got two runners on (in the 5th and the 7th) C.C. responded by striking out the side.

Asdrubal Cabrera went down with an ankle sprain today, placing him on a long list of Indians who have had significant injuries this season. The biggest difference between Cabrera and all those other guys is that the Indians don't have a suitable replacement for Asdrubal. During tonight's game Manny Acta moved Orlando Cabrera from third to short, bringing in Chisenhall to take his place. Cord Phelps has also spent some time playing short stop, but is questionable on defense even at second. Orlando Cabrera's lack of range makes him a poor long term replacement if Asdrubal needs to miss any amount of time. What makes matters worse is that Travis Buck is currently injured (pulled hamstring), but still on the 25 man roster which means the Indians will not just be able to bench Cabrera for a couple days. One solution could be to place Buck on the DL (it would be retroactive to July 2nd) and bring up either Jason Kipnis or Luis Valbuena to play shortstop for a couple days. If it is more serious, Asdrubal himself may need to spend time on the DL.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - New York Yankees 9