Check out the best episode of Burning River Radio yet! Listen to Mike's great argument about why Bob Wickman's number should be retired throughout the league because he was the first teletubby to play professional baseball. Also, there are things we actually talked about like Mariano Rivera Day, Killing the AAA Astros, retiring the 1995 Indians, Omar's music career, lineup madness and the arch nemesis of Burning River Radio: Lou Marson.

Prediction: Indians lose series 2-1. Justin Masterson pitches a masterpiece and out duals Dylan Axelrod for the only series victory.

Player of the Game

Carlos Santana took home the Player of the Game today in his first game at first base in 2013. Santana hit a huge home run to left in the fifth inning to give the Indians the lead and had doubled and scored earlier in the game. His POG score of 4.41 just beat out Yan Gomes who had a home run and triple of his own.

Feathers Up

When Lou Marson is set to come off the disabled list next week, maybe they should send him back to Columbus instead of Cleveland. Yan Gomes hit his second home run of the season today in just four games, giving him more home runs in his Indians career than Marson has had in the past three seasons combined (151 games). Going into the season it was obvious that Gomes was a better player now and had a higher ceiling than Marson and that fact is even more obvious now.

Mark Reynolds has only won one 'Player of the Game' this year, but has been the team's top offensive player to this point. His home run today gave him seven on the year (tied for the AL lead) and 18 RBI. He has been everything that was expected of him and more. His home run today gave the Indians back the lead after it was squandered by starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez.

Ubaldo Jimenez was not as bad as he was last time. Or the time before that.

Brett Oberholtzer may be a super star some day or he may be a career AAAA middle reliever, but he can always remember that the first Major League batter he faced was Carlos Santana and that he hit a ball as hard as humanly possible that was only stopped by a concrete wall well past the outfield wall.

For the first time since the second game of the season, the Indians went into the seventh inning with a lead of under three runs. One of the greatest parts of this Indians team is the back-end of the bullpen and that has been neutralized as there have been very few close games. Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez got to do their jobs today with a one run lead and performed admirably, earning two holds and a save between them.

Feathers Down

Jimenez still wasn't very good. At one point he set down 14 straight batters, but it needs to be taken into consideration that he was facing the worst offense in the American League. He looked poised to pitch into the sixth and possibly earn a win, but a single and triple to lead off the inning forced him out of the game before he retired a batter.

Play of the Game

Drew Stubbs hit his first home run as an Indian and his 9th against Houston, but where it landed is what made this the play of the game. Check out the video here as a fan caught the home run ball in his popcorn. Don't worry, Fox Sports Ohio's own Katie Witham bought him a replacement box.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 - Houston Astros 4

Roster Update: Indians starter Scott Kazmir was recalled from the 15 day DL just before the game and infielder Cord Phelps was sent back to AAA in his place. Phelps was only on the team to help out at second while Jason Kipnis was recovering from his elbow injury. Now that Kipnis is back, Phelps is not needed. Other moves expected in the near future include Brett Myers possibly going to the DL, Lou Marson returning from the DL and Matt Albers coming back from paternity leave.

Player of the Game

Jason Giambi did what he does best and hit his second home run of the season to win him his first Player of the Game for 2013. He also hit a double, making all three of his hits on the year extra base hits. In a very productive game, Giambi lead all Indians with five RBI and three runs scored and walked twice as well. His score of 10.42 gives him the second best single game of the year.

Feathers Up

Following an out by Michael Brantley to lead off the game, the next nine Indians batters reached base, scoring 8 runs on 8 hits. The eight runs scored in the first represent the same amount the Indians have scored in total in the past three games and more than they have scored in any one game in the past week.

The Indians didn't stop scoring in the first inning as they batted around again in the second, scoring another 6 in the second. They kept scoring and put up another five, giving them 19 runs before it was all over. They scored in each of the first five innings and didn't go down in order until the 7th inning.

Milestone Alert: Jason Giambi's 4th inning home run was not just his first home run against Houston, giving him home runs against every single team in Major League Baseball, it was also career number 431, tying him with Cal Ripken, Jr. for 42nd all time in baseball history.

Other offensive notes: Nick Swisher set career highs in hits (4), runs scored (3) and doubled his doubles for the season with another career high of three.Every hitter on the Indains roster (except Ryan Raburn) had a hit within their first two at bats, including early replacement Mike Aviles who hit an RBI single. Along with Swisher, Jason Giambi, Carlos Santana, Michael Branltey and Mark Reynolds each knocked in multiple runs. Each of the Indians starters (and Aviles) scored at least one run with Giambi, Swisher and Santana each scoring three. The Indians walked 8 times in addition to their 22 hits. They were also helped out by three Astros errors.

Feathers Down

Asdrubal Cabrera hurt his wrist after his second at bat in the first inning and left the game before ever getting into the field. He is day to day.

Lost in all the run scoring, Scott Kazmir had a fairly terrible game, giving up six runs in four innings. He lucked out by the barrage of offense, keeping him in a game that he probably would have lost on any other day this year. Even so, he wasn't able to earn his first win in two years as he was pulled from the game during the fouth inning. His high pitch count forced to use a lot more of their bullpen than the Indians would have liked to in a game that was almost a guaranteed win by the second inning.

Nick Swisher was unable to grab a fifth hit tonight, despite three at bats after his fourth. The first four spots in the lineup batted 7 times each tonight, essentially giving them two nights worth of offensive stats.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 19 - Houston Astros 6

Player of the Game

Lonnie Chisenhall provided the Indians with their only 2 runs, hitting a 2-run home run in the 4th innings. This is Chisenhall's first Player of the Game this year with a score of 4.18.

Feathers Up

Though Brett Myers appeared to be pitching injured, he pitched 5 solid innings. Myers did give up 2 home runs, but limited the Astros to just 3 runs.

Jason Kipnis performed well in his first game back from an elbow inury. Kipnis went 2-4 with 2 singles, a walk, and stole his first base of the year.

Feathers Down

The Indians fell tonight to the worst team in baseball, extending their losing streak to 5 games.

Brett Myers still has not recorded a win this season. Myers now has a 0-3 record in 3 starts.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Houston Astros 3

Going into the season, the Cleveland Indians PR team was bragging about selling out the home opener in ten minutes after the Michael Bourn signing, making it seem like a return to age when getting tickets to a home opener meant standing in a line for hours and finding out they sold out before you got to the front.

The Indians have sold out every Opening Day since 2007 (when they didn't officially have one) except for 2010 when they sold a season high 38,900 seats. So basically, selling out Opening Day isn't that exciting since they have done it almost every single season since Jacob's Field opened in 1994. 

The real trick is the rest of the opening home stand as in recent years these have been some of the worst selling games in franchise history. In fact, in 2011 the Indians set an all time low in attendance during the second game of the year, then reset the record the next day, hitting an all-time low of 8,726. Of course, all these numbers are total tickets sold, not actually fans in the park, so they are even inflated a little over how many people were at the game. 

There is good reason for fans to stay away from the ballpark on those days, in general the sub-50 degree temperatures that can be expected the first few weeks in April. This season the weather has been particularly nasty, but when the tickets for these games went on sale, no one could have predicted the weather for the past week and as stated before, attendance numbers reflect total tickets sold, not actual game day attendance.

Since 2007 (well after the Indians sell out streak ended), the Indian have averaged about 18,000 fans per game in April (and a few in March), almost 5,000 per game below their regular season average. This season, the Indians have averaged 11,427 fans per game in April (there is one home game left this month), almost 7,000 fans per game less than their already low average. This is despite playing their first six games on the road in domes, waiting for the weather to warm up in Cleveland. 

Going back to 2011, that opening series can probably be considered the worst home stand since the creation of Jacob's Field. The Indians opened the season at home (always a mistake) against Chicago and averaged just 9,500 fans per game (excluding the sold out opener). Obviously, this was worse than this season, but the average temperature was just 41º compared to this years 53º and it came after an absolutely terrible 2010 season, while this year saw the most exciting offseason in years.

Early Spring press made it seem like ticket sales were good and season ticket sales were up, but a sub 10,000 fan crowd against Boston on Tuesday made things look a little different. This is made even worse when you look at who they played. The Yankees are the best single team draw for the Indians and they came for the only time this year last week. Over the past six years the Indians have averaged almost 9,000 more fans against New York than their normal average and average almost 1,000 more fans against the AL East in general. Most likely the weather kept those "die hard" Yankee fans away this year, when they normally come in July, meaning it probably cost the Indians as many as 40,000 total ticket sales by having this series early in the year.

Overall, the situation looks bad. The Indians likely overexagerated preseason sales in an attempt to bolster ticket sales, but it didn't work as well as they hoped. These early season number are embarassing, and go to show that Indians fans are completely jaded and will not buy in speculation. The Indians record may have proven their fans correct for staying home, it just remains to be seen if the Indians start winning, will the fans show up? Early speculation: probably not.

Sunday, April 21, 2:10EDT (STO)
"Where Is?" Ubaldo Jimenez(0-2, 11.25 ERA) vs. Eric Bedard (L) (0-1, 7.04 ERA)

Player of the Game

Runs were hard to come by for the Indians tonight, but Mike Aviles found a way to be involved in most of them. He wins tonight's Player of the Game for his one run scored, one RBI, 1-4 effort. He knocked in the first run of the game for the Tribe after Mark Reynolds had doubled with a ground out and scored the second after he doubled himself.

Feathers Up

The Indian killer for the Red Sox series was Boston firstbaseman Mike Napoli. In three games, Napoli went 5/12 with two runs scored and five RBI, but in the third inning of tonight's game, he didn't get a hit. With two outs and runners at second and third, Zach McAllister struck out Napoli. While striking out Napoli isn't all that impressive (he has k'd 20 times in 15 games), it was impressive to see an Indians pitcher keep him from clearing the bases just once during the series.

The Indians get to play three games against the worst team in baseball starting tomorrow. Feathers Down: The Astros may be saying the same thing.

Feathers Down

For the first time this season, Zach McAllister pitched less than six innings and walked a batter. His start wasn't all that bad as he made it through five innings, striking out six, but with the offense missing pieces and being as hit or miss as it has been early this year, giving up three runs is simply too much. The good part of this is that he is still averaging more than 5 innings per start and has only walked two batters in three starts. He has been, by far, the second best pitcher in the Indians rotation so far this year, despite being named the fourth starter.

Tonight wasn't a great night for Michael Brantley, who struck out in each of his first three at bats, twice looking. The called third strike in his second at bat was more than questionable, but arguing about it certainly didn't help as he struck out looking the next time out as well.

The Indians have now lost four in a row, looking like a shadow of the team that won the first two games against Chicago by a combined score of 10-4. Since then, they have been outscored 22-9 in four games by the colored and non-colored Sox. The sweep leaves the Indians in last place in the AL Central.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 - Boston Red Sox 6

Roster Update: The Indians placed center fielder Michael Bourn on the 15 Day DL today after he cut his hand while sliding into first base against the White Sox last weekend. Corey Kluber was brought up in his stead, most likely because of the over taxing of the bullpen in last night's game. He will likely be used out of the bullpen until Saturday, when he will likely be sent down for starting pitcher Scott Kazmir.

Jason Kipnis is still day-to-day with right elbow soreness and has been announced out for both today and tomorrow's games. He missed some time during Spring Training with the same injury and it could partially explain his struggles at the plate early this year. If he is not able to return by this weekend, he could be another candidate for the very active Indians disabled list.

Player of the Game

With a two run home run making up 66% of the scoring tonight, Nick Swisher wins his team leading third Player of the Game of the season. His final POG score was 4.72

Feathers Up

The difference between Justin Masterson and Ubaldo Jimenez was obvious today when Masterson loaded the bases with no one out in the second inning. In a very similar situation last night, Jimenez walked in two runs as part of a seven run inning. Tonight, Masterson struck out Dustin Pedroia, got the second batter to pop out to the infield and the third to fly out as well, ending the threat.

Nick Swisher and Jason Giambi did exactly what they were signed to do and they did it back-to-back in the sixth inning. The pair of solo home runs brought the Indians within two. Giambi flew out in each of his first six at bats with the team, but hit a towering home run 417 feet to deep right field

Feathers Down

Justin Masterson had a bad start today against the Red Sox, giving up more runs before the first out was made in the first inning than he had all season prior. A great play by Mark Reynolds to get a runner at home helped limit the damage, but Masterson still allowed three runs in the first inning. Between his last two scoreless outings, Masterson had thrown 19 consecutive shut out innings. Each of the first six Boston hits went to the opposite field as the Red Sox obviously had a good game plan coming into tonight against Masterson.

Lonnie Chisenhall demonstrated the difference between aggressive baserunning and smart baserunning as he was thrown out trying to turn a single into a double to lead off the third inning. Down by three, the Indians needed multiple base runners, not just one man in scoring position and the ball was hit to right, never getting by the right fielder, Shane Victorino. Regardless of the end results, Chisenhall should have stayed on first and saved that aggressiveness for a later time.

The Indians used their top relief corps (Joe Smith and Vinnie Pestano) in a losing effort again tonight, magnifying their inability to score runs and get the lead late in games. The player to miss the most is closer Chris Perez, who has had just two save opportunities this season and has pitched in just four games. The Indians don't like to use him in non save situations, but will have to, just to keep him ready in case one ever occurs.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 - Boston Red Sox 6

Player of the Game

In a competition of relievers, Nick Hagadone (2.56 POG score) takes the cake with two innings pitched as he allowed just two walks and no hits or runs. The lefty struck out three as well and just barely edged out Bryan Shaw (2.51 POG), who struck out four in 1.1 innings. It is Hagadone's first award of the season and just the second won by any relief pitcher in 2013.

Feathers Up

Cody Allen was phenomenal, throwing two more innings than he should ever have had to. In three innings, he struck out six and allowed no earned runs of his own, although he did allow his three inherited runners to score. The fact that he was needed in the second inning is a "Feathers Down."

In a similar vein, Nick Hagadone was also excellent, coming in for relief of Allen. He threw two innings and showed that he has no trouble getting out hitters on either side of the plate. In fact, he struck out the last two batters to end the sixth inning, both right handers, looking. Hagadone allowed no hits or runs while striking out three.

In conjunction with the things already said about the effort by the bullpen in long relief here is an interesting stat. In the second inning, the Red Sox outscored the Indians 7-1, but in the other 8 innings the Indians held the advantage at 1-0. This is further testament to the ability of the Indians pitching and defense to concentrate and keep the game close, even if the offense can't hold up it's end of the bargain.

Feathers Down

Ubaldo Jimenez looks exactly like he did last year and his ability to switch from looking like the best pitcher ever to the worst at a moments notice is second to none. After a great opening start, Jimenez has floundered, giving up 14 runs in his last six innings. Tonight, he threw a perfect first inning before walking in two runs in the second, part of a five walk, two hit, seven run inning. He was unable to make it out of that second, ending a streak of three straight pitchers to throw at least six innings.

The Indians had a chance to come back (thanks to a magnificent effort by the bullpen) in the fifth inning when they loaded the bases with one out for Carlos Santana. Prior to today, Santana had been the Indians best hitter and, down six runs, this was the Indians best chance to get back into the game. Santana struck out, after which Ryan Raburn scored from third on a wild pitch. Mark Reynolds ended the inning with a fly out down the right field line, but the pivotal at bat was Santana's inability to hit even a sacrifice fly.

Boston deserves a lot of credit for their defense. Coming into the game they were second in the league in fielding percent, so everyone knew they were solid and they continued that throughout the game. While there weren't really any fantastic individual plays, there were quite a few difficult plays that the Red Sox made without any trouble. Their outfield deserves special recognition as they play extremely well as a unit.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Boston Red Sox 7