Joe and Mike recorded another episode of Burning River Radio for your listening pleasure:

On this episode they discuss the Indians first week of baseball, including Ubaldo Jimenez's first start, Mark Reynolds power streak and Trevor Bauer's Indians debut. There is also an in depth discussion on the difference a manager can make in the game and how to quantify it. The show finishes up with a thorough trashing of the New York Yankees, just in time for the Indians home opener.

New York Yankees (2-4) at Cleveland Indians (3-3) 

Series 3, Games 7, 8, 9 and 10
Progressive Field (2012): 0.899*, Pitchers park.
*Park Factor compares the rate of stats at home vs. the rate of stats on the road. A rate higher than 1.000 favors the hitter. Below 1.000 favors the pitcher.

Roster Update: Prior to today's game, last night's starter, Trevor Bauer was sent back down to AAA Columbus. He was not going to pitch another game this time around for the Indians, so sending him down now limits his days on the active roster to one, keeping him under Indians control for a longer time. In related news, Carlos Carrasco's suspension ended last night after it was reduced to five games from six. He is eligible to play at any point, but isn't scheduled to start until Tuesday. The Indians roster currently stands at 24 and with Lou Marson day-to-day, it is essentially 23. It is strange that the Indians didn't recall either Yan Gomes or Chun Chen as a reserve catcher for the next few days until Jason Giambi is added to the roster on Tuesday.

Player of the Game

What a difference a day makes. Last night, Nick Swisher took the Player of the Game with a score of 0.41. Today, everyone who played, except Swisher, beat that score. There were really only three players competing for today's award when all was said and done and Mark Reynolds beat out all comers. In five at bats, walked, hit a double and mashed two home runs. His 4 RBI and 3 runs scored helped him to a POG score of 10.26. Justin Masterson threw 7 innings (the most by any Indians starter this year) of shut out baseball, striking out eight and earning the win, but finished with a POG score of just 9.44. His score was the second best of any Indians player this year, but wasn't good enough for the award today. Carlos Santana came in third with the third highest score of the year, 9.33 with his personal record five hit game.

Feathers Up

It took six games, but Michael Bourn stole his first base as an Indian, taking third in the first inning after doubling off David Price. Bourn got a great jump and stole the base without a throw. Bourn also hit his first home run as an Indian late in the game, although he is not expected to that as often.

Mark Reynolds has done exactly what the Indians signed him to do as he hit his third home run of the season today against Cy Young pitcher, David Price. The three run shot went out to straight center, 404 feet from home plate. Later, in the top of the seventh, Reynolds hit his fourth home run of the year off Kyle Farnsworth, the first hit and run given up by Farnsworth this year. His four home runs would be more impressive had Will Middlebrooks not hit three today alone.

The offense as a whole was on fire today, making the last two shut outs look like a mockery. Carlos Santana was in the thick of everything today as he went 5-5 with two doubles and a home run, raising his batting average to .500 on the year. In addition to his and Reynolds' great games, Lonnie Chisenhall hit his first home run of the year, a three run shot in the fifth inning. Overall, four different batters scored twice including both reserve players who started today, Mike Aviles and Ryan Raburn. Every batter (except Nick Swisher) reached base at least once and six batters had multi-hit days.

Justin Masterson had great results in his Opening Day start, recording a win in six innings against Toronto, but he looked much more dominant today against the Rays. He did a much better job throwing his fastball for strikes and he was getting a huge break on his slider. In this game he threw one more inning, struck out three more batters and most importantly, walked one less. He also had less hitters counts, leading to fewer hits and one less run scored.

Almost as impressive as scoring 8 runs off Price, the Indians scored their final two runs against last year's top closer, Fernando Rodney. Reynolds hit a double in his last at bat and Santana followed with his fifth hit and second home run of the year. Chisenhall ended Rodney's day with another extra base hit into the left field gap.

The Indians were not just the only team to face both of the previous years Cy Young Award winners in the first week of the season, they were the first team to beat both of those pitchers.

Feathers Down

I brought it up many times last year and will say it again. If a player is not good enough to be in the starting lineup, he can't be good enough to bat third when he does play. Today, Ryan Raburn started in left field in an effort to get an extra right handed bat in the lineup and batted in Jason Kipnis' normal three hole. Raburn probably shouldn't have made the team at all, and definitely shouldn't be batting in the top half of the lineup.

Even though it was not necessary for the win, it would have been nice to see Justin Masterson get a chance to pitch a complete game. Complete game shut outs are almost non-existent for the Tribe now, despite a long history full of them. Even chances are rare, so when a starter gets through the 7th inning without allowing a run, he needs to take advantage of it.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 13 - Tampa Bay Rays 0

Trevor Bauer's first career major league start with the Indians will forever be remembered as him being the first pitcher to walk the first four batters of a game since John Danks of the White Sox in 2009 and the first Indian since Bartolo Colon. However, Bauer's start was confirmation of everything we have heard about him: has a high ceiling, unpolished, raw, yet fun to watch.

Player of the Game

Nick Swisher won his first Player of the Game as an Indian, but not in the way he would have liked. A walk and a single lead to a score of 0.41 for Swish, giving him one of the lowest POG winning scores ever. Each pitcher finished with a negative score as well as five batters. Second place went to Ryan Raburn in his first game of the year with a score of 0.30 (less than going 1-1 with a single). The overall team score was -3.22, the second straight shut out against the Indians and the second straight negative team POG score.

Feathers Up

There was some good in all the strangeness of Trevor Bauer's first start as an Indian. He didn't give up his first hit until the fourth inning when the Rays scored two runs on their only two hits. He was also able to come back and pitch through the fifth inning despite the plethora of pitches he was forced to throw in the first inning. While his start wasn't a total loss, Bauer did prove that he could use a little more time in the minors and this showing should help Indians fans stomach Carlos Carrasco taking his place in the rotation after this turn.

Lou Marson deserves some credit for standing in there and tagging out Desmond Jennings to save a run. He stood beside the plate down the line on his first tag out of the game, but blocked the plate as well as you can the second time.

Feathers Down

Trevor Bauer's Indians debut was a less than stellar to say the least. He walked the first four batters he faced, ending with Evan Longoria who walked with the bases loaded. There were a few close pitches of those called balls, but overall he struggled with his command in the first inning. He was saved at the end of the first inning when a great throw from Ryan Rayburn, who was playing right field, caught out Matt Joyce who was trying to tag up from third.

Bauer settled down for the most part for the rest of his time on the field, but did walk a few more. His 1.4 walks/inning currently ranks him second to last all time among Indians pitchers with at least 3 innings pitched. Only Cal Vasbinder, who walked eight in 5 relief innings across two games has him beat. His four consecutive walks to start a game also tied a team record (Bartolo Colon, 2000)

Lou Marson did a great job blocking the plate (for possibly the first time in his career) to tag out Desmond Jennings who had stole his way to third after walking. The rough collision was too much for Marson, however, and he was removed in the fourth inning. This meant that Carlos Santana had to be taken out of the DH role to catch, forcing starting pitcher Trevor Bauer to bat his own place in the lineup. Marson is listed as day-to-day with a neck strain.

A terrible call in the sixth inning cost the Indians a run after Yunel Escobar was called safe at second, despite being tagged out on the foot by Jason Kipnis far in front of the base. He then scored on a Shelley Duncan single to right field. Matt Albers (who was pitching when this happened) was ejected after the inning ended for arguing the call. Overall a strong case was made for robot umpires as the boys in blue were inconsistant all night. High strikes, check swings and tags at second were the most glaring mistakes.

The Indians were shut out by Tampa's fourth and fifth starters. It certainly won't get any easier tomorrow as they face, not just the Rays ace, but possible the best pitcher in the American League, David Price.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 0 - Tampa Bay Rays 6

Roster Moves: In what looks to be the last pitching rotation announcement for awhile, the Indians have stated that Carlos Carrasco will be entered into the rotation between Ubaldo Jimenez and Brett Myers next time around as expected. This means Trevor Bauer will make just a single start before being sent back down, possibly for Jason Giambi who is due to join the team next week.

Player of the Game

With two innings of almost perfect baseball, Bryan Shaw takes home the first Player of the Game for a relief pitcher in 2013. As often happens in scoreless games, there were no outstanding hitters and starting pitcher Zach McAllister wasn't quite up to par. Shaw's final score was 2.50.

Feathers Up

Michael Bourne has quickly become one of the Indians hottest hitters and he continued his streak tonight. He has a hit in every game and tonight went 2-4 with a double and a single. The two hits were the only ones by an Indians hitter all night.

Bryan Shaw pitched his second solid outing of relief tonight, but was aided by a great throw for an outfield assist by Michael Brantley after the catcher, Jose Lobaton had singled. It was the Indians first assist of the season and came on a strong throw. Playing in left field will likely aid Brantley in this ability as the distances thrown are often shorter than in center. So far, Shaw, Vinnie Pestano, Joe Smith and Rich Hill have combined for 7.2 innings of shut-out baseball.

Feathers Down

Zach McAllister pitched well tonight, but unlike the Indians other starters this year, had no problems with his command. McAllister's biggest issue was giving up hits on pitcher's counts, especially in the fourth inning when a combination of Rays singles and doubles lead to the first two runs of the game.

A Mike Aviles error lead to two unearned runs, giving the Rays, and Matt Moore, a four run lead. That was far more than he actually needed however as Moore was lights out, striking out eight batters while allowing just four base runners in six innings.

With the shut out and the loss, the Indians lose the ground they gained to start the season and are now back at .500, 2-2.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 0 - Tampa Bay Rays 4

In Moore's final start of the spring, he pitched four scoreless innings allowing only one hit while walking one and striking out five against the Tigers. He showed great improvement in his final start of the spring, needing only 54 pitches to work through the outing and 37 of those were strikes.  In his rookie season in 2012, he had two starts against the Tribe; back to back starts with the all-star break in between. In each of those starts, he did not make it to the sixth inning. In fact, he only had four starts all season where he walked more batters than he struck out; two of them came against the Tribe. 

Roster Moves: The Indians have made things official as Scott Kazmir was placed on the 15 day DL today with a right ribcage sprain. In his place, Trevor Bauer will make the Indians fifth start, but will probably not stay on the team as Carlos Carrasco will end his suspension Sunday.

Player of the Game

Carlos Santana took the Indians first Player of the Game for a position player in 2013 as he did all he could to win the game.  He did it with power, hitting his second double and first home run of the season today. He also knocked in and scored two runs each for a final POG score of 5.95. On the other end of the spectrum, Brett Myers had the lowest score of the year with a total of -9.25.

Feathers Up

The Indians accomplished something tonight that rarely occured under Manny Acta and almost never under Eric Wedge. They have used the same lineup in each of the first three games. While players will eventually need time off, they don't need it the first week of the season, so Terry Francona has put out his best possible offense every day.

After years of a veritable 'power outage', the Indians finally have some pop from the right side of the plate. Mark Reynolds hit his second home run of the year tonight (his first was the game winner last night) following Carlos Santana who had one of his own. The Indians have home runs in each game so far this season.

After two low scoring games, the Indians proved they can mash when they need to, coming from behind multiple times tonight to tie the game at three, then later at six. Santana was a big part of both comebacks, knocking in runs in both the fourth and sixth innings.

Feathers Down

Brett Myers looked terrible today, especially after the two quality starts by the Indians to start the season. Three batters into the game, Myers gave up a two run home run to Jose Bautista, giving him more runs allowed than any other pitcher to this point. He later gave up another two home runs, allowing a total of six runs in just five innings. The Indians knew his velocity would be down coming into the season, but without a solid fastball, there is nothing to keep opposing batters from feasting on his breaking stuff. It is only one start, but unless he can make some changes, Bauer may find a more permanent spot in the Indians rotation soon.

Going right along with the Indians ability to come back, they had to give up runs in the first place to make it all possible. The Blue Jays were slamming the ball all over the second deck past the outfield wall, ending with five home runs, two hit by J.P. Arencibia alone. His second home run came off Myers in the sixth inning, who was left in despite giving up three runs the prior inning and six runs total.

The Indians lost their first game of the season and despite giving up five home runs, lost the game because of a few poor plays on defense. Poor relief pitching also came into play, as both Cody Allen and Matt Albers had issues with command.

Play of the Game

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Mark Reynolds fielded a ball that should have ended the inning. Instead, he threw wide of Cody Allen, who was covering, and the ball got away, allowing the runner to score from third. The unearned run was the final scored that inning, pushing the Toronto lead to three. The error was given to Reynolds, but Allen should have at least caught it as it glanced off his glove.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 8 - Toronto Blue Jays 10

Injury News: The Indians have not stated who will be the number five starter the first time through the rotation yet, but they have said that it won't be Scott Kazmir. He is too injured to pitch Saturday, but not badly enough to be placed on the DL as of yet. Travis Bauer is a prime candidate as Carlos Carrasco is unavailable until Monday.

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Player of the Game

Ubaldo Jimenez nets the Player of the Game with a final POG score of 5.00 despite not recording the win. He pitched 6 solid innings, allowing just a single run on a solo home run while striking out six. Michael Brantley also had a great game with four hits, racking up a POG score of 3.55.

Feathers Up

Both starters had their "good stuff" at the start of this game. The Indians first four hits off Brandon Morrow were all of the seeing eye variety and Ubaldo Jimenez was very proficient at keeping the ball on the ground. Morrow was especially good at striking out batters, ending the game with 8 while Jimenez's only mistake came against light hitting Maicer Izturis who hit a solo home run to left in the third inning. Despite just allowing a single run each, neither pitcher was eligible to win the game as they each left early while the game was tied.

Michael Brantley has been hot through the first two games as he knocked in his first run of the year today on his third single. He had a great Spring, especially early on and will benefit playing in the middle of a much improved lineup. He later added two more singles and was the only batter to hit the ball hard safely in the first five innings against Morrow. He is now 5-6 on the season with two walks.

Michael Bourne showed his speed for the first time, legging out a double on a bloop hit to left before taking third on a line drive out to shallow right. He later scored on the Brantley single. Drew Stubbs also turned it on for the first time, stealing the first base (of many to come) by an Indian this year.

Mark Reynolds first hit as an Indian was an upper deck shot to give the Indians the lead in the 11th inning. The pitch was high and he let it fly to straightaway centerfield.

Feathers Down

Jason Kipnis has been kept off base each of the first two games, but he has hit the ball hard. Today he hit a long fly to the opposite field, but was retired at the wall by Melky Cabrera.

Much like Masterson yesterday, Ubaldo Jimenez seemed to struggle at times throwing strikes. He was able to refrain from walking to many batters and it actually helped him set-up a few of his six strike outs. Pitching like this places Jimenez on an edge, just like last year, where he is dangerously close to walking 5 batters a game. Another aspect of this wildness, the increase in pitch count, is made unimportant by the strength of the Indians bullpen.

Chris Perez didn't wait long to blow his first save of the season as he came out of the pen hot and completely out of control. He struck out the first batter, but threw a terrible fast ball to Jose Bautista which was deposited in the bullpen past the left field wall. In a one run game, that was all that was needed to force extra innings.

Play of the Game

Jimenez induced a double play to end his sixth and final inning of the game. After Melky Cabrera had reached via single, Jose Batista hit a ground ball to Jason Kipnis who tossed the ball to Asdrubal Cabrera. It was the second double play forced against Batista by Jimenez.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 - Toronto Blue Jays 2