Indians Drop 2 Straight to Rays, Take on Yankees Next

After beating Tampa Bay for the 18th straight time at home on Friday night, the Cleveland Indians couldn’t seem to put anything together for the final two games of the series. Yesterday, Justin Masterson pitched very well for the Tribe, but a costly two-out walk to Tampa’s Willy Aybar and a single to John Jaso in the second inning set the table for a three run homer by the Rays’ Reid Brignac which put the Tribe in a hole early. Their offense, which had been on fire since the all-star break, seemed to fall flat against the Rays’ pitching and the Indians lost the game 4-2. They had several chances with runners in scoring position to make a comeback, but strike outs and pop ups all but killed any chances that they managed to get.

On Saturday, Mitch Talbot had a similar fate against his former team. Tossing an amazing game early on, Talbot managed to rack up six strike outs in a row, a club record shared by the likes of Bartolo Colon, Bob Feller and Chuck Finley. Talbot would finish the day with eight K’s in his 5 2/3 innings of work, but back to back singles to former Indian Kelly Shoppach and Jason Bartlett set the table for a three run blast by the Rays’ Ben Zobrist. Once again, the Tribe’s offense fell flat and they lost the game 6-3 to end their 18 game home win streak against the Rays dating back to September 28, 2005.

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The Indians now face a four game series with the dreaded New York Yankees at a time when the club and its fan base are feeling a bit down. Unless they can quickly turn things around Monday night, it could be a very long week for everyone. Jake Westbrook will make what, in all likelihood, be his last start for the club in the series opener. Westbrook has been the talk of many a trade rumor the past few days and several teams including the Yankees have expressed interest in the Tribe’s ace. A deal for Jake would mark the third consecutive season that the Tribe has dealt away their number top starting pitcher, a streak that most fans in Cleveland simply are not prepared to tolerate continuing. Without Westbrook, the Tribe’s starting rotation will lack a true veteran pitcher, and it is unlikely that they will add another one in the offseason. It is difficult to envision a contending ball club without a true ace on their pitching staff, and if the team deals away Fausto Carmona, it will be hard to envision the team contending for the next several years with a young, inexperienced rotation.

One of those young guys is expected to make his debut for the Tribe on Tuesday as John Tomlin will make his major league debut against former Tribe ace CC Sabathia. Tomlin gets the nod over David Huff, Jeanmar Gomez and Carlos Carrasco to make the start after Aaron Laffey was placed on the 15 day DL with left shoulder fatigue. Tomlin went 8-4 with a 2.68 ERA for Triple-A Columbus and make 17 starts for the club. While Gomez’s start last week ended up being a one-and-done situation, the Tribe may keep Tomlin in the rotation until Laffey is ready to come back. Of course, a deal for any of their current starters would mean that Tomlin is here to stay regardless of the outcome on Tuesday night.

By Robert Gonzalez
Cleveland Indians Correspondent

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