Tribe Starts Road Trip Tonight

 

After starting a nine game homestand with a lot of promise, taking two of three from Boston, the Indians lost a series against Texas and split a short set with the White Sox.  Now it’s on to Oakland, Seattle, and Kansas City for eight games where Eric Wedge looks for some consistency from his ballclub.

 

Cleveland leads the AL in runs scored so offense is not the problem.  However, the pitching has not been as good as advertised so far, ranking 9th in the league in ERA.  The starters are simply not giving the team enough length in games, as they have had only four games where the starter has pitched seven innings in a game.  This is creating a burden on the bullpen.  Tribe relievers rank 3rd in the AL in innings pitched, below only Tampa Bay and Toronto.  The fact the relief corp is missing Rafael Betancourt and Matt Miller doesn’t help the situation.

 

Free agent signee Paul Byrd is like the little girl with the curl, when he has been good he has been very good, but when he’s been bad…  That accounts for the fact he has won three games with an ERA of 8.03.  Really, only Cliff Lee and Jason Johnson have provided any consistency among the starters, and Lee has struggled once he gets past the sixth so far this season.

 

In the bullpen, Bob Wickman has been fine, but is it me or does Guillermo Mota throw 30 pitches per inning?  Fernando Cabrera has struggled less since his return from the DL, but still doesn’t resemble the pitcher he was at the end of last season.  Jason Davis throws hard, but allows too many baserunners for a reliever.  Mark Shapiro signed veteran left hander Vic Darensbourg to a minor league contract to go along with Felix Heredia in Buffalo because Scott Sauerbeck has not handled lefties very well.  That makes it more important that the starters go deeper in games. 

 

Getting C.C. Sabathia back will hopefully stabilize the starting rotation.  But Byrd and Jake Westbrook must step up and be more reliable.  If not, Mark Shapiro may have to make some moves at the quarter pole to upgrade the staff.  The offense is championship caliber, the Tribe has to stop the other teams from scoring.

 

KM