Yesterday’s Indians’ victory over the Kansas City Royals, 10-3, made one wish that the Tribe could make another Bartolo Colon trade. Two players involved in that transaction were the stars in the contest, as Grady Sizemore had four hits and seven RBI’s, and Cliff Lee won his seventh straight decision and 18th overall in the win. The Tribe has now gone 21-16 since they dealt their latest ace of the staff, C.C. Sabathia to the Brewers. How in the world has that happened?
There is no question that the Cleveland bullpen has been the worst in all of baseball. However, looking at the month of June, when the Tribe season collapsed, the starting pitching was not very reliable either. At that point in the season, the only starters that could be counted on to provide the team with a chance to win that night were the two hurlers mentioned earlier, Lee and Sabathia. Jake Westbrook went on the disabled list, while Paul Byrd and Jeremy Sowers were struggling. Aaron Laffey did well early on, but he also pitched poorly in June.
After the trade, several starters turned it around. The recently traded Byrd talked to Bert Blyleven, discovered a curve ball, and started to get left-handed hitters out more efficiently. That led to four straight wins before he was sent to Boston. Sowers also picked it up, starting with a performance against Tampa Bay were he struck out eight in four innings. Since that point, he has been able to give Eric Wedge at least six effective innings per start. Matt Ginter was called up, gave the Indians a couple of decent outings before remembering that we was, well, Matt Ginter.
In the past couple of weeks, the Indians have used newly acquired Anthony Reyes and Zach Jackson in the rotation, both with success. Reyes has pitched well in three starts, while Jackson has had two solid outings. Also, Fausto Carmona has returned from his hip injury and is rounding into form. Suddenly, the Indians have put together a solid rotation over the last month. Granted, the competition has eased up recently, but still the Tribe has won series in this span against Tampa Bay and the Angels, and the pitching was solid against both contenders.
One of the Tribe’s strengths was that they could put a starter on the mound every night that would give the team a chance to win. For a six-week period after Carmona and Westbrook went out with injuries, that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t just inexperienced hurlers getting shelled, a veteran like Paul Byrd wasn’t pitching well either. Although a veteran innings eater (effective innings are the key, see: Johnson, Jason) is needed for 2009, the Indians now have a lot of options for the rotation next season (Lee, Carmona, Reyes, Jackson, Sowers, Laffey, and David Huff).
Obviously, the bullpen is a major area of concern. Just when you think guys have turned it around, they regress. Edward Mujica has had that problem. Yesterday, Wedge put Rafael Betancourt into a close game after a couple of good jobs in mop up roles, and the right-hander immediately pitched his way into trouble. Only a bullet off the bat of David DeJesus that Ryan Garko turned into a double play saved Raffie Right. It served as a reminder that the bullpen is still a huge problem.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 