News
Promising start doesn't last for Indians
Trio of homers wasted when pitching, defense unravel
By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com
04/11/09 12:29 AM ET
CLEVELAND -- The Indians waited through a three-hour, 47-minute rain delay to finish Friday's home opener against the Blue Jays. The wait for their first win of 2009 is ongoing. A couple of hundred die-hard fans, whittled down from the original sold-out crowd, braved the elements and the clock to stick around through that marathon delay, but their patience was not rewarded. Despite some offensive heroics from Travis Hafner, Shin-Soo Choo and Victor Martinez, late mishaps on the mound and in the field forced the Indians to fall, 13-7, to the Jays on a wet and dreary day at Progressive Field. The Indians and Jays were inordinately patient because this is Toronto's only trip to Cleveland this season, and the thought of playing three games on Saturday and Sunday or using a mutual off-day later in the year did not appeal to them. Still, the 3:47 delay in the top of the fifth was a tad on the excessive side, as manager Eric Wedge admitted. "It's a bit much," Wedge said. "But we've been in situations like this before. This is their only time in. It's unfortunate with the schedule. I understand what everybody's thinking, but there are no excuses. This is the big leagues, and this just goes with the territory." As for the territory the 0-4 Indians are in at this early juncture, it's not exactly solid ground. "I don't think people would expect we'd see what we've seen so far," Wedge said. "You talk about being tough on the tough days, and that's what we have to show right now." The Tribe was tough enough to take a 3-0 lead against Scott Richmond early in this one, with Hafner's two-run double and solo homer accounting for all the RBIs. But it was a lead left-hander Scott Lewis would squander. Lewis had pitched well with the early advantage but began to unravel his second time through the Jays' order. The Jays strung together a three-run fourth and then took a 4-3 lead in the fifth on Marco Scutaro's solo shot to left. "He was really spotting the baseball early on," Wedge said of Lewis. "Then he started to leak out over the middle of the plate a little bit." The game entered rain-delay mode just as Rafael Betancourt was warming up to replace Lewis in the fifth. As the delay dragged on, it became reminiscent of what transpired in the 2007 home opener, when the Indians, holding a 4-0 lead on the Mariners, were one strike away from a regulation game, only to see blizzard-like conditions intervene and put an impromptu end to the proceedings. That game had to be replayed in its entirety the following month. This game, on the other hand, did resume. By the time it did, darkness had fallen. And it would soon find the Tribe. Betancourt gave up a Jays insurance run in the sixth, but Choo's rocket solo shot off Brian Tallet in the bottom of the inning pulled the Indians to within 5-4. The Jays took advantage of a Jhonny Peralta throwing error to put up a pair of runs off Joe Smith in the seventh, and it was 7-4. Martinez's towering two-run blast off Tallet in the bottom of the inning made it 7-6, and the Indians loaded the bases and tied the game when Brandon League hit Ben Francisco with a pitch. But in the eighth, the Jays loaded the bases against Rafael Perez and went ahead for good on Scutaro's two-run bloop single to right. It would have been a one-run single had Choo not misplayed the ball. That error, though, was rendered moot when Alex Rios ripped a two-run double off Perez. Perez walked Vernon Wells and was removed for Masa Kobayashi. And when Kobayashi was touched by a two-run double from Adam Lind, this one was put to bed, roughly seven hours after it had begun. Speaking for his mates in the bullpen, Betancourt offered no excuses regarding the delay. "It's tough," he said, "but it's tough on the other team, too." Obviously, this was a game taken to extreme circumstances. But as good as the Indians must be feeling about their offense right now, their pitching continues to find ways to let them down. Lewis' ERA of 8.31 actually leads the starting staff. And nobody in the bullpen stepped up as this game dragged on. Wedge said the Tribe would have to discuss a possible roster move regarding the bullpen after the game, because the staff has been stretched thin. And his patience with what's transpired this season is already wearing thin. "We need to be tough, have broad shoulders and fight through this," Wedge said. "As bad as these four games have been, we need to separate from them." You can't blame the Indians from wanting separation from a home opener that will remain memorable for all the wrong reasons.Anthony Castrovince is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
