Number 50!
Indians fans got to enjoy the fireworks, on and off the field.
Teams|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|R|H|E
Oakland
|0|0|0|2|0|0|0|0|0|2|10|1
Cleveland
|3|0|0|3|0|3|3|0|X|12|20|0
AP - Cleveland, OH - Happy Independence Day! The Cleveland Indians celebrated July 4th with a 12-2 stomping of the Oakland A's. Justin Duchscherer has been the leading the votes for starting pitcher for the AL team. His record was questionable, but prior to this game his 2.26 ERA was a thing of beauty, was.
The Indians unloaded on Duchscherer and his bullpen for a 12 spot, scoring three runs in four different innings. While Cliff Lee took the mound and continued to climb out of his slump, many thought Cliff might be a July trade, the game today proved to the organization that moving him would be a mistake. Lee tossed for seven innings, giving up only two runs before turning the duties over to Rafeal Perez out of the bullpen.
"Getting offensive help, helps." said Lee. "You have to go out there and keep runs off the board, and in return your guys have to put you in position to win. I kept the runs off, they kept piling them on. It's a good feeling, you know. To get a win like this one. I'll make another start before the All-Star break and enjoy the days off. I'm excited for the break."
Lee isn't the only one excited for the break. The win today pushed the Indians to fifty wins on the season. Eric Wedge was on hand to talk about the importance of getting fifty before the all-star break. "We're now into the second half of the season, today was game number eighty-two. Getting 50 wins, with eighty games to go. It's important. To win a division you'll need at least 90. We secured this, before the All-Star break. Well before when I thought we would. We're on pace now to win the division. I'm happy about that, so are the rest of the guys, even though we're on pace, we still have to get it done out there."
The Indians will look to complete the sweep of the Oakland A's tomorrow with Carl Pavano on the mound. Pavano has been in hot water because of his performance last month. If he does terrible you can expect the Indians to make a move during the All-Star break to get a guy more capable of the job in there.
Lineup:
CF Davis 0-5 | 2K
DH Sweeney 2-5 |
LF Holliday 1-4 |
1B Giambi 1-3 |
SS Cabrera 1-4 | 1K
RF Cust 2-4 | 1K
C Suzuki 0-4 | 2K
3B Chavez 2-4 | 1K
2B Crosby 1-4 | 2K
Batting:
2B:
R. Sweeney (10), J. Cust (9), O. Cabrera (19)
3B:
E. Chavez (2), M. Holliday (4), J. Giambi (1)
RBI:
J. Cust (44), B. Crosby (15)
Fielding:
E:
O. Cabrera (7), B. Crosby (13)
Base Running:
SB:
O. Cabrera (8)
Pitching:
Duchscherer (L, 5-5) | 5.0IP | 10H | 6R | 6ER | 3SO | 2.63 ERA |
Wuertz | 1.0IP | 4H | 3R | 1ER | 5.02 ERA |
Blevins | 0.2IP | 4H | 3R | 3ER | 6.16 ERA |
Casilla | 1.1IP | 2H | 4.69 ERA |
Lineup:
2B Cabrera 3-5 |
CF Francisco 4-5 |
3B DeRosa 2-5 | 1K
C Martinez 2-5 |
1B Johnson 2-5 |
RF Pena 0-5 | 1K
LF Dellucci 2-5 | 1K
1B Garko 2-4 |
SS Peralta 3-4 |
Batting:
2B:
D. Dellucci (10), V. Martinez (18), R. Garko (18), J. Peralta (8), M.DeRosa (28), B. Francisco 2 (24)
RBI:
A. Cabrera 2 (24), V. Martinez (42), N. Johnson (43), J. Peralta 3 (48), M. DeRosa 3 (52), B. Francisco (41)
GIDP:
N. Johnson
Pitching:
Lee (W, 7-3) | 7.0IP | 8H | 2R | 2ER | 1BB | 7SO | 4.84 ERA |
Perez | 2.0IP | 2H | 2SO | 3.76 ERA |
Player of the Game:
B. Francisco
4 for 5 - 2 Doubles, RBI
Next Game:
July 5th, 2009
(34-47) @ (50-32)