It's Tribe Time | A Cleveland Indians Franchise

[Vinsane]

Series Preview:

(1-5)

@

(2-4)

Division Standings

AL Central|W|L|GB
Detroit Tigers |6|1|-
Minnesota Twins |3|4|3.0
Kansas City Royals |2|4|3.5
Chicago Whitesox|2|4|3.5
Cleveland Indians |1|5|4.5

Game 1:

F. Carmona (0-1, 4.50 ERA)

|

G. Meche (0-0, 3.86 ERA)

Game 2:

A. Laffey (0-1, 12.00 ERA)

|

B. Bannister (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

Game 3:

A. Reyes (0-1, 4.05 ERA)

|

L. Hochevar (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Key Bank's "Keys to Succes"

1.) Forget the Standings - The Indians don't need to focus on where they are in the AL Central but rather picking up wins against this AL Central opponent. From the looks of things early this Kansas City team could be dangerous to all teams in the Central or they could still be the Kansas City Kitties that the Central is used to, it's too early to tell, don't let them hurt us early.

2.) Disipline - Much improved over the past two series it's time to put that good disipline to work and get some W's in that win column and climb up fom the cellar.

3.) Focus on the series - Cleveland doesn't need to be distracted by New York up ahead, take this series one game at a time and work your way to victories in Kansas City before getting ahead of themselves, the Indians keep their heads in the right place, good things will happen.​

 

[Vinsane]

Hey on the boxscore it says 4-4 but other than that good job on this

Thanks, I missed that on my proof read.

 

[Vinsane]

Cellar dwellars.
Goodluck on getting this on track.

It hurt to look at the standings, believe me.

 

[Vinsane]

Indians Snap Streak At Five!

DH Travis Hafner finally finds his bat with this two run shot.

Teams|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|R|H|E
Cleveland |0|0|4|0|0|0|0|0|2|6|12|0
Kansas City |0|1|0|1|0|0|0|2|0|4|8|0

AP - Kansas City, MO - The day started off, just like any other. The sun rose in the east and sat in the west. The Indians day did not start off like any other. With the late night game ahead of them the Indians got up in their hotel awfully early around noon for a team meeting called by Eric Wedge. Wedge was feeling the pressure of the upcoming game, already last place in the AL Central is no way to start a season. Wedge explained to his guys what he expected from them, calling out a lot of the star players that have failed to produce in the early going. Travis Hafner was one of those guys.

"Skip looked to me and said 'You feeling all right Pronk?' I told him yeah, then he told me. 'Well then go out there and hit the damn ball!' The meeting got us fired up and ready for the game. I don't think there was any way we were going to los tonight." There were however chances for the Royals to ruin the pre-game speech that lit a fuse under the Indians collective butts. Early on they took a 1-0 lead in the second. The Indians responded with a four run third that included a shot by Travis Hafner. Again the Royals would score in the fourth to cut the lead in half 4-2.

The Indians thought it would be smooth sailing to close the door, they scored two in the eighth off a shot from Jhonny Peralta, his third of the season. The Indians brought on Rafeal Perez who gave up two earned runs to make the game 6-4 heading into the ninth. Kerry Wood would come on to close the door, not appearing since his blown save at the start of the season, Wood would get the three outs needed, facing four batters and the Indians were given their second win of the season and snap their five game losing skid. They look to win back-to-back games for the first time this season when game two of this series kicks off.

Indians Lineup:

CF Sizemore 2-5 |
2B Cabrera 2-5 |
C Martinez 1-4 |
DH Hafner 1-4 |
1B Garko 0-4 |
SS Peralta 2-4 |
3B DeRosa 1-4 |
RF Dellucci** 1-4 |
LF Francisco 2-4 |

** - Appeared for Choo who was given the day off.

Batting:

HR: T. Hafner (1), J. Peralta (3)
RBI: G. Sizemore (5), A. Cabrera (3), T. Hafner 2 (6), J. Peralta 2 (5)

Indians Pitching:

Carmona (W, 1-1) | 6.0IP | 5H | 2R | 2ER | 1BB | 6SO | 3.75 ERA |
Perez (H, 1) | 2.0IP | 2H | 2R | 2ER | 4.50 ERA |
Wood (S, 1) | 1.0IP | 1H | 1SO | 0.00 ERA |

Royals Lineup:

LF DeJesus 2-4 | 1K
3B Gordon 1-4 |
DH Guillen 0-3 | 1K
1B Jacobs 1-4 | 1K
RF Teahen 0-4 |
CF Crisp 2-4 |
C Olivo 0-4 | 2K
2B Callaspo 2-3 |
SS Bloomquist 0-4 | 2K

Batting:

3B: C. Crisp (1), D. DeJesus (2)
HR: M. Jacobs (3)
RBI: J. Guillen (8), M. Jacobs (5), A. Callaspo 2 (2)
SF: J. Guillen, A. Callaspo

Royals Pitching:

Meche (L, 0-1) | 5.1IP | 9H | 4R | 4ER | 1SO | 5.23 ERA |
Gobble | 2.1IP | 2H | 2R | 2ER | 1SO | 3.68 ERA |
Bale | 1.0IP | 1H | 2.35 ERA |

Player of the Game:

J. Peralta

2 for 4 - HR, 2RBI​

 

[mfbmike]

Finally got those bats going. Nice work.

 

[Vinsane]

Winning Streak!

SP Aaron Laffey chased the perfect game, then the shut out, ended with career day.

Teams|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|R|H|E
Cleveland |0|3|2|0|0|0|0|0|0|5|12|0
Kansas City |0|0|0|0|0|0|0|2|0|2|6|0

AP - Kansas City, MO - With the calling of a winning streak in their midst the Indians felt no pressure heading into Kaufmann Stadium, yeah, right. The Tribe needed to secure another win for their first winning streak of the season, they did so in fashion as Aaron Laffey gave the performance that the Indians starters needed to get the rotation, and the bullpen on the right track. Early on through four innigs Laffey was chasing a no hitter, he had retired 13 straight when his no hitter was snapped by the first hit in the game, given up in the fifth. Mark DeRosa commented. "You don't talk about it, you let the pitcher do his thing, you don't approach him in the dugout, nothing. You can tell Aaron wanted someone to say something, he's a young kid, a lot of pressure riding on his shoulders. After the play he looked over to me at third, shrugged his shoulders and went back to pitching. The kid is special."

The twenty-three year old Laffey has plenty of baseball ahead of him for the Tribe who plan on keeping this young hurler in their rotation, if there was any doubt he belonged here, you can't really erase it off of one performance, but he showed he can compete at the big league level. Aaron was reached after the game as well. "I went out there and pitched, the guys backed me up on defense, yeah it would of been nice to get the no-hitter, it would of been nice to get the complete game shut-out, but as a starter in the rotation my job is to get wins and put our bullpen in position to close out the tough game. I did my job tonight, that extra stuff is nice, but I'm just glad we got the win."

The tribe conclude the series tomorrow night, they currently lead 2-0.

Lineup:

CF Sizemore 1-5 | 1K
2B Carroll** 1-4 |
C Martinez 2-4 |
DH Hafner 1-4 |
1B Garko 1-4 |
SS Peralta 0-4 |
3B DeRosa 1-4 |
RF Choo 2-4 |
LF Francisco 3-4 |

** - Appeared for Cabrera who was given the day off.

Batting:

2B: G. Sizemore (1), T. Hafner (1), S. Choo (4), B. Francisco (2)
3B: M. DeRosa (1)
RBI: R. Garko (2), J. Peralta (6), M. DeRosa (3), S. Choo (2), B. Fracisco (3)

Baserunning:

CS: G. Sizemore (3), B. Francisco (1)

Pitching:

Laffey (W, 1-1) | 8.0IP | 6H | 2R | 2ER | 9SO | 6.43 ERA |
Wood | (S, 2) | 1.0IP | 1SO | 0.00 ERA |

Lineup:

LF DeJesus 0-4 |
3B Gordon 1-4 | 2K
1B Butler 0-4 |
RF Guillen 1-4 | 1K
DH Teahen 1-4 |
CF Crisp 1-3 | 2K
C Olivo 0-3 | 3K
2B Bloomquist 1-3 | 1K
SS Pena Jr. 1-3 | 1K

Batting:

2B: W. Bloomquist (1)
RBI: T. Pena Jr. (4)
GIDP: B. Butler

Pitching:

Bannister (L, 1-1) | 5.0IP | 8H | 5R | 5ER | 3.46 ERA |
Gobble | 4.0IP | 1SO | 0.00 ERA |

Player of the Game:

A. Laffey

8.0 Innings 6 Hits 9 Strikeouts​

 

[Vinsane]

The Lineup Shuffle.

Manager Eric Wedge, faced with a tough decision as he scratches the middle of the lineup.​

AP - Kansas City, MO - Indians Manager Eric Wedge announced today that three of his players will be on the bench for the series finale with the Kansas City Royals, stating that much needed R&R is key for the upcoming series with the Yankees. C Victor Martinez, DH Travis Hafner, and 1B Ryan Garko will be riding pine for the game 3 showdown tonight. Kelly Shoppach will take over for V-Mart at the plate, David Dellucci will pick up the bat to DH while Jamey Carrol will appear for his second game this season, this time at first base.

When asked why the sudden change in the line-up especially against a division opponent Eric Wedge had this to say. "These guys have been going non-stop, Travis and Ryan have struggled at the plate, Victor is a shade below where he should be. And all three have appeared in all our games this season." When asked if this was a disrespect move to the Kansas City Royals Eric Wedge was furiated to say the least. "Disrespect? If I wanted to Disrespect the Royals I'd put Travis on the mound and bring up all our guys from Columbus, are you (explicit) kidding me?"

The Indians and Royals will end their series tonight.

 

[mfbmike]

Hell of a win up there. I'm having some success against the Royals as well.

"Disrespect? If I wanted to Disrespect the Royals I'd put Travis on the mound and bring up all our guys from Columbus, are you (explicit) kidding me?"

haha nice read.

 

[Vinsane]

Hell of a win up there. I'm having some success against the Royals as well.

haha nice read.

I follow yours to the T. mike, if you haven't noticed, you're an inspiration. Thanks, since I don't have PS I'll make up for my lack of graphics with my writing. I hope you guys enjoy.

 

[mfbmike]

Appreciate it.

And yeah, I remember when you wrote that piece after the Superbowl. It was :bow:

 

[Vinsane]

Comeback City!

Eric Wedge, and his staff can only watch as the Royals complete the comeback, winning in the bottom of the ninth.

Teams|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|R|H|E
Cleveland |0|3|0|0|1|1|0|0|0|5|15|0
Kansas City |2|0|0|0|1|1|0|0|2|6|14|1

AP - Kansas City, MO - From the start of this one, there were fireworks. With the benching of Martinez, Hafner, and Garko, Kansas City might of felt a little disrespected. It was a high offensive game as the Indians and the Royals battled it out, Kansas City trying to avoid the sweep, the Indians, trying to get their first of the season before heading to New York to meet the Bronx bombers.

"It was a fight right down to the end". Said CF Grady Sizemore of the game. "There are things on the field you can't control, Gordon comes out, legs out a triple, then, DeJesus brings him home, and Teahen brings DeJesus home. It's odd, it's something you can't believe, but they wanted this game more than us tonight and they got it, unfortunantly for us."

Eric Wedge who recieved some heat from the media prior to the game due to his benching of Hafner, Martinez, and Garko, faced the firing squad after the game. When asked about his decision he gave us this comment. "I stand by my decision, these guys needed rest, right up until the end it payed off. If we win no one says anything about this loss, we go into New York and play the next four game series. We lost however, so now I'm the goat." Wedge took a few more questions, one that got him thinking was the state of the rotation and the bullpen. "It's poor right now, our play out of the bullpen, our starters have put us in position to win, our bullpen needs to close out the game."

Wedge was then questioned about the second blown save by closer, Kerry Wood. "When it's early in the season, you get the benifit of the doubt, not being in shape, getting the rust off, whatever the excuse can be. Stuff like this happens in late May, June, or July? No excuse, we won't have room on this orginization's roster if you can't come in and do what you're supposed to."

The Indians move on to play the New York Yankees in a four game series in New York.

Lineup:

CF Sizemore 2-5 |
2B Carroll** 3-5 |
C Shoppach 2-5 |
DH Dellucci 0-5 | 1K
1B Carroll 1-5 |
SS Peralta 1-4 |
3B DeRosa 1-4 | 2K
RF Choo 3-4 |
LF Francisco 2-4 |

Batting:

2B: G. Sizemore (2), A. Cabrera (1), M. DeRosa (4)
RBI: G. Sizemore 2 (7), A. Cabrera (4), S. Choo (3), D. Dellucci (1)

Pitching:

Reyes | 6.0IP | 9H | 4R | 4ER | 7SO | 4.97 ERA |
Betancourt (H, 1) | 2.0IP | 2H | 1SO | 4.15
Wood | (L, 0-1) | 0.1IP | 3H | 2R | 2ER | 4.50 ERA |

Lineup:

LF DeJesus 3-5 | 1K
RF Teahen 2-4 | 1K
CF Butler 3-4 |
1B Jacobs 0-4 | 4K
DH Guillen 3-4 | 1K
PR Crisp 0-0 |
C Olivo 0-4 | 1K
2B Callaspo 1-4 | 1K
SS Bloomquist 0-4 | 1K
3B Pena Jr. 1-3 |
PH Gordon 1-1 |

Batting:

2B: B. Butler (1)
3B: J. Guillen 2 (2), A. Gordon (1), B. Butler (1)
RBI: D. DeJesus (3), J. Guillen (9), A. Gordon (2), B. Butler 2 (2), M. Olivo (3)
GIDP: J. Guilen, M. Olivo

Fielding:

E: W. Bloomquist (3)

Pitching:

Hochevar | 4.0IP | 10H | 4R | 4ER | 3.48 ERA |
Gobble | 5.0IP | 5H | 1R | 1 ER | 3SO | 2.13 ERA |

Player of the Game:

J. Guillen

3 for 4 - 2 Triples, RBI​

 

[mfbmike]

Ouch. that fucking sucks.

 

[Vinsane]

Series Preview:

(3-6)

@

(5-4)

Game 1:

C. Pavano (0-1, 13.50 ERA)

|

A. Pettitte (1-0, 1.69 ERA)

Game 2:

C. Lee (0-1, 8.10 ERA)

|

C.C. Sabathia (1-1, 3.38 ERA)

Game 3:

F. Carmona (1-1, 3.75 ERA)

|

J. Chamberlain (0-1, 2.77 ERA)

Game: 4

A. Laffey (1-1, 6.43 ERA)

|

A. J. Burnett (0-1, 9.00 ERA)

Key Bank's "Keys to Succes"

1.) Avoid the media hype - Papers have been eating this up since the schedule was released. A lot of story going on here, The Indians who sent the Yankees packing in 07', The Yankees not making the playoffs last year, C.C. Sabathia vs. Cliff Lee. Avoid the media hype and focus on baseball.

2.) Get what you can - Let's be realistic a 4-0, 3-1, series outcome in our favor is HIGHLY unlikely. If we can push 2-2 or even 1-3, it's going to be a victory against this Yankees line-up that could really just be called "The A.L. Allstars". Win what we can and head back to Cleveland.

3.) Stay conditioned - First four game series of the year, each game a night game, luckily we have a day off at the end. Stay focused, stay in shape and don't push it too hard, too early in the season to get injuries. Stay focused on the games one at a time, it'll be over before we know it.​

 

[Vinsane]

Ouch. that fucking sucks.

My thoughts, exactly!

 

[mfbmike]

The yanks. This could be painful. 2-2 would be nice.

 

[Vinsane]

UNBELIEVABLE!

Alex Rodriguez caps off a six run bottom of the ninth with this walk off grand-slam.

Teams|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|R|H|E
Cleveland |2|0|0|3|0|2|4|0|0|11|19|0
New York |0|0|0|1|0|1|2|2|6|12|13|0

AP - New York City, NY - As the pitch was delivered, the sound of the bat was cracked and the Yankees pulled off new magic, in their new ball park. Alex Rodriguez who has struggled all year, finally broke out the big stick and gave the Indians a surprising loss in New York. Cleveland led by as many as 9 after their half of the seventh inning. Another bullpen collapse and another loss chalked up to late comeback heroics, for the second night in a row the Indians leave a game heartbroken.

Alex Rodriguez's walk off grand-slam put an end to a fantastic story to the Indians who for 7 innings made the New York Yankees look silly. After i was all said and done the Yankees made the Indians look silly and no one was more upset about it than Grady Sizemore, who had some harsh words about his team after the game. "This is (explicit) ridiculous, we go out there night after night, we get the leads and our (explicit) bullpen blows it for us. Those guys need to get their heads out of their collective (explicit) and realise we're not here to (explicit) around, we're here to get back to the World Series, I want a ring, not just for myself but for everyone else on this squad and we got bums like Kobayashi giving up seven runs in two and two thirds inning of work?!"

Kobayashi was contacted after what Sizemore said. "I came into a pressure situation, delivered the best I could, yeah, seven runs is too much, I didn't lose the game though, Joe did!" Joe Smith was the pitcher on the mound when A-Rod's blast cleared the wall, he too was reached for comment. "That guy said what? My fault? (Explicit) him. " As the finger pointing continues the series will go on tommorow night featuring the last two Cy Young winners in C.C. Sabathia for the Yankees and Cliff Lee for the Indians. All of this overshadows what was the best performance of the night from Travis Hafner who went 4 for 5, with 2 HR and 6 RBI.

Lineup:

CF Sizemore 1-5 | 1K
2B Cabrera 2-5 |
C Martinez 4-5 |
DH Hafner 4-5 |
1B Garko 1-5 |
SS Peralta 2-4 |
3B DeRosa 2-4 |
RF Choo 2-4 |
LF Dellucci 1-4 | 1K

Batting:

2B: V. Martinez (3), M. DeRosa (6)
3B: V. Martinez (1)
HR: G.Sizemore (2), T. Hafner 2 (3)
RBI: G. Sizemore (8), V. Martinez (1), T. Hafner 6 (12), J. Peralta (7), M. DeRosa (4), S. Choo (4)
GIDP: G. Sizemore, M. DeRosa

Pitching:

Pavano | 6.0IP | 5H | 3R | 3ER | 5SO | 8.10 ERA |
Betancourt (H, 1) | 2.2IP | 7H | 7R | 7ER | 4SO | 15.00 ERA |
Smith (L, 1-1) | 0.0IP | 1H | 2R | 2ER | 1BB | 3.00 ERA |

Lineup:

SS Jeter 1-5 |
LF Damon 3-4 | 1K
3B Rodriguez 2-5 | 1K
1B Teixeira 1-4 | 1K
C Posada 1-4 | 2K
RF Nady 3-4 | 1K
2B Cano 1-4 | 1K
CF Cabrera 0-4 | 1K
DH Swisher 1-4 | 1K

Batting:

2B: J. Posada (2), N. Swisher (2)
3B: J. Damon (1)
HR: J. Damon 2 (2), A. Rodriguez (3), X. Nady (1)
RBI: J. Damon 3 (5), D. Jeter (6), A. Rodriguez 5 (12), X. Nady 3 (6)
GIDP: J Posada

Pitching:

Pettitte | 5.0IP | 10H | 5R | 5ER | 5.23 ERA |
Veras | 1.0IP | 5H | 3R | 3ER | 1SO | 13.50 ERA |
Marte | 0.0IP | 3H | 3R | 3ER | 6.00ERA |
Bruney (W, 1-1) | 3.0IP | 1H | 1SO | 1.35ERA |

Player of the Game:

J. Damon

3 for 4 - 2HR, Triple​

 

[Vinsane]

I did everything right, everything. Kobayashi comes out and I don't get it no matter the inning, the runners, his stuff is all over the joint, first a shot down the line to right, then a shot down the right to left. Then a pop up scores the runner from third, one out, man on second, base hit, second and first, one out. Get another pop out, second and third, got two outs...

Johnny Damon came up, already blasted two so I figured, walk Johnny, bring in Joe. First fucking pitch gets taken yard by A-Rod. My dissapointment continues with my franchise and my hatred for the Yankees grows. All of this shit before the actual season starts...FML.

 

[T.Dot]

6 in the nineth :| :|

Against the Yanks too, shiit dude.
That sucks.

That dwarfs mine in moments that make you want to throw your controller out the window.

Good stuff tho

 

[Justo]

i woulda had to go to somewhere and get a new tv after that

 

[Vinsane]

6 in the nineth :| :|

Against the Yanks too, shiit dude.
That sucks.

That dwarfs mine in moments that make you want to throw your controller out the window.

Good stuff tho

i woulda had to go to somewhere and get a new tv after that

I sat there and threw the pitch and as soon as it showed the Homerun animation I was yelling "You gotta be fucking kidding me!!" I spiked the controller on the ground stood up, walked towards the wall, thought about punching it. Remebered that it's an apartment and I'll have to fix that shit so the controller spike would suffice. Watched A-Rod round the bases, get mugged then sat down and did the write-up to cool off.

I think back to my temper ten years ago and there would of been broken controllers, holes in walls, and possibly a broken game. Got a bit of relief though...update soon.