What a Stretch!

To say that the Indians have been getting good starting pitching is an understatement, as they took 3 straight from Oakland. For a starting staff to yield 1 earned run over the past 7 games is down right mind-boggling. The bats won't need to come out of their coma if this keeps up. The Tribe, with winning 8 of their last 10, has vaulted into sole possession of first place in the AL Central. The offense has had a lack of forming any type of consistency and Rafael Betancourt has looked shaky at best, but who really cares when your pitchers are throwing shutouts. With the Tigers struggling mightily and the White Sox and Twins hovering around mediocrity, the Indians may be able to put some games between them and the rest of the division. Over the next 19 games, they face the Rangers 7 times, the White Sox 6, and the Royals and Reds 3 times each. Look for this team to continue it's roll as the weather warms up. Sweeping the Athletics was a huge step in this team putting their bad start behind them.

Here were some of the Highlights:

Starting Pitchers (Byrd, Sabathia, and Laffey): 23 1/3 IP, 15 hits, 0 Earned Runs, 3 walks, 24 K's. What can you say? They starting staff has been unbelievable and the best in baseball. If they continue to pitch anywhere close to this good, 2008 will be another season to remember.

Masa Kobayashi: 2 IP, 1 hit, 3 K's, 0 earned runs, 2 saves. Shows emotion and excitement everytime out. I have a feeling he will be our future closer sooner than later.

Ben Francisco: 4-7, 4 runs, 1 RBI. Ben has been playing great defense and mashing the ball consistently as well. Frankie G will be loosing time if B-Franc keeps it up.

Ryan Garko: 3-11, 2 HR, 5 RBI. Drove in 5 of the 10 runs scored in the series. Hope he has ended his batting funk finally.

Areas of Concern:

Rafael Betancourt: Another rough outing for Raffy, loaded the bases in the 9th of Thursday's game. May have pitched himself out of the 9th inning entirely.

Franklin Gutierrez: 0-8 4 K's. Does not like the curve ball much. Needs to get it going or will be a defensive replacement rather than a regular starter.

Casey Blake: 0-4. Casey likes to only hit when runners are in scoring position.

Andy Marte: 1-4. Picked off of first, I know the front office does not want to cut him due to depth reasons, but he really has no future on this team.

The Indians invade Cincinnati this weekend for a 3 game series. Jeremy Sowers takes on Johnny Cueto. Look for Pronk to play probably one game in the field, and for a lot of pinch hitting.

Also, for anyone thinking that the Indians are going to trade Peralta and Laffey to the Colorado Rockies for Garrett Atkins, you are a moron. TTO contributor Frisky told me he heard this rumor on the Munch show on WKNR Wednesday. Besides Greg Brinda, the whole station could care less about Indians baseball until September so that tells you a bit about their quality of sportscasting. I can't imagine the Tribe dealing Laffey with the impending free agency of CC and Byrd. Starting Pitching is too valuable to deal a guy you can control for the next 5 years. If anyone will be traded, I would assume it would be Sowers, but that may be a stretch as well. The Tribe does need a bat, but I believe they would trade lower level starters (Lofgren, Huff) before dealing Triple A depth. It is a long season and you never know when a starter may get hurt. I am now off the soap box.