[Corsi Combover]

Boston Red Sox @ Cleveland Indians - April 24-April 27 - Jacobs Field

Last season vs Cleveland:

Mon. June 20 @ Cleve W 10-9
Tue. June 21 @ Cleve W 9-2
Wed. June 22 @ Cleve W 5-4

Mon. June 27 Boston  L 7-0
Tue. June 28 Boston  L 12-8
Wed. June 29 Boston  W 5-2

Cleveland Indians' Major League Rank:

Runs Scored:  113 (1st)
Batting AVG: .310 (2nd)
On-Base %:   .371 (2nd)
Total Hits:   203 (1st)
Doubles:      43  (2nd)

So, yeah, it's quite obvious the Cleveland Indians can hit. Currently, their three hottest hitters are:

Travis Hafner   (.343 AVG, .463 OBP, .731 SLG, 1.194 OPS)
Victor Martinez (.378 AVG, .420 OBP, .635 SLG, 1.055 OPS)
Casey Blake     (.397 AVG, .464 OBP, .603 SLG, 1.081 OPS)

Below are the the full team batting stats, along with a few traditional sabermetric stats:



Although Cleveland's offense has been terrific, their pitching has been devastated by injuries. On April 21st, the Indians were forced to place relief stud Rafael Betancourt on the disabled list with strained upper back.

Betancourt joined starter C.C. Sabathia and relievers Matt Miller and Fernando Cabrera on the DL. Miller underwent elbow surgery and is likely to miss the entire season.

Below are the full team pitching stats, again with a few sabermetric stats:


(S% is strand rate)

Matchups:

Tuesday, April 25 | Curt Schilling, RHP (4-0, 1.61) vs Jake Westbrook, RHP (2-2, 5.92)


Scouting Report courtesy of MLB.com:
Schilling has been in top form in his first four starts, allowing two runs or less each time out. In his last start against the Rays, he went six innings and allowed six hits and a run while striking out seven. In his career against the Indians, Schilling is 1-2 with a 3.68 ERA. At Jacobs Field, he's 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in two starts.

Westbrook was fighting an uphill battle throughout his last start in Baltimore on Wednesday. He couldn't get ahead in the count consistently, and his sinker was up in the zone way too often. It translated into an ugly line: nine runs (eight earned) on a career-high 12 hits over 4 2/3 innings. Westbrook has struggled with his command in two straight outings now.


Wednesday, April 26 | Tim Wakefield, RHP (1-3, 3.71) vs Cliff Lee, LHP (1-1, 3.33)



Scouting Report courtesy of MLB.com:
Tim Wakefield is hoping Red Sox bats come alive for him after suffering consecutive tough-luck outings. In his last start, a 5-1 loss to Tampa Bay last Thursday, the knuckleballer gave up just three runs, two earned, over eight innings, allowing just four hits in the process. But for the third time this season, he left the game with his team posting fewer than two runs. Wakefield has a 1.56 ERA in his last three starts since allowing seven runs and seven hits in his first start April 4 at Texas.

Lee is coming off a disappointing outing against the Royals in which he received a no-decision. Though he was able to pitch out of a couple jams in the early innings, Lee ran into trouble he couldn't get out of in the sixth, giving up three runs on three hits and losing hold of a 3-0 lead. In the end, he was touched for nine hits in 5 2/3 innings.


Thursday, April 27 | Josh Beckett, RHP (3-0, 2.54) vs Paul Byrd, RHP (2-2, 9.15)



Scouting Report courtesy of MLB.com:
Josh Beckett can't wait to get back on the mound after squandering most of a 6-2 lead in his last start against the Blue Jays. Beckett left that game with a one-run lead, but the Red Sox suffered a devastating, 7-6 loss in 12 innings. Beckett placed all the blame for that defeat on his shoulders. Overall, Beckett has been strong for Boston, going at least seven innings in every start. This is his first career start against the Indians.

Byrd's first month as an Indian has been a struggle. Control problems have plagued him and big innings have, much to his displeasure, befriended him. His latest outing against the Royals on Saturday was the roughest yet. He gave up seven runs on six hits with two walks in just three innings of work.

This post has been edited by Corsi Combover: 23 April 2006 - 11:29 PM

[Pumpsie]

Wow. Nice job, Corsi. I feel fully prepared for the series now.

Even though I feel that Cleveland has one of the very best teams in all of baseball, I feel that we're in good shape to take the series,

[Fratboy]

Thanks for the update, CC. I'll get the vibe from what's going on at Indians Ink and post informed fanbase reactions.

[behindthepen]

NOTABLE SOX AT THE JAKE:
Manny .310/.404/.608
Nixon .261/.340/.580, 8 HR in 88 AB
Snow .400/.432/.771, 3 HR in 35 AB
AGon 6/12, 2 HR

Loretta .258/.250/.333, 1 HR in 66 AB
Ortiz .227/.290/.462 8 HR in 132 AB (his lowest SLG outside of MIN)
Lowell 0/14

Schilling, 1-1 2.25 ERA, 1 CG

Jacobs Field park factors ... 2003-05 average, according to espn.com:
Runs 0.91
HR 0.83
3B 0.55

The Sox are 11-8 vs. Cleveland from 03-05, and 7-3 at the Jake. Note that last year, the Sox scored 24 runs in their 3 game sweep there.

Byrd had 2 good starts vs. Boston in 05, in the first, 8-21-05, he pitched 7 shutout innings before giving up a dinger in the 8th and having a couple of inherited runners score. On 9-8-05, he was pulled after another 7 shutout innings. In 2 starts, he gave up 2 walks, and put up a 1.2 BB/9 for the season. However, as Corsi listed, he's at 4.1 so far in 06. The other 2 starters we'll face are doing much better in the control category, with Lee at 2.2 and Westbrook at 1.1 BB/9.

[Mugthis]

behindthepen, on Apr 23 2006, 07:40 PM, said:

Ortiz .227/.290/.462 8 HR in 132 AB (his lowest SLG outside of MIN)

This (as well as his numbers in MIN) are obviously going to be weighted more towards his years as a Twin, when he wasn't nearly the same hitter he is now.

[lonborgski]

So Aaron Boone has the most regular season at bats against Wake. Only a 0.125 slugging percentage. Who'd have thunk it?

[redsoxjamie]

For out-of-towners: according to the schedule, Wednesday's game will be broadcast on ESPN, and Thursday's game will be broadcast on ESPN2. Yippee!

The Indians certainly look like a hot offense right now, but the pitching matchups definetly seem to be in our favor. Guess we'll find out if good pitching really does beat good hitting. . . with Schill and Beckett on the mound, I predict we take 2 of 3.

[behindthepen]

Mugthis, on Apr 23 2006, 11:39 PM, said:

This (as well as his numbers in MIN) are obviously going to be weighted more towards his years as a Twin, when he wasn't nearly the same hitter he is now.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

... thanks for pointing that out. He was only 1/8 in 03, and 3/18 in 04. However ....
2005 ORTIZ @ JAKE: 6/13, 2HR, including a 2/4 2 2B vs. Lee.

[jtn46]

Mostly useless anecdotal stuff, but I'll share anyways...

I was in Cleveland over the weekend for a wedding. Pretty much everyone I talked to that was a baseball fan was an Indians fan, which is a great sign that last year made an impact on the city. That said, the city understandably loves LeBron James and the Cavs, and they're excited that they're in the playoffs. It seemed like there were more Red Sox fans there than Yankee fans too, but that's just looking at hats. They perceive their weakness as starting pitching. Most understood the Coco trade and see Marte's potential. I think like 2003 for us, they saw the flameout at the end of last season as a sign that their team is on the rise and is close to being a playoff team again. It was lost on me before this trip how much they loved Manny there, and still seem to.

[Eric Van]

As good a place as any to note that Alex Gonzalez scored his first run of the season in the 8th inning yesterday . . . 4 innings after Willie Harris scored his.

Other random trivia . . . Sox hit into 0 GDP in 17 chances yesterday, their 4th straight game without a GDP (they had only 12 chances in the 3 previous games). After hitting into at least 1 GDP in 9 straight games (4/4 to 4/14), they've hit into 4 in their last 9 and 1 in their last 6. That's 1 GDP in 40 chances. (In the Cabrera game, they hit into 4 in 24).

This post has been edited by Eric Van: 24 April 2006 - 11:24 AM

[behindthepen]

ugh ... I hope we don't have to live another day in a row without ball:

Quote

Late Afternoon: A slight chance of rain showers and sleet. Partly cloudy, with a high near 44. North wind around 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Tonight: A slight chance of rain showers and sleet before 10pm. Areas of frost after 10pm. Otherwise, partly cloudy, with a low around 33. North wind 14 to 17 mph decreasing to between 5 and 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

from the national weather service

[staz]

Tribe's 4-6 over their recent 10 game road trip - against the likes of Detroit, Baltimore and KC. In those 4 wins, they have averaged 9.5 runs per game, and in those 6 losses, just 3.33 (while giving up 8.16). Because of this and Sabathia's shelfitude, I'm cautiously optimistic that the Sox are catching them at a good time.

Too bad Coco couldn't be there to punish his old GM for thinking they could carry on without his services.

[TheYellowDart5]

Quote

Too bad Coco couldn't be there to punish his old GM for thinking they could carry on without his services.

Especially considering how little they're getting out of his replacement, Jason Michaels.

243/300/270 in 74 AB, with 0 HR, 3 RBI and a 14/6 K/BB ratio. Of course, those numbers are made even worse by the fact that he's batting 2nd in the lineup, killing RBI chances for Jhonny Peralta and Travis Hafner.