Leaving Blood on the Battlefield…er Ballfield

The Indians defeated the Oakland Athletics 14-10 at Phoenix Municipal Stadium this afternoon.  Obviously with such a high score, there were both highs and lows in terms of performances.  Probably the worst news of the day is that Michael Brantley lacerated his left forearm while sliding into the third base during the third inning.  He received stitches at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix and is currently listed as day to day.  A laceration is obviously much better than an injury to bone or muscle, but was probably still pretty unpleasant.  He went 1 for 2 with a double and an RBI before leaving the game.

Offense:

Catcher Yan Gomes (acquired from Toronto in the Esmil Rogers deal) had a fantastic day, going 2 for 2 with a 3-run home run and 5 RBI.  Gomes helped Brazil make the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic last fall, but decided not to play with them this spring.  He’s hoping to make an impression in camp (and possibly even make the Opening Day roster) so he didn’t want to miss time playing in the WBC.  With more outings like today, he could end up leaving a pretty positive impression.

Some other players that had good days at the plate include outfielder Matt Carson, a non-roster invitee, who went 1 for 2 with a home run and 2 RBI.  Ryan Raburn, also a non-roster invitee, maintained his hot streak as he went 2 for 3 with an RBI, and 1B Mike McDade (claimed off waivers from Toronto in the offseason) stayed hot as well as he went 2 for 2 with an RBI.

Pitching:

Justin Masterson and Ubaldo Jimenez each pitched two scoreless innings; Masterson was perfect and got 5 ground ball outs and one strike out, while Jimenez allowed two hits and a walk.  Vinnie Pestano pitched a scoreless inning, but the rest of the pitchers did not fare as well.  Matt Capps, Frank Herrmann, Matt Langwell, and Fernando Nieve each pitched one inning; Capps allowed 2 earned runs on 3 hits (one was a 2-run home run) and a walk, Herrmann allowed 4 earned runs on 5 hits (one was a 2-run home run), Langwell allowed 2 earned runs on 3 hits, and Nieve allowed 1 earned run on 3 hits and a walk.

Other game notes:

– Today’s game was broadcast on MLB.com and was called by Jim Rosenhaus; Ray Fosse (he’s been a broadcaster for Oakland for a number of years) joined him in the booth for much of the game.  Fosse talked about how he was disappointed to leave Cleveland, because he always liked playing there.  He held out hope that the Indians would finally break their drought and win a World Series, and he wanted to be there when it happened.

– One thing I’d forgotten about, until it was mentioned in the broadcast – Terry Francona was a coach with Oakland between managing the Phillies and the Red Sox.  During that time, he established a friendship with Jason Giambi (this may be one of the reasons the Indians signed him).  It sounds as if the Indians really want to put Giambi on the Opening Day roster; Francona really admires his knowledge and ability to work with young players.

– Even though there are a lot of spring games not broadcast locally on the radio or television, you may want to check MLB.com on these non-broadcast days.  It sounds like most games will be on there, and today’s game was free as long as you had a registered account on MLB.com.  You may need to subscribe to MLB.com’s Gameday Audio to get some of the games ($20 annually), but it’s probably worth checking to see if you can listen for free some days.

The Indians are back in Goodyear on Tuesday, where they will play the Royals at 3:05 ET.