The Indians traveled to Surprise today to take on the Texas Rangers, and dropped their third straight spring game 10-0.  I’ll start with the bad things, because there were a lot of bad things for the Indians in today’s game.

Pitching (or lack thereof):

Indians pitchers gave up 10 runs on 18 hits to the Rangers.  At least a good percentage of the Texas lineup were their anticipated starters, so it’s not like Class-A and Double-A guys were beating up on Tribe pitchers.  Even without Josh Hamilton, there are still a lot of dangerous bats in that lineup.  There were five Indians pitchers in today’s game – Zach McAllister, Vinnie Pestano, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Trevor Bauer, and Fernando Nieve (in that order).  The only person to not allow a run was Bauer; he pitched two perfect innings, striking out one.  McAllister had a very rough two innings to start the game, allowing 5 earned runs on 7 hits and a walk.  Pestano pitched an inning and gave up 2 earned runs on 3 hits and a walk, while Matsuzaka lasted for 2 innings, surrendering 2 earned runs on 4 hits.  Nieve gave up the final run in the bottom of the 8th inning.  It was really just one of those days where it was just kind of lousy for everyone except Bauer.

Hitting (or lack thereof):

Most of the Indians’ projected starters were in the lineup to start today’s game.  They only managed to scrape together five hits off of Texas pitching – Ryan Raburn and Lonnie Chisenhall each went 2 for 3 on the day.  The other hit came from Drew Stubbs.  Otherwise, the rest of the starters and their replacements, were kept hitless.

It was just one of those days where nothing seemed to go very well.  Even the radio broadcast through MLB.com sounded kind of terrible today – poor sound quality with a lot of pops and crackling noises.  It sounded like McAllister left a lot of pitches up in the zone, and the Texas hitters made sure to take advantage.  I guess it’s good to think about the positive performances from Chisenhall, Raburn and Bauer; Francisco Lindor supposedly made a nice play at short.  (I’m taking the word of the broadcasters on this one).

The Indians return to Goodyear tomorrow where they’ll take on the White Sox at 3:05 ET.  Hopefully things go a bit better for them.

6 Comments

  • joey says:

    they said their gonna take the best 5,so far it seems like the best 5 starters are…masterson,bauer,kazmir,myers,and jimenez…i know its early,and they might make a move,(hopefuly)but if things stay the same,and their honest about taking the best 5…in my opinion that should be the rotation…glad to see chisenhall have a couple hits…he should have a good year…something like 265 avg and 20 homers.

  • Stephanie Liscio says:

    I saw Francona speak this winter and he was super high on Chisenhall. Kept bringing up his name over and over and said he thought he’d have a big year if he didn’t have any more freak injuries.

    • joey says:

      thats nice to hear…i watch alot of baseball,from little league to major league,and i think im a pretty good judge of talent,and hes the one on this team that seems to have a very high upside…i wouldnt be surprised to see him have even a better year than i predicted…lets hope so.

  • Mary Jo says:

    The Tribe has lost 3 in a row. Hammy hasn’t called four games in a a row. Coincidence? Hmmmmmm……

  • Stephanie Liscio says:

    He was supposed to be back today…I missed why he’s gone though. They said he’ll be there Sunday. I was kind of surprised to hear Rick Manning on the radio today.

    • Mary Jo says:

      Manning was fine. Yesterday’s guy was fine-what I heard due to the crummy audio feed. I quit listening in the 4th inning. I could live without Underwood and I understand Grover can be…interesting. But I wouldn’t miss Rosie if they decided to pull him off the air. IMO he’s pretty much “meh”.