Unfortunately, we’ve seen this before. Crooked numbers for them and mostly goose-eggs for us, culminating in a 14-1 morale-murdering whipping of the Tribe.

I shouldn’t need to remind you that there’s no A-Rod, Granderson, or Teixiera, but I will.

Tonight was a clinic of how a pitcher should and should not handle himself on the mound. Andy Pettitte was the teacher; calm, collected and working the corners surgically as he has since the dawn of time. Carlos Carrasco remains the immature prospect with promise who still has much to learn.

Most of baseball’s talking heads nationwide said that the major stumbling block of the Indians’ quest for a quick return to contention is the starting rotation. If there was ever a grade-A example of this, it was yesterday and tonight.

Carrasco made  first start in over a calender year after missing all of last season following Tommy John surgery. Ironically, it is a start that was coincidentally delayed due to a suspension that was upheld for a bench clearing incident with the Royals late in the 2011 season. That hot-headedness revealed itself again as he plunked Kevin Youkilis on the shoulder after surrendering the third homer in two days to the suddenly-hot Robinson Cano.  Youkilis would exact revenge in the top of the sixth with a two-run shot off of Brett Myers who relieved Carrasco after he was tossed. (To be honest, though, I’m not sure he was coming out for the next inning, anyway.)

While Carrasco’s immaturity is a major subplot to tonight’s shellacking, the defense did themselves no favors early or late. Mike Aviles got the start at third and promptly bobbled a ball that lead to New York’s first two runs of the game. Drew Stubbs got the start in center, and he seemed to lose the ball in the lights that plated two more runs. Carrasco would also give up a line-drive homer to Ichiro that would put the Yankees up 5-0 and on cruise control before Carrasco’s frustrations got the best of him.

Trailing 9-0, Asdrubal Cabrera gets us on the board with a solo-shot to left-center, only to have Myers give up two more homers sandwiched an RBI double from Babe Cano. Myers took one for the team tonight, as he finished the final 5 1/3 innings in saving the bullpen.

If you’re reading this far, you know not to react too much to what happens in the first week of the season, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that the good vibes I had following a strong road trip have pretty much evaporated. It’s a dose of reality that shows that the Tribe still has a long way to go. B-Team or not.

W: Andy Pettitte (2-0); L: Carlos Carrasco (0-1); Player of the Game: Robinson Cano: 4-6 (2-Run HR; 2 2B; 5 RBI)

12 Comments

  • The Doctor says:

    What an absolute dumpster fire.

    At the very least, I’m glad they left Myers in there to take a shellacking, exposing him as the rubbish pile that he is. The front office should eat the money and release him tomorrow just to prove a point.

    I’d much rather see Bauer out there taking his lumps than watch Myers throw one more “fastball”. Hell, even certifiably horrible Corey Kluber would be more pleasant to watch.

    I’m too angry to look it up now, but I’m real curious to see what the numbers are as a team for AVG w/RISP and AVG against with 2 outs.

    • Dalek says:

      I’m not ready to jump ship just yet. Masterson has had two solid starts, McAllister had some bad luck in his first outing but has what it takes to be a decent starter, and we still haven’t seen Scott Kazmir yet. Yes, Ubaldo looked like dirt in the home opener, and Carrasco was a baby last night, and Myers clearly hasn’t shown us much, but let’s not set fire to the team after eight games. Eight.

      Bauer is not ready, so let’s not subject him to the trial-by-fire situation that has really played out in the Indians past (see Cord Phelps, Ezequiel Carrera, or Trevor Crowe). Kluber is likely to come up in the wake of the latest Carrasco fiasco, so let’s go ahead and put a target on his back now. Lord knows half the city will be foaming at the mouth after his first start.

      Let these rough patches early on be a reality check, folks. The Tribe improved over the offseason, but there’s still peices missing to this puzzle.

      • The Doctor says:

        Just to be clear, the only thing I’m jumping ship on is Myers. 7 HR allowed in his first 2 games (and many of them to people that have no business hitting home runs) does not bode well.

        I understand it’s only 2 games, but he looked horrible for all of spring training (same problem, elevating tons of pitches and letting guys blast away) and I haven’t seen anything from him so far in the regular season to indicate even the thinnest of silver linings.

        • Dalek says:

          Fair enough. And you have a ligit concern with Myers. I mean the guy was removed from the Astros’ rotation last year. If he wasn’t good enough to be a starter on a 55-107 Houston team, why would he be good enough here?

  • Adam Hintz says:

    To be fair, the Indians numbers with RISP are a moot point if the pitching staff can’t keep a bad lineup in the single digits.

  • DaveR says:

    Might as well try all the options out early in the season. The #3-5 SPs are terrible. Bring up Dice-K!

  • MileHighGilly says:

    Myers is complete junk. Masterson is a big boy, ya think he could pitch every 3 games?

  • SteveO says:

    Can I just add that I love the fact that two commenters named “The Doctor” and “Dalek” were going at it on here? Looks like we’ve got some BBC fans. That made my day.

  • Sean Porter says:

    “Where have you gone Paul Byrd – Tribe Nation turns its lonely eyes to you, ooh ooh ooh…”