Wouldn’t you know, the Indians finally have their first non-Opening Day sellout crowd since July 4, 2011, and they lay an egg. Friday night’s game was the first of a four-game series against the first-place Tigers and the Tribe’s best opportunity to start erasing the 1.5 games that separate us. Alas, it was not to be. Not tonight anyway.

On the plus side, the Tigers went down 1-2-3 in five innings. Unfortunately, when they weren’t going down in order, they were hitting the snot out of the ball.   Indians ace Justin Masterson, he of the 10-6 record and 3.48 ERA, started the game against Rick Porcello, who was 4-6 with a 5.21 ERA going into tonight’s game. Looking at Masterson’s and Porcello’s respective records, one might have thought the game would be a cake walk. Except that the Tigers are hitting .231 against Masterson, while the current Indians’ lineup is hitting .167 against Porcello.

Masterson went 4.2 innings and gave up 6 earned runs and 4 walks with a respectable 6 strikeouts. When you consider he’s only given 45 walks total all season (including tonight), it’s clear Masterson wasn’t quite on his game tonight. Sadly, Rick Porcello was. He pitched 7 shutout innings against the Indians. It’s our own fault–we got six hits and were 0-5 with runners in scoring position. We were outhit,  plain and simple. Detroit wins the first game of the series 7-0 and gains a full game on us in the standings. We’re now 2.5 games back.

Here’s the thing: Even though we lost this game, it doesn’t mean people should stay away from the ballpark. It doesn’t mean the Tribe is going to tank after the All-Star game. It doesn’t mean Masterson still isn’t having a really fine season.It doesn’t mean he won’t come back and win a bunch more games. It just means it didn’t happen tonight.

7 Comments

  • seattlestu says:

    it does mean we continue to struggle mightily against detroit…even w/ our ace on the mound and a home crowd sellout…c’mon guys, make it respectable.

  • Chris Burnham says:

    Let’s just say that I was not pleased.

  • Gvl Steve says:

    You are kind. I am not. The last three games have been absolutely deflating and demoralizing. I wonder what the team’s record is at home when the attendance is over 30,000. I don’t think they’ve won one time all year. Is it too much pressure to have a big crowd? They could not have played a worse game. How can a veteran team play like that in such a meaningful game? It was disgusting.

  • Andrew says:

    When are they going to admit that Mark Reynolds has no place in our lineup and play someone else. We cannot simply keep running him out there every day and expect to win.

  • Andrew says:

    Since May 1st, Reynolds is hitting .188 (39 for 207) with 83 strikeouts. They have got to pull him from the lineup.

  • Gvl Steve says:

    Agreed. He has totally lost it and needs a few days on the bench at least to regroup.

  • Bill says:

    I think Reynolds needs a few weeks in AAA