The Indians try to get back on track tonight against the White Sox, as Carlos Carrasco takes on Chicago’s ace, Chris Sale. The Indians gave Chris Sale a lot of problems last season – they hit .340/.391/.570 off of him, as he went 0-4 with a 8.61 ERA. To put that in perspective, Sale had an ERA of 4.00 or higher against just three teams – the Indians, the Twins, and the Rangers. Overall, his season ERA in 2013 was 3.07.
If you go back to 2012, the Indians had yet to find Sale’s Kryptonite (although you could argue that the make up of the team, and lineup, was quite different that year). They hit just .224/.289/.329 off of him, and he had a 2.18 ERA against them. In 2014, he’s already 2-0 in his two starts, and has a 1.76 ERA.
And Carrasco? Lord only knows what will happen with Carrasco tonight. I know he has the ability to pitch well, but I’m not sure why he’s unable to consistently do so at the big league level. Is he the traditional “Quad-A” player, that is great in Triple-A, but just can’t cut it in the majors? Or is a lot of this mental, and when he gets thrown off of his rhythm, everything falls apart? After Danny Salazar played home run-strike out derby last night, the Indians need Carrasco to be on his best behavior.
FYI – I let out a long, deep, exasperated sigh when I saw Aviles and Johnson both in the lineup and hitting back to back. Aviles is hitting .143/.174/.333 on the year, while Johnson is nothing but zeroes. (.000/.000/.000)
Tonight’s lineups:
Indians:
Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
Nick Swisher, 1B
Jason Kipnis, 2B
Carlos Santana, 3B
Ryan Raburn, DH
Michael Brantley, CF
Yan Gomes, C
Mike Aviles, LF
Elliot Johnson, RF
Carlos Carrasco, P
White Sox:
Adam Eaton, CF
Marcus Semien, 2B
Conor Gillaspie, 3B
Jose Abreu, 1B
Adam Dunn, DH
Dyan Viciedo, RF
Alejandro De Aza, LF
Alexi Ramirez, SS
Tyler Flowers, C
Chris Sale, P
Commence the “beating of the dead horse” in 5, 4, 3… ;o)
Carrasco looks good so far, but he’s throwing a lot of pitches…
That’s the great thing about being the Indians’ rotation – there’s so much drama! If you’re a Tigers fan, you don’t sit there wondering what you’re going to get from Verlander or Scherzer. With the Indians, it’s always exciting – who’s going to do well? Who’s going to get booted out? It’s a baseball game, but it’s also an episode of Survivor.
Ugh. 26 pitches in the first inning.
A base hit! I can finally stop calling Elliot Johnson “O’fer”.
I said terrible, horrible things about Elliot Johnson, like a minute before he got that double. I don’t mind him proving me wrong!
Nice job knocking Sale out early tonight.
Scrabble…..
And Elliot Johnson FINALLY GETS A BUNT DOWN!!!
Straight scuffling. Just can’t keep a rally going or can’t hold the pale hose once we get a run back. Ugh. The good Lord had die hard baseball fans in mind when He devised the game to be played everyday! Lol. Murphy’s battling but I’m thinking I should look towards tomm to turn this around
Oh, good. Blake Wood is coming on to pitch.
Man, I hate me some Blake Wood.
Bosox topped the Evil(er) Empire tonight, and the ESPN headline is “Sizemore, Gomes victimize Yankees.”
Is it unhealthy if I pretend that its in reference to Sizemore playing for us, and Yan Gomes? I think our last two nights justify me playing pretend.