After opening the season in Houston with a three-game series against the Astros, a series in which the Tribe did OK by Meat Loaf standards, the Indians came home to Cleveland for three games with the Detroit Tigers. That didn’t work out so well for the Tribe: none out of three IS bad. The Indians had the lead only once in the series, and that for less than one inning. It was an ugly weekend of baseball, one the Indians would just as soon forget. I know I’d like to be able to.
The Indians hope to turn things around tonight as they kick off a brief two-game series with the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field. The Indians will send Carlos Carrasco to the mound this evening, and the White Sox will start José Quintana. Carrasco went 6 1/3 strong innings against the Astros last week, earning a W for himself and for the Indians. In his sole start of the season, Quintana was rocked by the Kansas City Royals, giving up five runs, all earned, over five innings.
It would be foolish to call a mid-April game a “must-win” game, so let’s just say this is a “man, they had BETTER win” game for the Indians. In the second half of the 2014 season, Carrasco established himself as the second ace of the Tribe pitching staff. If he can hold the Sox to two or three runs tonight, and if the offense can keep the pace they’ve set over the past four games, in which they’ve averaged five runs per game, Carlos ought to go to bed tonight with a record of 2-0. May it be so!
In case you missed it, the Indians made a few roster moves earlier today. IPL’s Chris Burnham has the details.
Here are the starting lineups for tonight’s game:
| White Sox | Indians | ||
|
CF
|
Adam Eaton |
CF
|
Michael Bourn |
|
LF
|
Melky Cabrera |
3B
|
Mike Aviles |
|
1B
|
José Abreu |
2B
|
Jason Kipnis |
|
DH
|
Adam LaRoche |
1B
|
Carlos Santana |
|
RF
|
Avisail García |
LF
|
Jerry Sands |
|
SS
|
Alexei Ramírez |
RF
|
Brandon Moss |
|
3B
|
Conor Gillaspie |
DH
|
Ryan Raburn |
|
C
|
Tyler Flowers |
C
|
Roberto Pérez |
|
2B
|
Emilio Bonifacio |
SS
|
José Ramírez |
|
SP
|
José Quintana |
SP
|
Carlos Carrasco |
Let’s hear your hot take on tonight’s action and the 2015 Tribe in general. Your comments are always welcome! And thanks for reading IPL.
since complaining about francona’s insane lineups is one of my favorite pastimes: why on earth is the guy with a career sub .300 OBP batting second?
Normally I’d complain too but what are the other options? Raburn? Ramirez?
Since joining Tribe, only Brantley has a higher contact rate than Aviles, so at least he’s bringing one positive quality you want in a 2-hitter
i’d settle for kipnis, but i think the real answer is santana, though baseball purists who still think sabermetrics are hogwash would probably have a heart attack. it certainly doesn’t help that we don’t have a quasi-competent leadoff hitter, either. we’ve got too many guys that should be batting in the 7-9 spots.
I agree both are solid options at No. 2.. but then you’re left with no strong options somewhere else. Ultimately the lineup just isn’t complete without Brantley. Has to be a holes somewhere when he’s missing.
boy, i know it’s a long season but this is as bad a start as you can have. gomes out, carrasco just got his head rocked, and we’ve lost 4 straight. hopefully we get out of april without much more hassle.