So You Let the Same Guy Beat You Two Nights in a Row?

I know that Jacoby Ellsbury is extremely fast, and you don’t want to necessarily give him a free pass to run wild on the bases.  At the same time, there were two outs and the bases were empty.  Why pitch to him?  Why would you let him beat you two nights in a row?  You also have to blame the offense for this situation – taking a tie game into the bottom of the 9th again was just asking for trouble.  An offensive bright spot: Jason Kipnis continues to impress; he became the first Indian since Al Rosen in 1950 to homer in four consecutive games in his rookie season.  Unfortunately, the rest of the offense couldn’t get too much going against the ageless Tim Wakefield and the Red Sox bullpen.  (By the way, Wakefield was the subject of an Onion story earlier this week that jokingly mentioned tonight’s game).

You have to give credit to Carlos Carrasco, who looked much more like the June version of himself tonight.  He’s probably the low man on the totem pole when Ubaldo Jimenez gets added to the rotation, so Carrasco was possibly trying to prove something tonight.  It’s never been a case of talent – he obviously has great stuff.  His inconsistency is what tends to cause his problems.  Tony Sipp was solid, and unfortunately Joe Smith just made one bad pitch.  In a game that close, there’s no room for error.

While I never thought he’d be any kind of offensive savior, I’m extremely disappointed in Kosuke Fukudome so far.  Not only has he been terrible at the plate, he’s looked very awkward in right field.  With he and Kearns in the field tonight, it makes for an extremely awkward, defensively impaired outfield. (And that’s the kindest phrasing I could think of.  I’d like to say something that involves a few swear words).

The Indians weren’t terrible over the past two nights, but both games still go down as a loss.  They now sit 4 games behind Detroit, who seems to be cruising against the Texas Rangers (the Indians’ opponent this weekend).  I’m hoping the Tribe can turn it around tomorrow, especially with the perpetually injured Erik Bedard pitching in a hitter’s park like Fenway.  It would be nice to actually get some run support for Justin Masterson, and it would be extra nice for him to stick it to his former team.  There were rumors that the Red Sox attempted to get the Indians to trade Masterson back to them in the offseason – hopefully he’ll give them more reasons to regret that deal.

After that it’s the first start for Ubaldo Jimenez in an Indians uniform.  I must say, it was nice to see him hanging out in the dugout chatting with the other players tonight.  I look forward to his start (and hope that he doesn’t disappoint!)