MVN - Most Valuable Network

Game #34: Indians downed by Yankee homer-fest

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
CLEVELAND	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0		3	6	0
NY Yankees	0	0	0	3	1	0	2	0	0		6	9	0
W: Mike Mussina (5-3) L: Paul Byrd (1-3) S: Mariano Rivera (9) HR: NY: Johnny Damon (5), Jason Giambi (6), Robinson Cano (4), Wilson Betemit (1)

Paul Byrd gave up three home runs in 6 2/3, and Masa Kobayashi gave up another in relief, as the New York Yankees avoided the sweep Thursday afternoon to defeat the Cleveland Indians 6-3 at Yankee Stadium.

Byrd was gliding along the first three innings of the game, having faced the Yankee minimum of nine batters, and only giving up a second inning single that was wiped out by an inning-ending double play. Things changed dramatically in the fourth inning, when Yankees’ centerfielder Johnny Damon led off the inning by taking a 3-2 pitch over the right field wall. Byrd gave up a single to Derek Jeter in the next at-bat, but he seemed to right the ship a bit when he forced Bobby Abreu into a double play. The Yankees remained persistent though, as Hideki Matsui hit a two-out single, and Jason Giambi put the finishing touches on the three-run inning with a home run that curled around the right field foul poll into the upper deck. It was Giambi’s sixth home run, three of which he’s hit off of Byrd this season.

The Indians’ rebounded quickly in the fifth inning, scoring three to tie the game. Ben Francisco had a seven-pitch at bat, that ended with him getting hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Franklin Gutierrez followed with a single, and the Indians were back in business, with runners on the corners with nobody out. After a Ryan Garko pop-out, Casey Blake doubled, scoring Francisco and the speed Gutierrez from first. Blake ended up at third on the throw to the plate. Kelly Shoppach singled home Blake on the next at bat to end the Indians’ scoring that inning, and for the rest of the game.

The Yankees would regain the lead in the bottom half of the inning on a Robinson Cano lead-off double, and a Derek Jeter two-out single to take a 4-3 lead. They would cushion it in the seventh, when Robinson Cano ended Paul Byrd’s night with a one-out homer to right. Masa Kobayashi relieved Byrd, and was greeted by a Wilson Betemit homer to deep center, as the Yankees went back-to-back to make the score 6-3.

The Indians would only manage two hits after their three-run fifth, as a host of Yankees’ relievers shut down the Tribe, giving Mike Mussina his 255th victory of his career.

Travis Hafner sat for his second straight day. It looks like his towering drive two feet in front of the plate may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. We’ll see as the days progress. Ben Francisco is getting some real playing time, and Casey Blake is hitting some as well. With David Dellucci playing better, Andy Marte getting a decent look and Shin-Soo Choo coming off the DL in two to three weeks, perhaps there is a bit of a time-table for Hafner to start hitting. It’s been a year since he’s been effective, and that should be time-table enough. Still, this club is a better team with the Pronk version of Hafner.

There was a Jorge Julio sighting! Julio is undoubtedly the last man in the bullpen, and his lack of use is proof of that. He hasn’t seen the mound in an actual game since the last day of April. I though Julio was out the door after back-to-back implosions in mid-April against the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers that saw him give up three runs in one total inning of work. In his six appearances up to that point, he had given up five runs in eight innings, for a 5.63 ERA. Since then, Julio has been quite the opposite. He hasn’t given up a run in 5 1/3, while striking out four, and walking two. He does appear to be ‘pitching’ a bit more, rather than just trying to top the 100 MPH mark. With the bullpen riding a roller coaster, maybe Julio can help out. He has a history of losing his mind when the games count, and the Indians have been pointedly keeping him out of those situations. Maybe he’s just holding down a slot for the potential of Adam Miller to come up mid-year. If Julio is the mop-up guy, maybe the Tribe can pad his stats a bit, and make him enticing to a team looking for relief near the deadline.

Joba Chamberlain struck out David Dellucci to end the eighth inning, and seemingly stared at Dellucci while doing his usual fist pumping garbage after the K. Dellucci had hit a three-run homer off of Chamberlain to win the game for the Indians Tuesday night. Dellucci took offense, calling the move “bush.” Chamberlain and Girardi shrugged it off. I don’t know if he was staring down Dellucci or not, nor do I really care. Dellucci was right, it’s May baseball. What’s stinks about the situation is that the Indians don’t play the Yankees again this regular season. It appears as though the old Indians-Yankees rivalry is rekindled, with the Indians actually on top. When May homers and fist-pumping get the blood boiling, you look forward to follow-up games to fan the flames a bit. Unfortunately, if these two teams do play again, it won’t be until October. Way to fire up a rivalry. Instead, we get the natural rivalries with San Diego, Colorado, San Francisco, Los Angeles and of course, Cincinnati. Can’t wait for those.

C.C. Sabathia is on the hill tomorrow night in Cleveland, as the Indians go up against Toronto for the first time all season. He’ll be facing of against Blue Jays’ ace Roy Halladay.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 11:38 pm and is filed under Travis Hafner, Kelly Shoppach, Paul Byrd, Joba Chamberlain, C.C. Sabathia, Roy Halladay, Franklin Gutierrez, Casey Blake, Tribe Victory, Tribe Loss, Adam Miller, Shin-Soo Choo, Ben Francisco, Jorge Julio, Cleveland Indians, Johnny Damon, Bobby Abreu, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, Mike Mussina, Ryan Garko, Wilson Betemit, David Dellucci, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Robinson Cano. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.