MVN - Most Valuable Network

Game #39: Paul Byrd continues brilliant run by Indians’ starters

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Oakland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	6	0
CLEVELAND	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	X		4	7	0
W: Paul Byrd (2-3) L: Justin Duchscherer (3-2) S: Masa Kobayashi (1) HR: CLE: Ryan Garko (3)

Paul Byrd had his best outing of his 2008 season, pitching 7 1/3 innings of shutout baseball, as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Oakland A’s 4-0 in Cleveland on Tuesday Night.

Byrd was outstanding tonight, going 7 1/3 innings, giving up five hits and not walking a batter, while striking out a season high seven batters. Byrd was in a whole bunch of trouble in the third inning, after Travis Hafner had given him a one-run lead in the bottom of the second with a run-scoring single. Byrd gave up a lead off single to Frank Thomas, and a one-out single to Jack Hannahan. With two outs, Ryan Sweeney singled to center, and Thomas tried to score from second base. Grady Sizemore used his plus arm to gun down the lumbering DH at the plate to end the inning and the threat. Thomas brought back memories of Willie Mays Hayes early days, stopping well short of home plate with a slide that looked more like a dying animal.

Byrd retired the next ten batters in a row until the fifth, when the A’s generated a one-out rally with back-to-back singles by Bobby Crosby and Ryan Sweeney. Byrd would get out of the inning with an unconventional double-play, when he struck out David Murphy, and Victor Martinez gunned down Crosby trying to steal third. Byrd pitched into the eighth without any more trouble. When it was all said and done, Byrd gave up five singles, and was the recipient of some solid defense to get him out of the only jams he found himself in.

Rafael Perez and Masa Kobayashi would complete the Indians’ shutout, which was the Tribe’s fourth in seven games.

How about the Indians’ defense tonight? Aside from Sizemore’s throw from center, and VMart’s gun-down, the Cleveland Indians’ defense clearly saved a few runs for Byrd. David Dellucci continued to re-make himself as a fan favorite with a leaping catch against the left field wall in the third inning against David Murphy, that saved extra bases. Sizemore had another nice play in the sixth inning, robbing Kurt Suzuki of a single with a nice catch in shallow center. Finally, Asdrubal Cabrera continued his assault on the opponents’ offenses, making an outstanding catch in shallow center in the eighth inning. I know the kid is playing second base most of the time, but the comparisons to Omar Vizquel are becoming more and more apparent. This kid is electric in the field. The offense makes me want to heave on a daily basis, but clearly this team can play some defense. When the offense finds itself streaking on the plus side this year, with this pitching and defense, Cleveland is going to have more than a few opportunities to shut teams out.

The Tribe starters are the best in baseball, and it really doesn’t matter who is thrown out there. Just look at the numbers. The Indians pitching overall is now second the American League ERA, ironically to the Oakland A’s, with a sparking 3.40 after tonight’s win. The starters, however, are much lower, and leading Major League Baseball with a 3.06 ERA. The starters haven’t given up a run since Friday, with Aaron Laffey going seven innings, Fausto Carmona and Cliff Lee both going nine on Monday, and Byrd’s 7 1/3 tonight. The last run given was by C.C. Sabathia in the fifth inning. The current shutout streak is at 34 innings. This staff is obviously extremely good, and deep as well.

The offense struggled again tonight, but salvaged a decent run total with a Ryan Garko, 3-run homer in the eighth inning. There isn’t really anything new to add here. Eric Wedge continues to try and shake things up with different lineups, and the Indians continue to struggle, with the exception of big innings here and there. I’m a firm believer that you need to find consistency. Of course, Wedge did the same last year, until settling on a line-up in late August. From that point on, the Indians’ offense was decent. Maybe he’s trying the same thing this year. I don’t know, maybe he should try what he did in August, IN MAY THIS YEAR.

Imagine if the Indians would have dealt for Danny Haren during the offseason. How good would THAT rotation have been. Of course, if Haren were here, chances are good that Sowers and Laffey wouldn’t be, and that Cliff Lee wouldn’t be in the rotation.

Masa Kobayashi got the save tonight. There seems to be a push from many fans to see Kobayashi as the closer full time. He did nothing to convince me of anything otherwise tonight.

Jake Westbrook pitched a simulated game tonight, and will make a rehab start at Lake County on Saturday.

C.C. Sabathia goes up against Joe Blanton tomorrow. Can Sabathia keep the streak alive?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 8:26 pm and is filed under Asdrubal Cabrera, Rafael Perez, Aaron Laffey, Cliff Lee, Fausto Carmona, Oakland A's, Jack Hannahan, Justin Duchscherer, Willie Mays Hayes, Tribe Victory, Ryan Sweeney, Masa Kobayashi, Jake Westbrook, Travis Hafner, Frank Thomas, Bobby Crosby, Cleveland Indians, David Dellucci, David Murphy, Omar Vizquel, C.C. Sabathia, Paul Byrd, Dan Haren, Joe Blanton, Victor Martinez, Grady Sizemore, Ryan Garko. 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.