Cleveland Sports Forum

End of 8. 9-5 Royals.

Chris Perez looked like a closer this time.

19 hits and counting for the Royals as Moustakes, riding an 11 game hitting streak, slaps a basehit to center on a 1-2 pitch from Schlereth. No doubt, the Royals can hit. Pitching has always been the Royal achilles heal.

It's over in Detroit! Tribe picks up an important game on the Tigers. We are now 5 1/2 games behind.

Can't forget about Chicago. Looks like the Sox will also gain a game on Detroit and we, most likely, will remain 1/2 game behind Chicago.

Goedert with another nice ballgame. Average up to .272 on a 3-5 night. Bring him up!

Choo could miss two weeks with oblique strain! Great!

Huff's strong start helps Tribe inch above .500

By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com | 8/29/2011 9:40 PM ET

CLEVELAND --

There are nights when the Indians need nearly flawless pitching to overcome the shortcomings of their depleted offense. On Monday at Progressive Field, the Tribe's staff was up to the challenge in a 2-1 victory over the A's.

Left-hander David Huff led Cleveland's charge by spinning six shutout innings to help carry the Indians (66-65) to the win column. It was a solid bounce-back effort from Huff, whose performance set the tone for the Tribe's third win in its past four games.

Oakland (60-74) managed only three hits off Huff in his six innings of work and never had a baserunner advance beyond second base against the lefty. Huff (2-2) finished with four strikeouts and two walks en route to a win -- one start after he surrendered five runs in a 2 1/3-inning disaster against the Tigers.

The Indians' offense did just enough damage against A's right-hander Brandon McCarthy (7-7) for Huff's effort to hold up. In the sixth inning, Ezequiel Carrera sliced a pitch from McCarthy to left-center field for a two-out double. Kosuke Fukudome followed by pulling an offering down the line for a double that scored Carrera and gave the Tribe a 1-0 lead.

Cleveland added an important insurance run in the seventh inning, when Carlos Santana drilled a 2-1 pitch from McCarthy to deep right-center field for his 20th blast of the season. The solo shot upped the Indians' advantage to 2-0, which proved to be a necessary cushion when it was all said and done.

In the eighth inning, Scott Sizemore led things off with a double off Indians sidearmer Joe Smith. Jemile Weeks then came through with a two-base hit off lefty Tony Sipp to plate Sizemore, trimming the Tribe's lead to 2-1.

Tomorrow its Cahill vs Gomez.

Wednesday Harden vs Jimenez.

Thursday Gonzalez vs Carmona.

Hey Joez- What is your opinion of Perez as the closer?

Going to the game Tues nite.

eocmcdoc wrote:Going to the game Tues nite.

Cool! I wish I could be there. We could get to within 4 1/2 tomorrow if the chips fall right.....with Labor Day still a week away.

I'll look for a guy in an Indians hat and hope it's you I'm seeing.....


Do you have upper deck seats, or maybe in a place you might be on camera?

I had right field outfield seats for the game we lost against The Yankees in Cleveland in the ALDS of 1997.....that we finally won. I realized watching the game tonight that my bullpen perch for that game likely had me with some TV time.

Bring home a win.....and have a good time!

ND Dawg-

Hey Joez- What is your opinion of Perez as the closer?

I'm comfortible with Perez. I have confidence that he will get the job done.

The fortunate thing.......we still have Pestano and down on the farm we have Judy and Burns waiting in the wings. We could have an excellent closer by committee if Acta so chooses in case of emergency. I think we're pretty well set as far as closers are concerned.

The only problem I can see with Perez is his secondary pitches. He's got to use them more often. Once a batter sees a few of his fastball, they can lock in on him. He's got to do a better job of keeping the hitters off balance.

One bright spot in the lineup these past couple of weeks has been the play of Kosuke Fukudome. He's turning out to be a solid acquisition both at the plate and in the field. Nice job by management acquiring Fukudome under an emergency situation. I'd have to think twice about discarding or not considering him for a starting job next season.

A's Cahill hoping luck turns positive in Cleveland

By Nick Kosmider / MLB.com | 8/29/2011 10:21 PM ET

It has been some time since Oakland's Tuesday starter, Trevor Cahill, found himself in a groove.

Perhaps facing a lineup he dominated early in the season can change that.

Two starts before Cahill began a 20-start stretch in which he has gone just 3-12 with a 5.19 ERA, the right-hander held the Indians to a run on five hits over seven innings on May 4. It wasn't the first success Cahill has had against Cleveland in his career. He is 2-1 with a 3.06 ERA over three career starts against the Tribe.

Cahill can also use his last start as a building block toward a turnaround, as he held the potent Yankees lineup to two runs over six innings on Wednesday. He previously had a 13.50 ERA in four starts against the Bronx Bombers. Cahill attributed his success to pitching with confidence.

"I went after hitters and tried not to be intimidated and just threw strikes, let them put the ball in play," Cahill said. "I wasn't afraid to get hit. It couldn't get too much worse than it did last time."

The Indians will look to a pitcher who also is searching for more confidence in rookie Jeanmar Gomez. The right-hander, who will be called up from Triple-A to make a start for the injured Josh Tomlin (sprained ligament in right elbow), is 0-2 with a 5.70 ERA over five appearances (four starts) with Cleveland this season.

Gomez's numbers with Triple-A Columbus -- 10-7 with a 2.55 ERA -- lead Indians manager Manny Acta to believe the rookie right-hander will be able to perform well in an important spot start.

"He's pitched well down there," Acta said. "He hasn't had any issues. Him and [Zach] McAllister have thrown the ball the whole season."

"His velocity was up to 93, and he felt really good from the comments I read on the report," manager Bob Melvin said. "I can see him making at least one more start."

Indians: Choo hurting

Indians outfielder Shin-Soo Choo will likely miss the next two weeks with a left oblique strain.

Choo originally suffered an injury to the muscle on Wednesday, but he thought he had avoided any significant damage after pain-free batting practice sessions on Friday and Saturday.

After a third-inning at-bat on Saturday, however, the pain returned, and now the Indians will be without Choo as they try to make up ground on the American League Central-leading Tigers.

"That's the worst part," Choo said, "not being able to play, just sitting in the dugout."

Worth noting

• The 106 errors committed by the A's this season are the most since they recorded 107 errors in 2003.

• Only 15 of the Indians' 25 players were on the team's Opening Day roster.

• Kosuke Fukudome is hitting .284 (33-for-116) since being acquired by the Indians on July 27.