Recap of Home Opener

The home opener at Progressive Field today was a surprise to many including myself with the offensive fireworks displayed in todays game. However, the outcome was unfavorable to the Tribe as they lost 15-10. Heading into the bottom of the 6th looked hopeless for the Indians as they faced a 14-0 deficit.

Many people, including myself, counted them out of the game at that point. However, the Tribe would battle back in the bottom of the 6th posting a 4 spot. From there, the Tribe would battle back and found themselves down 15-9 going into the bottom of the 9th. Cleveland would scratch out one run, and left runners on first and third when Jack Hannahan came to bat. Unfortunately, Hannahan came up short, but whose to blame him. Hannahan had an amazing game at the plate going 3-5 with a home run, scoring 3 runs and an RBI.

Fausto Carmona did not have the type of outing that has to be expected from the ace of the rotation. He went 3 innings allowing 10 earned runs on 11 hits before he was taken out of the game by Acta in the top of the fourth. He gave up 2 home runs, which is a clear sign that his sinker was not working today. When Carmona's sinker is working, it is a very difficult pitch to hit. This horrendous outing has lifted his ERA to 30.00. On the bright side, of the 9 outs he recorded, 5 were via strike out. If the Indians are to create some commotion in the division, Carmona is going to need to step it up and perform at the level he did in 2007 when he was a 19 game winner and candidate for the Cy Young award.

Although the Tribe was unable to pull off the comeback of the century, they did impress me a lot in the later part of the game by never giving up. They showed an immense amount of heart. This is something that Manny Acta is trying to install into his players, and I think he is doing a great job of it. It was defiantly interesting to see the new faces on the Tribe get some action in a real game today. Hannahan was a big surprise to me. I have never had the privilege of seeing Hannahan play before today (also in spring training) and have not heard too much about him but I was thoroughly impressed. Other players who impressed me were Santana, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Matt LaPorta. Santana went 3-5 with a home run and scoring a pair of runs, and driving in 3 runs. Asdrubal Cabrera went 3-5 and scored a pair, and LaPorta went 2-5 scoring a run as well as driving one in.

The outcome was not in the Tribe's favor, but this game showed that there is a lot of potential for a young Cleveland team. They went 8-15 with runners in scoring position, which is over .500 and just amazing. They were down early, and did not give up. They showed an immense amount of heart, and darn near pulled off the comeback of all comebacks. If I had to pick a player of the game, I would without a doubt pick Jack Hannahan. The man was a stud today, simply put. I liked what I saw with the Tribe offense, the key is going to be getting the pitching to hold the opposition to only a few runs. If the Tribe is able to get its pitching down, they will make some commotion in the American League Central Division.