Tribe Beat Sox!

Who could have predicted that 5 games into the season the Boston Red Sox would not have a win? Its crazy to think that the Tribe now has an opportunity to sweep them after winning todays game with a final score of 4-8. Mitch Talbot had a pretty decent outing today for the Tribe. Going 4 and a third innings and only allowing 2 runs to the Red Sox lineup is very impressive. Whats even more impressive is he had 7 K's. Talbot found himself in many jams, but he continued to pitch through it and got out of them unmarred. Talbot did a great job, and if he continues to pitch like this it will be great to have strength at the back end of the rotation.

After Talbot was yanked in the fifth inning, Chad Durbin entered the game. Durbin was used as a match up guy, and did his job successfully by recording a strikeout. From there, the winning pitcher of the game was summoned, Rafael Perez. What can I say about Perez? He did an amazing job. Going 1 and a third innings, he struck out 2 and did not allow a run or hit. In the 7th inning, Frank Herrmann was called upon. Herrmann looked great,but unfortunately surrendered a 2 run home run to Adrian Gonzalez. It was an amazing at bat, and Herrmann made several great pitches. However, Gonzalez battled by fouling them off and then unloaded on a fastball that caught a little bit too much of the plate. Those two runs would be the last that Boston would get as Tony Sipp would shut them down in the 8th, and Vinnie Pestano recorded a 0 in the 9th. The Tribe bullpen has looked great so far this young season. It is really shaping up to be a strength of the ball club. All good teams have one thing in common, a great bullpen. It looks like the Tribe has that together and could be very good this season.

The Tribe offense looked great this game as well. To score 8 runs on the pitching staff and bullpen that Boston has is quite a feat. Leading the Tribe offensive was Asdrubal Cabrera who hit a 3 run bomb. He went 2-5 and drove in 5 runs. Asdrubal Cabrera was by far the player of the game for the Tribe. Matt LaPorta also had a nice day at the play going 2-3, scoring 2 runs and driving one in. Shin-Soo Choo appeared to have broken out of his slump today when he hit a 2 run shot in the bottom of the first. However, that may not be the case because in the second inning he grounded into an inning ending double play. Choo is showing improvement at the plate, and I predict that this slump will fade away soon and Choo will be back to normal. His contribution is crucial for the Tribe offense. Travis Hafner also looked good in this game going 1-3 with a walk. His walk was one of the best at bats Ive seen from him in awhile. He took Matsuzaka too a full count, and then to a 9 pitch at bat. He fought off some tough pitches, and then drew the walk. If Hafner stays on the role hes been on, the Tribe offense will continue to thrive.

The Indians played a great game today to beat the Red Sox. From the great start from Talbot, to the high scoring Tribe offense, to the shutdown by the bullpen, this young team was able to do it all. I'm really looking forward to tomorrows game when the Tribe will have an opportunity to sweep the Red Sox. Pitching probables for tomorrows game are Jon Lester for the Red Sox, and Fausto Carmona for the Tribe. Fausto is coming off of a rough start against the White Sox and is looking to redeem himself and prove that he is the ace of the rotation. Tomorrow will be an exciting game, and the Indians could sweep the Red Sox for the first time since God knows when! I am counting down the minutes until 12:05 when the first pitch is underway.