Forget Yesterday – Let’s Get Excited About Tomorrow

OK, so the Indians dropped a stinker on Opening Day, losing 6 -0 to Mark Buehrle and the White Sox. I really don’t want to spend too long dwelling on that. But tomorrow night is what you should be excited for. Let’s take a quick look back at the opener before I tell you why.

The Story: Jake Westbrook made four plus innings of baseball look like torture, giving up 5 along with 4 wild pitches and 2 hit batsmen. Meanwhile, Indians bats managed 3 harmless singles and one walk against Buehrle’s 7 innings.

The Brightside: Aaron Laffey got out of a bases-loaded, nobody out jam giving up only 1 run (on a double play) and pitched 2 innings of scoreless ball. Jensen Lewis didn’t suck and struck out 2 in a perfect inning.

The Reason You Should Be Excited for Tomorrow’s Game: Because it’s a recently healed former Cy Young winner in Jake Peavy for the White Sox against a guy who had one year when he could have been a Cy Young winner who looks like he’s remembered how to pitch in Fausto Carmona. Spring stats are next to meaningless, but you have to be encouaged by what you saw out of Fausto Carmona. I’m real curious to see how he handles a real game situation. Honestly, I’d just like to see Carmona make it through at least 5 innings without walking a lot of guys. If he stays away from the walks he should do OK.

Peavy’s a bit more polished and made 3 terrific starts in September of last year, so there isn’t as much uncertainty clouding him. But if the Indians hit against Peavy like they did against Buehrle, then it’s probably gonna be another long day for the Tribe.

I am not sure if Luis Valbuena will play tomorrow. He’s day-to-day with a right hand bruise after being hit by a pitch.