Indians Look to Avoid the Sweep

The Indians starting pitching has been atrocious through two games. Carmona and Carrasco have combined for a total of 17 earned runs allowed and 21 hits. This has all come in a combined 9.2 innings pitched.

Neither of the two did anything to fool the White Sox hitters who have 29 hits in the first two games of the year. The White Sox have scored 23 runs off of those 29 hits.

The Indians offense has not been the problem as they have scored 13 runs through two games, including 10 on opening day. The hitters are doing their jobs, they just need more support from the pitchers. The fielders have made no errors thus far.

A pleasant surprise so far is Jack Hannahan. A late addition to the roster, Hannahan already has 4 RBI’s including a home run on opening day. He has also made two spectacular defensive plays at third base. It will be hard for Jason Donald to gain his starting spot back if Hannhan keeps up his great play.

As mentioned earlier, the pitching has been the problem for the team in these first two games. The issues have come early in the game. On opening day the White Sox were up 14-0 in the fourth inning. They only scored one run after the fourth en route to their 15-10 win. If Fausto and Justin Germano, who combined for those 14 runs, could have limited the Sox hitters, the game could have been won. The Indians offense produced 10 runs which should win any game.

Yesterday, the White Sox were up to a 5-0 lead in the second before the Tribe added 3 in the bottom half of the inning. This early run production must be limited by Justin Masterson in today’s game. If he can hold the White Sox to less than three runs, the offense of the Indians can surely score some runs off of John Danks.

Game Notes from Saturday:

Travis Hafner hit his first home run of the year and almost had a second. When he hit the ball in his second at bat, his bat split in half and made a sound as if it was an aluminum bat. The ball went to the warning track and was caught, but if the bat did not break it surely would have been his second homer of the day.

The attendance at Saturday’s game was only 9,853, which is the lowest attendance in Progressive/Jacobs Field history.