Series Preview: Indians vs. Athletics

The Indians are RED hot and wrapped up the month of April with a club record for wins and their best start since 1999. They’ve six straight and are 7-3 in their last ten. The Tribe leads the league in runs scored…. AND Shin Soo-Choo and Carlos Santana haven’t even gotten hot yet. Two starters in the rotation on the DL? Not a problem. Jeanmar Gomez and Alex White have stepped in admirably. Now it’s off to the left coast for the second trip this season to take on Oakland and an Angels team that took two out of three in mid-April. That’s a quarter of the Indians losses in a three day stretch!

May 3-5, 2011

Overstock.com Coliseum

Scouting Report

• Cleveland – The Indians’ 13-game home winning streak has largely contributed to them holding baseball’s best record through the first month of the season. Heading into a West Coast trip, improving their 6-6 road mark becomes the priority. The Indians started off well on the road, winning their first four contests, but have dropped six out of the last eight since then. Carlos Santana and Shin-Soo Choo appear to be breaking out of their slumps BUT after a recent DUI incident, the Tribe could be without the use of Choo
• Oakland – The A’s come into this series after winning six of their last ten. Former Indians Outfielder Coco Crisp, who was held out of Monday’s lineup as a precautionary measure because of his recent battle with quad tightness, is expected to return to his usual leadoff spot for Tuesday’s series opener. Crisp missed three games before playing Sunday and going 2-for-5 with an RBI.

Pitching Match-up(s)

Game 1- Fausto Carmona vs. Tyson Ross

• Fausto Carmona  2-3, 5.15 ERA

Carmona bounced back from a rough outing with a solid effort at home against the Royals on Thursday. The Tribe’s ace limited Kansas City to two runs on five hits over seven innings, mixing in two strikeouts and two walks in a win.

• Tyson Ross  1-2, 2.76 ERA

Ross, filling in for the injured Dallas Braden, shook off a shaky starting debut and proceeded to utilize just 76 pitches through seven scoreless frames against the Angels in his last outing. He yielded four hits and a walk while fanning three.

Game 2 – Josh Tomlin vs. Trevor Cahill

• Josh Tomlin  4-0, 2.45 ERA

Tomlin has been one of the Tribe’s most consistent starters in the early going, and that continued in his latest outing against the Royals on Wednesday. Over six innings, the righty allowed two runs on five hits with three strikeouts and one walk.

• Trevor Cahill  4.0, 1.88 ERA

Cahill overcame a 26-pitch first inning, which included three uncharacteristic walks, to toss 100 over seven shutout innings against the Rangers while picking up his fourth win of the season on Friday. He scattered seven hits and fanned four

Game 3- Jeanmar Gomez vs. Brett Anderson

• Jeanmar Gomez 0-1, 6.23 ERA

Gomez’s velocity is down a couple ticks from 2010, and he’s had some trouble commanding his sinker and slider. He gave up 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings against the Tigers on Friday but limited the damage to three runs.

• Brett Anderson  2-2, 2.95 ERA

The typically effective Anderson endured his worst start of the season on Saturday, surrendering a career-high-tying seven earned runs and four walks over just five innings of work against a Rangers team that hit three homers off him.

Probable Lineups

Cleveland

1. CF Grady Sizemore

2. SS Asdrubal Cabrera

3. RF Shin-Soo Choo

4.    C Carlos Santana

5. DH Travis Hafner/ Shelly Duncan

6. 2B Orlando Cabrera

7. LF Michael Brantley

8. 1B Matt LaPorta

9. 3B Jack Hannahan

Oakland

1. 2B Mark Ellis

2. 1B Daric Barton

3. RF Conor Jackson

4. LF Josh Willingham

5. DH Hideki Matsui

6.    C Kurt Suzuki

7. CF David DeJesus

8. 3B Andy LaRoche

9. SS Cliff Pennington