Huffin’ & puffin’ the Twins
Just when we start to worry about the Tribe, they surprise us and pull us right back in.
After losing two straight to the last-place Orioles, the Indians headed to Minnesota for a big four-game series with Minnesota.
Monday’s day-night double header featured David Huff and Fausto Carmona taking the mound for the Tribe, leading us to worry about the prospect of a four-game losing streak.
So what happens?
Huff goes out in the opener and throws seven innings of shutout baseball to lead the Tribe to a win. And Carmona went six innings, somehow giving up just two runs as the Indians swept the Twins.
Just the way Manny Acta drew it up before the game.
“David Huff did a nice job,” Acta said in published reports. “David really pitched good with the lead. He attacked both sides of the plate. I can’t say enough about the job he did because he was on three days’ rest and it was so humid and hot.”
“(Fausto is) a guy with great stuff,” Travis Hafner said in published reports. “He’s one of the leaders on this team, so if he can pitch well it’s a huge boost for our club.”
Huff pitched so well that he earned another turn in the rotation, as the Indians sent Jeanmar Gomez back to Columbus after the game.
See what we mean about surprises?
No matter how many times the Tribe gets knocked down, they find a way to come back.
The latest punch came from Grady Sizemore going on the disabled list for the third time this season. Sizemore told The Plain Dealer that the injury feels similar to the one that led to season-ending microfracture surgery last year on his left knee.
“There’s a lot of concern,” Sizemore told the paper. “I just hope I don’t have to go through what I went through last year.”
That doesn’t sound good.
But the Indians have done nothing but play through injuries this year, and hopefully this won’t be any different. But we do have to wonder how much more one team can take and still keep on winning.
Taking the double header was huge for the Tribe. The Twins have been on a roll lately, but now sit seven games back in the standings.
With Justin Masterson and Josh Tomlin scheduled to pitch Tuesday and Wednesday, it sets the team up nicely to (at least) win the series and put some additional distance between them and the Twins.
If the Tribe can pull off the sweep of the four-game series, they can push the Twins nine games back, putting a big bucket of cold water on the hot streak the Twins have been on recently.
Let’s hope the Indians have a few more surprises in store for us.
Red Right 88 