I haven’t written in a little while mostly out of pure disgust with the team’s performance.  Last night offered the first slight glimmer of hope of a non-catastrophic season.  Some objections to my hypothesis will probably be:
“So they won a game finally…  big deal”
“You can only lose for so long”
“Even a blind squirrel eventually finds a nut”
      Although I understand these objections, the win last night was important not solely because it was a win [or even a blowout for that matter], but because of how they got it.  The two main points here are batting and relief pitching.

      For the first time in about two weeks the Indians got some solid contact.  I previously posted that the bats were a huge concern, especially power hitting.  The four homeruns last night tend to lower that fear for me.  The post-Hafner/Martinez era called for some adjustment, but if the team can get the big hits without them, imagine the power when those two come back. Now, the relief pitching….

     Most importantly was Rafael Perez’s performance.  Here, he was performing in his normal 7th inning role, but happened to pitch the 8th as well. He pitched two full innings, earning 2K’s, 0 BB’s and 0 Hits.  Solid performance.  Next, Juan Rincon had a somewhat shaky closing performance, but managed to not give up any runs in the 9th [a rare occurrence so far this year for the Indian’s closing staff].  He gave up 2 walks and 1 hit, but also got 2 K’s.

     After shuffling around the bullpen and the roles, there has finally been a solid relief performance.  Perez functions best when he comes in in the 7th or sometimes six, and generally does poorly if he comes in in the later innings.  Betancourt is damn good in the 8th, but usually terrible in the ninth.  The team still needs a solid closer.  Maybe it will be Rincon.  Perhaps Kobayashi.  Time will tell.

      Also, kudos to Sizemore and Cliff Lee on making the all-star team.  It’s a downright disgrace that Sizemore is on the reserve team, but hopefully a strong performance in the HR Derby will bring this young star further into the limelight.  Cliff Lee, should probably be dominant.