July 26: Indians lose 2-3
July 27: Indians WIN 4-1
July 28: Indians lose 0-8
July 29: Indians lose 4-11
Indians 2010 Record: 42-60
Travis Hafner hit a solo home run in the 2nd and Shin-Soo Choo doubled in a run in the sixth, but that was it for the Indians offense as they continue to come up empty with runners in scoring position. Jake Westbrook battled for eight innings, yielding only four hits and striking out five. Two of those hits, though, were long balls. Nick Swisher hit a solo shot in the fourth to tie the game and Curtis Granderson connected for a two run shot in the eighth to give the Yankees the go-ahead run.
The Indians pulled a prospect out of the minors to face the top team in baseball and the Tribe's former ace with history (Alex Rodriguez looking for his 600th career home run) and a three game losing streak on the line. Rookie Josh Tomlin responded by pitching seven shutout innings. He left after giving up a leadoff double to Robinson Cano, who would later score, in the eighth with two strikeouts and no walks. C.C. Sabathia yielded four runs (two earned) to his former team in seven innings to his former team while Rodriguez failed to collect a hit for the second straight night. Matt LaPorta - acquired in the Sabathia trade - drove in runs in the 4th and 6th innings as the Indians took the early lead and rode it to an impressive win.
Sometimes you have it and sometimes you don't. Fausto Carmona didn't have it Wednesday night, coughing up 7 runs in just 2 2/3 innings to the Yankees. Hector Amriz relieved him and gave up an eighth run before Jess Todd, Frank Hermann and Tony Sipp stopped the bleeding and shut the Yankees down for the final 4 innings. A.J. Burnett, on the other hand, continued his up and down season, blanking the Indians for 6 1/3 innings and then watching the Yankee bullpen complete the shutout.
Mitch Talbot left Thursday's game with a back injury in the second and the Yankees manufactured a tying run that inning, knotting the game at one. The two teams continued to go head-to-head for a few innings before the Indians bullpen imploded. Walks again set the stage as Talbot and five relievers combined to walk 12 Yankee batters. Tony Sipp and Joe Smith alone walked four batters in 1 2/3 innings as the Yankees struung together a seven-run seventh inning to blow the game open. The only Indians "pitcher" not to walk a batter? First baseman Andy Marte, who pitched the final inning for the depleted Indians, capping off the laugher.
The Indians offense has left the building...again. Ten runs in four games isn't going to get it done very often against a team like the Yankees. The walks in the final were a killer as well, and something that it looked like the Indians had addressed finally (Tribe pitchers walked six batters in the other three games combined). The Yankees can make a lot of teams look bad, but the Indians made themselves look even worse. Hopefully they can rebound and chalk this up to a "bump in the road" and return to the form that they showed coming out of the All-Star break.