A SIMILAR STORY?: A year ago, the Twins jumped out to an early lead in the AL Central, leading the pack by 4.5 games in late May before stumbling in June and dipping to just three games over .500 and falling to third place, trailing Chicago by 4.5 games in mid-July. The Twins returned to first place in mid-August and wound up winning 94 games and the division by six games.
ALL-TIME TOTALS: The Indians’ all-time record against San Francisco dropped to 4-5, while their mark against Arizona improved to 7-5.
ANOTHER JUNE SWOON: The Tribe’s June struggles are nothing new. Including this year’s 9-17 mark, over the past four seasons, the Tribe has posted a record of 42-67 in June. The last seven times they’ve had a losing record in June, they’ve also finished the season with a losing record.
STILL NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME: The Indians’ record this season against teams that made the playoffs in 2010 has now dropped to 9-22, losing 14 of their last 17. What’s worse, the Tribe’s next six games are against teams that made the playoffs last year.
NO CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’: The Tribe wrapped up the California portion of its schedule with a 4-8 record.
ADMIT YOU’VE WONDERED: The Indians have now scored 340 runs on the season. In case you’re wondering, the least runs ever scored by a Cleveland team in a regulation season was 472 in 1972. To break that record, the Indians would have to average 1.6 runs per game for the rest of the season. Let’s hope that’s out of the question.
INTERLEAGUE ISSUES: The Indians’ record in interleague play has now dropped to 9-6. If they’re swept by the Reds this weekend, they’ll secure their sixth straight season without posting a winning record against National League teams.
HITTING BOTTOM: In the Giants series, the Indians hit a horrid .143 as a team - the worst they’ve hit in any series all season. It was the fifth time this season they’ve hit below .200 in a series. Ironically, with the Giants hitting just .198, it was the sixth time they’ve held an opponent below a .200 average for a series.
BUNGLES BY THE BAY: The Indians committed 12% of their errors for the season over the weekend in San Francisco. They’d averaged 0.6 errors per game for the season before committing six in three games against the Giants.
STYMIED AGAIN: By getting shut out yet again on Saturday, the Indians have now been goose-egged nine times for the season - including a whopping five times in June. Interestingly, the Tribe’s offensive woes have run counter to the accepted baseball axiom that hitting improves along with the weather. Eight of their shutouts have taken place since May 18.
FINALLY TOPPING THREE BILLS: By hitting .302 as a team in the Arizona series, the Tribe topped the .300 mark for a series for the first time since the trip to Toronto a month - and seven series - ago.
CARLOS STILL EN FUEGO: With another sterling outing on Wednesday, Carlos Carrasco has now posted five straight quality starts (at least 6 IP, no more than 3 ER) and has done so in six of his last seven. In his last five starts, of which he’s won four, he’s posted an ERA of 0.98. Since returning from the DL in mid-May, Carrasco is 7-3 with an ERA of 2.91.
MORE CARLOS: Wednesday was the first time Carrasco had allowed more than one earned run in a game since June 2 - snapping a remarkable string of four straight starts.
A COMMON THREAD: Not including pitchers, on Wednesday the Indians sent seven different batters to the plate with season batting averages under .250.
BETTER OFF WITH THE KIDS?: In their limited action thus far, Cord Phelps and Lonnie Chisenhall are hitting a combined .244 (12 for 49) with a homer and six RBI. That’s three times more RBI than Austin Kearns (who’s had 49 more at-bats) and one less than Lou Marson (who’s had 45 more at-bats).
PROGRESS REPORT: The Indians are averaging 4.3 runs per game and allowing 4.2. Their team batting average is .249 (10th in the AL) and team ERA is 3.83 (sixth in the AL).
A YEAR AGO: After 79 games in 2010, the Indians stood at 31-48, last place in the AL Central, 12.5 games back of the first-place Twins.
SAN FRANCISCO SERIES BY THE NUMBERS:
The Giants outscored the Indians, 8-4 - four of the Giants’ runs were unearned. The Indians committed six errors.
Overall Hitting
Cleveland 13 for 91 (.143), 10 walks
San Francisco 17 for 86 (.198), 7 walks
With Runners in Scoring Position
Cleveland 2 for 22 (.091), 19 left on base
San Francisco 3 for 20 (.150), 17 left on base
Extra-Base Hits
Cleveland 4 (0 HR)
San Francisco 4 (1 HR)
Overall Pitching
Cleveland 24 IP, 17 H, 7 BB, 15 SO, 4 ER, 1.50 ERA
San Francisco 27 IP, 13 H, 10 BB, 31 SO, 4 ER, 1.33 ERA
Staring Pitchers
Cleveland 0-3; 20.2 IP, 17 H, 5 BB, 13 SO, 4 ER, 1.74 ERA
San Francisco 2-0; 18.2 IP, 12 H, 8 BB, 23 SO, 4 ER, 1.93 ERA
Relief Pitchers
Cleveland 3.1 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 2 SO, 0 ER, 0.00 ERA
San Francisco 1-0, 3 saves; 8.1 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 8 SO, 0 ER, 0.00 ERA
ARIZONA SERIES BY THE NUMBERS:
The Indians outscored the Diamondbacks, 15-12. The Indians committed one error.
Overall Hitting
Cleveland 32 for 106 (.302), 9 walks
Arizona 20 for 96 (.208), 5 walks
With Runners in Scoring Position
Cleveland 12 for 38 (.316), 23 left on base
Arizona 5 for 24 (.208), 14 left on base
Extra-Base Hits
Cleveland 14 (3 HR)
Arizona 11 (3 HR)
Overall Pitching
Cleveland 26.2 IP, 20 H, 5 BB, 17 SO, 12 ER, 4.05 ERA
Arizona 27 IP, 32 H, 9 BB, 25 SO, 15 ER, 5.00 ERA
Starting Pitchers
Cleveland 1-0, 19 IP, 12 H, 2 BB, 13 SO, 7 ER, 3.32 ERA
Arizona 0-1, 21 IP, 23 H, 4 BB, 17 SO, 10 ER, 4.29 ERA
Relief Pitchers
Cleveland 1-1, 1 save; 7.2 IP, 8 H, 3 BB, 4 SO, 5 ER, 5.87 ERA
Arizona 1-1; 6 IP, 9 H, 5 BB, 8 SO, 5 ER, 7.50 ERA
UP NEXT:
at Cincinnati Reds [42-40]
(Friday 7:10 p.m.; Saturday 4:10 p.m.; Sunday 1:10 p.m.)
Probable Starters:
Masterson (5-6, 2.98 ERA); Carmona (4-10, 5.89 ERA); Talbot (2-4, 4.96 ERA)
Last year: Reds won series, 4-2
This year: Indians lead series, 3-0
New York Yankees [48-31]
(Monday 6:35 p.m.; Tuesday 7:05 p.m.; Wednesday 7:05 p.m.)
Probable Starters:
Tomlin (9-4, 3.86 ERA); Carrasco (8-4, 3.54 ERA); Masterson
Last year: Yankees won series, 6-2
This year: Yankees lead series, 3-1