Morning Rundown: Gomez Wears It in Sox-Series Finale

Written by Nino Colla

gomezradinsky I'm so sorry. Yesterday I went on and on about how the Indians hadn't lost a game by more than six runs and the one they did lose by six runs, was real close until things just blew up. Basically, claiming the Indians were in just about every game they played.

May 9th, 2012

Chicago White Sox - 8

Cleveland Indians - 1

W: Jake Peavy (4-1) L: Jeanmar Gomez (2-2)

[BOXSCORE]

Then Jeanmar Gomez met the White Sox and the Indians met the guy that is Jake Peavy. Yeah the guy that is Jake Peavy threw a pretty good game last year against the Tribe. But that... That guy they faced last night. That was the real Jake Peavy.

That combo was a recipe for really, the Indians first real blowout loss of the year at the hands of the Sox and after sweeping the double header, the Indians drop the final two games to end the series in a tie.

I guess you just start with what went wrong from the get-go and that was Jeanmar Gomez. He didn't have it.

But give the guy credit for going out there and putting up some zeros after the big inning. He found a way out of the inning (most managers might have yanked Gomez after the eighth run, Acta with his pen usage lately though and knowing the upcoming stretch, opted to keep him in) and went on to pitch a few more frames. If anything, he saved the bullpen.

Oh and um, I'm pretty sure this has been really his first real bad outing this season, so, I think you can excuse him.

"Gomez just couldn't throw strikes," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "The first four innings, he struggled with his control to a point where, in the fourth inning, he had more balls than strikes thrown. When you're not overpowering, you're really not going to get away with it up here. They made him pay for it."

Heck, you could boil it down to one inning, that crazy fourth.

"I had one terrible inning," said Gomez, who slipped to 2-2 with a 4.66 ERA. "They hit a lot of balls. I made a couple mistakes up in the zone and I paid for them. When it happens, you can't do anything. I'll take the good things out of it and keep working, prepare for the next start."

But in the end, Gomez said it was just one bad start and that everyone has them. Heck, they have more than one, so if Gomez only has one, that would be pretty cool. But Acta mentioned that it's been some time (last start of 2011 against the Tigers) that he was roughed up like that and that it's somewhat of a lesson on strike throwing.

Regardless of how Gomez pitched though, the offense was not doing anything against Jake Peavy, aside from the occasional hard-hit ball.

"Offensively, I felt like we did hit some balls hard at people, but we weren't as aggressive," Acta said. "Peavy was very aggressive. He threw a lot of strikes. There was one point in the game where he had 30 more strikes than balls. He just kept pounding the strike zone and we didn't do much about it."

Perhaps the hardest hit ball was a hard-shot back up the middle with Hafner on second, Choo on first and one out. Michael Brantley had a hard-hit ball right to Peavy that Jake caught in self-defense. Choo was too far off first and he got doubled up easily. Whatever rally the Indians were going to get started in the second ended there and it was pretty much an early killer on the night as Peavy would cruise.

Remarkable the Indians would scrape a run off Peavy in the seventh before he exited, off a Jason Donald groundout, but even with Peavy in that jam, you had a sense he was getting out of it with minimal damage, even though the game was pretty much over. It was just that type of night and Peavy is putting up those kinds of numbers this year that just make you shake your head in an envious sort of way.

He is looking as good as he did with the Padres right now and he lived up to the numbers he was putting up.

I guess the good news in all of this is that now the Indians hit the road, where they play really good ball. And they're taking on a Boston team that, well, if you watch television, is much maligned. Some shaky pitching, an unsettled bullpen, and just a lot of questions. This is a big four game set, the Indians need at least three.

Random Details...

Rough night for Johnny Damon in left field. He was sent back several times and it just looks anything but graceful and with him not coming down with the ball, it looks even worse. He also had a rough night at the plate.

On the other hand, Casey Kotchman keeps making plays and in the eight hole, had a great night at the plate, going 2-3 with a walk.

Peavy scattered his seven hits and like mentioned with the Brantley line-out, got some fortunate bounces to get out of would-be jams. So the middle contingent (Hafner, Cabrera, Santana) all had a hit and Hafner added a walk, but there wasn't much to do with it. Choo had two hits, but they didn't come in a spot where he had an opportunity to produce.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

Indians third baseman Jack Hannahan was out of the lineup on Wednesday due to a sore left groin, but he's expected back on Thursday. Acta said that Super Mannahan was 'playable' on Wednesday but that sitting him was simply a precaution so he didn't do any more damage to miss a more significant amount of time.

If the manager goes as far as saying someone is playable, they must feel pretty good about the injury not actually being really serious and not just saying 'it's not serious'. Seriously.

So expect to see Super Jack at third when the Indians arrive in Fenway.

Even after his game last Friday, Shin-Soo Choo simply has not found his rhythm or his footing offensively. Even before the injury, he struggled to find a groove of consistency. And Manny Acta, well, he'd kind of like him to find it and find it soon.

"At times, some of those guys, they want to do too much," Acta said on Wednesday. "As much as you talk to them, it's hard for them to understand that they're not going to go from .200 to .300. It's got to continue to be one at-bat at a time, continue to work and stay positive. He's shown some signs. Here and there he's done some good things. We need him."

We need him...

Yes that certainly wouldn't hurt. A rolling Choo can do wonders for an offense and maybe establish some consistency. If a Santana or a Hafner have a bad or off night, and Choo isn't hitting, the main producers, well they aren't producing. If you have all three rolling, there's always a chance. Even if two can't get it, there's another guy to pick it up.

So yeah, the Indians, they need a good Choo.

No news is no news for Roberto Hernandez. I guess Paul Hoynes or Sheldon Ocker like to poke their head out every once and awhile and say "Hey! Where's that uh... Fausto guy!?"

It kind of intrigues me that the media asks. I mean, if Hernandez had any sort of clearance or any sort of word was mentioned on him, you don't think it would have been reported by now? It's at a standstill and it will continue to be. So why ask?

"His side, the people that represent him," Acta said, "we're very optimistic that it had a very good chance to be resolved. But, unfortunately, that wasn't the case. That's something that it's out of his camp's and our camp's hands, as you guys all know."

Hernandez is not walking through that door. Not that they need him to. So stop asking.

The Indians took their team photo on Wednesday, but Derek Lowe was not present to be in it. So what did they do? They had someone stand in his place and they'll just photoshop it all to look like he is in it.

I wonder if they are going to photoshop Grady Sizemore out.. Or if he was the stand-in. Provided he could stand.

That was way too mean. I'm sorry.

[TIGER WATCH]

Good news in that the Tigs kept pace with the Indians and will not go above .500 as they fell to the Mariners in a low-scoring close one, 2-1. The Mariners got a run in the eighth to take the lead and it was easy to hand it over to Brandon League for his eighth save. One pitcher who they're actually getting production from not named Verlander, Drew Smyly, yet, his effort was wasted by the vaunted Tiger offense. I love being smug.

Nino has a blog that he creates dumb nicknames, even for players not on the Indians. Give it a vist at The Tribe Daily.

Follow @TheTribeDaily

Posted by Nino Colla May 10, 2012 5:11 AM Last Updated: May 10, 2012

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