Pavano shuts down Tigers bats

The Indians ended their 6 game losing streak against us with a 5-4 win. Carl Pavano pitched 8 strong innings, allowing only 2 ER and 0 BB. Kerry Wood entered the 9th with a 3 run lead and then promptly gave up a 2 run home run to Cabrera. Then, Thames, Thomas and Raburn were set down in order and our comeback attempt was all for naught. Galaragga allowed 4 ER in 6 innings of work and took the loss for the 8th time this season. Ni and Dolsi came in for 3 innings of relief work and allowed 1 ER, 3 hits, 0 BB and 1 SO. Tomorrow, we send Verlander to the mound to try and win this series and ensure at least a 2.5 game lead in the division before heading to the All Star break. Post game thoughts...

-As I mentioned in the preview, Pavano has had really good peripheral numbers this year and has been very unlucky this year. Hence, his ERA looks worse than perhaps it should. He threw first pitch strikes to 25 of the 28 batters he faced and was very efficient having only thrown 101 pitches through 8 innings. He could have come back in the 9th if need be and perhaps he should have. Now, we did waste some chances. The strikeout by Raburn and eventual tag on Thames coming home in the 3rd inning cost us big time. But, this is one of those games where you tip your hat to the opposing pitcher. If anything, Pavano easily could have pitched a shutout with a little better play on the Rabrun ball to center by Sizemore. I wouldn't look too much into this performance. Tomorrow, we should get to Ohko.

-This was a decent performance by Galaragga but I would have hoped for a little more from him. This was a tough matchup for him with several good lefties in the lineup, and sometimes he pitched like he knew that. In the 3rd inning, he walked Martinez and Choo to make the bases loaded instead of attacking the strike zone. Then, Hafner hit a blooper to left field that Raburn just missed hauling in on a "game of inches" type play. The ball squirted free and the Indians took a lead they never relinquished. According to Brooks Baseball, Galaragga nearly evenly split up his pitches tonight. He threw his slider 36 times and his changeup 34 times. His four seam fastball was thrown 28 times. Unfortunately, he had trouble locating the slider and change. Neither pitch was thrown for a strike more than 60% of the time. The bite that his slider had in his last start against the Royals was not there tonight. The 3rd inning, as mentioned above, was his worst inning. He threw only 10 strikes in 24 pitches in that inning. All in all, I still like Galaragga going forward as a #4 or #5 starter. But, starting him in a potential playoff game would scare me. I still would like to see us acquire another starting pitcher before the trade deadline.

-Ni continued to be a strike thrower with a 75% strike percentage. He did get charged with an earned run when Dolsi allowed the inherited runner to score. But, I still like Ni. Going forward, I would like to use him stritcly as a LOOGY when the rosters expand and the stretch run to the postseason continues.

-Dolsi pitched 1.2 IP tonight and allowed his inherited runner to score. He utilized his fastball, change and slider tonight. His fastball averaged roughly 95 MPH. But, as usual, he was wild and a couple of real good balls were hit off him. His ERA looks good in his short stint up here but that is very misleading, imo. Dolsi is probably on a short leash going forward and I do not see a real big role for him in the second half.

-Thomas took a bad route to one ball hit in OF but then also made two textbook defensive plays in RF at other points in the game. He also went 2 for 4 tonight. I like this platoon that Leyland has going with him and Ordonez, and I have liked Thomas's approach at the plate since he has returned from Toledo.

-It was nice to see Cabrera get a HR off Kerry Wood (who has been awful this year). But, he had a couple weak at bats that he normally would not/should not have against Pavano. I think the All Star break will do him good.

-Every series, the goal is to take 2 of 3. We still have the opportunity to do that tomorrow. We have our ace going and they have a terrible pitcher going in Tomo Ohka (sorry to be so blunt). On paper, we should take this game and head into the All Star break on a high note. Lets make that a reality.