Ubaldo Jimenez dodged and weaved his way through six innings, and the Tribe bullpen did the rest.

It's still May, so all the caveats and cliches about it being early apply, but if one was handicapping each matchup this series, this was the one the Indians needed to win, for Doug Fister and Justin Verlander are going for the Tigers to finish the series.

This is Rick Porcello's fourth season in the majors, and he hasn't yet taken the next step. He has a mid-90s fastball, but he's using it to throw two-seam sinkers, not strike batters out (career 4.9 SO/9). He's averaged over 10 hits per 9 innings, again not the mark of a young fireballer. Tonight the Indians slowly picked him apart, and he left in the sixth inning having given up 8 hits to the Tribe lineup. But let's save that until later.

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Current Series

Orel Leonard Hershiser IV

Starting Pitcher, 1995-1997

Height: 6'3" Weight: 190 lbs

Throws: Right

Acquired: Free Agent, 4-8-1995

Left Via: Free Agency, 12-9-1997 (San Francisco)

Orel Hershiser essentially had two careers; after his 1990 shoulder surgery, he was a completely different pitcher than the one who racked up four top-4 Cy Young finishes in 5 seasons (including winning the award in 1988). But he was still effective, and his arrival in Cleveland in 1995 coincided with one of the greatest seasons in franchise history.

Orel grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and after high school, accepted a scholarship offer to pitch at Bowling Green State University. He pitched well enough to attract major-league interest, and was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 17th round of the 1979 Draft. Throughout his minor-league career, he was used mainly as a reliever, serving as the main closer in every level he pitched at. But he did start as well, so he threw over 100 innings in each year from 1980-1983. His minor-league numbers weren't exceptional, as he had problems with walks (minor-league average of 4.1 BB per 9 innings), but his stuff was excellent. After the 1982 season, the Dodgers added him to their 40-man roster, and almost included him (along with Dave Stewart) in a trade to the Texas Rangers for catcher Jim Sundberg. Fortunately for the Dodgers, Sundberg nixed the deal by invoking his no-trade clause.

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Nick Hagadone and Jeremy Accardo couldn't hold a one-run deficit, so the two runs scored in the ninth inning were for naught.

It was another taut, low-scoring game until the eighth inning. Derek Lowe, coming off his 127-pitch shutout last Tuesday, wasn't going to go deep into the game, but even so he had a fine follow-up to his gem in Minnesota; he allowed two runs on six hits, and got better as the game progressed. He allowed a first inning run after Jose Reyes led off the game with a double, and a second run on Greg Dobbs' two-out double.* After that, Lowe settled down, recording out after out via the ground ball.

Josh Johnson was pitching for the Marlins, and through most of his start, he was a completely different pitcher than what his season statistics indicated. The big right-hander battled injuries in 2011, and to this point had allowed 57 hits in 45.1 innings and a 5.36 ERA. His strikeout (7.5/9) and walk (3.0/9) ratios to this point looked consistent with a power pitcher; he's just allowed way too many hits for a pitcher with his stuff. He starter the day with a fastball in the low 90s, but ended it with fastball touching 95 mph. Through four innings, he seemed untouchable, but the Indians managed a run off him in the fifth and was in position to score more.

Johnson got out of the fifth thanks to a base running blunder by Lou Marson. He had just walked, putting runners on first and second with one out and Shin-Soo Choo up. Choo hit a ball sharply to the first baseman, who threw to second to at least attempt a double play, but because Marson went out of the baseline and didn't slide, obstructing Reyes' throw back to first. Interference was called, and the rally was defused. Had Marson slide or stayed in the baseline, I don't think they would have turned a double play, leaving runners at first and third with Jason Kipnis coming to bat.

The Indians again had a chance to tie or take the lead in the seventh when Casey Kotchman batted with runners at second and third, but the Tribe first baseman grounded to third on a 3-2 changeup. That would be the closest the Indians would come to re-taking the lead, as Nick Hagadone allowed a lead-off double, and Jeremy Accardo was awful, allowing a walk, two hits and two runs of his own in addition to the inherited run.

That deficit not held would come back to haunt the Indians, as they score two runs in the ninth off embattled closer Heath Bell, so instead of those two runs meaning a walk-off win, all they meant was that the margin of loss would look a bit better.

*Hanley Ramirez, who scored on the play hit a grounder that trickled past a lunging Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera's hitting very well, but his range to my eyes has seemed limited this season.

Source: FanGraphs

Closer Chris Perez calls for more support from Indians fans | indians.com: News

There isn't much new here that wasn't covered last night, but I wanted to summarize in a post what I scattered through the comments.

Perez's comment on the booing Thursday, for those who haven't read it:

I’m tired of getting booed at home, so I figured I’d throw some strikes today," said Perez....

"You can quote that. It doesn’t bother me. It (ticks) me off. I don’t think they have a reason to boo me. They booed me against the Mariners when I had two guys on. It feels like I can’t even give up a baserunner without people booing me. It’s even worse when there’s only 5,000 in the stands, because then you can hear it. It (ticks) me off.

Emphasis mine.

I think what Perez is referring to is that the booing was done by just a few fans. There are always going to be fans who boo just to hear themselves boo, but in the days when there were 35,000+ fans in the stands, you never heard them. But with 10,000 fans in the stands, you can hear just about everyone whether friendly or not. At least that's what I hoped happened.

Anyway, the main point of Perez's soliloquy was that attendance is lower than it should be for a team who is at this point in first place, and that players around baseball notice it. Other explanations have been thrown out for why this is, but I think the underlying reason is that the fanbase is still angry over the 2002 teardown that took place under Larry Dolan. Yes, it's been a decade since that happened, but nobody can hold a grudge like a Cleveland sports fan.

Even if he was saying what was on his and perhaps other player's minds, it's not a good idea to antagonize the people who pay to see you play, especially since this will probably lead to other booings if Perez has a non-perfect outing. Fans who until yesterday had no reason to boo Perez now have one.

UPDATE, 12:12 PM

Chris Perez expands on his comments; Mark Shapiro responds « Throwin' Heat

MLB.com's Zach Meisel interviewed both Perez and team president Mark Shapiro this morning on Perez's comments yesterday. Here's just a section of the interview, so please read the entire thing.

Do you feel like this could ignite fans that have been waiting for somebody to speak up?
[Perez]: I hope so. Like I said, I don’t have an ulterior motive. I’m going to go out there and play well and do my job. School is out now. The last three days have been amazing weather. The fans are going to come. I know that. It’s just a slap in the face when you’re last in attendance. Last. It’s not like we’re 25th or 26th. We’re last. Oakland is out-drawing us. That’s embarrassing.

....

Has anyone from the front office approached you?
I talked to [general manager Chris] Antonetti. I don’t really want to get into what we talked about. I didn’t get reprimanded or anything. I’m not suspended or fined. We had a good talk.

Did they force you to talk today?
No.

Yesterday's Pick 6 Results

Jeanmar Gomez and the Tribe bullpen made sure that two runs would be enough today.

Gomez didn't have the control he usually had, throwing only 59 of his 105 pitches for strikes, but he never fell into an extended strike-throwing slump. Since his 8-run outing against Chicago, Gomez has in his last two outings thrown 13 scoreless innings. He's been, at least as results are concerned, what we expected out of Jimenez and Masterson.

Another factor in the Tribe's 23-17 has been their bullpen. After Gomez was done, the Indians still had to three innings to get through. The shadows by this time had stretched to cover home plate, and that certainly helped the effectiveness of Smith, Pestano, and Perez, but I don't know if they really needed the assistance. Gone was Pestano's recent blip of wildness, and Perez in the ninth inning looked as good as he's been since arriving in Cleveland.

The Tribe offense managed two runs just like on Friday night. Anibal Sanchez, Miami's starter, doesn't have the stuff that others in the Marlin rotation have, but his command of those pitches more than make up more it. When he fell behind in the count, he more often than not would throw an off-speed pitch in a perfect location to get back into the at-bat. He gave up two runs, one each in the fourth and the fifth innings; Asdrubal Cabrera hit a no-doubt homer to lead off the fourth, and Jason Kipnis hit a sacrifice fly after two consecutive singles in the fifth.

After the game, Chris Perez vented some frustration with both the early-season attendance and a recent booing, which was heard because there wasn't a large crowd. Chris Assenheimer quotes Perez:

“Guys don’t want to come over here and people wonder why,” Perez said. “Why doesn’t Carlos Beltran want to come over here? Well, because of that. That’s part of it. It doesn’t go unnoticed — trust us. That’s definitely a huge reason. Nobody wants to play in front of 5,000 fans. We know the weather (stinks), but people see that. Other players know that.

“You had a choice of playing in St. Louis where you get 40,000 (fans) like Beltran chose to do, or you can come to Cleveland. It’s going to take more money to get him to come to Cleveland. That’s just how it is. That’s another thing that you have to go against. It’s not only the payrolls of the (American League) East teams, but that kind of stuff.”

There's much more where that came from, so I suggest checking out the entire piece to get the entire context.

My first reaction: I completely understand where Perez is coming from. If you're an athlete who otherwise has no connection to a city, playing in front of sparse crowds is going to be a big negative when you contemplate signing with a club. Those were his thoughts, and he voiced them; it's been his history to be completely honest when answering a question. It's really bad timing to voice them now (though he has been hinting at his frustrations lately on his Twitter account); the Indians drew two of their biggest crowds of the season this weekend, and it seems that there's some momentum building in the community towards the Indians. It's never a good time to antagonize your fanbase, even if you're speaking the truth. But I can't argue with what he said.

Source: FanGraphs