Series #1 @Chicago

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This is a fun series to start the season. Two teams who expect to dethrone the reigning champs (although only one has realistic chances :D). It should be interesting to see what Chicago's new speed and defense team looks like and to see if the Tribe's offensive surge from last year carries over.

Expected starters
Jake Westbrook vs. Mark Buehrle today 3:05
Kevin Millwood vs. Freddy Garcia Wed 2:05
Cliff Lee vs. Jose Contreras Thurs 2:05

[Special_K19]

:cheer: Jake Westbrook (0-0 0.00) :cheer:
http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/images/gameday/mugshots/150414.jpg

vs.

Mark Buehrle
http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/images/gameday/mugshots/279824.jpg

LET'S GO JAKEY JAKE!!!!
:banana::dancin::banana::dancin::banana::dancin:

[rockin500]

go tribe. :)

[Special_K19]

Westbrook shines in season-opening loss
Offense manages four hits against Buehrle
By Justice B. Hill / MLB.com

CHICAGO -- In Monday's pitchers' duel, it wouldn't take much to keep the Indians from winning or losing.

They had to figure early on that they weren't going to muster much offense against left-hander Mark Buerhle, so the best the Tribe could hope for was that right-hander Jake Westbrook could hold firm and that nothing happened that might tilt the game in favor of the White Sox.

Westbrook did his part, but something did happen in the seventh inning that turned his scoreless duel with Buerhle into a 1-0 loss to the White Sox.

Here's the scene: Westbrook opened the inning by giving up a double to Paul Konerko. A fly ball to deep right field moved Konerko to third base with one out and brought Aaron Rowand to the plate.

The strategy called for infielders Aaron Boone, Jhonny Peralta, Ronnie Belliard and Ben Broussard to play in, because the Indians, in a game as tight and as tense as this one, couldn't afford to give up any runs.

"I'm looking for a ground ball to the shortstop or anywhere," Westbrook said. "A ground ball to any of the infielders, who were playing in. I got that."

Yeah, he did. Rowand hit a hopper to Peralta, who was making his first Opening Day start at shortstop. Peralta moved in quickly on the ball, but he got to it on an awkward, in-between hop.

The ball bounced up, seemed to carom off Peralta's glove and shoulder, and trickled toward center field. Rowand's ball was rightly ruled an error. Error or hit, it didn't matter in the end. A run had scored, which spelled bad news for the Indians.

For as meager as the inning's production was, it was 100 times more offense than what the Indians got against Buerhle.

He sailed along with perfection wrapped around his work as the game rolled into the fifth. But Victor Martinez ruined Buerhle's flirtation with a leadoff single to center.

Yet nothing came of Martinez's single off Buehrle, who got Boone to ground into a double play to douse what was as close to a threat as the Indians would produce.

"Buerhle was good," manager Eric Wedge said. "He was as good as I've ever seen him, no doubt about it."

No doubt, either, that Westbrook was at his best, too.

"Jake was outstanding," Wedge said. "This is a guy who commanded the ballgame just like Buerhle did."

In going all eight innings, Westbrook didn't let the White Sox mount much offense either. Aside from the seventh, he held up his end of things well.

But the slider he threw to Konerko that inning led directly to trouble.

"I made a mistake to him," Westbrook said. "It was a mistake I made, and it cost us the game."

The mistake wasn't so much the high slider, although in a game played as close to the vest as this one any mistakes could create a disaster. It was more that the mistake gave the White Sox an opening to step through.

They did, thanks to a little misplay at shortstop.

"They squeezed out one, and that's all it took," Wedge said.

Justice B. Hill is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

[Special_K19]

:cheer:Kevin Millwood (0-0 0.00):cheer:
http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/images/gameday/mugshots/119154.jpg

vs.

Freddy Garcia (0-0 0.00)
http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/images/gameday/mugshots/150119.jpg

LET'S GO MILLWOOD!!! MAKE YOUR NEW FANS PROUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:banana: :dancin: :banana: :dancin: :banana: :dancin:

[Special_K19]

Indians derailed by Sox in ninth
Wickman gives up four runs, spoils Millwood's debut
By Justice B. Hill / MLB.com

CHICAGO -- The game looked in good hands.

There the Indians were Wednesday afternoon with a comfortable 3-0 lead as their game headed into the bottom of the ninth inning, with their closer on the mound to seal things.

But in a script right out of the 2004 season, the closer didn't close. Instead, veteran Bob Wickman took a pounding as the White Sox rallied to defeat the Tribe, 4-3, in front of 10,520 in U.S. Cellular Field.

"I just got beat today -- bad," Wickman said. "It's something tough to swallow."

Wickman's shaky outing ruined what had been an afternoon of quality work. That work featured the gutty, grind-it-out start of right-hander Kevin Millwood, who pitched six innings without giving up a run.

In the seventh, Millwood left the ballgame with a 2-0 lead, which Matt Miller and Arthur Rhodes held tightly to as the ballgame headed into the top of the ninth.

The Tribe then pushed across another run to build its lead to 3-0, and manager Eric Wedge brought in Wickman for the save.

"We feel good about Bob Wickman as our closer," Wedge said. "He's an experienced closer."

Throughout Spring Training, Wickman had proved how effective he's capable of being in late innings. He showcased quality time and again there, and his work gave Wedge good reason to believe that the bullpen woes of '04 would not revisit in '05.

Yet in his first chance to use his closer, Wedge didn't get the performance he'd been counting on.

For Wickman, things unraveled right away. He gave up a leadoff single to Carl Everett and then a two-run homer to Paul Konerko.

Still, the situation wasn't dire, because the Tribe still clung to a one-run lead. Not for long, though.

After Konerko's home run, Wickman gave up a solo homer to Jermaine Dye, who tied the game at 3.

Now, all the Indians could hope for was that Wickman could keep the game tied.

But Wickman, who spent the first half of 2004 on the disabled list, served up a double to Aaron Rowand before walking A.J. Pierzynski intentionally.

Now facing pinch-hitter Willie Harris, Wickman knew Harris was in the lineup for one purpose: to bunt Rowand and Pierzynski up a base. Harris did.

Harris pushed his bunt back to Wickman, who fumbled the ball and wasn't able to make a play on Harris at first. As bad as things were, they had just gotten worse.

The bases were now loaded with nobody out. Wickman needed something to turn around his circumstances. Juan Uribe was his next hurdle.

It wasn't a hurdle that Wickman could get over. For Uribe hit a long fly to right field that easily scored Rowand from third base. Uribe's sacrifice fly had officially turned what had looked like a win for the Indians into a loss.

The late-inning loss was also a reminder of how the relief corps had performed a year ago on a regular basis. Little of it was pretty; neither was this performance, at least Wickman's part of it.

Yet Wedge wasn't willing to make a big to-do over the blown save.

"I feel strong about the people we have down there," Wedge said of his rebuilt bullpen. "It just didn't turn out our way today."

He'd get no quarrel from Wickman.

"I think, basically, I [stunk]," he said. "I throw strikes, and today, obviously, they hurt me."

Justice B. Hill is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

[Special_K19]

:cheer:Cliff Lee (0-0 0.00):cheer:
http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/images/gameday/mugshots/424324.jpg

vs.

Jose Contreras (0-0 0.00)
http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/images/gameday/mugshots/425747.jpg

LET'S GO LEE!!!!!!!!!! AVOID THE SWEEP!!!!!!!!
:banana: :dancin: :banana: :dancin: :banana: :dancin: