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Yankees Rip Indians, A-Rod Goes Homerless
July 30, 2010 By Joshua Small
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The Indians once again have proven why they are the cellar-dwellers in the AL Central, while the mighty New York Yankees reign over the rest of baseball. A season-high 12 walks allowed by Tribe pitchers helped gift-wrap an 11-4 victory for the Yankees on a cool July night in Cleveland.
One needed only to see the seventh inning to witness the devastation. The Yankees had a 2-1 lead going into this frame, having stranded 10 baserunners, but the Indians' luck ran out as the Bronx Bombers finally blew it open with a seven-run onslaught.
Robinson Cano homered to right off lefty reliever Tony Sipp. Joe Smith came on to relieve the struggling Sipp, only to give up an RBI-single to Francisco Cervelli, to make it 4-1 Yankees. Smith hit Colin Curtis, and then allowed a bases-loaded walk to Derek Jeter. Curtis Granderson then hit a two-run double to keep the bleeding going.
At this point, nearly the entire Tribe bullpen had been used, so manager Manny Acta really had no choice but to leave Smith in. Starter Mitch Talbot suffered a mid-back sprain, and had to leave the game after just two innings of work. The man Acta likes to refer to as "Smitty" then gave up another walk, to load the bases for Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod proceeded to hit a two-run double to make it 9-1 Yankees.
Smith's line read as follows: one third of an inning pitched, three hits, two walks, a hit batter, and four earned runs. It's a good thing he has returned from Columbus to help shore up this bullpen.
The Tribe's bullpen was so exhausted that they had to use reserve third baseman Andy Marte in the ninth. His line? A scoreless inning and the glory of striking out slugger Nick Swisher on an 88 mile per hour fastball. This provided some comedic relief during yet another ugly Indians loss.
Most people came to this game hoping to see Rodriguez hit his 600th homer. However, he was unable to deliver. He did drive in three runs and kept the fans' attention, though. In the third, with the bases loaded, he hammered to ball to center, only to fall short at the warning track, settling for a sacrifice fly instead. Fans thought he got all of it, and it was easily the loudest Progressive Field has been since the Indians' playoff run in 2007. Overall, Rodriguez had three opportunities with the bases loaded, but was unable to cash in.
Trevor Crowe doubled to right to lead off the game. Asdrubal Cabrera then got hit by a pitch from Yankees starter Dustin Moseley (1-0, 3.24 ERA). Carlos Santana walked. Then Austin Kearns hit a sacrifice fly to give the Indians their lone lead of the night, at 1-0.
Moseley pitched a very effective six innings, allowing just four hits and one earned run.
One positive note from this game is the fact that the Indians had their ninth-highest attendance figure of the year, with an attendance of 34,455 fans, with over 5,000 walk-ups.
