Just Get the Heck Out of Oakland

For whatever reason the Cleveland Indians do not play well in Oakland. Entering today's matinée against the A's, the Indians had dropped 21 of their last 27 in the Coliseum. I don't know why the Tribe struggles so much, but it always makes traveling to Oakland an unappealing affair.

This series was much like the past nine. Oakland took the first two games before Cleveland sneaked out of town with a 2-1 victory. The victory snapped the Tribe's three game losing streak and evened their record at 3-3.

Cliff Lee, who beat out Aaron Laffey and Jeremy Sowers in spring training to win the no. 5 job in the rotation, was exceptionally sharp during his 6 2/3 innings of work. Lee allowed just one unearned run, four hits, one walk and struck out four. The familiar bullpen tandem of Rafael Perez, Rafael Betancourt and Joe Borowski pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings to seal the win.

Cleveland's bats were mostly silent for the fourth straight game. Both runs came in the seventh on a fielder's choice and bases loaded walk. Otherwise, Joe Blanton shut down the Tribe for 6 2/3 innings.

I'm not worried about the bats coming around sooner than later. Starting pitching is my biggest concern. There are some obvious questions that need to be answered before anyone can judge the potential of the 2008 Tribe.

Will Paul Byrd be effective as the No. 4 starter, much like in 2007? In Byrd's first start he threw an uncharacteristic number of balls and took the loss.

Will Jake Westbrook struggle like he did in the first half of 2007? Or will he continue to be a very solid no. 3 starter as he was in the last two months of last season? Westbrook cruised through his first start, yielding just two earned runs in 7-plus innings.

Finally, will Cliff Lee pitch closer to his 2005 form when he won 18 games? Or will he struggle like he did last year and be booted from the rotation? Lee wrote chapter one of that answer with today's stellar performance.

The Tribe needs Byrd, Westbrook and Lee to be an effective back end of the rotation trio. As good as Sabathia and Carmona were last year, it's likely both will slightly regress toward their mean performance. If that happens, Cleveland will rely more on its 3, 4 and 5 starters. Through the season's first week, two of three pitched exceptionally well while the third struggled. It will be interesting to watch how these three fare during the next five months. Much of the Tribe season will be determined by their collective performances.

Game Wrap and Box Score 4/4
Game Wrap and Box Score 4/5
Game Wrap and Box Score 4/6