Better Late Than Never: Cleveland.

Anthony Reyes gets the start tonight. He arrived in Cleveland last year after a July trade with St. Louis. He can throw a mid-nineties fastball, a slider, and a good change-up. He has command issues, though. He falls behind too many batters and gives up too many walks. He is able to get right-handed batters out pretty well but struggles with lefties.

Fausto Carmona gets the ball on Wednesday. After having a break-out season in 2007, Carmona started off his 2008 season okay. But then he strained his hip (I don't know what they mean by that) and when he got back he wasn't the same pitcher. In his single start against Boston last season (after the injury) he gave up four runs on five hits, with a walk, and a hit batsman, in a single inning. So far this season, Carmona seems to be more akin to the 2008 version than the 2007. His control seems to have gone away, resulting in more walks. And he's getting hit hard, four starts, five home runs. He is back to getting more ground outs, though.

Welcome to Cleveland.

All I've got. Or, at least, all I've got time for right now.

And the Moral of the Series (Cleveland: Games 14-15) is...

These two games were won with a combination of good defense, gnawing at the soft underbelly of Cleveland's pitching staff, and by their own bullpen not disastrously imploding on them. That's all there is to it.

Good Stuff: The Mike Timlin we all know and fear showed up. Julian Tavarez and Javier Lopez pitched well. Ortiz is taking baby steps out of his slump. Youkilis, Manny, and Varitek all hit home runs. Jed Lowrie did well in his first major league appearance.

Not so Good Stuff: Lugo, who had started out hot at the plate, seemed to have become a little tepid before tonight's game. Alex Cora may need to head toward the disabled list.

Wakefield v. Byrd (Game 15)

For the most part, Wakefield pitched well tonight. He got though the first four innings relatively easily. He faced sixteen batters and got them back to the dugout without crossing homeplate with a series of four strike outs, three ground outs, and four fly outs. He did walk two of them and allow four base hits. But he did have a nice pick-off of one of the batters he walked-Remy, empathetic soul that he is was very embarrassed for the runner to be knocked off the field so unceremoniously.

Wakefield did get himself into a jam in the fifth inning. With one out he loaded the bases by walking Travis Hafner (the other two runners had reached on a base hit and a walk.) The next batter got a base hit and drove in two runs. Luckily for Wakefield, the next batter grounded into a double play and the inning was over. In the sixth inning, Wakefield started out looking like he was going to be in trouble again. He got the first batter to ground out to first but gave up a base hit to the next batter, Cabrera. Cabrera tried to run on Wake but was caught at second by a good throw from Kevin Cash. The next batter also got a base hit and tried to run on Wake. He was successful in his attempt but the last batter flew out to Coco to end the inning.

He was relieved by Javier Lopez for the start of the seventh inning. It may be too early to re-evaluate my opinion of Lopez but he didn't suck tonight. The first batter he faced was put out at first and he struck out the second batter. A pitch he threw to Hafner got away from him and it looked as if it smacked into Hafner's knee. After a long series of pitches that the batter kept fouling off, he did give up a base hit before he was replaced by Manny Del.

Perhaps it's the fate of relief pitchers in general or maybe Manny Delcarmen has just been unlucky lately but it seems like it always comes down to that one bad pitch he threw-whether it's the breaking ball that didn't break or, as in this case, an attempt to go inside on Ryan Garko that ends up hitting him in the hands. Unfortunately, for Manny Del when he hit Garko he'd already loaded the bases by walking Peralta, which drove in the tying run. Luckily for Manny Del (and Lopez), the next batter grounded into a fielder's choice and they took the out at second to end the inning.

Delcarmen came back out for the start of the eighth inning. He got a fly out to left, walked a batter, and got the put out at first before being replaced by Aardsma. Aardsma contributed a fly out to center to end the inning. The ninth inning was pitched by Okajima and involved two strike outs and a foul ball that was caught by Jacoby Ellsbury in a rather spectacular fashion. Ellsbury leaped/dove into the stands and seemed to wrestle the ball away from a fan before emerging triumphantly ball-in-glove.

The game was scoreless heading into the fifth inning when with one out Ellsbury hit a single and took second on a throwing error, barely beating out the eventual throw. Lugo followed that up with a base hit. Then came Lowrie, who grounded into a fielder's choice (forcing out Lugo) but with his first major league hit of his career drove in his buddy Ellsbury. The Red Sox didn't score again until the seventh inning, when a combination of two Indian relief pitchers (Julio and Perez) walked both Youkilis and Ellsbury, and then gave up a base hit to Lugo to load the bases. Up to the plate swaggers Jed Lowrie and he hits another base hit, this time knocking in two runs.

The game stood at three all going into the ninth inning. Lowrie had struck out when Jason Varitek came up to hit for Kevin Cash. He ran the count to 1-2 and I'd already started to feel badly for Coco, knowing that when he made the third out it wouldn't reflect well on him with the Ellsbury-as-everyday-centerfielder crowd. And then the captain lofted one to left-center, his third of the year, and the score was 4-3. Coco followed that up with a single and Pedroia hit a double. Ortiz flew out to shallow right but nobody advanced. With runners on first and third, Eric Wedge did the smart thing (are you listening, Joe Girardi?) and walked Manny, taking his chance on Youkilis. It was a gamble that didn't pay off. Youkilis hit a base hit, Coco scored easily and Pedroia was tagged out at home.

In addition to all that offensive good-ness, Lugo had three base hits, and Oritz and Pedroia had one. In the eighth, Manny was hit by a pitch, Youkilis doubled, and they intentionally walked Ellsbury (that must have been a good moment for Ellsbury-the opposing team's manager either thinks so highly of your ability to hit or so lowly of his own pitcher, that he'd rather not take the chance of pitching to you.)

Jed Lowrie had a nice major league debut. He seemed relatively composed and at ease out there. He did attempt to make a diving catch of the first ball that was put into play in his general direction that was rather Jeter-esque in both it's unwarranted-ness and it's inefficacy but that could easily be chalked up to nerves. He helped turn a double play in the fifth. He did strike out swinging at his first and his last at bats (at pitches he probably should have just watched) but in the middle he had a hit and drove in three runs. Not too shabby.

Lester v. Westbrook (Game 14)

That was fun. I can't imagine that there is anything better than a come-from-behind, edge-of-your-seat, nail-biter of a win. There were some bad performances mixed in with the good ones but the good far outshone the bad.

Lester went four and one third innings. He started out strongly but he continued to struggle with his command and he continued to throw too many pitches. Through the first three innings he issued a walk and a base hit; but he did strike out two. He had, however, already thrown forty-four pitches by the time he headed back to the dugout. The fourth inning and the beginning of the fifth did not go well for him. He threw fifty-three more pitches to the next thirteen batters before Francona pulled him from the game. In that time he allowed five base hits, four walks, and four runs. He did get an additional strike out, a fly out to Crisp, a pop out to Casey, and a put out at first. The problem, according to Francona in the postgame interview, was in part due to the fact that Lester seemed lose his composure when calls didn't go his way. If that is the case, then it's not entirely a bad thing. He's a young guy (who for some reason I imagine to be an only child) and it's definitely something that can be worked on and fixed.

Tavarez was the biggest surprise of the night, though. When he came on to clean up Lester's mess, the bases were loaded, there was only one out, and the Indians were up by three. I will admit to cringing when they showed him warming up in the pen. What does Tavarez do? He proceeds to get the next two batters to strike out swinging. He came back out for the sixth and the seventh innings and even though he had allowed two hits, the Indians were still only up by three when he was done. He had two more strike outs, two put outs at first, and two fly outs to center.

Mike Timlin made his third appearance of the year in the eighth inning and it went significantly better than his previous two appearances. He was getting guys to chase his pitches and he was hitting his spots. He got a pop out, a fly out, a strike out, and the win.

Papelbon finished the game and got his fifth save of the season. He finished off the Indians by blowing his fastball by them for two swinging strike outs. Travis Hafner hit a ball to deep center that almost looked as if it was going to be a home run but Coco easily grabbed it to end the game.

There were two big offensive stories to the game. The first was that Ortiz got two hits in the game (one off Westbrook who he hadn't well at all previously and one off Borowski.) I yelped when he got his hit in the first inning-I was very excited for him. And not to take anything away from Mike Lowell's bad mojo removal ceremony but I think this falls much more squarely on Hank Steinbrenner's shoulders. A David Ortiz jersey is buried beneath Yankee stadium and David Ortiz has not been able to hit at all this season. The Ortiz jersey is dug up and removed, apparently at great expense and with great ceremony, and the next game he plays in Ortiz can hit again. Coincidence?

The second big offense story was Manny Ramirez and number 493. Hit with two outs in the top of the ninth, it knocked in both Ramirez and Ortiz (who was being run for by Ellsbury) and gave the Red Sox the lead.

Hopefully not forgotten in the noise surrounding those two stories, Kevin Youkilis had a very nice night. He hit a double in the first inning that knocked in the first run of the game, his first home run of the year in the eighth inning, and a double in the ninth inning.

The ninth inning rally was all started off by Lugo also hitting a double. Coco bunted and was called out at first but he succeeded in moving Lugo over to third. Then Pedroia hit a sacrifice fly to right that allowed Lugo to score and tie the game.

In addition, Varitek had a double in the fourth inning that they weren't able to do anything with; Coco had a base hit in the second and Manny had one in the sixth that both suffered the same fate.

Next Up: the Cleveland Indians

Jake Westbrook is scheduled to face Jon Lester this evening. Westbrook throws a four-seam fastball (low to mid-nineties), a two-seam sinking fastball (high eighties to low nineties), and a cutter (around nineties) for the majority of his pitches. He also has a changeup, a slider, a curveball, and a splitter. He tends to either throw inside or down and away to right-handed batters and he throws outside to left-handed batters. He has excellent command and rarely walks anyone. He also does a very good job fielding his position.

Paul Byrd is scheduled to face Wakefield tomorrow. So far this season, Byrd has struggled quite a bit. He's only pitched seven plus innings and has already given up thirteen hits, eleven runs, and three home runs. He's hit two batters with a pitch and walked four, while only striking out two. He throws a fastball, a curveball, a slider, and a changeup. He tends to throw outside to both left-handed and right-handed batters.

Travis Hafner is their designated hitter. So far in eleven games this season, he's had ten hits (including two doubles and two home runs) and he's scored six runs. He has struck out twelve times. He's walked six times and he's got six runs batted in. Victor Martinez, historically, has been a very good hitter but seems to be off to a slow start this year. Ryan Garko was a good hitter last year and is off to a very good start this season-he's already got thirteen hits, ten walks, and struck out only four times. The only real threat to steal a base is Grady Sizemore and he's another good hitter. In the thirteen games he's played this season, he's already got fifteen hits (including a triple and a home run) and stolen three bases.