Player of the Game
Nobody else wanted to win the ‘Player of the Game’ tonight, so Travis Buck stepped up and took it with a solo home run in the 9th. It was his first ‘Player of the Game’ of the season, but the 5th by a designated hitter named Travis. In 46 games played, he is the 16th different player to win the award and no single player has more than 5. This really shows that this team has no superstars, but has above average players at every position. You can never tell before the game starts which player will be the hero.
Feathers Up
Josh Beckett had amazing control and good movement on all his pitches except his curve ball (which he hit Orlando Cabrera in the head with). This isn’t really a good thing for the Indians, but it is an excuse for the poor hitting and the inability to get multiple hits in the same inning.
Feathers Down
The Indians had major problems on the base-paths tonight. So much so that it warrants two separate comments. First, Fausto Carmona allowed two steals against the Red Sox, and while they were both by fast players (Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford), Carlos Santana never had a chance to throw either runner out. This has been a slight problem all season and as a team the Indians have now given up 25 steals while only catching 13 runners (34%).
Indians baserunners looked lost tonight and there was a runner tagged out every inning from the 2nd to the 5th. Travis Buck was caught stealing on a missed hit and run, while Shin-Soo Choo was just straight up caught stealing. Orlando Cabrera was also tagged out going to third on an Ezequiel Carrero single, but the most egregious error was when Matt LaPorta forgot how many outs there were and was doubled off first base on a pop fly. Base-running has been good for the most part this season and most of these outs could have easily went the other way, so hopefully this won’t be a trend.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2, Boston Red Sox 4
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