Series Thread: Indians vs A's

[Porter]

Cleveland Indians vs. Oakland A's



May 3rd:
Jeff Weaver (3-2, 8.02) vs. Danny Haren (1-2, 4.84)

May 4th:
Jason Johnson (3-1, 3.41) vs Kirk Saarloos (0-0, 5.14)

This should be a really good series coming up. Cleveland's offense is clicking on all clyinders. I see a series split with the current pitching matchups.

[Porter]

Prediction:

Indians 7, A's 5
WP- Betacourt
LP- Hasley
SV- Wickman
HR- Sizemore, Hafner

[Porter]

Cleveland 14, Oakland 3

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Paul Byrd can hardly believe the offensive numbers his Cleveland teammates are putting up on the days he starts: 11, 10, 15 and 14 runs in his four wins alone.

"I'm just overwhelmed with my team scoring runs for me. It's getting to be ridiculous," Byrd said. "Now 14? It's a joke."

Casey Blake hit a three-run homer in a nine-run seventh inning, and Travis Hafner had four RBIs to lead the Indians over Oakland 14-3 Wednesday night and end the Athletics' season-best winning streak at five games.

Byrd (4-2) pitched seven strong innings to beat Oakland for the first time in his career after going 0-4 in seven previous starts against the A's. Byrd showed signs Cleveland's rotation might be coming around with starters able to pitch deeper into games the way manager Eric Wedge hopes it will be.

Byrd got all the offense he needed and then some.

He even received a call from Atlanta ace John Smoltz last week in which Smoltz admitted he envied all the run support Byrd was getting -- though both players are religious and being envious of anyone is not an accepted practice in their faith.

Source

Byrd is getting monster support right now. Its unfair.

[Porter]

Oakland 12, Cleveland 4

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- This time, the Oakland Athletics produced the decisive big inning and provided an offensive show.

What a different team than one day earlier.

Nick Swisher drove in three runs with two doubles and the A's scored five times in the first inning, splitting a two-game series with Cleveland by beating the Indians 12-4 Thursday.

Cleveland turned a nine-run seventh Wednesday night into a 14-3 rout of the A's, who had their five-game winning streak snapped with that defeat.

They quickly bounced back with their bats, patiently working counts and drawing 11 walks.

"It shows the character of this team coming back from the whipping last night," said Swisher, off to a sensational start in his second big league season with a .330 average, 10 home runs and 28 RBIs. "Hitting's contagious."

This time around the A's offense came alive and payed back the Indians in a way of a 8 run victory.