Boston @ Cleveland preview
Progressive Field
Last Meeting ( Oct 4, 2009 ) Cleveland 7, Boston 12
In what has already been a lost season by Lake Erie, the Cleveland Indians will get yet another reminder of what could have been.
The Boston Red Sox arrive in Cleveland for a four-game series beginning on Monday, and with the home team giving Indians fans so little to cheer about, the return of catcher Victor Martinez will draw added scrutiny.
It promises to be a blast from the past that Cleveland fans would rather forget.
At last year's trading deadline, Cleveland shipped Martinez to Boston for right-hander Justin Masterson and a pair of minor-leaguers.
Martinez had been a fan favorite and productive hitter with the Indians, particularly from 2004-07. During that time, he hit three 20-homer seasons and reeled off three consecutive .300 years while playing at least 141 games.
The sting of losing such a popular player may have been eased if the Indians got a little more bang from their buck in return for Martinez.
Instead, Masterson, the key player in the deal, went 1-7 in the last two months of 2009 while Martinez batted .336 down the stretch to help the Red Sox secure a wild-card berth.
Almost a year later, the deal looks even more lopsided. Masterson opened the season by going 0-5 in his first 10 starts before finally breaking into the win column last Friday night against the Chicago White Sox.
Martinez, on the other hand, enters this four-game series on a white-hot tear. In his last 15 games, Martinez has 10 multi-hit contests and is batting a lofty .463 (25-for-54).
It's no coincidence that the Red Sox have vaulted back into the American League East race during that span by winning 14 of 20 games. Cleveland has gone in the other direction, holding down the basement in the AL Central with the second-worst record in baseball.
Both teams squandered a chance to complete a three-game sweep this past weekend, with Boston falling to the Baltimore Orioles in extra innings and the Indians blowing a four-run lead in a loss to the White Sox.
Expect the unpredictable in Monday night’s opener when the wildly inconsistent Daisuke Matsuzaka (4-2) takes the ball for Boston against semi-resurgent Indians starter Fausto Carmona.
In two of Matsuzaka’s last four starts, he has lasted just 4 2/3 innings – once allowing seven runs and the other time surrendering a career-high eight walks. Also mixed in were an eight-inning one-hitter and seven innings of one-run, three-hit ball.
Carmona (4-4) has pitched better than his record, as his 3.53 ERA attests. Although he’s lost his last three starts, he’s only allowed a total of nine earned runs as he tries to recapture the form that made him a 19-game winner in 2007.
Boston rarely brings out the best in Carmona. In five appearances – three starts - against the Red Sox, he’s 1-2 with two blown saves and a 5.94 ERA.