Simply stunning...
Mark DeRosa is gone. Enter the Chris Perez era. In a debut for the ages, Chris Perez, newly acquired from the Cardinals got off to an inauspicious start. He apparently is truly at heart, an Indians relief pitcher. Perez pitched 2/3 of an inning, hitting two batters, walking one, gave up 4 runs, one of which was on a wild pitch, while only allowing two hits. The craziest part of all this may be that after loading the bases with no outs (and almost killing Alexi Ramirez in the process), had Perez done the fundamental move of covering first base, he may have gotten out of the inning and the Tribe would have won the game. Perez was caught watching a great diving play by Garko and did not cover first base which would have allowed the Indians to turn a double play and end the crazy inning without giving up a run. Instead, the run scored and it snowballed from there and the three runs the Tribe scored in the ninth were meaningless. Thankfully, it looks like Perez has some pretty good stuff, but may have been a little anxious to make a good first impression to the 5000 Cleveland fans left in attendance. If his control comes around, he may get a few people out. If not, well then he will fit right in with our team concept. The Indians try to cool off the red hot Sox tonight when stopper Cliff Lee takes the mound. As long as he pitches a complete game, we got a shot. Drink more beer Cleveland, it numbs the pain.
PS-That player to be named better be Albert Pujols if this continues.