Written By Larry M. Glicken "LG"
The
Cleveland Indians had their home opener today in front of a sell out
standing room only crowd. Justin Masterson got the start in front of
43,000 starving Indians fans, Masterson did what he does best, he
pitched Lights out and controlled the game for 8 innings.
Masterson left
the game when Tribe Skipper brought the Indians closer Chris Perez in.
Perez you might recall is the Tribes closer who pulled a muscle in
Spring training and was in a awful hurry to get ready for the Indians
home opener. Perez should have considered missing the Indians opener
today, all he did was cost Justin Masterson the win.
Manny Acta
went to his closer with the Indians leading 4-1 in the ninth. All Perez
had to do was get three more outs and the Indians and Masterson would
have a 1-0 record tonight. It wasn't in the making today. Perez came in
and got into trouble right away. For a moment it looked as though Perez
could find a way to pitch just like he has done in the past. It wasn't
going to happen today.
The Toronto Blue Jays would score 3 runs in
the ninth inning to tie the game at 4. Manny Acta made the fatal
mistake of leaving Perez in when he saw he was having trouble getting
outs. The Indians should have by all rights left progressive field with a
win today and Justin Masterson should be 1-0 right now.
The game was in
trouble in the ninth and Acta had to bring in Vinny Pestano who managed
to work the Tribe out of trouble. Then Pestano pitched some good
innings of baseball as the Indians tried to win a game they already had
won before Perez gave it away.
The Game would end up being the
longest game in opening day history before the Indians lost it 7-4 to
Toronto after 16 innings. Yes folks it may have been Many Acta's poor
decision making process that let the Indians already fall behind the
Tigers by one game in the race for the American league Cnetral race. Hey
you know what? The Indians lost their home opener last year too. Only
it was Carmona who got hammered for a boat load of runs. It didn't seem
to matter did it?
The Cleveland Indians would find a way to win a
ton of games to go 30-15 before the All-Star break. Why worry about one
game Masterson had won? The Indians can come back and put together a
string of wins that no-one will believe right? You put Justin Masterson
on a team like the Yankees or Red Sox and he would be a 20 game winner.
You bring a great pitcher like Masterson to Cleveland and the team finds
a way to lose.
Whether it is a lack of run support or a closer blowing a three one lead. The Indians have got it all figured out don't they?
Larry Glicken is the owner of www.clevelandsports360.com and the host of the Cleveland Sports 360 Show, an online streaming sports video show at www.streamingsportstalk.com
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