Some All-Star break notes on the pitching staff

• Justin Masterson is the 8th Indians pitcher (min 75 IP) since 1990 to post a pre-All-Star Break ERA under 3.00 and the first since Cliff Lee in 2008. The lowest in that time span belongs to Tom Candiotti (2.24 in 1991), who didn’t even make the All-Star team that year.
• Josh Tomlin is the 10th Tribe pitcher since 1990 with double-digit wins before the All-Star break, but does so with the third-highest ERA of the group. The highest ERA in that span belongs to Charles Nagy, who went 11-4 with a 4.43 ERA in the first half in 1999.
• Joe Smith has the lowest ERA (min 25 IP) of any Tribe pitcher since 1957 (as far back as the baseballmusings database goes). The previous low belonged to Derek Lilliquist (1.13) in 1993.
• Amazingly, Mitch Talbot‘s 6.33 ERA is only the 4th highest by a Tribe pitcher (min 10 starts) before the break in the past five seasons. Fausto Carmona (7.42 in 2009), Jeremy Sowers (6.93 in 2007) and David Huff (6.71 in 2009) were all worse. Carmona’s dreadful 2007 first half is the Tribe’s worst since 1957. The only other pitcher above 7.00 in that span was Don Schulze (7.27) in 1985.

Tribe wins 1-0…. again

The Indians defeated the Yankees 1-0 on Monday night, their 3rd 1-0 victory of the season and the most they’ve had since 1989 when they had seven.

A few other notes from the game….

• It was the Indians first 1-0 victory in New York since 1988 when Greg Swindell tossed a three-hit shutout, out-dueling Al Leiter for the win.
• Carlos Carrasco is the first Tribe starter with two 1-0 victories in a season since Tom Candiotti, Bud Black and Swindell each had two in 1989.
• Carrasco is also the first Tribe pitcher to win consecutive starts by a score of 1-0 since Dick Tidrow on July 31 and August 4, 1972. Carrasco’s wins came in the 23rd and 24th starts of his career, Tidrow’s came in his 25th and 26th starts (and, unlike Carrasco, in his rookie year.)

Tomlin goes for 7th win vs Rays

Josh Tomlin takes the hill tonight against the Rays in search of his 7th win. Over the past 30 seasons, only eight Tribe pitchers picked up at least seven wins in the team’s first 50 games.

Tomlin’s 2.41 ERA also ranks as the 5th lowest through 50 games over the past 30 seasons. Amazingly, of the four pitchers currently ahead of him on this list, only Cliff Lee was selected to the All-Star game.

If Tomlin wishes to earn a trip to the midsummer classic, tonight would be a golden opportunity to throw his hat into the ring. He’ll be going head-to-head with Rays ace David Price, who shut down the Tribe at The Jake earlier this year.

Quality starts leading Indians to victory

The Indians have had 11 quality starts through their first 14 games this season, tied for the second most over the past 20 seasons. The only teams with more were the 2002 Giants and the 1997 Padres.

The last American League team with more? The 1991 Cleveland Indians.

Of course, the Tribe went 57-105 that season, so… yeah, there’s that.

Here were the 12 quality starts from the first 14 games in ’91.

Rk	Player	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	App,Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
1	Greg Swindell	1991-04-08	CLE	KCR	L 2-4	GS-6 ,L	6.0	8	4	3	1	2
2	Tom Candiotti	1991-04-09	CLE	KCR	W 2-1	GS-8 ,W	8.0	5	1	1	1	5
3	Charles Nagy	1991-04-10	CLE	KCR	L 0-1	CG 8 ,L	8.0	7	1	1	1	6
4	Eric King	1991-04-11	CLE	BOS	W 6-4	GS-7 ,W	6.2	6	3	3	0	3
5	Greg Swindell	1991-04-13	CLE	BOS	L 0-4	GS-7 ,L	6.2	7	3	2	3	3
6	Tom Candiotti	1991-04-14	CLE	BOS	W 6-0	GS-7 ,W	7.0	4	0	0	3	9
7	Charles Nagy	1991-04-15	CLE	BOS	W 1-0	GS-9	8.1	4	0	0	5	4
8	Eric King	1991-04-16	CLE	TEX	L 1-3	GS-9 ,L	8.1	8	3	3	1	5
9	Tom Candiotti	1991-04-20	CLE	BOS	L 1-2	GS-7 ,L	7.0	7	2	2	3	3
10	Charles Nagy	1991-04-22	CLE	KCR	W 10-4	GS-7 ,W	6.1	2	4	3	1	3
11	Greg Swindell	1991-04-24	CLE	KCR	L 2-4	GS-8	8.0	4	1	1	0	12
12	Tom Candiotti	1991-04-26	CLE	TEX	W 5-2	GS-7	7.0	5	2	1	1	2

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/17/2011.

Recapping the season through 10 games

A few notes on the first 1/16th of the season…

• Asdrubal Cabrera is the 11th Indian in the Jacobs Field era with four homers through 10 games (Travis Hafner is the only one to have done it twice). The others are a fairly predictable crew, but one name did stand out: Kevin Mitchell. While he only hit four homers in his 20-game Indians career, all four of them came in the first 10 games of the 1997 season.
• Cabrera is also the first shortstop with four homers through 10 games since Woodie Held hit five back in 1960.
• The Tribe pitching staff has tossed two shutouts through 10 games for the first time since 1991. That year they blanked Boston in consecutive games (once by a 1-0 score, just like this year). Tom Candioitti and Charles Nagy were the starters, yet neither tossed a complete game. The 1-0 victory was a 13-inning affair in which Steve Olin picked up the win while tossing 3 2/3 innings of scoreless/hitless ball in relief.
• The Plain Dealer erroneously reported today (shocker) that Chris Perez and Tony Sipp are the first Indians relievers to toss at least one inning of scoreless ball in each of their first five appearances of the season since Paul Shuey in 2000. In reality Fernando Cabrera (2007) and Bob Wickman (2001) have each accomplished the feat more recently than Shuey.
• Perez and Sipp are, however, the first pair of Indians to accomplish that feat in the same season since Clint Brown and Joe Heving in 1941.

Josh Tomlin is Indians ace?

Is Josh Tomlin the Indians new ace?

Well, seven different pitchers have made at least 10 starts for the Tribe this season. Six of them have a losing record. Only Tomlin, who improved to 5-4 with a win tonight, is at .500 or better.

This will be the first time since 2003 that the only one Indian with at least 10 starts has a winning record (CC Sabathia). Before 2003, you have to go back 1992 (Charles Nagy) and 1991 (Tom Candiotti). The Tribe hasn’t been without a winning starter since the infamous 1987 season.