With the ballclub no longer able to hide behind the long-running LeBron James drama, how exposed are the Indians going to be to public criticism?
UPDATED: 7:31 p.m.
Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford is able to escape this first-inning rundown and score when Indians third baseman Andy Marte made an errant throw to catcher Chris Gimenez Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla.ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The All-Star break is here. If you're an Indians fan, be grateful for small favors.
The first 88 games did not go well. Fifty four of them, including Sunday's 6-5 loss to the Rays, ended in defeat. That puts them on pace to lose 99 games for the season.
Jason Bartlett's drive to the right-center gap off Kerry Wood in the bottom of the 10th scored Carl Crawford as the Rays finished at the break 54-34 and well-positioned to push for the postseason.
Now for the real concern in the executive offices at Progressive Field. With their ballclub no longer able to hide behind the long-running LeBron James drama, how exposed are they going to be to public criticism?
If the Indians were ignored in the first half -- they went into the break last in the league in attendance at 632,992 -- how will they respond to disdain?
They've traded or released most of their veterans. The ones left behind, Wood, Jake Westbrook, Austin Kearns and Jhonny Peralta, are available. What we're going to see in the next 74 games is the youngest 25-man roster in the big leagues turned loose against the American League. Going young always looks good on paper, but seldom in the box score.
"We're just going to continue to preach and teach," said manager Manny Acta during the series against the Rays. "We do that regardless of who is on our roster."
Praying is another suggestion.
The Indians took a 3-0 lead in the first inning Sunday against Jeff Niemann. Austin Kearns drove in two runs with a single into center field. Jayson Nix walked and Carlos Santana doubled to set the table.
By the fifth inning, the Rays were leading, 5-3. Crawford hit a two-run homer off Justin Masterson in the fifth to make it 4-3. B.J. Upton added a sacrifice fly.
"He’s kind of locked in right now," Masterson said of Crawford. "That was the same happy spot he got Jake’s pitches (for a pair of home runs on Thursday night). "That’s where I didn’t want to be."
The Indians came back to make it 5-5 in the sixth. LaPorta walked against Dan Wheeler and scored on singles by Andy Marte and Trevor Crowe. A bunt single by Chris Gimenez, making his 2010 debut for the Tribe, loaded the bases. Marte scored the tying run on Anderson Hernandez's double-play grounder.
"We felt we let the game get away from us in the sixth inning," Acta said. "I felt we should have taken the lead there. Bases loaded, no outs, we couldn’t score more than one run, and that basically cost us the game because I felt that, if we had taken the lead there our bullpen was going to able to hold them off."
The game stayed tied into extra innings in a contest of bullpens. Rafael Perez, Joe Smith, Chris Perez and Hector Ambriz combined for four scoreless innings in relief of Masterson. After Wheeler gave up two runs in the sixth, Randy Choate, Grant Balfour, Joaquin Benoit, Rafael Soriano and Andy Sonnenstine (2-0, 4.17) pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings for the Rays.
The zeroes almost ended in the ninth when Ambriz walked Carlos Pena and Matt Joyce and gave up a single to John Jaso to load the bases. But Upton flied out to shallow center field, Reid Brignac struck out and Sean Rodriguez hit into a force play at third.
The Rays took a bite out of the Indians' 3-0 lead in the first as Crawford ran his way out of a rundown between third and home to score thanks to some shoddy defense. With Crawford on third and Evan Longoria on first with one out, Pena sent a hard shot back to the mound. Masterson spun around and caught the grounder with a sweeping backhand grab. Crawford, halfway between third and home, stopped.
Masterson ran him back to third and flipped to Marte. Crawford reversed field and kicked it into overdrive toward home as Marte gave chase. Marte threw to catcher Gimenez, but bounced his throw. Crawford scored and Marte was charged with an error.
"He did the right thing by staying in the rundown, permitting the other runners to move up," said Rays manager Joe Maddon. "And they just muffed the throw coming back to the plate and he was able to avoid the tag once again."
The Rays, who scored all four of their runs with two out in a 4-0 victory Saturday, made it 3-2 in the fourth with another two-out run. After Upton doubled with two down, Brignac sent an 0-2 pitch through the middle to deliver Upton.
Masterson allowed five runs, four earned, on eight hits in five innings. He struck out two and walked three in 100 pitches, including 59 strikes.
"He’s been really good as of late against lefties but he struggled again today against them," Acta said. "Basically a few balls just leaked out over the plate."
Niemann allowed three runs on six hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked one on 70 pitches.