Aces low for Indians

Cleveland's top starters have floundered, with Carmona the culprit in Game 6.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer
Published October 21, 2007

BOSTON - C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona carried the Indians into the postseason with sterling 19-win seasons.

And now they may be pitching them out of it.

Carmona struggled mightily in Game 6 on Saturday night, as Sabathia did in Game 5 on Thursday. And that was after both pitched poorly in their Games 1 and 2 starts.

Their resulting totals in the four games are ugly.

As if a combined 12.68 ERA isn't bad enough, consider they've pitched just 161/3 innings, allowing 23 earned runs and an astonishing 46 baserunners - 27 hits, 16 walks and three hit batters.

With Carmona, the problem has been a lack of command.

He struggled from the start Saturday, throwing 22 pitches before recording an out. He ended up throwing 36 in Boston's four-run first and 63 for the night when he left before getting an out in the third, walking four and allowing six hits, continuing a pattern of poor performances at Fenway Park.

The Indians, of course, were hoping he would pitch much differently, and do much better with his dominating sinker.

"I want him to use both sides of the plate and put himself in a position where he can be aggressive and stay aggressive," manager Eric Wedge said before the game. "And hopefully we'll see the ball on the ground."

Sabathia's poor outings have raised the question if he was worn down from his major-league-leading 241 innings during the season, though the Indians, from general manager Mark Shapiro on down, say that is not the case.

"As far as having a tired arm, I don't think so," pitching coach Carl Willis said. "I know the velocity is there. I did think, obviously, (Thursday) night was an improvement from his other two postseason outings. I thought he stayed in his delivery much better than those previous two outings.

"Pitchers go through certain periods, and not to say that he's struggling, but pitchers go through certain periods, and when you go through a down period and it happens in the postseason you open yourself to a lot of criticism or questions. If this had been happening in June, probably not as much attention is given toward it."

Willis tried to be philosophical when asked recently about the struggles of his aces, talking about how Nos. 3 and 4 starters Jake Westbrook and Paul Byrd stepped up.

"It takes 162 games, a full season , and at some point in time or another, I think the best teams have different people to step forward and step up, and we've had that happen throughout the course of the regular season," Willis said. "And now it's happened to this point of the postseason, just from a pitching perspective, with Jake Westbrook and Paul Byrd and the performances that they have given us.

"I think we feel strongly about all of our starters, and we have talked about that since spring training. And we feel that if one falters, we have someone qualified the next day to pick the team up. Hopefully that will be the case here."

[Last modified October 20, 2007, 23:23:42]