By the end of the second inning the Rangers had already amassed 9 runs, effectively ending the game. Some of the problems in the early going were Carl Pavano and then also there was an issue with Carl Pavano and one other thing that went wrong was Carl Pavano.
Looking through the Gameday, Pavano almost exclusively threw his fastball (sitting around 88 mph) and changeup (79 mph); by Gameday's count Pavano threw only one breaking pitch, a slider that Taylor Teagarden grounded to Asdrubal Cabrera. This pitch selection seems dubious in retrospect but, then again, I don't really know how Carl Pavano gets outs when he's pitching well.
It's hard to find anything to like in Pavano's outing. He was miserable. Still, there might be a miniscule reason for optimism in the fact that he was pitching against Texas in Texas. I think Pavano has, at the very most, a handful of starts to figure this pitching thing out; if he turns in just one more performance like today, I assume the Carl Pavano Experience will be over.
Once Pavano had gotten the game to 9-1 he decided to call it a day. Zach Jackson entered and was weirdly impressive, notching six strikeouts in 4 innings of work; the six K's are actually his career high-he's done it two other times, both as a starter. Eventually, Jackson came apart enough to remove any hope that he was turning some kind of corner into Cliff Lee-dom.
The Indians chipped away at Texas' cushion but also kept giving runs back and, ultimately, were never able to make much of a game of it. Ron Washington appeared to just be trying to give the fans something to watch as he brought in, and stayed with, his three worst relievers, Feldman, Rupe, and Guardado, which would be an awesome law firm. The offense feasted on the underbelly of the Texas bullpen, scoring five runs in the final four frames. Perhaps the biggest news of the day was Travis Hafner's homerun in the ninth off of Guardado but, as Adam pointed out, getting around on an 84 mph fastball probably isn't going to be the key to the return of Pronk.
Cleveland's marquee free agent signing Kerry Wood made his debut and did something of a two-face act. He gave up a run in his one inning of work but also struck out the side. Awe inspiring considering what we're used to from closers.
Overall, an extremely frustrating game and series with the final salt in our collective wound being Andruw Jones' 3-5 day and dominance of the Indians' pitching staff today. Seriously?
The Indians are now the only winless team in the AL and will play their first home game of the season tomorrow when Scott Lewis takes the hill at 4:05 to face the Toronto Blue Jays.
Note: FanGraphs live scoreboard is down, so no WPA. Sorry.