Game 33: Indians 9, White Sox 4

As much as we've dwelt on the negative this past week, there's been some pleasant surprises on this team, and Carl Pavano has been the foremost among them. After his pathetic showing in his first start, it looked like he was destined to be cut loose  quickly. But he settled down after that first disastrous outing, and has been, considering the expectations, exceptional. The Indians have some weak spots in the rotation, but Carl Pavano hasn't been one of them.

Tonight Pavano was a strike thrower, even to the point of giving up several 0-2 base hits. But he was pitching from in front, for finally the Indians' offense put some runs on the board early. Gavin Floyd was in trouble from the first inning on, and although he stuck around into the sixth inning, had given up six runs by the end of the fourth. Jhonny Peralta had his best offensive game in weeks, going 3-5 and looking good while doing it. The Indians offense only managed 2 extra-base hits (both doubles), but had 11 singles; only David Dellucci failed to get a base hit.

I still haven't decided whether moving Aaron Laffey to the bullpen was a brilliant strategic move, or the biggest blunder of the season. In both of his appearances, he's pitched multiple innings, but both times the Indians have had decent leads. He's pitching very low-leverage innings, though he did settle things down in the seventh tonight to prevent Chicago from getting any closer than five runs. I would hope that the he's in the bullpen just long enough for the Indians to get their middle relief to one notch above horrible, and then he'll take back the spot now held by Jeremy Sowers.

Next Up: The Indians try for their second winning streak of the season. Sowers vs. Richard, 7:05 PM.

via www.fangraphs.com