It took the Indians 12 1/3 innings for their first run of the 2010 season to cross the plate, but I guess it was worth the wait.  Starting pitcher Fausto Carmona struggled through the first three innings of tonight's game walking four White Sox batters, including the first two of the game.  It appeared that tonight was going to be a long one after the first inning when Sox leadoff man Juan Pierre walked, stole second and third, and then scored on a Paul Konerko sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead with no hits.  Carmona started the third inning retiring the first two, walking left fielder Carlos Quentin and promptly giving up a two-run homer to, guess who, Paul Konerko.  Sometimes it feels like the Indians have single handedly prolonged the career of Konerko, who seems to rough up Tribe pitching every chance he gets.  Carmona settled in after the 3rd inning with a final line of 6 innings pitched, 3 earned runs and only 2 hits; but had 6 walks and only 1 strike out.  Carmona through a lot of first pitch balls and early in the game worked out of too many 3 - 1 counts for my liking.

Cleveland put together an interesting rally in the 4th inning.  Jhonny Peralta started the inning off with a double, followed by a Matt LaPorta single, which was trapped by Pierre in left, forcing Peralta to stay at second.  With one out, Mike Redmond leaned into a pitch after falling behind 0 and 2, and suddenly the bases were loaded.  Brantley singled home Peralta for the first run of the season and Grady Sizemore capped off the rally singling to right to score LaPorta and Redmond: Cleveland 3, Sox 3.  Cleveland added another run in the top of the 7th when Matt LaPorta doubled home Shin-Soo Choo.

Aaron Laffey came on in the 7th to relieve Carmona allowing an infield single to AJ Pierzynski, then following it up by inducing a double play.  Laffey went on to retire the next 2 batters faced and finished the night with 1 and 1/3 innings pitched allowing no runs before handing the ball over to reliever Joe Smith, who closed out the 8th.

Cleveland picked up an insurance run in the 9th off of White Sox closer Bobby Jenks.  Chris Perez then came on to pitch the 9th; his first save opportunity of the young season.  Perez closed out the game allowing only a walk in the 9th.

A few observations that I had:  Cleveland received contribution from throughout their lineup.  Seven Indians had hits; Cabrera, LaPorta and Choo each had 2 hits, Brantley, Marte and Sizemore had RBI and Cleveland managed 3 stolen bases including 2 by Choo.  The Tribe managed through a rough start and Carmona, though he annoyed the hell out of me with his walks, buckled down and got the job done.  Carmona finished the with 109 pitches and only 59 strikes, but helped the cause by only allowing 1 hit, but settling down after the 3rd.  Finally, the bullpen did not allow a runner to reach second and pitched a perfect 7th, 8th and 9th; something that has plagued them in the past few seasons.  Indian's pitchers allowed only 2 hits.  Game 3: Thursday in Chicago - 8:05 start time

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