CLEVELAND — The Carlos Santana Era in Cleveland is now in full swing.

Santana homered and drove in three runs in his second career game, powering Fausto Carmona and the Indians past the Washington Nationals 7-1 Saturday night.

Santana gave fans a peek at the future. With the teams wearing throwback uniforms, Carmona turned back the clock to 2007 — when he went 19-8 as one of the game’s most overpowering pitchers.

“That was our most dominant performance by a pitcher this season,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “Fausto was terrific and Carlos gave us a bit of a glimpse of what he can do.”

Santana showed that Washington is not the only team with a rookie phenom. The rookie catcher got his first career hit one night before heralded pitcher Stephen Strasburg will make his first road start.

The 24-year-old switch-hitter had a two-run double off former Indians farmhand J.D. Martin (0-2), in a four-run second inning that put Cleveland ahead 5-0.

He then hit his first homer on a 1-1 pitch leading off the sixth, a drive into the right-field seats that made it 6-0.

Teammates completely ignored him when he got back to the dugout. Santana quietly sat down — then was mobbed by players pounding his back in congratulations.

“That’s part of the game,” Santana said of the common practical joke in the majors, the ol’ silent treatment. “I’ve seen it before. I was just very happy.”

The Indians presented Santana with the baseballs he hit for his double and homer. He will give both to his mother.

Carmona (5-5) faced only 28 batters, one over the minimum. He twice induced double plays immediately after yielding a single.

“He threw 22 of 28 first-pitch strikes,” Acta said. “He had a great changeup. It was a terrific performance.”

Carmona gave up three hits and one run in his second complete game of the year to win for the first time in six starts. He struck out seven without a walk as Cleveland won its fourth straight for the first time since April 15-18. The Nationals fell to 4-14 on the road since May 13.

“I don’t want to show any disrespect for anyone else, but I don’t know that anyone has pitched a better game against us this year,” Nationals manager Jim Riggleman said. “Nothing comes to mind, really.”

Ryan Zimmerman ruined Carmona’s shutout bid with his 13th homer to open the eighth.

Russell Branyan homered in the bottom half to make it 7-1.

Carmona credited Santana, whose reputation is that of a hitter in need of work behind the plate. He switched from playing infield to catcher only three years ago.

“I didn’t shake him off once,” Carmona said. “I was very confident in him.”

Acta thanked the coaching staff at Triple-A Columbus for preparing Santana for the majors.

“He’s nowhere near what he looked like in spring training,” Acta said. “He did a tremendous job calling the game.”

Cleveland scored an unearned run without a hit in the first. Shin-Soo Choo was hit by a pitch, went to third on a throwing error by second baseman Adam Kennedy, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Travis Hafner.

Luis Valbuena had a sacrifice fly and Choo an RBI single in the second. Santana then hit a sharp grounder past first baseman Adam Dunn to make it 4-0.

“The ball really jumps off his bat,” Riggleman said. “They’ve got a special guy there.”

The teams wore uniforms from each city’s first World Series championships, the 1920 Indians and 1924 Nationals, also called the Senators. Cleveland’s uniforms sported the black armband that was worn 90 years ago after Ray Chapman died one day after being hit by a pitch by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees that season.

On Sunday, fans will get a glimpse of the future: Santana vs. Strasburg.

Strasburg struck out 14 over seven innings in his debut Tuesday night against Pittsburgh.

Santana, acquired in a July 2008 trade from the Los Angeles Dodgers for veteran Casey Blake, hit .316 with 13 homers and 51 RBIs in 57 games at Columbus before his callup Friday.

Game notes
Indians OF Trevor Crowe left with a right knee contusion. He fouled a ball off the knee. … Nationals C Ivan Rodriguez, 3 for 9 with two homers in his career against Carmona, didn’t play. He had started three of four games and gone 5 for 11 since being activated Tuesday after missing 14 games with a strained back. Rodriguez caught Strasburg’s debut and will catch him again Sunday. … Cleveland signed INF Aaron Fields, its 42nd-round draft pick. He is the son of the team’s hitting coordinator Bruce Fields, a former big league catcher.

Santana has been tearing the cover off the ball for the Clippers batting .316 with 16 homers and 51 RBI’s. He had a great 2009 as he was voted the 2009 Eastern League MVP for the Akron Aeros. The sluggers bat has never been a question and the Indians have felt he was ready in that aspect of the game. Mark Shapiro and the rest of the Indians brass wanted Carlos to focus on his mechanics while throwing out runners.

Wood in the top of the 9th retired the first two batters easily and immediately but then hit J.D. Drew with a wild pitch to send him to first with 2 outs. Adrian Beltre made him pay as he pounded a Kerry Wood fastball into the bleachers in left for a 7 – 6 lead and just like that the Indians were looking up. This seemed to be a back breaker after they worked so hard to get back into the game after Andy Marte’s 3 errors in the first put the Tribe in a 4-0 deficit. Mitch Talbot and the bullpen would dig deep and slow the redsox for the next 7 innings as Manny Acta’s team fought back into it.

Jensen Lewis, Chris Perez and Frank Hermann combined to shut out the Red Sox allowing 3 hits over a 4 inning span. Mitch Talbot gave up 5 runs over 4 innings with only 2 being earned and Kerry Wood got the win and was credited with his 2nd blown save of the season. Leading the Indians offensively was Shin Soo Choo (2-4, 2B, RBI), Marte (2-3, RBI), Branyan (1-2, 2 RBI).  The Indians start Interleague play as the Washington Nationals and young phenom Steven Strasburg come to town this weekend. With the win the Indians improved to 23 – 36 and the Red Sox fell to 35 – 27.

Drew makes the transition to professional baseball with a career record of 20-6 and a 2.21 era.  He comes from a great baseball family with his brother Stuart currently pitching in the minors and his father being a 4 year letterman at Ole Miss. The Indians have until August 16th to sign Pomeranz.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Austin Kearns‘ reunion with manager Manny Acta has been quite beneficial for both of them.

Kearns homered for the second straight game and drove in five runs, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 9-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night. The nine-year veteran outfielder missed the final two months of last season with the Washington Nationals after undergoing surgery on his right thumb, and was invited to spring training by the Indians after signing a minor league contract on Jan. 5.

“This was the first time in the last five or six years where he had to come to spring training having to make a ballclub,” Acta said. “I just told him, ‘Hey, this is uncharted territory for you, but you have to battle because nothing’s going to be given to you. I know what you can do, so just get out there and play.’ He handled it very well, won a spot, and here he is.

“Kearns has homered in consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 24-25, 2007. His homer in the eighth inning on Monday night against Brian Stokes was his first since April 26, 2009.

“The first year that I was in D.C., this guy played very good for me,” Acta said. “But it was tough for him, because he signed a big contract over there. And knowing how much pride he has, he wanted to do produce and show people the type of player they signed. Unfortunately, he was beat up physically, but he continued to go out there and tried to prove his worth. And it didn’t end up helping him at all.

“Kearns capped a two-run third with an RBI double. He gave the Indians a 3-1 lead in the fifth with a first-pitch homer to left-center, and extended the margin to 7-1 with a three-run double in the eighth against Matt Palmer after an intentional walk to Choo. It was Kearns’ ninth hit in his last 18 at-bats. The five RBIs were one shy of his career best, on Aug. 19, 2005.Rookie

Mitch Talbot (3-1) won his third straight start, allowing a run and six hits over 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander, who earned his first big league win with a complete game against the Chicago White Sox on April 16, has allowed two earned runs in 21 1/3 innings over his last three outings.

Bobby Abreu‘s RBI single in the third accounted for the Angels’ only run off Talbot, who escaped a bases-loaded jam in sixth on two hard-hit line drives to the outfield by Juan Rivera and Howie Kendrick.

“The first four or five innings I felt really sharp and my pitches were going right where I wanted them to,” Talbot said. “In the sixth, it kind of got away from me a little bit and I got into a little trouble. They tattooed a couple of balls hard that I threw right down the middle, but luckily for me, they were right at people and I got out of it.

Joe Saunders (1-4) threw 104 pitches over five innings, giving up three runs, nine hits and four walks. The left-hander, who escaped bases-loaded jams in the second and third, has lost back-to-back starts at Angel Stadium after pitching eight scoreless innings at Toronto on April 17. He entered this season 10-1 with a 2.51 ERA in 14 starts during the month of April.

“It was one of those weird nights where maybe I bit my fingernail the wrong way or something,” Saunders said. “My sinker wasn’t sinking. My pitches weren’t doing what they were supposed to do.

“Choo singled home Cleveland’s first run and made it 4-1 in the sixth with another RBI single, helping raise his average to .333. He and Kearns (.368) and were the only players in manager Manny Acta’s starting lineup who came in with a batting average higher than .203, other than Asdrubal Cabrera (.269).

Brandon Wood homered in the ninth against Joe Smith, capping his second straight three-hit game. Smith had relieved Jensen Lewis with the bases loaded in the Angels eighth and struck out Mike Napoli. Cleveland’s relievers have allowed just three of 38 inherited runners to score.

Game notes
Indians closer Kerry Wood, sidelined since March 10 because of an upper back injury, threw 35 pitches during a bullpen session and is scheduled for another one on Friday. … When Talbot threw his complete game against Chicago, he became the first Indians pitcher to go the distance in his first start with them since May 24, 1993, when RHP Tom Kramer outpitched Texas’ Kevin Brown in his first big league start. Kramer made only 15 more starts, and didn’t pitch again in the majors after that season. … Cleveland DH Matt LaPorta, who came in 0 for 18 against left-handed pitching, singled his first two times up against Saunders.

Shin Soo Choo —- Holding Tribe together

The Rocky Colavito of his time — I haven’t said much about Choo — or read much posted about him either — It is about time —
He leads Tribe in hitting .350 — HRS – 4- aand RBI’s -12 — OBP outstanding –

Is Indians answer to Seattles Ishchiro except more power —Plays defense as well .

I don’t see CPD — like I used to many years ago — but this man is a keeper –

Regarding upcoming Military issues — Send Marte — He’s good with a bazooka –

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Kearns .333 — 6 for 18 — 2 doubles.

Early in the season — and Peralta, Pronk, Brantley, Grady, Marson, Redmond, LaPorta, are struggling alot — .215 and lower. They will come out of it — 13 runs last 2 games –

However Kearns has been at bat 18 times with 6 hits and 2 doubles.

I would use Kearns more at DH as Travis has been absent here of late –Yes Grudz had 2 RBI today in the DH role — but since Kearns has more power — to drive the ball — and is hitting, why not take advantage of this right now?— I would — have a strong feeling Kearns is going to do alright. Better option than Branyan — Maybe so, maybe so.

Branyan for now — eeehhh ?? No help here while there anyway — Kearns can help!!!

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Shin-Soo Choo proved clutch once again driving in 2 runs as Absdrubal Cabrera added and RBI to the offenseive cause. Grady Sizemore added a pair of hits that included a triple, he also scored twice. Travis Hafner and Lou Marson both conrtibuted base hits.  Alex Rios did all the damage for the White Sox going 2-3 with an RBI.

The Indians offered $5 admission to Cavs fans leaving the Q after the game which brought the total attendance to 12,885.  The Indians go for the sweep today ay Progressive Field when Fausto Carmona (1-0) takes on Gavin Floyd (0-1). The first pitch is scheduled for 1:05.

Absdrubal Cabrera and Austin Kearns led Cleveland at the plate going 2-4 and an RBI each.  Luis Valbuena had the big blow with a 2 run homer in the 4th inning off Buehrle.  Laporta, Choo and Marson all contributed to the cause with a hit a piece.  Chicago was led by Paul Konerko who homered while going 2-3 at the plate.

The Indians host the White Sox in the second game of a 3 game series saturday with the first pitch scheduled for 4:10. The Indians send Jake Westbrook (0-1) to the hill and the White Sox are scheduled to counter with Jake Peavy (0-0).

With the win the Indians imrove to 3-6 on the young season and the Rangers fell to 5-4.  The win snapped a 5 game skid for the Indians and erased the Rangers win streak at Progressive field.  The Indians will open a three game series against the pale hose from Chicago as Mitch Talbot (0-1) takes on Mark Buerhle (2-0).

2 – 5 — harder look –analysis

Indians have averaged 3 runs scored per game — not going to win many MLB games that way.

Indian have given up 4 runs per game –what are Indians going to do tomorrow ?

Can it be worse ? yes if your Houston or Baltimore –

Last place, is last place when looking up — I prefer they look down on someone — as many as possible… funny how 3–4 looks so much brighter psychologically –

I don’t want Indians to look into a dark tunnel and say, I see a light at the end of the tunnel only to find out it is a speeding train.

4 games already behind Tigers and Twins — gentleman start your INJUNS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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