Indians Again Make It Look Easy for Burba

He isn’t dominant, like Pedro Martinez. He doesn’t have a cool nickname, like “Big Unit.” He doesn’t use his radio show to rip an injured teammate, like David Wells.

Dave Burba doesn’t have a radio show. On a star-studded Indian team that features the likes of Roberto Alomar, Juan Gonzalez, Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel, Burba might not even be a preferred guest on a Cleveland radio show.

Burba just wins. He won again Friday, stopping the Angels on one earned run over seven innings of the Indians’ 7-2 victory before 39,177 at Edison Field. He won his sixth game of the season; no Angel has won more than three.

Jacob Cruz doubled twice and homered and scored three runs as the Indians won for the 16th time in 20 games. Marty Cordova extended his hitting streak to 22 games.

Over the last three seasons, six major league pitchers have won at least 15 games. Martinez is one, of course, and so are Wells and Randy “Big Unit” Johnson. So is Greg Maddux, and--who knew--Aaron Sele?

And so is Burba, a pretty good pitcher turned into a victory machine by the mighty Cleveland offense. Burba provides innings, lots of them, and the Indians take it from there.

“I’m not going to strike out 20 guys. I’m not going to throw eight scoreless innings at you,” Burba said. “I’m going to go out there and battle you.”

It’s a battle the Angels almost always lose. In eight career starts against them, he’s 6-1 with a 1.52 earned-run average.

“He knows how to pitch and changes speeds well,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Even when he doesn’t have great stuff, he wins games.”

Burba has been traded three times. In 10 major league seasons, he never has finished with an ERA has below 3.68 or above 4.97. Before joining the Indians, he never had won more than 11 games in a season.

In three seasons in Cleveland, pitching a total of 615 innings, he has won 15, 15 and 16. This season, he’s 6-2 with a 5.02 earned-run average.

“Sometimes I don’t do my job and still squeak out a win,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun to be a part of this team, not only to play but just to watch. It’s truly amazing. It’s like an all-star team.”

Even the reserves have star quality. Cruz, the hitting hero, is the Indians’ third-string center fielder.

“This is a pretty sick team. I’m just glad I’m part of it,” Burba said. “You lose a guy like Kenny Lofton, fill in with a guy like Jacob Cruz and he hits a home run and two doubles.”

Angel starter Pat Rapp lasted five innings, something of an upset given the way he pitched the first two.

He needed 27 pitches to escape the first inning and 20 more to get out of the second, and by then the Indians had three runs.

That was all the Indians would get against Rapp, though the overall numbers were not pretty. In five innings, he walked four and hit one, and 44 of his 90 pitches were balls.

“I had trouble hitting the corners,” Rapp said. “I did a good job keeping the ball down, but I was missing just enough to get into some deep counts and walk some people.”

In the first inning, after Alomar had singled home Cruz, Rapp hit Gonzalez and walked Thome to load the bases. Pitching coach Bud Black visited Rapp and reminded him to throw a strike, and Ellis Burks promptly grounded into an inning-ending double play.

In the second, after Eddie Taubensee walked and Rapp missed on the first two pitches to Cruz, Black visited Rapp and again urged him to throw a strike.

The next pitch was right down the middle, and Cruz crushed it for his first home run of the season.

But Rapp kept the Angels in position to win, which was more than the usually reliable Angel bullpen could say.

The Indians secured victory with four runs in two innings off relievers Ben Weber, Mark Lukasiewicz, Al Levine and Lou Pote.

With the bases loaded and one out in the seventh inning, Lukasiewicz hit pinch-hitter Wil Cordero to force home a run. Burks’ sacrifice fly drove home another run, and Cordova doubled home a third.

In the eighth, Cruz doubled, then scored his third run of the evening on a single by Vizquel.