CLEVELAND — An opening-day victory over the White Sox on Monday was tempered by an injury to one of the Indians’ premier players —Victor Martinez.
Cleveland’s all-star catcher left the game with soreness in his left hamstring after sliding awkwardly into second base in the second inning and was replaced by backup Kelly Shoppach.
Martinez left the field without assistance but underwent an MRI shortly after, with the team still awaiting the results and the prognosis, which is expected to be announced today. 
“I’m not sure,” said Indians manager Eric Wedge when asked about Martinez’s condition after the game. “There’s something going on with his hamstring. We’ll hope for the best and see what happens.”
With two outs in a seven-run second for the Indians, Sox reliever Nick Masset uncorked a wild pitch, prompting Martinez to break for second base. Just before Martinez reached the bag, his spike appeared to catch in the infield dirt and he slumped to ground. 
Ironically, Martinez was also injured in the home opener last year, straining a quadriceps while running to first base in a game that was postponed by snow. He missed close to two weeks with that ailment.
The Indians are fortunate to employ an above-average backup in Shoppach, who was prepared Monday, starting Cleveland’s game-winning rally in the eighth with a leadoff single.
“That’s part of my job. If something happens to the big guy, I’ve got to get ready to play,” Shoppach said. “Hopefully, he’s OK.”

Joe Bo’s job

It was a typical day for Indians closer Joe Borowski, who allowed a run on a home run to Jermaine Dye in the ninth inning, but earned the save nonetheless.
That was the MO of Borowski during his debut season in Cleveland last year as the right-hander led the American League with 45 saves, but carried a hefty 5.07 ERA in 69 games. 
“I didn’t want to give anybody false hopes and go 1-2-3. Then they’d be expecting it every time,” Borowski joked. “In a game like this, the wind was blowing out. (The homer) doesn’t bother me.”

Super-Sizemore

Grady Sizemore put up all-star offensive numbers last year and played in all 162 of the Indians’ games for the second straight season, but was more pleased with his first Gold Glove Award.
“It was an honor to be up there with those guys,” said Sizemore of the elite center fielders. “Defense is something I take pride in. Personally, it was a huge accomplishment.
“There’s tons of guys that had a lot of highlights, guys that do that on a daily basis. (Winning the Gold Glove) is only going to make me work that much harder.”
Offensively, Sizemore just missed the 30-30 plateau in 2007, hitting 24 homers and stealing 33 bases, but reaching that standard this year is not one of his goals.
“If that happens, great,” he said. “I don’t go out looking to have those types of numbers. For me, it’s day-to-day.”

Spring fling

Franklin Gutierrez led the Indians with a .367 batting average this exhibition season, while the threesome of Sizemore, Andy Marte and Andy Gonzalez led the team with five home runs apiece. Gonzalez, who was re-assigned to minor league camp, drove in a team-high 17 runs.
Jake Westbrook and Fausto Carmona led Cleveland’s pitchers with three wins. Westbrook didn’t allow a run through five starts, striking out a team-high 20 batters in 18 innings. Setup man Rafael Betancourt posted the Indians’ lowest relief ERA (1.00) in nine games.

Roundin’ third

The Indians are now 57-51 on opening day, with last year’s victory at Chicago snapping a four-game losing skid.
• Indians general manager Mark Shapiro and Wedge are entering their sixth season together, the second-longest tenure for a GM-manager tandem in the big leagues behind Colorado’s Dan O’Dowd and Clint Hurdle (7).
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

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