The Tribe Daily - A Daily Assault on One's Lifespan

Shocking the World...Again: An Indians Checklist

2012-05-21T08:00:00.000-04:00

It feels very much like deja-vu around here...

A year ago, there was talks about "shocking the world" and how possible it really was for our Cleveland Indians. The division was a bit of a mess, with not one team really running away with a total consensus, but there was no faith in the Indians. The idea that they could finish anywhere above fourth place was preposterous among everyone except for some guy on CBSSports and me. And maybe a few others out there.

We know what happened, the Indians raced out to a fast start after two months, going 30-15 and very much giving us some sort of hope for more than just a summer of contention. Of course the Indians faltered, but after awhile, we took a look at that "Shock the World" checklist to see what was going right and how the Indians were actually shocking the world, in a sense.

I mean, if the entire world paid attention to Indians baseball.

This year, the Indians weren't in a position that no one picked them to finish about fourth, but you really had to search to find someone who thought they'd topple the mighty Detroit Tigers and their vaunted lineup of doom that was going to carry them to an AL Central title.

Yeah, about that. Things aren't exactly going as planned in the Motor City and here we sit again in 2012 and the Indians, well... They're shocking the world. No one actually thought they could win the AL Central and while there is soooo much season left to go, they're on top and it doesn't look like their slowing down this time.

We had a check list last time and we went over it, so I guess for some good karma, why not look at it again and see what is going right and any if the "ifs" are coming through.

The Indians can win the AL Central...

If Ubaldo Jimenez is 2010 Ubaldo Jimenez who almost won 20 games and a Cy Young award.

Well, he's certainly not 2010 Ubaldo Jimenez thus far. He hasn't been horrible though. Good enough to win four games and through 2012 his numbers look like this through eight starts: 4-3, 5.09 ERA, 46 IP, 32 BB, 28 K.

Look, maybe expecting Ubaldo to be 2010-like Ubaldo is too much, but for an AL Central crown, the thought is that it is necessary. Maybe it's not. Maybe just a standard Ubaldo Jimenez who can go out and give you six-seven solid on most nights is all we should expect when looking for a ceiling. But he's walking more than he's striking people out, he's not going deep into games, he just is a frustrating character to watch.

The good, in that his past few starts, he seems to be trending upward. He's walking less and he may be honing in on his control a little more. The big story with Jimenez and his former team has subsided, and he hasn't looked like a complete disaster he was starting to look like on the brink of the season's start. But he has had his rough patches that do nothing but infuriate.

Veteran Derek Lowe has also spoken up in defense of Ubaldo, saying that he's working incredibly hard to get better. If anything, it's not for a lack of work ethic.

The Indians can maintain their lead in the AL Central If: Jimenez continues to improve and is at least a viable starter from here on out.

They don't need a top-flight Ubaldo Jimenez, at least not right now. But who's to say Derek Lowe will continue to be pitching like this? Then again, who's to say Justin Masterson will continue to struggle? Of course a lot of this is depended upon the trest of the team, but right now, Jimenez can continue to be a middle of rotation type of a guy and the Indians can contend. Of course, I don't think anyone would have a problem if he turned out to be what he hoped he would.

If Shin-Soo Choo rebounds from a down year.

So far, Choo has been good. He hasn't totally rebounded back to older form, but he is at least better than last season. It seems his troubles are behind him and that he's starting to settle back in to his spot on this team. Lately, he's been put in the leadoff role, which is new, but he's taking to it.

Overall Choo has hit .267 with 2 HR, 16 RBI, but has a .385 OBP going into Monday's action. He seems to be rebounding, but hasn't completely rebounded to the status we expect. One thing he will do is get on base, and that makes him a nice candidate to continue to hit in the leadoff spot, which seems to suit him well right now. He's 11-for-29 with four walks, making it 15 times he reached base in the past week, he scored just four runs, but he's creating opportunities if not knocking them in.

The Indians can maintain their lead in the AL Central If: Choo takes another step towards reformation either being a pleasant surprise at the leadoff spot or returning back to a middle of the order bat.

This offense will maintain overall consistent success over the course of their season if Shin-Soo Choo is oneo f their best hitters. He can be that reliable stick who does a little bit of everything and when this offense is at their best, Choo is hitting. He's their starting right fielder and he needs to be in there and hitting well. The Indians have managed to get by with what they have and only a little production from Choo, but if the recent few games is any indication, this offense is more consistent and reliable if he's on.

If Jason Kipnis and Lonnie Chisenhall ring in a new era.

Photo: Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

Hey, Jason Kipnis... Is for real. The "If" was reasoned with Chisenhall not getting to join the party for awhile, but that's okay because he still has time. Kipnis though has gone to work and he ha established himself at the top of the lineup for this Indians team.

Kipnis thus far has a .256 average, but he's leading the team in home runs with six and in RBI with 24. He's been a run-producer at the top of that lineup, seeming coming up with the clutch hits early or late.

And in the two-spot where he's started 28 times? He's got three of his home runs, with 16 RBI and a .261 average. Just as good if he were hitting lower in the lineup. He needs to be up there.

The Indians can maintain their lead in the AL Central If: Kipnis keeps on being Kipnis.

So far, so good for Kipnis who seems to also come up with the big hits when the team needs it. Chisenhall on the other hand is still in Columbus, but has been on the Disabled List for a good portion of the season. He started the season on fire and it seems it may be some time before we see him up here the way Jack Hannahan has played and his own injury.

If "The Mafia" does it again.

The Mafia is doing it again. Sort of. The pieces are different and there has already been some changes in the short time. A Rafael Perez injury has opened up the door for young Nick Hagadone, who was unable to gain a spot over newcomers Jairo Asencio and Dan Wheeler.

Wheeler though didn't work out and is now gone, Asencio is one of the last options for Manny Acta and has had his good and bad moments. The rest? As expected. There's been some hiccups, but the Mafia has really just picked up where they left off in 2011.

Vinnie Pestano: 2.70 ERA, 10 HLD, 16.2 IP, 23 K, 6 BB
Joe Smith: 2.95 ERA, 6 HLD, 18.1 IP, 15 K, 9 BB
Tony Sipp: 5.65 ERA, 6 HLD, 14.1 IP, 17 K, 7 BB
Chris Perez: 3.31 ERA, 13/14 SV, 16.1 IP, 16 K, 6 BB

Those four are really much the main core. But has there been anyone better than Chris Perez? After the blowup on Opening Day and the questions about if he was ready or not, Perez has been fantastic as one of the best closers in the game, saving every contest he had the chance to since Opening Day. The bullpen has settled in and they may have not been able to this season without Perez at the end.

The Indians can maintain their lead in the AL Central If: The Mafia gets Tony Sipp right and Rafael Perez back.

The one odd part of the equation thus far has been Tony Sipp, who's had his struggles and his successes, but more struggles. If they can get him back to regular status as a reliable leftie match-up guy and more, get a healthy Rafael Perez back to eat innings, and continue to see a rise in Nick Hagadone (12 IP, 2.13 ERA, 13 K), the bullpen will fill out. And then, 2012's bullpen is looking even better than 2011's, and that's saying something.

If Derek Lowe, Justin Masterson, and Josh Tomlin take to this infield defense.

Well, Derek Lowe certainly has, but as a whole, the infield defense has been the defensive highlight.

Check out these numbers.

Lowe: 10 GIDP, 109 GO
Masterson: 8 GIDP, 80 GO

Oh and look at this guy...

Gomez: 6 GIDP, 57 GO

Who would have thought Jeanmar Gomez would take to that infield defense to. But with the addition of a slider (which he throws 32% of the time according to Fan Graphs, second to his sinker 43% of the time), he too has become a groundball inducer.

Only the Toronto Blue Jays pitching staff has produced more groundball outs this season. So the pitchers are playing to that and the infield defense led by newly acquired Casey Kotchman and Jack Hannahan are coming up strong.

The Indians can maintain their lead in the AL Central If: The groundballers keep chucking.

Kotchman and Hannahan continue to have a strangle-hold on their spots and nothing is happening to Kipnis or Cabrera in their spots anytime soon (and with no real backup middle infielder, who knows when they'll actually get a day off that isn't an off day). The groundballers just have to keep chucking up the garbage and let the defenders do the work.

The one guy missing from the party? Josh Tomlin, who is currently on the disabled list, but should be back soon. Tomlin had some early season issues that led to him kind of being behind the eight-ball in terms of his starts. To add on the that, he's suddenly become someone who's striking out more people as he's topped strikeout numbers three times he has only done a few times before in his entire career in just a month and a half. Expect him to rejoin the groundball party soon though.

For reference, Tomlin: 27 strikeouts, just 3 GDP, 47 groundouts. He's still in there, just waiting to bust out after he gets healthy.

If the Tigers defense is everything we think it is.

Well, the Tigers are in the bottom third of the game in fielding percentage and defensive efficiency rating. Miguel Cabrera has committed the most errors of any third baseman in the AL, and Prince Fielder the most of any first. Just like we thought, right?

The comedy of errors last week kind of showed a nice snapshot of what kind of defensive squad this is. It may not be comically bad as it was in that one game against the Twins, but as I said, bad defense canc ost you games. And it did. Their pitching hasn't been good, and the bad defense just compounds their problems.

The Indians can maintain their lead in the AL Central If: The defensive issues and pitching continue to fester for Detroit.

The Tigers can't really "fix" their defensive issues. They're stuck with their alignment. They just have to hope they play better and don't make mistakes. They could improve, but their range is still not going to get any better so they won't help their pitching staff out like the Indians infield does theirs. They can only hope Doug Fister, Max Scherzer, and Rick Porcello all become the strikeout pitchers Justin Verlander is.

[AN OVERALL LOOK]

Hey, it's way too early to be taking this as a declaration of the intentions the Indians have this year. I mean, last season, we examined these "Ifs" and looked at how some of them were coming true. The point that I take from all of them though is that really they're doing the things we knew they were good at. Their strengths are their infield defense supporting their starting pitching and their bullpen. The thing that is happening that was not expected?

The way this team is hitting. Not to say they are hitting well, but they are creating a lot of opportunities and coming through in those opportunities.

Only the Texas Rangers have a higher on-base percentage in the American League than the Cleveland Indians. You read that right. The team gets on base like nobody's business. They've become very much a patient club at the dish.

And only the Rangers have more RBI when there are two outs and runners in scoring position. The clutch hitting has very much been there. Overall there is some lacking parts and inconsistency, but the team gets on base and gets the hits when it counts.

[PICKS FROM THIS JERK]

How are my picks doing?

AL East: Boston, Toronto*, New York, Tampa Bay, Baltimore
Actual: Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Toronto, New York, Boston

Toronto is playing well, but this division is completely reversed.

AL Central: Detroit, Cleveland, Kansas City, Chicago, Minnesota
Actual: Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit,, Kansas City, Minnesota

The way Kansas City is playing, things might be shifting towards what I think this division will actually turn out as. You have to credit the way the Sox are playing though thanks to their pitching. The Tigers? Heh...

AL West: Los Angeles, Texas*, Oakland, Seattle
Actual: Texas, Oakland, Seattle, Los Angeles

I think everyone was sorely wrong about the Los Angeles Angels... Or rather, the Angels simply have just let a lot of people down.

NL East: Atlanta, Philadelphia*, Washington, Miami, New York
Actual: Atlanta, Washington, Miami, New York, Philadelphia

Hey I got one! The way the Braves are playing solidify my opinion of them. I love their pitching and they just seem like a well-balanced team. I can't really tell you what's wrong with Philadelphia only to say that EVERYONE in that division is above .500 and looking like a contender.

NL Central: St. Louis, Cincinnati*, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Houston
Actual: St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Houston, Milwaukee, Chicago

All goes according to plan, except for that hard-playing Houston team and the disappointing Brewers.

NL West: San Francisco, Arizona, Los Angeles, San Diego, Colorado
Actual: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Arizona, San Diego, Colorado

Not sure many people saw this coming from the Dodgers. Maybe better than they were last year, but one of the best in the NL?

Morning Rundown: Jo-se-Comes To Save the Day

2012-05-18T09:02:00.003-04:00

I probably should just start things off by eating some sawdust. I'm sorry Jose Lopez for trashing you. Thanks for helping win this one game. Forgive me.

May 17th, 2012
Seattle Mariners - 5
Cleveland Indians - 6
W: Joe Smith (1-0) L: Brandon League (0-3)

[BOXSCORE]

Now that that's out of the way, when it's going right, it's going right. Down 4-0 going into the seventh inning, most would think, eh this is tough to get back from. And it is, but it certainly is not impossible.

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

It's hard for me to sit here and talk about a game that happened in the afternoon and was not televised. So we'll just have to rely on the magic of video replays and quotes.

Honestly, it came down to that Jose Lopez blast. The Indians had the opportunity in the eighth and had they not done it there, or at least got a few runs off that second and third, two-out situation, then they probably don't do it in the ninth.

"It was great," Indians designated hitter Travis Hafner said. "Lopez had a huge three-run homer for us in a game that we really didn't do much. We had plenty of chances, but we couldn't get the big hit. He got a huge hit for us there in the eighth, and then we just battled and came back."

Chances, in the seventh, Cabrera's RBI single was with two outs and up until that point, the Indians didn't come through in their chances, mostly because they had little and the ones they did have, two outs. In the fourth with the bases loaded, Jose Lopez grounded out with two outs and that represented the best chance before his blast in the eighth inning.

And he more than made up for it with the game-tying three run home run. He more than made up for his error, he perhaps even bought himself a pass with me. Welcome to the club Jose. You still can't field. But I'll give you a pass because you also had the quote of the night.

"The count was 2-0 with two guys on base," said Lopez. "I was looking for a fastball where I could tie the game. I was trying to do the same thing in my first two at-bats. So I went 1-for-3."

So we've established that all he's trying to do is hit home runs. That or all he was trying to do was hit home runs against his former team in Seattle. But that's cool.

Lopez's heroics aside, the game still needed to be won, and the Indians waited until the 11th to do it and they did it from behind and they had to do it against Brandon League, the Mariners closer who said he had no control in walking three guys in an inning. The Indians have a history off league though and while Manny Acta says that you can't get to the closer very often, the history against League probably helped in the confidence department. Kipnis says so.

"I think it was probably in his mind, too," Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis said. "We know that we've done it off him before and I think we know we can do it again. Doing it off him before means guys have seen him and guys have had success against him. I think people are pretty confident when they go up to the plate against him."

But the Indians, and Carlos Santana specifically got to him and it seemed to me it was one of those combustible situations at the end of the game for a closer that can only end in tragedy and it did, for the Mariners. The Indians surrender a run in the top of the frame with Joe Smith on the mound and I wouldn't blame you if you thought things were going to end badly.

But all of a sudden, Jose Lopez walks to start the inning and there may be fire because smoke is present. And League simply didn't have it, he walked Kipnis, Cabrera would follow with a single and it would eventually set up a bases loaded situation with one for Carlos Santana.

And uh, Carlos is unbeatable in these spots. In addition to having a career OBP over .500 in bases loaded spots, he's 6-for-11 with a home run and 16 RBI in bases loaded, less than two out situations. He's in a winning situation and he's someone who doesn't disappoint.

League wasn't the only wild one on this afternoon. Indians starter Zach McAllister, who gave up three earned and pitched into the sixth inning ended up walking five hitters while only giving up three hits. A run also scored on a passed ball, but it wasn't the easiest pitch to corral for Santana and it got away.

Not the normal McAllister if you ask me. He also struck out six, but he's not really one to walk that many guys. Maybe it's the Mariners, maybe it was one of those days. Regardless, he did pitch well enough to keep his team in the game, which was incredibly important in the Indians having the ability to come back. It could have been worse with all the walks, but it wasn't.

Random Details...

Credit that bullpen for pitching four scoreless innings after McAllister was done for the day, and although Smith surrendered a run to give them the lead, you can't fault a bullpen for going that long with just one run.

Asdrubal Cabrera's two RBI hits were both to kind of get the ball rolling. He was able to plate the first runs in both comebacks.

Carlos Santana had two hits and two walks, a game winning RBI. That's a Carlos Santana type of game.

Michael Brantley was quiet for the first time in a few games, going 0-for-5, but that's okay because in addition to Lopez's three-run blast, Casey Kotchman helped support the bottom of the lineup going 2-for-4 with a pair of runs and a walk. Not so crappy now is he?

If you missed the game and was perplexed as I was reading the box score and play recap to see Travis Hafner replaced in that 11th inning by Aaron Cunningham, here's why. Cunningham ended up walking to load the bases in the 11th, but that should have been Pronk. Acta pinch-hit Cunningham because earlier in the game, Hafner was hit by a pitch in the ninth inning. That magical pitch from Charlie Furbush also made Pronk the all-time Indians leader in hit by pitches, passing Nap Lajoie.

That's one record I probably wouldn't have wanted broken in this game. But oh well. Hafner appears to be okay and it seems to be in the hands of his hand not getting too swelled. If he comes in Friday and it feels good, he'll play.

You hope he's in there, but the fact that he didn't even have to undergo an X-ray should be a good sign. The Indians must not feel all that worried about it.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

Despite the fact that he says he said he hasn't really changed his approach in his new role, Shin-Soo Choo has changed his approach at the plate as he is more aggressive.

"I'm more confident right now," Choo said. "It doesn't matter where I hit. Lineups are lineups. My goal is to be in the lineup every day, eight-hole or nine-hole, every day in the lineup. I think about it the same way. I don't stress about it or anything. I'm very comfortable in the leadoff spot right now."

As it's been noted, this isn't permanent, it's temporary. How temporary? However long it keeps working. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. This lineup is going good, they're winning, I don't see anything wrong with keeping this adjustment until it's clear it isn't working anymore. Choo is hitting well, he seems to be giving his teammates good pitches and or opportunities due to his position. Just keep going.

The reason Jose Lopez was able to extract some revenge on his former team and has been playing so much lately is the continued ailing back of Jack Hannahan. Every day we seem to hear "he could return soon" and despite the idea that he could play on Thursday, I said, it was unlikely with another day game following the night game. But it appears as if he could actually return this weekend for the series against Miami. Turns out he was in a great deal of pain.

"I feel a lot better than I did. This has been the best day," Hannahan said. "I feel like the inflammation and the spasms have gotten better. Today's the best I've felt. I'm hoping to play either Friday or Saturday."

After awhile though, enough is enough. If the Indians have held out this long, they must feel Hannahan is close, or else they would have made a roster move by now. They can't continue to play a man-down during this stretch of games, they're already playing without a backup shortstop due to Hannahan's injury.

I don't know if it would have been (or still could be) Jason Donald returning if Hannahan were to visit the DL, but Matt LaPorta is doing the "hey remember me dance" again in Columbus with a solo home run on Wednesday and a 2-for-4 game on Wednesday. Canzler is also doing the dance, going 2-for-4, as he has hit three homers in his past 10 games.

To follow up our discussion on Derek Lowe the other day in the Rundown, Lowe provides some great perspective on his season thus far and really, his career in general.

"If you play a long time, you're going to have good years and bad years and some in between," Lowe said. "There's not always an answer for why you have a bad year. If you play 16 years and don't have a bad one, you're in Cooperstown, and I'm obviously not going there. So you're in the clump. That's how I took last year."

Lowe contends his 2011 was the result of fatigue and lack of sinker. I think the two can relate. Kind of hard to throw a baseball if you are fatigued. The answer for him was putting on 20 pounds (he said he was lighter in 2011, which caused him to tire) and fixing his mechanics. Viola, old Derek Lowe is back. He says the prospect of finishing the season with more double plays than strikeouts would be "awesome." It would, and it would be remarkable for a pitcher to do such a thing.

I mean heck though, two outs are always better than one.

In Castrovince's long piece, Lowe said a lot and he finished up by saying he thinks the grass in Cleveland is not only greener, but longer, giving his infielders a slower rolling ball, where in Atlanta, it was a short infield and it led to the ball getting sped up.

"Atlanta is one of the fastest infields in all of baseball," he said. "And it wasn't like we didn't try [to change it]. We asked many different times to see if you could grow the grass longer. But it's just something they believe in, and it's been like that for 20 years. Obviously, it doesn't mean you can't have success there, because many people have had success there. But any time you have a slower infield, it gives us a better chance."

I'm not sure how you can't come away liking Derek Lowe. He was just what this rotation needed. A veteran leader who knows what's up. And on top of all that, he's pitching well, which is the most important thing.

Look who's coming to town... A bunch of old friends in Ozzie Guillen and Mark Buehrle, and the team that ripped the guts out of this club in 1997. For the first time since 2004 and I believe, the second time since that heart-breaking postseason, the Marlins franchise returns to the place that used to be (officially, but still is by some) called Jacob's Field.

Yeah, so Edgar Renteria is nowhere to be found on that club, but they're led by Indians favorite Ozzie Guillen, who is just endearing to this club's as the Marlins are. Together, they might as well be the Enemy of the State.

[TIGER WATCH]

Oh hey, the Tigers lost again, and it was another close one. Doug Fister gave it a good major league try, but the Twins offense mustered enough. And the walls seem to be burning down in Detroit.

"The only thing that has been consistent for this team is the inconsistency, and that's mind boggling to me," manager Jim Leyland said. "We just aren't putting together the combinations that we need to win."

Alright, so that doesn't seem that bad, but voicing serious concern is a good thing to see for Tribe fans. They are aware of their issues. Jim Leyland might think it's sleepwalking, but what if... What If it's not?

What If....

[UNTIL JUNE...]

A lot can happen in a few weeks in baseball. Which is why I'm hoping that on June 1st, the Indians are still playing good ball and the Tigers are playing like...crap.

Why? Well I'm off to the country of Italy Saturday morning and I won't be back until the end of the month. What will hurt me the most is not being able to keep up with this team and my lack of activity over the next few weeks.

I will still be around, as I don't expect to be completely ripped off the universe as I'm sure that country has WiFi, but I'm pretty sure they don't televise Indians games and, we're on a different time, so while the Indians are playing, I'll probably be sleeping. So no Rundown for the next few days, but stick with me on Twitter as I hope to have the company of good old Tom Hamilton on some days with my trusty Kindle Fire, and there will be some stuff down the pipe on both the blog and TCF from me in my absence.

Until June though... Go Tribe!

Morning Rundown: It's Good to Beat the King

2012-05-17T08:01:00.001-04:00

I think the most frustrating part about watching Ubaldo pitch is the fact that he shows us those flashes. Those flashes that not only make us think he can do it, but suggest that maybe there's something coming up.

May 16th, 2012
Seattle Mariners - 3
Cleveland Indians - 9
W: Ubaldo Jimenez (4-3) L: Felix Herndandez (3-3)

[BOXSCORE]

You can't exactly count six innings, three runs, five hits, two walks as having arrived to that point where he's going to be Ubaldo Jimenez again. I mean this is not a bad start because it is a quality start and he got the win. Against a King Felix that doesn't struggle, he may not pick up his fourth win of the season.

I think this game more than anything explains the frustration with Jimenez. He goes out in the first inning, only gives up a run, but throws almost 30 pitches, looks like he is laboring, and just has an overall unsettling first that leads you to believe the worst has yet to come.

But then he comes back in the second after being given a lead and retires the side quickly and in order. Then in the third, walk, homer, walk and things are looking shaky again. Next inning, side retired in the order.

In a nutshell, Ubaldo confuses us. He is inconsistent and sometimes efficient looking with a curve that makes most hitters look foolish as they swing and miss at it. Then he'll throw 30 pitches in an inning and make you wonder how much worse is it going to get.

As like the last time he went out and pitched sort of well, I'm not going to come out and say old Ubaldo is here. Manny Acta says it's the best he's thrown the ball so far. Jimenez agrees?

"I think it's true, because I was able to throw a lot of strikes," said Jimenez, who threw 69 of his 107 pitches for strikes. "Since the first inning, I was able to just attack the strike zone and just make my pitches."

Yes, he threw a lot of strikes, which is a vast improvement. However it is not the best he's thrown so far. His best was his first start of the season when he not only threw a lot of strikes and got ahead of a lot of hitters, but worked quickly and looked efficient.

The best part about this start is the two walks and how he seemed to have some sort of control. Low walk totals always make me believe things are getting better, but he still threw a heck of a lot of pitches in that first inning and had he not done that, he is probably able to give you a little more length than six innings.

That was good enough to win in this game though, so you be happy with the effort, be happy that it looks like there may be some light at the Ubaldo tunnel in regards to him being somewhat consistent this year and now talk about this incredible offensive out-put.

They've done it on the road, and they've done it before, but I'm not sure they've really busted out in a big way against anyone at home. And it's just in the way they did it too, the offense was a well-oiled machine and they did it against a guy who can be the best pitcher in the game any given time out. Credit the aggressive approach and just catching the King on a bad night.

"They came out with a good approach, swinging early," Hernandez said, "but not swinging at my breaking ball. Everything was flat today. My location was not that good, and they got me pretty good."

That was the biggest thing that I was impressed with in everyone. No one was offering at his breaking stuff. It wasn't being thrown for strikes, but rather outside or inside the zone. They weren't offering at it, simply taking it for a ball because they knew he couldn't throw it for a strike. That gave them a real advantage to when Felix had to come into the zone with his secondary stuff, and the Indians knew it was coming.

You can call the first inning a little fluky, which it was, but that fourth inning when they chased him was a thing of beauty.

Photo - AP via Yahoo! Sports

Choo: Singles on 3rd pitch slider

Kipnis: Doubles on 6th pitch cutter

Hafner: Doubles on 7th pitch curve

Santana: Doubles on 2nd pitch change

Brantley: Singles on 6th pitch slider

Each approach was different. Shin-Soo Choo was aggressive all night, he swung at the first pitch offered up by Hernandez on the night and got a hit. And the 'changeup' that Santana hit was 90 mph on the gun, so it was far from your standard changeup and it was the same pitch Choo hit in the first inning.

Speaking of the first inning... All you can really say is wow. It was created once again by some aggressive play. With Santana on first and Cabrera on third, Manny Acta probably thought he needs to put the pressure on Felix early. He could settle in after the first and cruise to an eight inning, two run beauty after a shaky first. And with Jimenez pitching, he probably thought, we need runs.

So with two outs and the stage set to be aggressive, he called for a double steal. It worked better than he could have ever thought it would. You've seen the play by now, but if you don't understand, it was a product of Montero just second guessing himself. Cabrera was delaying his steal until Montero would throw through to second base in an attempt to get Santana. But Montero thought he had Cabrera far enough off third that he panicked a little. Would he have nabbed Cabs at third on the pickoff with a better throw?

Who knows because the throw he made was that awful. It of course led to one run, but it was Chone Figgins throw that complicated things. It wasn't even a horrible throw, it was more less Montero not being able to corral it and simply losing track of it that allowed Santana to score from second and if you think about it.

Santana scored all the way from first on one play.

He'll probably never do that again, especially in that fashion. But man did it really dictate a lot of things. Did it unravel King Felix? Probably not, he was doing a good job of simply not hitting his spots and getting the Indians to swing at his garbage pitches because he couldn't throw strikes.

But the pressure, the pressure early on may have done good things for Ubaldo in that he might have been able to relax a little and settle in.

It also gives you a swagger. Hey look, Felix is on the mound, and after one inning, we lead 4-1. Look at us. As Acta said though, you don't want to let Felix get into a comfort zone, which is exactly why he called for that aggressive play. It almost backfired, but the point is it didn't and it worked better than he could have ever wanted and it was perhaps the catalyst for this win.

"When you get opportunities off a guy like that," Indians designated hitter Travis Hafner said, "you never know how many opportunities you're going to have, so you want to be able to take advantage of them and at least push a couple across."

And they did just that.

Random Details...

Johnny Damon had a perplexing night. In addition to getting a hit off a pop-fly and walking twice, he swung at a pitch, tried to hold up and uh, lost handle of his bat. He ditched his bat and started walking to first only to turn around and shake his head that a Felix Hernandez pitch was called a strike, not ball four. It was of course in response to a strike (clearly) called a ball earlier in the count. That just makes the ump look bad if you ask me, but Johnny's night, although much more successful than one's in the past, was a rather strange one.

Travis Hafner should/could be 3/5 with four RBI instead of what he finished with, but he isn't. He hit the ball well enough for his groundout to Dustin Ackley in the first inning to be a hit and knock in a pair of runs, rather than just one on a groundout. But Ackley was in the right spot and made a great play. He learned from his other two hits though, clearly. A great night for Pronk.

Shin-Soo Choo in the leadoff spot, 6-for-13 with a HR, 2 RBI, BB, but look at this, four runs. Creation is the key and he's doing that up there. Whatever approach he takes, it doesn't matter, he's getting the job done.

Jason Kipnis may be benefiting from it more than anyone as with Choo there, he'll probably continue to get good pitches to hit. If Choo heats up, pitchers will not want any part of him, letting Kipnis pretty much choose what pitch he wants to hit.

Successful debut for Jeremy Accardo as he pitched a real clean seventh inning with a strikeout. He threw 11 pitches, seven for strikes, got three outs, and did it quickly. You got a fan in me so far.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

And... Grady Sizemore watch is officially on, not because Johnny Damon's scuffling at the plate or the lack of offense, or anything really other than the fact that Sizemore is swinging a stick and just the thought of his impending arrival gets people in this town buzzing. Sizemore took a round of live batting practice and he had his own manager doing the tossing.

"He looked good for the first time," Acta said. "He swung the bat good, but it's just a start. We're not going to rush anything. He's going to continue his rehab, and I'm anticipating that he's going to go on a rehab assignment where he's going to have plenty of at-bats before he comes up here and plays."

This is a very Indians-controlled rehab for Sizemore. They have planned it and will no doubt stick to the very regimented blueprint of how and when Sizemore will hit his spots. One thing is for sure, Manny Acta says that he won't be ready by that June 3rd date that he'll be eligible to come off the 60 Day Disabled List.

Coming a lot sooner, hopefully, is Josh Tomlin from his unknown wrist injury. It was originally thought that he'd only miss a few starts, but now that is in question as he's set to undergo an MRI today for an injury that he isn't really sure a whole heck of a lot about. Right now he's wearing a brace on his right arm but doesn't believe surgery will be neccessary.

"Hopefully we'll get some more answers," Tomlin said on Wednesday afternoon. "That's maybe the most frustrating thing. There's not one particular thing that I did that I can say, 'If I didn't do that, we could've prevented this.'"

Acta went on to say that they'll know more after the MRI, but that if it was what they originally thought, he may not miss a whole lot of time and will not likely spend any more having to rehab or go on outings or anything like that.

With one MRI scheduled there is one pending as the Indians await the results of Jack Hannahan's on Wednesday. It's also about how he comes in to work on Thursday, but again with this day-start, I'd say it's unlikely he's in the lineup. Jordan Bastian went as far to note on Twitter that it could be a possible DL-situation, which leads me to believe there's an ounce of concern there with the Indians. If it's going to linger a little longer, they may just retroactively DL him until things clear up.

Before you go clamoring for Chisenahll, he's on the Columbus Disabled List. Nice try though.

And rounding out the infirmary report is reliever Rafael Perez, who is not on any sort of timetable, but did make a bullpen session appearance yesterday. If anything, that could mean a rehab stint is likely very near.

[MINOR ISSUES]

Hey, it's time to get it going here with the Columbus team. They're playing good ball, they'll probably go to the playoffs. Whatever, it's time to cut the trash. With Dan Wheeler clearing waivers, if he accepts his assignment, he'll be assigned, essentially taking Jeremy Accardo's spot. But Robinson Tejeda was released and the Indians better start cutting more fat. Chris Seddon? Thanks, but time to get someone else up there.

Source for this little mini-rant? T.J. McFarland is ripping up the Double-A hitters, as he is now 7-1 through eight starts with a 1.86 ERA. But that's not all, he's given up 11 walks struck out 30 and this is all building off a year in which he was 9-9 with a 3.87 ERA.

On the Carolina side of needing called up is Jeremie Tice, who's mashing around the Carolina League pitching like it's his job (but it is!). He's spent enough time in Kinston/Carolina that his seven homers and 28 RBI in 26 games says enough for me. Get him up there!

[TIGER WATCH]

People keep saying, "When the Tigers wake up." Hey guys, the Tigers are awake. They're conscious, they know what's going on. They're hitting the ball. This is the Tigers! They have no pitching beyond Justin Verlander and if they do, it's inconsistent at best. They'll probably be on the right side of .500, but this is a .500 division. The Indians may be playing above their probable standard, but the way the Tigers are playing. This is them and it's irritating that the mainstream hasn't really caught on.

Rick Porcello only gave up two earned runs, but gee would you look at that, four errors, one by Rayburn, one by Prince Fielder, and one by Miguel Cabrera. And just to make sure the infield was completely represented, shortstop Ramon Santiago made one as well. Sure the Tigers put up seven runs, which on every night except for this one is good enough to beat the Twins.

Bad defense, inconsistent starting, lead to an early entry for the bullpen. So go ahead, keep thinking the Tigers are going to 'turn it around.' They might and they might have a better record, but for anyone thinking the Indians are a flawed team despite the success, the Tigers are proving they are a flawed team with their lack of it.

Morning Rundown: Lowe-r Than You Possibly Thought

2012-05-16T07:26:00.000-04:00

The Indians first move this offseason? Heck, the first move of the entire offseason? It was the acquisition of Derek Lowe. The first trade may just have been one of the best trades that any team made and it hadn't been any clearer than on Tuesday afternoon.

May 15th, 2012
Cleveland Indians - 5
Minnesota Twins - 0
W: Derek Lowe (6-1) L: Jason Marquis (2-3)

[BOXSCORE]

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

It seems like all of a sudden though everyone is patting Chris Antonetti and the Tribe on the back for the swap that sent reliever Chris Jones to Atlanta in exchange for Derek Lowe and, most of his contract paid for. Well...Stop.

No really, stop. It's likely most of the people patting Antonetti on the back are ones who mocked him. Not necessarily calling it a bad trade, but simply saying "well what good is this going to do us?!"

Uh, a month and a half in, six wins, that's what. And if you didn't mock, you are late to the party. Lowe's been doing this all year and it just took a complete game shutout against the Twins for you to realize it? D-Lowe has been a godsend to this rotation as he's been the stopper of potential losing streaks and a groundball machine. He feeds a hungry infield defense and the rest of the starters could stand to learn a few things.

With the struggles of Justin Masterson early on, a consistent Lowe has saved this team. And against a, quite honestly, horrific looking Twins lineup, he did what he was supposed to do.

"He was a ground-ball machine the whole day," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "I don't keep track of every game I've ever watched or anything like that, but I don't think I've seen too many complete-game shutouts without a strikeout. That's rare to see. He was great. Every time he needed a pitch, he got it."

The last time that happened? Scott Erickson, a former Twin, did it against the Royals when he was with Baltimore in 2002. He walked just two and gave up four hits in the nine innings he pitched for a complete game shutout. Lowe walked four and gave up six hits, but he got the job done getting a double play in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and for good measure one in the ninth.

So many groundballs, and now he leads the league in groundouts and double plays. Lowe said he didn't throw a whole lot of breaking balls (and Brooks Baseball says he only threw 12 pitches that weren't sinkers), settling for mostly fastballs that would sink. It may be the same pitch, but you can't beat a fastball that goes down with the occasional changeup mixed in every once-and-a-while.

"Sometimes if you deviate from throwing fastballs, you give them a break. You just want to keep going at it until they make a big enough adjustment to make you change your plan."

Lowe says that his start has been gratifying and that he's worked so hard just to put to rest the questions about him retiring and "being done" or, blah blah.

And that's probably what I like most about Derek Lowe on this team. If you've read me for a long time, you know I'm a big proponent (founded or not, valid or not) of veteran leadership on a team and I believe you can never have too much of it.

It's not so much the veteran leadership as it is the laid back, "I'm just here to play baseball" type attitude Lowe has. He talks and he just talks. Yeah there were so many questions, are you done, are you going to retire, blah blah. Blah Blah? Who says that in response? Only someone who is just showing up to do his job and takes the rest for what it is.

Show me the mound, let me pitch, let's go, I'll talk to you later and when I do, it's just a conversation.

It's not the veteran leadership, it's the attitude, the way he seems to carry himself (Lou Marson called him the best teammate he's ever had), the genuine outlook he has about his starts (he'll tell you he sucked and why he sucked). It's just all there and it would hard not be for someone who's pitched as long as he has.

The trade aside. The trade aside was a no-brainer when all you were looking for was a veteran arm. Derek Lowe's available? He wasn't really Lowe-like last year? Eh.. You'll pay most of his contract?

Um, yes. Even if he doesn't pan out completely like you'd hope him to, the reward outweighs the risk and you are seeing that reward pay out big time in him starting. He's their guy right now. Will it continue? He probably won't lead the American League in ERA, but his attitude and his ability will carry him far enough to him being any reason for this team's success this year.

One topic that may come up is the competition. Sure it hasn't been murderer's row of lineups, but he's navigated his way through some difficult opponents. He hasn't shut the Twins out three times and the A's two. He's getting some quality wins against quality opponents.

Random Details...

On top of Lowe's shutout being the first this season (a complete game for a starter), it's the first since 2010 for the Indians when then named Fausto Carmona tossed one. Indians staff didn't really do that all that much last season because A) Acta is always willing to go to his pen. B) Uh, the pen was actually good and you can trust them in handing a game over.

Back-to-back jacks in the fifth inning for Carlos Santana and Asdrubal Cabrera, but not before Shin-Soo Choo also hit a solo shot. It just added to the run support that Lowe did not need much of. All three of those gentlemen had two hits, and they were joined by Michael Brantley, who continues to swing a hot bat as he tripled (and stole a base!).

The Indians didn't even strikeout that much, just two on the game.

Casey Kotchman is now hitting above .200, but don't-cha-know, he's hitting .286 in May with double his RBI total. Told ya to just give him a little time. And you wanted LaPorta to botch things up?

Interestingly enough half of the hits that Lowe gave up were to a rookie, shortstop Brian Dozier. Yeah that's just different.

The only guy not on base at some point for the Twins? Their leadoff hitter, Darin Mastroianni, who didn't walk or collect a hit in this one. But how dirty is this lineup? I mean, it's gross looking. The crazy thing is the offensive lineup they field is not that much worse than what they fielded when they were a contender year-after-year. Sure they had Mauer and Morneau and some other good pieces, but this was never a team that scored a lot of runs.

They had good pitching and excellent defense. Well those two aspects are now failing and not coming through and the whole offense thing is starting to look a little worse as it no longer has that support it used to. Maybe Bud Selig should threaten to contract them.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

One guy to not reach base for the Tribe was Johnny Damon, who in result of Choo being named the permanent leadoff hitter, was dropped in the order, to even behind Michael Brantely.

"Choo is our leadoff guy. That's where he is going to hit," Acta said. "[Damon] is struggling right now. He's going to continue to get his at-bats, but he's not going to get them in the leadoff spot right now."

You can't argue with the move right now as Brantley is still hitting in his spot, Damon has struggled, and Choo so far has seemingly taken to the new spot. Even if, Damon's numbers have simply not been good, even enough to justify his continued playing time in that area. It's been long enough that a change needed to be made.

This feels very much temporary though. As you would expect Damon to eventually get it. Whether it's just a slump or still not having gotten himself up to speed, you would expect Damon to start to produce at some point and be able to be put back in that leadoff spot that he's done so well in for so many teams. But we will certainly have to wait and see on that idea.

As was expected, at least by myself, Jack Hannahan was not in the lineup. With the day game following the night game, it seems like not enough time would have elapsed to give Hannahan the go-ahead to start. It stinks for Hannahan because this is his always his homecoming, but Acta wasn't ready to pencil in the third baseman back into the fold.

They will continue to take a wait-and-see approach, especially after they get back to home base for tomorrow's two game swing. Acta did note that he improved, but again, we'll see where things are Wednesday for the game against Seattle.

This seems like an appropriate time to mention the more aggressive use of the shift this season. Manny Acta, always one for statistics and data, has taken to using it a little more this year, saying that it doesn't matter what way the hitter is batting, they'll go with what statistics suggest.

"Righties, lefties, it doesn't matter," said Acta. "That's the thing that has changed drastically in the game. In the past you would only see it against left-handed hitters. But if a left-hander hits the ball to right side of the infield 85 percent of the time and a right-hander hits it to the left side of the infield 85 percent of the time, why not do the same thing? That's where the game has really changed. Guys are thinking outside of the box a little more. The stats and the facts are there. It's a matter of you taking a chance on the 10 percent or 20 percent of the times you get burned."

The Indians are one of the more frequenters of employing the shift to their defense. Joe Maddon really started doing it a whole heck of a lot in Tampa Bay and Manny Acta has likened to the trend and has now made the Indians one of the teams that uses it the most. It certainly comes into play when you are talking about someone like Derek Lowe, who's getting almost all his outs via the groundball. The perfect placement is even more important.

[TIGER WATCH]

We can definitely see that lineup's potential when they do things like score EIGHT runs in one inning. They keep doing those sorts of things. Then they go and look dead in the water offensively. The common occurrence more than anything is their pitching and it struggled again despite picking up a 10-8 win over the White Sox.

I think the biggest story here is that Jake Peavy struggled for the first time this season. Just like the Indians, the Tigers had a three home run inning in the sixth. Copy cats.

Morning Rundown: Gomez Pitches to Win, Choo Heroics Still Needed

2012-05-15T06:11:00.000-04:00

I'm going to be straight up honest with you guys. I fell asleep. I didn't have the physical energy to sit up in a chair, so I made the mistake of laying down. I fell asleep. I fell asleep only to wake up to see Ryan Doumit do what he did. And I was so deprived of energy, I rolled over, set my alarm and went back to sleep.

May 14th, 2012
Cleveland Indians - 5
Minnesota Twins - 4
W: Joe Smith (3-1) L: Matt Capps (0-2) S: Chris Perez (12)

[BOXSCORE]

All I can say is that it's a good thing Shin-Soo Choo was leading off in this one. Or else he wouldn't have been set up in a position to do what he did.

"I didn't make the lineup thinking Choo was going to come up with two outs in the ninth and a runner on base," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "He's a good hitter and I'm glad that he was the one up there. That was a huge hit. A two-out game-winning hit. He's coming around and he's one of those guys that we need to get going for our offense, and tonight was a big hit."

Then what was Manny Acta's line of thinking?

Before the game, Acta said Choo was the best option with Damon struggling and that his OBP is wll above the league average. Even with the game-winning hit, Acta says Choo would be there in that spot on Tuesday. Acta doesn't usually make moves if they aren't semi-permanent, or at least something he's going to do more than once.

"He's never changed. He's always been an on-base percentage guy," Acta said. "And that's something we made clear to him. If he wants to swing at the first pitch of the game, go for it. The quality of at-bats doesn't need to change no matter where you hit it. He's a guy that knows the strike zone and if it's there, he's going to whack at it, and if not, he's going to end up getting his walks."

Choo only provided the two-out hit in the ninth, which was the biggest hit of the game, but otherwise didn't do much. However what he did was ultimately stop a losing streak and save the team from losing a game they had no business losing. A losing streak? A legit losing streak that this team has not gone through this year. After dropping the final three to Boston, in a row, this team was in danger of going on a streak in the bad way, they haven't lost more than three in a row and Choo saved them from that with his hit.

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

And I keep using the term save because, he really did save it. This wasn't supposed to be a 5-4 win, nabbed from the jaws of defeat at the last minute. It wasn't supposed to make us sweat. Heck, when I was sitting there, awake, watching Jeanmar Gomez pitch, I thought, well this is just nice. We get a nice game here where our starter has a lead, he's cruising, this won't be anything.

That's how good Gomez looked. The run he gave up should have never happened, he was blazing through the Twins lineup.

"For me, one point that was important was attacking the zone," Gomez said. "[I wanted to] throw down in the zone, make quality pitches and be aggressive with the hitter. ... [Getting the win] didn't have to happen for me to do my job today."

Unfortunately and unfairly, Gomez deserved the win after the way he pitched. He looked as good as he has all season and he's looked good in other games. There was just something different about this start. Maybe it was the Twins lineup, maybe it was the location, maybe it was just the realization that Gomez is for real.

But he pitched well, more than well and he's becoming someone this rotation can count on.

"Gomez did a very good job," Acta said. "He went out there and threw strikes with good life on his fastball. He got a lot of ground balls -- actually 11 groundouts. He did a good job, especially against the left-handed hitters that he saw tonight. I feel bad for him. I'm glad we were able to come back, but he should have gotten a win out of that."

Watching Gomez, it was not an issue. The game flew. Despite my battle with the sleep monster, It was 9:00 and 9:30 and the game was flying by in large part because Gomez was going. He was in that type of groove on his way to a three-hit, one run, seven-inning beauty.

The one run he gave up was unearned as it should have been. With Darin Mastroianni on second after a groundout, Carlos Santana fumbled around a Gomez pitch. The ball didn't really get away from him, but it bounced around and with Denard Span in the box, it became difficult for Santana to get a good grip and a good read on Mastroianni advancing to third.

He shouldn't have thrown, but he did and it was a poor throw that went into left field. A run scored and the Twins were leading and you felt sick for Gomez.

But perhaps the offense felt sick and decided to do something about it because a single and a double from Kpinis and Cabrera led off the fourth and even though they manufactured the runs the old fashioned way with a groundout and a sac-fly, you feel a little more sicker that Hafner and Santana didn't do a little more damage.

But I said it when it happened, two runs may have been all the Indians needed for Gomez the way he was pitching and that is the truth. Thankfully they got a few more when Casey Kotchman would hit a two-run shot in the fifth, because it wasn't up to Gomez after the seventh as he had just about reached 100 pitches.

I guess a side story here is the struggles of Vinnie Pestano, who got his strikeout, but walked the leadoff hitter in Denard Span and gave up a Josh Willingham double to start to let the lead deteriorate. First batter Nick Hagadone faces when he comes in, Ryan Doumit clobbers a home run and the game is tied.

And from there, all I can say is that thank god Lou Marson can at least run a little, or else Casey Kotchman is not scoring from second.

Random Details...

After the roller-coaster ride of the eighth, Chris Perez only needed 12 pitches to get through a relatively clean and harmless ninth inning for his major league leading 12th save. Maybe he should get one-run games all the time.

I'm sorry but the Twins were just what the doctor ordered. With the Indians having struggled in that Boston series to score some runs and to pitch well, the 10-24 Twins were just what the Indians needed. It's only a quick two-run set, but it will do the trick. The first game was closer than we should have liked, but all that is important is that it's a win.

A real blown opportunity by Nick Hagadone in the eighth there. He just needed one out in that situation and he could have really stepped up and made everyone say, hey, this kid, this kid is here to stay. I still don't think that will cost him anything, he'll still stick around when Perez returns, at least I think he will at this point, but he had a nice opportunity to push his name out there a little further in a big spot. He's still young though, so hopefully, it's more of a learning moment more than anything.

And really, the bullpen has been too good to not have their moments here and there. If they can have a moment, at least it can still be salvaged for a win and at least it's against a team they can come back against like the Twins.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

I will leadoff with the leadoff switch. As was featured earlier, Choo was in the leadoff spot with Damon getting the night off. But it was said when Damon was first placed there upon his arrival that when Damon wasn't playing, Michael Brantely would start there.

Well that isn't such with Acta making the move as more of a try-out type of a thing even when Damon is playing (as Choo will start there Tuesday, presumably when Damon will return to the lineup). Michael Brantley seems to have found a home though, hitting where he is hitting in the six-seventh spots. Acta's idea in putting Choo up atop and keeping Brantley down also boils down to him, simply liking Brantley "everywhere."

"I like Brantley everywhere, but I really like him in that spot because he doesn't strike out much, and he's one of those guys I really like to see at the plate when we have runners in scoring position," Acta said. "Some how, some way, he doesn't panic, and he gives us good at-bats in those situations."

And you can't argue the way he was hitting in Boston from that area. Maybe he's found a home in that space in the lineup. Maybe that's where he should be hitting from now on. It's working right now for him and he's really settled in.

I was not around Monday and over the weekend, the Indians made a bunch of moves to their roster, their first real big roster shakeup of the season. And when it involves just bench players, that is a good thing, I guess. With Josh Tomlin hitting the disabled list (likely on there the minimum amount of time, good news), the Indians made a few moves in order to get Zach McAllister on the roster.

In addition to calling him up, they sent down Jason Donald, but to send down Donald they also needed another utility player, so they purchased the contract of Jose Lopez from Columbus. The minimum 10 days didn't even pass since they sent him down, but because Tomlin was DLed, the Indians could make that move. To make room for Lopez on the 40-man, they designated Nick Weglarz for assignment and it's looking like they'll be able to sneak him through.

I didn't really agree with the Lopez move and here's why. I know many people are down on Donald, he hasn't hit well when he has played and looked a little shaky in the field. He's not everyone's favorite player. But he plays hard and he makes up for a lot in his effort. He can play multiple positions and even though he was a little shaky on defense this year, he's still better than the botch-artist that Jose Lopez is.

And another reason shined through on Monday when Kotchman got a hit and was at second late in the game. Ordinarily you call your first bench guy cause he has a lot of speed. By taking away Donald, you first option for a pinch-runner is....Lou Marson? Not that Lou is slow, but he certainly isn't quick and not the ideal choice for that.

And as you can see, that can come into play late in the game and cost you wins. So although he did have a double in the game and may carry a nice stick, to me, the cons outweigh the pros in having Lopez on this roster. If they wanted to give Donald a break, why not call up Cord Phelps and give him a shot? He's virtually the same type of player who can play multiple spots (and prevents Hannahan from being the "backup" shortstop) and you don't have to make a 40-man move.

But that's fine, we'll go with Lopez for now.

Part of the reason Lopez was playing on Monday (and hey look, if Asdrubal went down, they'd have no one to play short) was because Jack Hannahan was battling some back tightness.

Manny Acta said that he is day to day and could return to the lineup on Tuesday, but I wouldn't be shocked to see him sit out a second game. Hannahan felt the tightness in Sunday's game against Boston.

The Indians other roster move this weekend came on Sunday pretty much right before the game ended. The dust hadn't even settled and the Indians had designated Dan Wheeler for assignment after bombing it on Sunday. In his place, the Indians called up Jeremy Accardo, who takes Wheeler's roster spot and 40-man spot.

"He pitched the best out of all those guys in Spring Training. He barely missed making our club. And he was pitching the best out of the bullpen in Triple-A," said Indians manager Manny Acta, who also noted Accardo's Major-League experience as a factor in the decision to promote him.

Accardo was also pitching well in Columbus, so he's thrown the ball well all year and he deserved the first shot. What he needs to do is fill a void of being called upon to fill two innings. Wheeler did not deal well with a "long-relief" sort of role that he was in. Because the Indians starters have been so good, the Indians haven't really needed a long-man, but that they've needed is someone they can throw in when they are down 4-5 runs, a close game, but not close enough to use your best relievers.

So Accardo needs to come in and fill that sort of role with what's left of Jairo Asencio. Hopefully he can do that effectively.

Check out this feature on Francisco Lindor, who hit a home run and knocked in five runs just in time for this feature to mean a little more.

"No matter what pick, what round -- whether it's the first or the 50th, I still have to compete," he said. "I have to show [the Indians] that they made the right choice, and I have to prove to everyone else that I can play, that I can do this for the rest of my life."

The first round pick from last year's draft is ripping things up in Lake County at the age of 18. He's hitting .312 and i second in the Midwest League in hits. Just 18 and killing Low-A already? When is he supposed to get to Cleveland?

[TIGER WATCH]

For a short time Tiger Watch can also be Sox watch as the second and third place AL Central foes face off. Detroit got off to a 3-0 lead, only to see that erased almost immediately by Adam Dunn in the bottom of the first. It was a slugfest all game as John Danks and Drew Smyly both struggled against the opposing offenses. The White Sox would get the better of the Tigers bullpen though and create an even closer gap between themselves and the Tigers, while also strengthening the Indians AL Central lead.

Morning Rundown: Tribe Bats Clobber Beckett, Lowe Cruises

2012-05-11T06:22:00.001-04:00

Little worried there weren't you? After those final two games against the White Sox, you got a little nervous that maybe the steam was running out. Perhaps the start was a fluke and now they would falter. But just as quickly as that looked to be happening, the Indians got to go on the road and face the fabulous enigma that is the Boston Red Sox

May 10th, 2012
Cleveland Indians - 8
Boston Red Sox - 3
W: Derek Lowe (5-1) L: Josh Beckett (2-4)

[BOXSCORE]

The road has been a happy place for these Indians. Maybe they feed off the opposing crowd and the unlikely energy they would get from playing in front of crowds larger than 15K. Maybe they just are more relaxed away from Progressive Field. Maybe it's a happy coincidence.

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

Maybe they just face the right people on the road. But I'm expecting the Indians to come into this series and take three games at least and after beating the guy that is likely Boston's best starter in Josh Beckett, and beat him bad, that belief is even higher.

The Indians hit Josh Beckett early and hit him hard. They were just teeing off on whatever Beckett was giving them. In the third, it was Michael Brantley's double that had the knock out punch, chasing the former World Series MVP after his eighth run and only one out in the inning.

And you have to love all the golf metaphors, Am I Right?

What seemed to be the biggest topic of discussion though is the fact that he Red Sox fans were booing Josh Beckett, who said after the game that he quote, pitched like, uh... Dookie. Only the curse version of it.

Um, really? Whatever, say what you want about Beckett, the golf, his struggles, his injury, his back, whatever. He's still always has the potential to be a good pitcher. And the Indians got to him good Thursday night.

"[That's] very important, because he's one of the best guys in the league," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "We've seen some games where we've been dominated by him. Today, the guys just came out swinging. We got into some good counts and hit some mistakes pretty good."

And really this was the offenses night despite a good performance by Derek Lowe, who just did what he had to do and what we've become accustomed to this season. He not only was the routine Lowe, as Adrian Gonzalez said, keeping the ball down and getting ground balls, he stopped another losing streak dead in it's tracks.

But he had a little help and the start of it all was Michael Brantley, who for some reason, I continue to poke fun at. Maybe it's because I'm still waiting for him to develop that consistency and prove that overall potential. I don't know what it is. Don't get me wrong, I like Brantley, but I guess I'm still waiting. I'll keep waiting though if he's got more of these games in him. 4-5 with a pair of doubles, just putting bat to ball and making things happen.

The four hit game is a yearly-occurrence for Brantley as he does this once every year and has every year since his debut in 2009. What it did do this year was mark the third time he knocked in more than just one run in a game.

Other than that, a solo shot from Jason Kipnis was a nice addition in the third, Choo had a RBI double. The biggest hit to me though was Jack Hannahan's home run in the second. With two outs after Kotchman got that run home off the sac-fly, Super Mannahan appeared and got his two-out magic stick out and whacked a two-run shot around that left field foul pole.

"I had fun watching the offense," Lowe said. "It doesn't matter where you're pitching, you can't ask for any better start than getting seven runs in the first three innings. ... You don't have that emotion where maybe three years ago I had it, because there were still a lot of guys [I played with] there."

It was really a complete game from the offense. Hafner was the only one without a hit or RBI, but he did score a run and was on base via the walk.

It sets the Indians up nicely for the rest of the series. Hopefully that good-hitting karma will carry on into the rest of these games. The starting ERA of the Boston starters would indicate that as a likely probability.

Random Details...

Lowe's final line over six? He gave up a pair of runs off nine hits, but he walked just one. Another solid outing Mr. Lowe.

How about Vinnie Pestano? The Gangster threw 41 pitches just to get out of that eighth inning. It was a close game, him making probably closer than it was supposed to be by loading the bases with a four run lead. But he got out of the jam after throwing half a game in one inning.

He did get a strikeout though despite having to deal with that bases loaded jam and it set a streak for longest string of games to start a season with a strikeout. He beat Doug Jones' record of 15 and with a few more he can pass Paul Shuey for longest strikeout streak for a reliever since 1918. He has 18 going back to last year and with four more, he'll tie and pass Shuey's mark.

Then Nick Hagadone came in and threw nine pitches to get out of the ninth. You know, ho-hum.

It's a good night when you score eight runs and go 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position. As long as you win, of course. A few sac-flys will count, especially if you make all four of those count (and the Indians did).

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

It was Casey Kotchman who really started things last night. His solid at-bat brought home the game's first run and it was all up-hill from there for the Indians. Told ya to give him some time.

"That was coming," Acta said. "He's been working hard and minimizing the body movement at the plate. It seems like in the last couple of series he's been staying behind the ball better."

Even if Kotchman doesn't repeat his grand success in 2011 with the bat, as Manny Acta pointed out he's still a career .265 hitter and he's going to do better then the below-bunker average he was bringing to the table. Throw in that solid glove and you should have no reason to worry about Kotchman being the first baseman on this team.

One guy still searching is Johnny Damon, who was 1-5 last night. But again, give the veteran some time, especially after him basically coming in behind just about everyone else. No one knows better than Damon that his at-bats are important. And to his credit, he's not even using that late start as an excuse.

"That's not an excuse anymore, or ever was," he said. "It seems like lately I've been swinging at the pitches just off and taking the really good ones. [Doing that] in this game is going to be really tough to produce. That's pretty much what I'm doing. The swing, I think the first couple days, may have been a little lazy and not where I want it to be."

Acta meanwhile said that basically, he needs to get his at-bats and that even though he isn't making it an excuse, other players have had the reps and have adjusted, Damon still is in that period that others are in spring.

"He's had some good swings. He's hit some balls hard. Hopefully, he starts contributing for us. You have to appreciate that the guy owns up and understands the situation."

I mean it is a valid point, but hopefully Damon soon makes this a non-issue.

If you are as curious as I am about the sudden emergence of Josh Tomlin as a strikeout pitcher, don't go to Josh looking for answers. Just chalk it up to him being Sinister Tomlin. Josh said he really has no idea, but did offer up a possible idea.

"I think I'm making better pitches 0-2 this year," Tomlin said. "That's really the only theory that's actually comprehensible. I don't know if that's the reason or not, but I've felt like I've made better pitches that look like strikes that are not strikes on 0-2 or 1-2 than I have the past couple years."

Tomlin also noted that he doesn't care about strikeouts. He takes the Crash Davis theory on pitching that strikeouts are fascist and his groundballs are more democratic. He wants his defense to work, he wants to get out with as fewest pitches possible. Quick strikeouts are cool, but it's all about throwing as few pitches as possible.

Of course, his strikeout numbers will not continue to be this high. He may set his career high, in fact he will baring an injury, but he won't be leading the team at the end of the year, or at least I don't think he will.

Very cool move by the Red Sox's PA microphone's going silent during the game in honor of their late PA Announcer, Carl Beane.

If you aren't following me on Twitter. You probably missed a good thing. There was a string of puns off Red Sox outfielder Daniel Nava's name. I think I had a little too much fun with it as myself and Wahoo's On First Lewie Pollis went all game and then some with the Nava-Puns. You're welcome universe.

[TIGER WATCH]

The Tigers bullpen had a little fun, taking the fun out of a more than decent start for Max Scherzer, who gave up just two runs and pitched into the seventh striking out nine Athletics. In the eighth they surrendered another grand slam to the monster that is Brandon Inge, as he pays his old team back dearly for releasing him. Their offense really broke out in the third, scoring eight runs that would really be the reason they won this one. Still it made for taking away the ease of finishing this one out. The Tigers still won and got above .500, but still trail the Tribe by two games.

Morning Rundown: Gomez Wears It in Sox-Series Finale

2012-05-10T06:07:00.000-04:00

I'm so sorry. Yesterday I went on and on about how the Indians hadn't lost a game by more than six runs and the one they did lose by six runs, was real close until things just blew up. Basically, claiming the Indians were in just about every game they played.

May 9th, 2012
Chicago White Sox - 8
Cleveland Indians - 1
W: Jake Peavy (4-1) L: Jeanmar Gomez (2-2)

[BOXSCORE]

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

Then Jeanmar Gomez met the White Sox and the Indians met the guy that is Jake Peavy. Yeah the guy that is Jake Peavy threw a pretty good game last year against the Tribe. But that... That guy they faced last night. That was the real Jake Peavy.

That combo was a recipe for really, the Indians first real blowout loss of the year at the hands of the Sox and after sweeping the double header, the Indians drop the final two games to end the series in a tie.

I guess you just start with what went wrong from the get-go and that was Jeanmar Gomez. He didn't have it.

But give the guy credit for going out there and putting up some zeros after the big inning. He found a way out of the inning (most managers might have yanked Gomez after the eighth run, Acta with his pen usage lately though and knowing the upcoming stretch, opted to keep him in) and went on to pitch a few more frames. If anything, he saved the bullpen.

Oh and um, I'm pretty sure this has been really his first real bad outing this season, so, I think you can excuse him.

"Gomez just couldn't throw strikes," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "The first four innings, he struggled with his control to a point where, in the fourth inning, he had more balls than strikes thrown. When you're not overpowering, you're really not going to get away with it up here. They made him pay for it."
Heck, you could boil it down to one inning, that crazy fourth.

"I had one terrible inning," said Gomez, who slipped to 2-2 with a 4.66 ERA. "They hit a lot of balls. I made a couple mistakes up in the zone and I paid for them. When it happens, you can't do anything. I'll take the good things out of it and keep working, prepare for the next start."

But in the end, Gomez said it was just one bad start and that everyone has them. Heck, they have more than one, so if Gomez only has one, that would be pretty cool. But Acta mentioned that it's been some time (last start of 2011 against the Tigers) that he was roughed up like that and that it's somewhat of a lesson on strike throwing.

Regardless of how Gomez pitched though, the offense was not doing anything against Jake Peavy, aside from the occasional hard-hit ball.

"Offensively, I felt like we did hit some balls hard at people, but we weren't as aggressive," Acta said. "Peavy was very aggressive. He threw a lot of strikes. There was one point in the game where he had 30 more strikes than balls. He just kept pounding the strike zone and we didn't do much about it."

Perhaps the hardest hit ball was a hard-shot back up the middle with Hafner on second, Choo on first and one out. Michael Brantley had a hard-hit ball right to Peavy that Jake caught in self-defense. Choo was too far off first and he got doubled up easily. Whatever rally the Indians were going to get started in the second ended there and it was pretty much an early killer on the night as Peavy would cruise.

Remarkable the Indians would scrape a run off Peavy in the seventh before he exited, off a Jason Donald groundout, but even with Peavy in that jam, you had a sense he was getting out of it with minimal damage, even though the game was pretty much over. It was just that type of night and Peavy is putting up those kinds of numbers this year that just make you shake your head in an envious sort of way.

He is looking as good as he did with the Padres right now and he lived up to the numbers he was putting up.

I guess the good news in all of this is that now the Indians hit the road, where they play really good ball. And they're taking on a Boston team that, well, if you watch television, is much maligned. Some shaky pitching, an unsettled bullpen, and just a lot of questions. This is a big four game set, the Indians need at least three.

Random Details...

Rough night for Johnny Damon in left field. He was sent back several times and it just looks anything but graceful and with him not coming down with the ball, it looks even worse. He also had a rough night at the plate.

On the other hand, Casey Kotchman keeps making plays and in the eight hole, had a great night at the plate, going 2-3 with a walk.

Peavy scattered his seven hits and like mentioned with the Brantley line-out, got some fortunate bounces to get out of would-be jams. So the middle contingent (Hafner, Cabrera, Santana) all had a hit and Hafner added a walk, but there wasn't much to do with it. Choo had two hits, but they didn't come in a spot where he had an opportunity to produce.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

Indians third baseman Jack Hannahan was out of the lineup on Wednesday due to a sore left groin, but he's expected back on Thursday. Acta said that Super Mannahan was 'playable' on Wednesday but that sitting him was simply a precaution so he didn't do any more damage to miss a more significant amount of time.

If the manager goes as far as saying someone is playable, they must feel pretty good about the injury not actually being really serious and not just saying 'it's not serious'. Seriously.

So expect to see Super Jack at third when the Indians arrive in Fenway.

Even after his game last Friday, Shin-Soo Choo simply has not found his rhythm or his footing offensively. Even before the injury, he struggled to find a groove of consistency. And Manny Acta, well, he'd kind of like him to find it and find it soon.

"At times, some of those guys, they want to do too much," Acta said on Wednesday. "As much as you talk to them, it's hard for them to understand that they're not going to go from .200 to .300. It's got to continue to be one at-bat at a time, continue to work and stay positive. He's shown some signs. Here and there he's done some good things. We need him."
We need him...

Yes that certainly wouldn't hurt. A rolling Choo can do wonders for an offense and maybe establish some consistency. If a Santana or a Hafner have a bad or off night, and Choo isn't hitting, the main producers, well they aren't producing. If you have all three rolling, there's always a chance. Even if two can't get it, there's another guy to pick it up.

So yeah, the Indians, they need a good Choo.

No news is no news for Roberto Hernandez. I guess Paul Hoynes or Sheldon Ocker like to poke their head out every once and awhile and say "Hey! Where's that uh... Fausto guy!?"

It kind of intrigues me that the media asks. I mean, if Hernandez had any sort of clearance or any sort of word was mentioned on him, you don't think it would have been reported by now? It's at a standstill and it will continue to be. So why ask?

"His side, the people that represent him," Acta said, "we're very optimistic that it had a very good chance to be resolved. But, unfortunately, that wasn't the case. That's something that it's out of his camp's and our camp's hands, as you guys all know."

Hernandez is not walking through that door. Not that they need him to. So stop asking.

The Indians took their team photo on Wednesday, but Derek Lowe was not present to be in it. So what did they do? They had someone stand in his place and they'll just photoshop it all to look like he is in it.

I wonder if they are going to photoshop Grady Sizemore out.. Or if he was the stand-in. Provided he could stand?

That was way too mean. I'm sorry.

[TIGER WATCH]

Good news in that the Tigs kept pace with the Indians and will not go above .500 as they fell to the Mariners in a low-scoring close one, 2-1. The Mariners got a run in the eighth to take the lead and it was easy to hand it over to Brandon League for his eighth save. One pitcher who they're actually getting production from not named Verlander, Drew Smyly, yet, his effort was wasted by the vaunted Tiger offense. I love being smug.

Morning Rundown: Tribe's Late Rally Can't Carry Long Enough in 5-3 Loss

2012-05-09T07:36:00.003-04:00

Team's lose games in baseball. It happens. Get over it. This team has been playing really good ball in addition to getting some good fortunate bounces going their way. Sometimes the bounces don't go your way. They didn't on Tuesday and even though the Indians fought to the very end, it just wasn't enough.

May 8th, 2012
Chicago White Sox - 5
Cleveland Indians - 3
W: Hector Santiago (1-2) L: Chris Perez (0-1) S: Nick Addison Reed (2)

[BOXSCORE]

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

Don't go blasting Chris Perez, or Manny Acta. Don't go off the freaking cliff. It's one game.

With that said, this team... How awesome is how this team's fight? Comeback rally in the eighth inning. John Danks had pretty much shut them down, pitching an excellent game. They get their bullpen in though and the Indians manage to push this one into extras.

Manny Acta knows Chris Perez isn't perfect, and Perez knows Perez isn't perfect.

"What, like I'm never going to give up a run again?" he said. "Come on. Two hits. We lost," Perez said. "It stinks, especially after we battled back."

I would have brought Chris Perez in when Acta did. With him no longer available for a save situation since the game went into extra innings, bringing him in at that time in for the 10th inning with the meat of the White Sox order up, perfectly planned. He just couldn't get it done and it happens. His pitch to Rios, was in his explanation, a bad pitch. If anything, I'd rather him give up a game that is tied than one that the Indians are already leading in, if that's some silver lining for you.

Of course the focus in that inning was the fact that it was Alex Rios who hit the big triple off Perez and because of what happened last week, everyone is calling it "revenge."

Hey, maybe it is, and if that's the case people want to use, great, he got his revenge. Can we move on from it? Both Rios and Perez didn't acknowledge it.

And as fans, maybe we should acknowledge the fact that the Indians were in this one despite a big performance from John Danks, who was throwing zeros until that eighth inning. His line doesn't look as good thanks to Chris Sale coming in and not being able to get him out of that jam. Sale's first save opportunity (in the eighth inning?!) since being moved from the starters role didn't pan out so well as the Indians pushed the three runs across in the eighth to tie it.

Other than the seventh inning, the Indians didn't have many big opportunities to get some runs in. In the third, Kotchman led off with a double and moved to third on Hannahan's groundout, but nothing amounted from that. Then of course in the seventh another leadoff double, this time by Santana and a wild pitch got him to third with no outs. Shelley Duncan walked though and after a shallow pop out to center by Choo, Brantley lined into a double play.

Two key opportunities distinguished by not having the right luck. It happens.

The Indians finally broke through in the eighth, showing that sometimes even the unfortunate luck can't hold back the fight. The Indians did have an opportunity with one out and Cabrera on second and Santana on first after his RBI single to do more damage, but a Duncan strikeout and another Choo fly out ended that and pretty much the Indians best chance to win the game. Some noise in he ninth, but after the White Sox took the lead, the Indians went quietly in the tenth.

The whole reason the Indians were in this game despite Danks performance? A shaky Justin Masterson battled not having his best stuff and some wildness to go six innings and give up just the two runs he gave up in the first inning. They were production runs too, having scored off groundouts and the White Sox just playing good ball and getting their runners in the right spots.

But Masterson from second inning on was better than Masterson in the first, that's for sure.

"When you know that stuff is kind of going here, there and everywhere," Masterson said, "you're close to the zone, but not close enough, you've got to be able to work through it and really keep it close. They [scored] two there in the first, so my goal the rest of the way was that I was going to be out there to just try to not give up any more."

I think Masterson is still working through some things. I'm not as worried about him as I was a few weeks ago when he was looking like a different pitcher. I guess the good thing is that he's not yet pitching like we know he can and that the best is just yet to come. But if he can give the Indians performances like these while he struggles through some things, six innings, two runs, I think you take it and wait patiently for the really good Masterson to arrive.

All the starting pitchers need to do is give this team a chance, because they've been in just about every single game this year. In fact, I can't really remember a lopsided score this year not in favor of the Tribe. Seriously, I think they've virtually been in every game in some fashion, whether it be how they played or just the score. Their biggest loss is a six-run loss to Kansas City, 8-2 on April 25th, but that was the one that the Royals scored some real late runs.

This is a team that fights. In light of Josh Hamilton's big night in Texas and the O's getting pounded, this team has not been pounded like that yet. It speaks to not just their talent that they are good enough to be in all these games, but it also speaks to their fight, their swagger, and their attitude.

So yes, this team is going to lose some games, but at least in their loss they make things interesting and to this date, have not really been in a position where the game has simply just been a wash.

Random Details...

We suffered through a nice little few innings from Dan Wheeler. What are you going to do? As I mentioned, this team has not really been blown out. That's really Dan Wheeler's role. He's a mop-up guy, coming in to get innings if the team needs it. Coming into tie games really late. The Indians haven't been in those situations. They've been in close games where they have a chance of winning or are winning. Wheeler hasn't pitched since May 3rd against the same White Sox and he didn't even pitch that much. He gave up that home run and got one out.

He has to pitch here and there to stay sharp. Don't worry, he'll be gone soon.

Mostly because when Rafael Perez comes back, it will likely be Wheeler that goes. Nick Hagadone isn't going anywhere, especially after he struck out the side in the ninth inning. More on that in a second.

Bottom of the lineup came through, with Hannahan notching two more hits and Kotchman having a nice night. The rest of the lineup though, other than Santana just couldn't come through with much. Jason Kipnis, although went 0-for-5 managed to knock a run in. Even on a bad night, still productive.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

As mentioned yesterday, Grady Sizemore's rehab is starting to get a little more involved. He has been hitting off a tee and with him around doing some running drills, the topic was about how Sizemore has had as many surgeries as an old person would.

"I still feel like I'm pretty young," Sizemore said on Tuesday. "I love this game and I don't see myself calling it quits anytime soon."

Yeah but six different surgeries in a span of four years will do a lot to your body. Sizemore says that although he feels he has a long ways to go, he's at the tail end of the rehab... I'm not sure how that makes any sense. But, we'll just go ahead and continue to wait.

I was a little surprised that Travis Hafner played in both games of Monday's double header, but with the tougher lefty in John Danks on the mound Tuesday, it kind of has some logic as to him getting his break on Tuesday. Plus with that, he gets his whole day off, not just one game. He'd still have to play Monday. Acta said Tuesday was break time.

"He needs a day off," Acta said prior to Tuesday's game against Chicago. "He's a little sore from all the activity yesterday. Going through the 21 games in 20 days, we're going to have to rest guys here and there."

Hafner keeps ribbing about his speed and that triple he hit, the first one since 2007. If he keeps it up, he's going to be expected to swipe a bag.

You have to feel that Zach McAllister is a little more polished this time around. He's a little more experienced and was a little more ready for his spot start on Monday than he was last year when he pitched for the Indians. He's had a taste of the show and you can never under estimate the importance of that.

"There's more confidence in me," McAllister said on Monday. "I think last year was a big learning experience for me and it definitely helped me out for this start."

And the same with Nick Hagadone, who not only had that save on Monday, but came in a big spot on Tuesday, a tied contest, and did his job once again. He's just blowing hitters away right now and said that the experience helps. He only had a cup of coffee last year, but he was still able to come up and get a bit of experience, shake off the jitters and now fall into the normality of the routine.

You have to feel he's here to stay, whenever Rafael Perez comes back. He should have been here from the start, but we won't get into that now, will we Dan Wheeler? McAllister and Tomlin's quality starts only added to the running total of the Indians, who have the fourth most in the American League after Tuesday with 18 after Masterson went six and gave up just two. The White Sox are in second after John Danks recorded one of his own.Rafael Perez by the way has started his long-tossing .

Some minor league hardware being handed out and the first is to the first pick of the Indians draft in 2012, Francisco Lindor. He was named the Indians minor league player of the week for his performance with Lake County. In the seven game span he had a few homers, stole five bases and drove in four runs. To be doing so well at the Lake County level at such a young age (will be 18 all season!), it lines up real nicely for his timetable if he can just take one level year by year.

The other award of note is the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week and that went to Akron's Steven Wright.

Yes, that Wright. The 27-year-old reformed knucklerballer has seemingly found it. He's really set into a groove this year and it looks like he's really learned how to be a knuckler. His gem was on Sunday in which he threw a complete game shutout in which he struck out the side and five in total. He threw 15+ innings giving up just one run to earn the award and if you think that's impressive, he's surrendered just five earned over a team-leading 40 innings pitched.

Looks like the journey isn't over for Steven just yet. What a great story.

[GOLDEN FEDORA]

Congratulations to... Derek Lowe for winning this year's first Golden Fedora by an outstanding eight votes. Jack Hannahan had an early lead and with Facebook and the site poll combined, had seven votes in total, but a late push from Derek Lowe led him to an 8-7 win over Hannahan. Also receiving four votes was Travis Hafner while Carlos Santana received one and Joe Smith was shutout. Thanks for one of the most successful and hotly contested Fedora votes yet. May will be another interesting contest.

[TIGER WATCH]

Justin Verlander threw over 100 pitches one again in the Tigers 6-4 win over the Mariners. It wasn't an easy win for them, but the Tigs got out to a quick lead, 5-0 after two. The Mariners battled back though and made it interesting late. Jose Valverde was able to dance his way to a save despite giving up three walks in the ninth inning and the Tigers are now two back of the Tribe.

Morning Rundown: Two Games, Two Wins, Lots of Tribe Luck

2012-05-08T08:04:00.000-04:00

You have four-five arms available in your bullpen, none of which are your two best arms. You're starting someone for the first time this year in the majors as he's been in Columbus. There's rain coming, and ya, you'll definitely be playing many of your backups in the second game of this double header. Are two wins possible? Just ask Manny Acta...

May 7th, 2012 - Game One
Chicago White Sox - 6
Cleveland Indians - 8
W: Zach McAllister (1-0) L: Phil Humber (1-2) S: Nick Hagadone (1)

[BOXSCORE]

Game one was one of offense as the Indians were able to get to Mr. Perfect Phil Humber. In fact, they got to him early and chased him off rather quickly. Humber couldn't get out of the third and if anything, in addition to the eight runs that would be enough to win, the Indians biggest accomplishment was diving into that White Sox bullpen early.

Lucky for them, they got Jose Quintana to give up just a hit throughout the rest of the game. Quintana was the White Sox 26th man, so if anything, they used the rule effectively as he held the Indians to just three baserunners after Humber's implosion.

The Indians used their 26th man effectively too as they got Zach McAllister to give them six healthy innings of work, giving up two earned (four in total) off six hits and a walk. That's solid baseball because that's a quality start from someone you just called up to make a spot start for a double header. And it's Mac's first win of his major league career.

Throw in the fact that they used no one of mass importance in their bullpen to save for the night cap? This is especially important in considering there was no off day following that weekend series and the Indians are just now starting this long stretch of games without a day off.

Huge...

"I was happy with it," said McAllister, who allowed four runs (two earned) with a career-high five strikeouts. "I thought I was able to make some good pitches when I needed to. I was definitely happy to give the team some innings. And I was definitely excited to get the win."

As nice as McAllister's effort was, let's make no bones about it, this one was about the offense scoring big early. What I find hilarious is that Humber thinks there is a "theory" about the Indians wanting to stuff the lineup with lefties against him.

"Obviously they have a theory about putting a lot of lefties in the lineup against me," Humber said. "But we are prepared as far as knowing how to pitch them, and after that, it's a matter of executing your pitches, and obviously that didn't happen today."

Uh, guy.. That's the Indians normal lineup. They're ALL left-handed hitters. So you can think it's a theory when really in reality it's just... the normal lineup. And if you got a right-handed stater on the mound, you can expect Acta to put them all out there.

"He has thrown good against lefties, but that's what we'll do," Acta said. "We'll have those nine lefties, we'll throw them at them. We know they have five lefties in the bullpen, but our job is to make sure that we score enough off the starter that, when the bullpen comes in, it's our problem if we didn't score enough with our lineup out there."

The offense was smooth swinging in the first two innings. Hafner started things out with a home run and that only started the rally. The Indians pulled off three straight hits after that and then a run-scoring ground out. And that was just the start of it. The next inning, Travis Hafner made two outs after homering in the previous inning. But key doubles by Kotchman and Brantley did most of the damage.

And it was those two, who carried the offense. Both with three RBI and it pretty much was a representation of what this first game was. A lot of the spare parts, the role players, the guys who are not counted on to regularly provide the Indians with wins, coming together and getting a big one. It's always nice to take the first game of a double header, especially one that is a make-up from when you were not playing so hot, and especially when the game following it would end up in a win.

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

May 7th, 2012 - Game Two
Chicago White Sox - 2
Cleveland Indians - 3
W: Joe Smith (2-1) L: Matt Thornton (1-2) S: Tony Sipp (1)

[BOXSCORE]

Credit where credit is due department for the second day in a row... Michael Brantely had a big hit in this one too.

After Tomlin gave up a run in the fifth, the Indians showed some sort of magic by not only getting a few runs for Tomlin, but getting a few runs before the rain came. It really looked at the time that the rain would come and wash this one out, so two runs, the fifth ends, this game is official.

And Brantley came through with a single to score Lou Marson, Kipnis would follow with the go-ahead RBI scoring Brantley. All with two outs to make it even more remarkable.

And after that rain started coming down hard. But the game played through, for a few more innings in a constant downpour. With the rain in Akron not stopping, I surely thought they'd call it at some point and call it for good.

I guess things work differently in Cleveland though, as the game stopped at an awkward spot in the eighth inning with Tomlin on the mound and runners on base.

Not only was Tomlin on the end of his rope, such a break (nearly an hour and a half) meant he was done for the night and it would be up to the bullpen to get out of his jam and keep his lead. And here comes the dilemma of the day for Manny Acta.

He had just Tony Sipp, Jairo Asencio, Dan Wheeler, and Nick Hagadone available in his bullpen coming into the day. Two games, four relievers. Luckily for Acta his starters went deep in both games, or else this could have been a blood bath and we may have seen Andy Marte on the first plane to Cleveland to pitch.

Asencio and Hagadone were used earlier (in a close game no-less), so that left Acta with just Tony Sipp as someone who he's used in close games. Dan Wheeler was warming at one point, but with Joe Smith telling Acta he was available if needed before the second game, it gave Acta a little more flexibility, but not much.

When the game resumed, Joe Smith entered and gave up a run to tie it, but then managed to get a huge double play off the bat of Adam Dunn to end the inning. Now the Indians just needed a run before this got out of hand, because they only have ONE arm left in the pen. Wheeler officially entered the game for Tomlin before the rain delay, but when it returned, he was not there. Talk about a pickle.

Shelley Duncan answers... Of course after back-to-back leadoff singles by Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana, the stage was set for someone to come through. Matt Thornton was struggling, and the Tribe took advantage.

But the bigger problem here? Yeah who's going to close this one? Hagadone did some closing in the minors and has that type of stuff, so that wasn't a hard pick for the first game. Acta was probably hoping for enough runs for it to be an issue, but one run? Yeah that's a nice margin for error.

And after Tyler Flowers banged one off the Home Run Porch sign, I'm sure Acta let out a big sigh of relief when it was ruled a foul ball. Sipp on the other hand, was called upon to close for really the first time since his days at Clemson. He did have a save in 2010 against Tampa, but it was one that got called 3-1 in favor of the Indians after seven innings due to rain. This was a real save situation...

"I looked around," Sipp said. "I was looking to see if anybody else was healthy. I didn't know if they wanted to use me."

Tony Sipp was the only one to use! There was no one left in that pen and if he had given up a single run, we might have seen a Darnell McDonald situation in the 10th inning.

And if Flowers hadn't gotten out in front, well, the game would have likely not been a win. But somehow, someway, two games, two wins and both Pestano and Perez got rest.

"It was worth it," Acta said. "We made it through it without our bullpen and we got two wins."

Acta really hopscotched his way through that one. It can't work out any better for a manager. He didn't want to use his two best pieces due to their use the previous weekend, Perez and Pestano both having pitched in four of the last five games. Probably a dumb thing to expect in a double header, but he got his wish. He got two great performances by his starters and he got his offense to have some timely hits and of course, a little bit of luck.

Random Details...

Congratulations to Nick Hagadone on earning his first major league save in the first game. Some think it could be the first of many as Hagadone has stuff that screams closer. He definitely has the mettle after the little jam he was faced with, coming on with a runner on and nobody out in a two-run game. The tying run is already at the plate. First save for Hags, first win for Mac.

Yes, Travis Hafner tripled for the first time since May 25th, 2007 against Detroit. He did hit two that year, and it was just his fourth since 2004.

Lou Marson scoring in the fifth came after he walked with two outs and stole his first base of the season. Not bad at all for your backup catcher, playing a key part in your win.

Asdrubal Cabrera 4-6 with two runs, two walks, and a RBI in the double-header. Yes, he was on base six times yesterday.

Sinister Tomlin strikes again! The Indians cowboy started his third seven-strikeout game of the season and this set a career-high with eight strikeouts, topping his previous high of seven against the White Sox earlier this year. Tomlin has only struck out seven hitters in a game one other time prior to this year and that was last year in 2011. He has barely even struck out six, having done it once in 2010 and twice in 2011 (seven and six strikeout games).

And now in just a short month-plus he's got three seven-struck out games. Sinister Tomlin! Who would have thought he'd be leading the team in strikeouts at any point in the season? Well he is and it will probably last just a day as Masterson is right behind him, but that's just really unusual.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

Scott Radinsky's approach to taking mechanical adjustments to Ubaldo Jimenez is to show him the footage. That's what he did and it seems to be working as Jimenez displayed on Sunday.

"It takes them to see it instead of you just grabbing them and telling them," Acta said. "It was very significant and it got his attention right away and he went to work on it with Rad. It's going to take repetition. That's why Rad asked for a couple outings. It's been two and he's shown some improvement."

It's working because he has shown improvement, but again, as we preached yesterday, it is still a work in progress. He is still the AL leader in walks, but he did show statistical evidence as to him turning around. For one, watching him and watching his curveball was good enough to suggest things are turning the corner.

But I really hope things continue and Radinsky's approach takes for the rest of the season.

Manny Acta said that Johnny Damon's presence does not really impact how they treat Grady Sizemore and his rehab appearance. Of course if the Indians are playing well, there will be no rush to get Sizemore back, but with someone like Grady who's always hurt, you have to believe the Indians will take every precaution necessary.

Sizemore is still progressing through his rehab process and in a few weeks is expected to start hitting by taking part in a soft-tossing session by mid-May.

We saw how poked Jason Kipnis was on Sunday when he was getting showered with questions about Yu Darvish. Looks like he wasn't the only one. Vinnie Pestano (who's locker is right next to Kip's) heard it and he's just as ticked. Ready?

"They wanted to talk about how bad Yu Darvish was," Pestano said. "They didn't want to talk about how good our hitters' plans were against him. All they wanted to worry about was how bad the Rangers were -- not how good we were. That upset me. We expect to be able to beat good teams," Pestano said. "If we're going to go where this team wants to go, then we're going to have to beat those teams. We're going to have to go through those teams to get to the World Series. We're going to have to go through the Tigers, the Rangers, the Yankees, the Rays. The Orioles are playing really good baseball this year. You just never know where teams are going to come from and you can't take anybody for granted, but when a team goes to the World Series back-to-back years and they're one of the best teams in the AL, [that says something]."

I can't really add anything that hasn't already been said by Vinnie, Kip, or myself yesterday.

I also went on an attendance rant yesterday and more opinions are flowing out. Anthony Castrovince threw his two cents in from the first game of the double header. Of course combined, the Indians didn't even bring in 20K for both games, but what did you expect? Castro puts things into a bit of perspective. Something that is true, but also very very sad.

This is what’s called a trend, and it’s part of the package here in a town that’s endured declining population and economic downturn and really doesn’t have baseball on the brain. It should surprise absolutely nobody that the city that ranked first nationally in TV ratings for the NFL Draft is the same city that ranks 30 out of 30 in MLB attendance, because this is a Browns town, through and through, and the once-in-a-lifetime Indians sellout streak of the 1990s was the product of a combination of unique factors (no Browns, strong economy, new ballpark, great team, downtown renaissance, etc.) that will never combine again.

I hear from fans all the time who say they’ll support the team when it spends more money. And Indians ownership has made it clear that it will spend in accordance with revenues. And so around and ‘round we go.

Around we go indeed... Castrovince's point is hard hitting and it is really the root of all this. This is a Browns town and that's a point that I think most bloggers have made more than once, I know I have. But it's annoying that even in that regard, the talk isn't about the Indians and their first place status, but the Browns draft.

That's probably a little more annoying than the attendance. This requires no gas to travel, no money to purchase a ticket or food, no what monetary support what so ever. Respect and just some interest? Even that? No... This town continues to care more about a team that is a perpetual rebuilder. The Indians haven't been the best, but as Castrovince pointed out, they're the only ones that have come closest to offering the city any sort of winning team.

And right now, they're playing well that that football team is NOT EVEN PLAYING.

But no, that's cool. Go ahead and care more about some middle-aged quarterback who used to play for the Yankees before he even takes a snap. That's cool. But you better still be caring about him more when the Indians are still playing meaningful baseball when the Browns are.

Travis Hafner is closing in on a significant home run total in Indians history, especially after Monday's first game. He did however tie an all-time Tribe mark when he was hit by a pitch in the second game. That gave him 79, which taps Napoleon Lajoie for the Indians career lead and with one more, he'll have it all to himself.

[TIGER WATCH]

The double header sweep gave the Indians a five game lead over the White Sox, but what would it do for their lead over the Tigers? Well it would depend on their outcome of a late game in Seattle. And the result of that? Well, let's just say the Indians now have a three game lead over the vaunted Tigs after they dropped that contest 3-2.

Doug Fister returned to the mound and went seven scoreless, which is definitely good news for them. But with no Jose Valverde available, Octavio Dotel was asked to close and a Mariners' ninth inning rally helped the Indians out big time. But uh, they're supposed to just club everyone to death, right?

Morning Rundown: The Big U tops Yu; Where are YOU Cleveland?

2012-05-07T07:17:00.001-04:00

The Cleveland Indians may very well be the baseball equivalent of the "Call Me Maybe" song by Carly Rae Jepsen. You know you've heard it before even if you just said "What, Who?" in response to that sentence. Maybe once and awhile and you were like, "Jeeze... This song is annoying." But now it keeps getting more and more play and you're kinda like, "Okay this song is kind of catchy." You don't want to admit it, but maybe, just maybe....

Am I saying I like this song as I've heard it more and more on the radio? No, I'm trying to draw a very bad parallel here to an audience who based off my estimation realistically has never heard this damn song. But I'm thinking the way it's getting played, "Call Me Maybe" might be the song of the summer.

And I can only hope that the Indians are the team of the summer the way they are playing.

I've gone these entire two opening paragraphs and haven't even brought up the fact that they just took two out of three from the best team in the American League, the Texas Rangers. Where do we go from here? Three directions.

1) This team is playing well, but it's merely that, a streak.

2) This team is really very much like the 2011 version of the club, they'll fade and Detroit will show their staying power and pounce.

3) Take this team seriously, because they could be making some serious waves.

One thing is undoubtedly sure based off this series and the past month, regardless of if the Indians were playing well or not (because they weren't through their bad stretches too). You may have seen other writers proclaim it, but it's an undeniable fact.

This is going to be a fun summer. This team has some staying power, whether they are 2011 again or a version of that 2011 team that is going to take it a step further, they've played too well in this first month to be a flash in the pan. They've now gone up a pair of decent teams in Texas and Chicago and showed this isn't just a team that beat up on some bad clubs in April.

I'd even point to a Baltimore team that is playing way above expectations (in a tough AL East no-less) and say, a team playing that well is playing too well to be simply a flash in the pan. That isn't to say the Orioles are going to be winning any sort of division or wild card spot this year, but it is to say they'll likely have a fun summer.

They're going toe-to-toe with Toronto and New York and this weekend, they beat around Boston. They'll have their own test of a home stand consisting of Texas and Tampa Bay this week, but I wouldn't be looking at Baltimore as a complete fluke.

You look at some of the other teams atop their divisions and the Dodgers and Nationals in the NL are here to stay as well. It's clear Washington is for real with some of that talent they have and the only thing likely to derail them from contention is multiple injuries. We always knew the Dodgers had talent, but it seems the "ownership cloud" that hung over them last year was actually pretty real.

Maybe the Indians are just in a bad division. Maybe they have taken advantage of bottom feeders and a struggling Angels team. Whatever. Reasons to rebel be damned, this team could have very well swept Texas this weekend.

May 6th, 2012
Texas Rangers - 2
Cleveland Indians - 4
W: Ubaldo Jimenez (3-2) L: Yu Darvish (4-1) S: Chris Perez (11)

[BOXSCORE]

From the credit where credit is due department. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched well. He pitched well enough to win and he did what he needs to do. I don't care how he does it, just that he buckles down and does it.

But you will not come here and see me say that Jimenez is fixed and that things are going to be different from now on. Jimenez still has work to do, by evidence of the struggles he had in the first three innings. Honestly it was hard to watch. The guy gets ahead of a hitter 0-2 and he ends up walking them or giving up a junk hit.

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

He gets behind the first batter of the game in Kinsler and he manages to get the out. Then in the third he walks the bases loaded after getting two outs. It's like he goes out of his way to make things more difficult when they are supposed to be easy. I know he doesn't do it on purpose, but it's like he can't close. Heck, he maybe Fausto Carmona. If we were to put him in the closer role, he might have a complete breakdown.

I guess in a nutshell he wasn't Ewwbaldo, which to me is good enough for right now after the way he was pitching. If he can keep Texas off the board for seven innings, good for him. If it helps him build confidence, all the better. But there better not be any sort of regression from this and Indians fans better not go around thinking that Jimenez is going to go out every time now and only get better. He has to prove whatever it is he and the coaching staff is working on is working.

He gave up two hits, which is great, but he still had traffic to deal with because he walked five hitters. But again, credit where credit is due, especially as the game went on. He walked Josh Hamilton to load the bases and then got out of that jam, much in part to the fact that there was two outs already and from there, he pretty much took control. He would set 10 Rangers down in a row at one point and that's nothing to sneeze at. But it's far from "terrific" after the way he started.

"Ubaldo was terrific today," Acta said. "He proves that you don't have to throw 99 to get people out, but you do have to throw strikes. He threw strikes today. He had very good offspeed stuff. His curveball was the best I've seen so far."

His curveball was pretty good. It really accounted for a lot of his swings and misses as he did strike a few hitters out on it. Maybe that's the pitch he needs working to close things out. But early on, it looked like we were going to get more of the same. Ron Washington said that if they could have put some runs up early (like in that third inning) it could have been a different story. In fact, it probably would have been a different story. Jimenez maybe used getting out of that jam to propel himself into the rest of the outing. Where as if he didn't, it could have sent him off a cliff as trouble usually seems to to do to him.

And as I've flip-flopped from giving credit and taking it away, here's where I'll get Jimenez the ultimate point of credit, and it has nothing to do with his performance.

"It's still a work in progress," Jimenez said. "It's really hard to make adjustments, but hopefully everything comes together. ... Commanding all of my pitches, that was the main thing today. I was able to throw my slider, curve, changeup, everything for a strike."

He more than anyone realizes things are not all better and he still has things to do. He knew he walked a good amount of hitters, but he was confident in that he was throwing strikes, because he was. He was really getting squeezed a lot, not often getting that outside part of the plate, especially early in the game.

Random Details...

The Indians benefited once again from the sun, as Johnny Damon was able to leadoff the third inning with a single that was popped straight up on the infield. Ian Kinsler wasn't wearing sunglasses and his team paid dearly as what was a routine out, turned into a rally starter. Kipnis followed, and Cabrera brought them both home with a huge double. The other defensive miscue from Elvis Andrus would lead to another run and you could argue that Darvish really was not given a just fate.

But guess what? The Indians got their hits when they needed them. Then they got an additional Kipnis bomb in the fifth to make it a four-run lead. Enough insurance for the bullpen (but not Tony Sipp) as a whole and for Chris Perez to notch the save.

That's ideally how you set it up, Jimenez seven, bullpen eighth and ninth. Winner.

I hope Johnny Damon and Michael Brantley's lack of arm strength is contagious after watching this gem from Shin-Soo Choo, followed up by...whatever it was that was.

Series Notes...

Seriously though, that play to end the game on Friday, that play there... Shin-Soo Choo had more than a few big plays with the glove this series. Usually he's there for his arm, but he's been way better than he has in the past with the glove. He seems to be taking better routes to the ball than in the past. I've been impressed with that.

Johnny Damon did really hit the ball well in the series. He was 3-for-9 with a pair of RBI and a run scored. It's nice to see him putting in quality at-bats, coming up with big hits. He's very much stabilizing the top of that lineup, without actually being overly impactful with the bat.

With Ubaldo's quality start on Sunday, it marked the first time all year a team was able to have three quality starts against Texas in a series. That lineup is really dangerous, especially with a guy like Napoli hitting towards the bottom. But you have to really credit the Indians pitchers. Gomez and Lowe both too. Gomez's outing will go overlooked due to what Jimenez did, but he, not Jimenez, faced the Rangers best pitcher in Colby Lewis. That's a tough task to match but he not only did that, he bested him.

Lowe on the other hand had some issues and not his best stuff, but he made up for it by giving his best effort. He was able to ride some solid defense and get through what could to give the Indians a chance to win the game.

So much for that home run drought huh? The Indians hit eight home runs in the six games against Texas and Chicago. Two have come from Jason Kipnis in the final games of both series, while the other seven came from seven different players.

[RUNDOWN RANT: AN ANNUAL PLEA]

I'm not sure I did this last year, but if I did, I can't find it. But I'm sure I probably said something in passing. If anything, I probably went on a Twitter rant about it. Well now, here's a rundown rant...

Two of this club's major players thus far are two bouncy youngsters who are quickly endearing themselves to the fans of this city. Vinnie Pestano hasn't allowed an inherited runner to score this year and is practically striking out anyone that tries to get a hit off him in a big spot. Jason Kipnis has come up with more than a few big hits and up to this point, has been the Indians best all-around player, hitting, running, fielding, just being an overall joy to watch.

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

And both made pleas over Twitter this weekend for the fans to come out and support this team.

And it makes me wonder. Do these guys have to beg?! I mean seriously, we've got two enthusiastic players who genuinely love this city and playing in it right now. Two guys who go out there and are pretty much the epitome of what the city of Cleveland claims to be. They are the name that they wear across their chest.

In the recent history of a city that supported LeBron James and then pretty much crucified him for leaving and not being loyal, this is sure sad to see a lack of support for a team that has two players who WANT your support. They're practically pleading with fans to come out and watch them play. They appreciate that loyalty and that support you so willingly gave someone like LeBron James, who in return, threw it on the ground and stomped on it.

It isn't like there are a lack of reasons to support them either. They're leading their division, playing great baseball, the weather is nice. Do we need to be selling out in May? No, because I understand there is still that stigma attached (although I don't agree with it) in some fans wanting to come out to games. But with first place Texas in town, I was shocked at the crowd on Friday night. Then with a win, how it improved Saturday, but not as much.

In a way I can understand (as I was graduating on Saturday and I'm sure a lot of high schools celebrated prom that night as well) some of the reasons as to why it may have not been as much as you would expect. But I'm just continually mystified as to why out of all the sports teams in this city, the one that has players who play hard and are truly a representative of what this city claims to be about, they are the ones that have to beg fans to come.

Get it together Cleveland.

[YOUR MAJOR LEAGUE LEADER IN SAVES...]

Chris Perez is always quick to note that the whole "rage" persona is just that. He's a fiery competitor on the mound, who just likes to get pumped up to pitch. But off the field, he is not really the equivalent to a fictional Kenny Powers, even though he really could pull off a good stunt double with the proper hair maintenance.

Perhaps his Twitter persona is one of his best jobs though. And I'm not talking about the equally entertaining but also fictional Pure Rage Perez either. I'm talking about the real deal and how he interacts with his followers, his fans (as well as his distractiors), and even the media.

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

Heck, one of his recent tweets in response to MLB.com reporter Zack Meisel saying Perez has looked as good as he ever has in his stint with the Indians was simply, "how quickly everyone forgets 2010".

He's even recently taken some flack from using "Firestarter" as his intro theme once again, going on to proclaim that it pumps him up and that the intro video is for "his entertainment" and "not yours."

Hey... If it counts Chris, I'm entertaining by it.

By far, one of the most interactive players on the Tribe that is on Twitter. Be careful what you say to him, because if you don't back it up, he'll likely call you out on it. Including this gem, (who are you, Casey Kasem?).

I found it mildly amusing that he follows "Closer News" or at least saw the Tweet that said Vinnie Pestano was in-line to be a possible save opportunity in Friday's game because Perez went back-to-back nights.

Perez responded, saying "closernews" (run by MLBTR's Tim Dierkes) was wrong directly to the account. Then went out and saved his third game in three nights.

Whoops.

Perez followed it up by tweeting the same account after the game, asking where they were with their "astout analysis tonight". I'm assuming he meant astute, but the point was made.

Tweeters be aware... Chris Perez's Twitter persona may be better than any other of the personas out there. And if this "persona" is the real Perez, being real with people who interact with him, even better. The whole point of me bringing all this up though is the fact that he's really settled in. Heck, you can't even say he struggled. Opening Day was a blip on the radar. Perez likes to call it an out-of-body experience.

"It was just an aberration on Opening Day," Perez said. "I told people that it was an out-of-body experience. I don't know what happened. I wish I did. You can just chalk it up to inexperience, being young, being a little bit over-excited. But next year, if I get that call again, I'll be able to fall back on that experience."

We all were a little worried after that first outing. Was Perez ready? Did he get enough work in? His velocity was down, he didn't look right. I myself criticized Acta for not taking Perez out of that situation when he was clearly not ready for it.

But Perez has shown he's been ready for the other 11 situations he's been put in to nail down the game and he's delivered.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

I don't think the Indians players were very pleased with the attention Yu Darvish received and how it took away from the fact that they won the series this weekend. In addition to making a plea to fans over Twitter, Kipnis and Pestano used the social media outlet to vent about both issues. Kipnis said he was tired of the Darvish questions from the media and Pestano said he'd like to hear the Indians get credit instead of discrediting the other team.

A couple of transactions over the past weekend. The first is the fact that the Indians dealt Ryan Spilborghs, to the team that came into Progressive Field, the Texas Rangers. Spilborghs had not really done much with Columbus after a disappointing spring in the Indians camp. He hit .250 with a home run for the Clippers and is now off to the Triple-A affiliate of Texas, Round Rock. Quite simply, a spot to clear some much needed room in that Clipper lineup.

The Indians also dealt for a player, acquiring right-hander Loek van Mil from the Los Angeles Angels for cash. The catch here with van Mil is that he's 7'1". It also makes the second pitcher the Indians have acquired from the Netherlands this year. Hernicus-unite. van Mil is 27, really not much of a prospect and is headed fro Double-A after pitching in Triple-A for the Angels. The Aeros simply need a waste arm. If were to somehow make it to Cleveland (don't count on it) he'd be the tallest major league player ever.

One transaction the Indians will not have to make is a corresponding move to get spot-starter Zach McAllister up on the roster for his start of Monday's double header. Thanks to the new rule, to which the Indians can take advantage of for the first time this season, McAllister will simply be called up on Monday and sent back down after the day is over. The rule is a good one if you ask me and one that should have come sooner in this day and age when teams typically need to make a move in preparation for such a contest.

"I think it's a great rule," Acta said. "It really put teams in a tough spot sometimes, when you have to make a move and option a guy out, and sometimes keep a guy up here or not have a guy up here for 10 days that you wish to have up here. I think it was a great decision."

McAllister is the right pick for this spot start, as he's really pitching well for the Clippers and based off his spring, really has earned the opportunity. He's also well prepared in this role, as he did it a few times last year and maybe now that he's got that major league experience under his belt, he can move forward.

"Last year was good for me, a good learning experience," McAllister said. "It helped with my confidence and let me know I can pitch up here. Spring Training was good, too. I was very happy with how I did in the spring, and I'm looking forward to continuing that success."

The Indians expect to use Johnny Damon a lot. He's the Anti-Grady Sizemore in that he really has been someone you can count on to be healthy on a year-to-year basis. Damon though has to re-adjust to the idea of playing in the outfield regularly again, as well get into prime shape after the time off.

"I probably need to get used to the grind of playing the outfield again and get used to the humidity again," he said. "Being in Arizona for the past couple of weeks, there's no humidity or sweating, that could have gotten the best of me."

Damon has been in and out, and the Indians were able to get him in at DH over the week. I'd expect them to utilize that DH spot in the double header as a way of getting Santana into both games, so I wouldn't expect Damon to be playing in both games on Monday.

You have one more day to vote for the Golden Fedora. Remember you can vote on the side of the blog or on the Facebook page.

[TIGER WATCH]

The Tigers took two of three from the White Sox over the weekend. Now they are off to do the Oakland/Seattle west coast road trip all week. Oakland just took four out of six from two AL East teams in Boston and Tampa, while Seattle rebounded from a seven game losing streak to take a series from the lowly Twins.

Morning Rundown: Kipnis Flashes Hometown Strength in Series Win

2012-05-04T06:53:00.003-04:00

Part of me can't believe the Indians went into Chicago and actually won two games in a three game series. Part of me was expecting to wake up on Friday morning having dreamed the seventh inning on. Nope? Still a 7-5 win? Kipnis a hometown hero? Perez with his AL-leading nine saves? Masty gets a win!?

May 3rd, 2012
Cleveland Indians - 7
Chicago White Sox - 5
W: Justin Masterson (1-2) L: John Danks (2-4) S: Chris Perez (9)

[BOXSCORE]

Originally, when I had been writing the Random Rundown part of this little morning update, I had Jason Kipnis as a side story.

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

Then he hit a home run and became the story in my eyes.

Jason Kipnis added some more hometown juice last night as he continues to bat around the White Sox in his hometown of Chicago. It's their home field, but it's his home period. However the three games is just a snippet of how he's rebounded from that real early season rut, if you can even call it that. Acta talked about Kipnis prior to the game.

"He has matured pretty quick," Acta said. "He understands that this is a very humbling game and that nothing is going to come easy to him. And he has fit in pretty good since last year here. This guy is going to be a very good player, man. It's a process. He's going to have his ups and downs."

Kipnis came into Thursday's game on a 16-for-38 tear and he's leading the team in steals, triples, hits, and runs. Got a little stud on our hands, don't we? After the game on Thursday, he now also leads the team in RBI and tied for the lead in home runs.

And just to show you how big his game on Thursday was, look no further than starter Justin Masterson, who's a believer after Kipnis helped him get his first win of the season.

"We are all Kipnisses," Tribe starter Justin Masterson said with a smile.

We are indeed.

Kipnis put the nail in John Danks' coffin in the seventh inning when he hit a three-run bomb that put an end to a rocky night for Danks. The White Sox starter had been teetering on the edge in giving up a lot of hits, and just pitching very un-Danks-like than what we are used to, especially with him being a lefty against a left-handed heavy lineup.

But Kipnis took him deep to put a cherry on top of the evening and he says it was only a matter of time before he got his footing under him.

"I had confidence still in myself," Kipnis said. "I knew my average wasn't that high, and I knew I didn't come out of the gates like I wanted to, but I was still having good at-bats. I still had the right approach and I was swinging at the right pitches, so it was only a matter of time."

Kipnis did the majority of the bashing in this one, providing four of the Indians seven runs, scoring an additional run as well and helping stake the Indians to their 7-3 lead going into the final three frames.

You would have thought Justin Masterson could get through the seventh and turn it over to the bullpen for the final two, but he had some issues that didn't let him get out of the seventh, which prompted Manny Acta to call for Sipp and Smith to finish off that frame and pitch the eighth.

Masterson though walking three, pitched a good game and probably better than his numbers indicated after a Alejandro De Aza chopper scored two runs.

"I just missed it," said Masterson, who struck out six and walked three. "It was off me. I thought it was going to stay down, and then it just kind of hopped up last second and I couldn't get my glove up quick enough. It went off my arm. And then it goes just far enough so that Kip can't get it."

And two runs score off of that. So really, Overall, I was pleased with how Masterson looked out there. Of course it was a White Sox staggered lineup in terms of left/right mix, but Masterson handled it well, but you'd still like to see the walks go down a bit but one was to Konerko in the fourth after Dunn struck out. The other two came to left-handed Kosuke Fukudome, both on four pitches, both on four sinkers. That's a little strange, but it just shows you the need for him to be able to have that pitch he can throw to left-handers.

Overall though, a good outing to get Masterson his first win, a good offensive performance, and a game and a half lead over the Tigers and a two game lead over the White Sox with the Rangers coming to town.

Random Details...

The series win in Chicago marked the fourth straight road series win of the season and that is the first time that has happened since 1961.

Johnny Damon doubled, collecting his first hit as an Indian and scoring a run. It was a smooth double to right and now, relax. I like that pair of Damon/Kipnis at the top though, really works, and it lets Manny hit Cabrera right in the middle.

Big Casey! Kotchman had two hits and knocked in a run. Every once and awhile, every once and awhile.

Overall that was it, that was Kotchman and Kipnis. Asdrubal Cabrera hit his third, a big solo shot in the sixth off Danks that really started to break him down. The middle of the order didn't do much other than Cabrera with his two hits and two RBI. Santana, Duncan, and Choo were 0-11 with a walk (Choo) and two strikeouts. Looked like that Tuesday game, only with a different outcome because of good pitching on the Indians end and production from other spots.

A key moment was in the eighth inning when the Indians really got helped out by the White Sox making a real fundamental error. Joe Smith had gotten himself into a jam, putting the first two on, then getting a fielder's choice to set up first and third with one out. Eduardo Escobar flied out to shallow center, close enough to where even Michael Brantely's noodle arm could have gotten a throw in quick enough for the runner to not score.

So, that's fine, two outs, get one more batter... Until Gordon Beckham inexplicably took off and they were able to double him up. I'm not sure what he was thinking, maybe that there were two outs?

This was an inning after he was embroiled in a battle with Paul Konerko that saw him throw SEVERAL borderline pitches, the last one looking an awful lot like a strike, but not to the man that counted. Of course a few pitches later he got Pierzynski to pop out to end the inning.

[RIOS V PEREZ]

And of course, after Dan Wheeler came in to, ugh... Chris Perez came in for a two-out save. He celebrated a bit after striking out Pierzynski and one would think that's why he immediately turned around and said something to Pure Rage.

But Rios said Perez started it.

"Well, I don't know what was wrong with him," said Rios with a wry smile. "He just started yelling for no reason. I don't know why he started yelling, and that's it. When I hit that ground ball, he was yelling when [Cabrera] was throwing to first. He was yelling the whole way. I couldn't tell what he was saying. He was just staring and saying something."

Maybe he was CELEBRATING? Why would he be yelling at you Rios? I have no clue, but usually a fired up guy, Chris Perez or not, is going to be happy he won.

You didn't know what he was saying, so maybe you should shut up unless you heard something directed at you... Just a thought.

Perez said he was just yelling at his teammates, excited for the win.

"As soon as he hit the bag, he turned and looked right at me. I was like, 'What? The game's over.' It's a big win for us. We're in first place. We don't play well here, so to win a series on the road going into a big weekend series for us, yeah, it's a big win for us."

And that's the thing that gets me. Rios pretty much touched the bag and turned around and started walking and looking in Perez's direction. It seems a little more intentional that Rios was letting on. Maybe he realized he was being an idiot and is trying to turn this around to make it look like he wasn't an idiot. That's cool, I guess?

When told he was celebrating, Rios said that was not the right way to do it. I'm not sure if this is any sort of code. Granted, you don't want the opposing team showing you up on your home field, stomping around and being obnoxious after a win, but they just won a baseball game, so what is he supposed to do?

Dumb... Dumb... Dumb...

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

I would guess it was a more of a routine day-off than it was a precaution, but that is the reasoning the Indians are using as to why Travis Hafner sat in Thursday's finale against the White Sox. Hafner was plunked in the knee by Humber early on in Wednesday's game, but he did continue to play and even wentnon to hit that home run.

"It's a lot better now," Hafner said. "It hit right where there's no fat or anything. It's all bone -- so that wasn't a great spot. But, it felt better as I was icing it between at-bats and stuff. By the end [of the game], it was doing better."

It was a nice opportunity to get Damon into the lineup though as a DH, and Duncan. The Indians should be able to do this a little more often though with Damon now around. Hafner needs the odd day off, at least once every ten days, and a few times during this 21-games in 20 day stretch.

Johnny Damon was a guest on MLB's Intentional Talk yesterday. Among him talking about "naked push-ups" and him not wanting to do much other than walk around with his shirt off in the locker room now a days (because guys are bigger and longer.... You heard him), Damon gave a few good faces when talking about Chris Sale and how he was glad he avoided facing him.

So, Johnny Damon is pretty funny...

I think there was a little worry about the bullpen early on, I was a little hazy about what was going on with Dan Wheeler and Jose Asencio, but those pieces have become, eh. Un-important. Hagadone is here now, and seemingly taking over for Perez so those guys, those guys are never in any leverage situations. Of course that was my thinking last night, until Acta put Wheeler in with a four run lead. I would have not put in Perez, because it was not a save situation, but maybe Hagadone? Either way...

They've certainly found their groove though, and as Manny Acta says, they're a big part of what's going on here saying they have never been a worry of his.

"They're going to go through some tough spells here and there just like everybody else," Acta said. "But not even after that first homestand was there ever a doubt in my mind that those guys weren't going to be good for us. They have been a big part of what has happened here. It's been pretty consistent that, once we take the lead after the sixth inning, we have a chance to win the ballgame."

And to have a good bullpen, is a complete relief, no pun intended. One of the hardest things to deal with in the major leagues is not having a good pen. Because if you don't have a pen, more times than not, that starting pitcher that just pitched a good game may lose that effort, or that offense that got you the lead, may not be able to get it back after the bullpen ruins it.

So to have a reliable bullpen, you are one step closer to doing big things, especially in a playoff setting.

Jose Lopez has cleared waivers, has accepted his assignment and has been out-righted to Triple-A Columbus. So, no harm, no foul. Still there if ya need him.

Mike Rayl threw six innings, gave up two hits and two walks in a Carolina win last night, but it was Jesus Aguilar who supplied all the runs needed. A Solo shot and a two-run shot in the seventh and ninth inning in a 3-0 win for the Mudcats.

Morning Rundown: Clutch-Mannahan Puts Tribe in First

2012-05-03T07:17:00.000-04:00

It's lonely at the top and that's the way we like it, right? A big win over Chicago (the first of the year) and a Detroit loss to Kansas City and this city should be riding high. Their Tribe is in first place and beyond all that (because first place in May is nothing, unless you are the Rangers with a mega-lead), they are competitive and show no signs of slowing down, even with a flimsy offense.

May 2nd, 2012
Cleveland Indians - 6
Chicago White Sox - 3
W: Joe Smith (1-0) L: Will Ohman (0-1) S: Chris Perez (8)

[BOXSCORE]

The situations keep finding him and he keeps producing.

"I love coming up with guys in scoring position," Hannahan said.

The fact that Jack Hannahan is the Indians most clutch hitter is certainly not a bad thing. Considering he's the guy that keeps coming up in the clutch situations and he produces more times than not. I mean, Hannahan is the guy I want in this situation all the time now.

In a 3-3 game, there was a few runners on in the eighth and Addison Reed just was brought in to reliever left-hander Will Ohman.

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

I'm half paying attention, also focused on whatever is happening on Twitter (might have been General Cramping, might have been Jeff Liefer, might have been Jody Gerut). And then I notice who it is at the plate.

Pay attention, front and center. When Hannahan comes up to the plate in these situations, I take notice. I get a little excited. And every time he is up there, I think "Oh, this is the time he'll surely not come through, because he's come through so many other times, he's going to run out of steam."

And every time, that slick-fielding Irish man who's

slightly balding comes through with the improbable. And now, these situations for him, they've become pretty productive.

"It's all about staying with your approach and not trying to do too much," he said. "It's easy to get excited and pull off a ball you should be able to drive. You have to stay within yourself and just kind of do what the pitch allows you to do. Stay calm. If you've got to take a walk, you've got to take a walk and let the guy behind you do it. I think we've been doing good at it."

Oh man.. Or should I say, Ohman... Remember when Travis Hafner was getting on-base at the flip of a coin about a week or so ago? (He's still pretty close). Well, Jack Hannahan is getting a hit with runners in scoring position at the flip of a coin. He's 9-for-18 with runners in scoring position and with two outs, he's hitting .400, 10-for-25.

That's insanity. It surely will not continue and his numbers will even out. Just say that he has improved (and at this point, it becomes foolish to suggest that he hasn't in some way with the bat), the numbers are still a little too high and his numbers will even out, but it's nice having someone come through with the clutch hits, especially since he's always the one in the position to deliver.

I don't think it's fair to call Hannahan a fluke. Will he regress? He probably won't hit near .300 all season. But I think he's at least a changed hitter. He's no longer that guy that will hit his weight in average. He has at least a serviceable bat to go with an above average glove. In Cleveland he's found himself and that is nothing out of the ordinary. He isn't hitting the home runs he was last year that made us say, "Who the hell is this guy!" He's simply hitting well, producing quality at-bats and being smart when he swings the stick.

So don't get all "BUT IT'S JACK HANNAHAN!"

Yeah it is Jack Hannahan. I'm not saying he's the .300 hitter who is leading the team in RBIs that is now... But he's at least a little better now than we all thought. He's an improved hitter overall and he deserves that much credit.

Throw a little credit Josh Tomlin's way after his outing. He got through six innings on just 82 pitches, but that was probably the right time to make a move. He started out getting through the first three innings having only walked Adam Dunn, then he gave up the solo shot in the fourth to Dunn. Overall, it was just one of those Josh Tomlin outings. It's six innings, three or less runs, a quality start that Josh Tomlin has made us accustomed to from him.

He went toe-to-toe with his good buddy and perfect game-twirler Philip Humber. He really out-pitched him despite going the same amount of innings and giving the same amount of runs. Humber walked six and really tread the waters a few times. It wasn't until Carlos Santana's big blast in the fifth that things kind of loosened up and the Indians settled in. They wouldn't score more off of him, but if they couldn't get a single run off Humber and he got through six or even seven, there might have been a big demoralizing aspect to that.

But instead, Santana crushed one with a pair on and at least gave some relief to Tomlin. Who promptly surrendered the lead, but still pitched well enough to win and still out-pitched his teammate, even if the numbers don't totally dictate it.

Random Details...

On another night the following details would have been major storylines... And I feel with all the praise towards Hannahan for his clutch hitting, we need to heap a lot of blame on the rest of the Indians for their lack of clutch hitting.

Early in the game against Humber, the Indians struck out three times with the bases loaded, Choo being the culprit twice and also with runners on second and third and one out. That's four prime run scoring opportunities. Had Santana not redeemed himself (one of the strikeouts with bases loaded, with one out, no less), I would have figured this would be a bigger deal than it is.

"We put together a bunch of good at-bats," Indians manager Manny Acta said, "except in those situations where Humber made some good pitches."

But fear not. The Indians really started out striking out a lot, but still managed to work a good amount of walks, eight in total actually.
The problems with the bases loaded are a little concerning this year, as Jordan Bastian notes. Currently 0-for-12 with two outs and the bases juiced, that's a big fat goose egg... AND just three hits in total out of 26 opportunities. Um, gross.

Choo overall had a rough night (he left seven on base). Made his return to the lineup and had several opportunities to make some things happen and he came up dry. Another day, another chance big guy.

Photo - AP via Yahoo! Sports

Johnny Damon's much ballyhooed debut ended early as he was replaced by Shelley Duncan in left. It was made noticed that he had a bit of a grimace coming out of the box in his third at-bat. The Indians reported he suffered from general cramping. Insert your Ted Mosby jokes here, I salute you. Damon walked and was 0-3 on the night.

Don't worry though, Damon said he plans to be ready for today's game against Chicago (if he starts/plays) and that he simply felt some cramping up in his back and calves. He said it was embarrassing having done everything in extended and coming up and well, General Cramping. It's all good though because it does not look serious.

Travis Hafner's two-run shot was a nice insurance policy and it was a big hit for the guy. He was 2-4 and really could have been 3-4 and he was on base three times with the HBP. Aside from that strikeout early, he had three great at-bats. He's really been stinging the ball hard lately and they've seemed to find outfielders or infielders. Them's the breaks, especially when the defense plays the spray charts, but if he hits them hard enough like he did Wednesday night, there's no chance of them robbing him.

Bullpen: 4 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 R. Joe Smith is suddenly a strikeout artist as he struck out the side around the walk. I'm glad Acta didn't waste any time with Sipp tonight because after he let the leadoff guy on in the eighth, I was ready to see Pestano. It was either Manny's intention to play matchups or he too was sick of seeing Tony after one-batter.

Perez now shares the AL-lead in saves with Fernando Rodney with eight. It's a who's who up there with Perez, Rodney, Baltimore's Jim Johnson, Brandon League and, TEXAS' Joe Nathan.

[U-GIVE-ME MORE]

We spent quite a bit of time on Ubaldo Jimenez yesterday and I guess we should spend a little more time analyzing him after the comments that have come out from him after yet another ugly looking sort of outing from The Big Ewww.

"It's not easy. It's not easy to take," Jimenez said. "The only thing is I'm going to keep working on it, and I know it's going to be for my own good and for the team. Once I get it, it's going to be there. I won't have to be worrying about it anymore."

"It" is just referring to "it" I guess, but Acta says Jimenez is working on a mechanical flaw in his delivery. Um, duh? With that lanky throwing motion, he's bound to have something screwed up there that needs fixed.

My question is, how long do we have to wait? How long can the Indians afford to wait for it? I know it's still a month in, but can the Indians, who want to contend this year, wait around for Jimenez to get this thing fixed this year?

Ubaldo goes on to say that his struggles are not because of his lose in velocity. Acta goes as far as to say that the stuff he is working on is the reason his velocity (and command) is not the same. Uh as to what? Last year?

"It's not only [about velocity]," Jimenez said. "It's trying to get myself in a better position to deliver the ball. That's something I haven't been doing. My front shoulder has been too open, so I'm trying to work on creating torque and power out of it. That's something I did before."

I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in last year being a mulligan, injuries, trade, unhappiness, whatever. But something that struck me in talking with a commenter on STO's Facebook page in response to yesterday's post made me think of Fausto Carmona as we knew then.

Remember when this team had to shut Carmona down and rebuild him? Granted most of that was psychological, but they did a lot with his mechanics. Do the Indians need to rip the guts out of what Jimenez is doing and rebuild his mechanics? Obviously with a contract like his you can't really afford to do that and send him down, but perhaps they reach a point where some drastic change is necessary?

It goes into the question, how long do we wait? How long can the Indians afford to stick with Ubaldo while he "changes" things up and "readjusts" to the form of old? How do we know he's adjusting to the form of old? I mean, really. At what point do you say, hey bud, time to figure this out, our way, because your way...your way is not working.

Some food for thought as we go forward in watching Jimenez pitch. Hopefully he makes this all a moot point by going out in his next few outings and showing significant progress.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

The debut of Johnny Damon means that Michael Brantley will have to get used to that seventh spot in the lineup. Of course he would have been hitting in the bottom part of the lineup had Grady Sizemore been around, so he shouldn't be bitter about this move down, but he hasn't exactly lit the world on fire to justify being there, or even in the two hole ahead of Jason Kipnis.

Brantley will still get his leadoff shot when Damon doesn't play, but this is best for the team right now. Damon is a pro, has done that job before, he fits there. If anything you'd hope Brantley continues to embrace him and learn as much as he can from Damon about the spot.

"He's phenomenal," Brantley said. "We talked a little bit already. He's just a class-act person. He's already taking young guys in and teaching them some things. We were talking about different situations already. He's a pleasure to have."

When directly asked about being moved, all Brantley said is that the question is a better one for Manny Acta. Not sure what to make from that, but Brantley better understand this is an opportunity for him to learn and since Michael hasn't exactly been stealing bases (where Kipnis has) and using his speed appropriately, I'm willing to overlook the "skill set" Brantley brings, since he doesn't actually bring it.

Oh and he led-off three times last night, so, you can take the guy out of the leadoff hole, but you can't stop the guy from leading off.

Asdrubal Cabrera got a double after MLB overturned the decision from the game in which Torii Hunter was given an error for losing a ball in the sun. Jason Kipnis also lost an error after Erick Aybar was given a hit.

Minor League Update: Bryce Stowell hit the disabled list in Akron, unfortunately putting his big comeback season to a sudden pause. Stowell has a right forearm strain (yuk pitching arm) and had racked up 15 strikeouts in just seven innings thus far for the Aeros.

Matt LaPorta blasted a solo shot Tuesday and before that hit a pair on Monday to give him nine on this young minor league season. That seemed to be enough to get the media to ask about MaTola.

And before I even throw the quote out there, thank you Manny Acta.

"It's not about the numbers," Acta said. "It's about the quality of the at-bats and what he's working on. They're encouraged by the fact that he's been using his legs better and laying off some off-speed stuff due to that. That's what we've looked at."

Laying off the off-speed, but is he hitting it or taking it for walks? That's the question. He can hit all the fastballs for home runs he wants, but until he lays off the offspeed stuff he cannot hit and learn to hit the ones he can (not for jaw-dropping home runs), none of this matters. We know LaPorta's problem. I haven't completely given up on the guy yet (maybe as a starter, but his value as a bench player, limited), but he still has a lot to prove and him in Columbus isn't going to prove a whole heck of a lot.

He is leading the affiliates in hits (and RBI and HR), which is never a bad thing. But he's also struck out 20 times and walked 10 times. Eh.

While we're talking about Columbus comebacks though, how about Corey Kluber? The guy has finally seemed to get his stuff together with the Indians after being a strikeout artist with San Diego's organization. Kluber has struck out an Indians-high of 35 hitters in 5 starts and is 3-1 with a 2.67 ERA. If Kluber is getting it, add in McAllister, and Akron's Giovanni Soto (3-0, 3.33 ERA after 7 IP, 1 ER, 9 K, 2 BB last night), pitching depth, good.

[TIGER WATCH]

Mr. MVP, Justin Verlander extraordinaire, can pitch eight innings all he wants but when his team can't score more than two runs? Well, the two he gave up isn't going to be good enough. Verlander gave way to Joaquin Benoit, who let the tie-game go in the ninth, giving the Royals a win and setting up the first place situation between the Sox and Indians. All three teams had a piece of first coming into the day, until that Tiger defeat made it possible for the Indians to take the reigns of the division by beating Chicago.

Fielder and Cabrera, combined 0-7 in the game, with Cabrera getting hit by a pitch. Wah, wah, wahhhhhh.

Morning Rundown: From Ewwwbaldo to U-Bad-O

2012-05-02T07:47:00.003-04:00

And this week, Ewwbaldo put me to sleep. I'm not kidding. I fell asleep watching him pitch. No, no no, really... His pitching bored me to sleep. I was so disinterested, I fell asleep.

May 1st, 2012
Cleveland Indians - 2
Chicago White Sox - 7
W: Chris Sale (3-1) L: Ubaldo Jimenez (2-2)

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

[BOXSCORE]

I'm telling you, I fell asleep. I watched two innings and I fell asleep. The four-run third could have been a nightmare or it could have been the television being on. It was neither because I was out. I woke up just in time to see the score, and made the executive decision that this isn't worth it.

And maybe we've reached that point with U-bad-o Jimenez. I for one am I tired of watching the guy pitch. What makes matters worse is what we were treated to on the second day of the season. What happened to that Jimenez? Why is he so bad? Why does he look the way he does? It's clearly not a matter of talent. I mean, if you look at that game and then remember what he did in 2010, he's perfectly capable of being good.

He's not the same pitcher he was on that Saturday afternoon or in 2010 and I don't really even want 2010 Ubaldo, I just want that Ubaldo from Saturday April 7th, 2012. It's not mechanics, so don't even go there. I think it's motivation and I think it's a lack of desire to pitch. I keep beating this drum every time he starts, but he looks slow, he looks lethargic, he looks like he could care less where the ball is going. He takes his good old time as if he's just out there watering the grass with no care in the world.

Saturday against the Blue Jays on April 7th, 2012? He looked like he had business to take care of and that he had to catch a flight after. He looked like he didn't want to be bothered with that Blue Jays lineup, so he just mowed them down, reared back and gave them his best.

This is going to continue to be a problem though, because Manny Acta was not really in this mood after the game. He was more upset at the defense. And granted, the defense was not good, but someone needs to light a fire under the guy's you-know-what. Jimenez has to come to the realization and the only way that is going to happen is if someone slaps him across the face in some verbal sort of way. Acta seems like he's the one that needs to do it, preferably behind closed doors.

I guess you can't heap the entire amount of blame on Ubaldo on this one, considering it was a poor defensive game, but the way he's pitching is still there. If he's not giving up home runs to A.J. Pierzynski and Gordon Beckham (um, wow), then there is no smoke to cloud the infield.

But let's talk about that smoke shall we? How bush-league is it that the White Sox don't know where to shoot off fireworks? And how many freaking fireworks did they shoot off?

Let me preface this rant by saying that if people can come into Progressive Field and complain about the seagulls and wildlife that the Indians HAVE NO CONTROL over, then I can rip the White Sox for this.

It's incredibly unfair that the game continued under those circumstances. I don't care if you have to delay the game again, Manny Acta should have not let his team play with that smoke everywhere. It's completely unfair for either side to be playing with clouds of firework smoke blinding the hitters, pitchers, and defenders.

The White Sox are incredibly bush. Is that the result every time they shoot off fireworks? I don't know but after the Pierzynski one, I might have opted NOT to do it again after Gordon Beckham hit one to lead off the third inning. Oh no, they did and it created even more smoke while Ubaldo was pitching, just making matters worse as Viciedo sent a harmless pop up to the infield that went for a DOUBLE because no one decided to stop the game.

"It's very unfortunate," Donald said following the Indians' 7-2 loss to the White Sox. "I remember thinking, 'If a ball gets in the air next pitch, nobody is going to have any clue where it is.' That goes for the infield or outfield."

Donald went on to say that after they paused the first time it happened, you'd think they would pause for that one.

Nope instead they continued right on playing. And the first pause wasn't even a long pause, it was not even a minute and the smoke was still there, perhaps the first time being the worst.

And it is very unfortunate. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't the reason the Indians lost the game. It just was not a well-played game overall and after I ripped Ubaldo, I had no visions of him pitching a gem, even if the defense didn't let him down.

"We just didn't play good defense -- period," manager Manny Acta said. "We didn't catch a ball up in the air. We didn't catch a ball on the ground. We didn't cover the bases when we had to. Plain and simple, we can't afford to play that type of defense with the offense that we have."

And you could make an argument that Jimenez gets that pop-out, maybe he cruises through the rest of the inning and it ends 2-1. Who knows, but I do know that this is still a controllable matter and that unless they can control where that smoke ends up, or where they shoot their fireworks off, they better not do it again this series.

Bush...League...

Random Details...

Shelley Duncan proved that he needs to be playing against left-handed pitching, regardless of Johnny Damon's presence, which is exactly what he did on Tuesday with Damon with the club. Acta may have used the reasoning to give Damon time to adjust and settle in, but I think his reasoning was Duncan getting to face a left-hander, especially one with a fastball.

Duncan not only hit a double that led to the game's first run when Kipnis singled him home, he hit a home run off left-hander Will Ohman in the seventh to end that home run drought that's been going on since April 17th. It's nice to get one after 11-games, but really, it's just nice to see Duncan hit one and maybe Damon's arrival has made him relax a bit.

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

Jason Kipnis had a great game as well, 3-4 in his home of Chicago with a RBI-double. But you want to talk about defense? Let's go with the fundamentals that were not executed Acta was talking about. What was he doing in the seventh on that pop up? There's no smoke, so that's not what this is about but Carlos Santana, starting at first base for the first time this year, was ranging over way into second baseman territory on a Alex Rios pop-up. Kipnis should be calling Santana off. Come on rook, that's your area and if it's not the shortstop calling you off, you have authority to make that call.

Maybe it's because he's younger... But then after a strikeout of Viciedo, Lou Marson made a laser throw as only #LouMar can with Rios attempting to steal and Kipnis just... kind of.. mehh. That's the best word I can use to describe his effort on the tag. It was just mehhhh. Just mehh. What is up dude? I know you are still learning second base, but, that doesn't seem to be something you need to learn. Slap the tag on him, the throw beat Rios.

I mean, Marson even mouthed "G...Damnit Man" after and I don't blame him, that goes against him in the stats and he, more than anything, loves throwing runners out and controlling that aspect of the game and the infield botched it.

Brantely, Donald, Cabrera, Santana, Hafner: 0-for-20, no walks.... Was it the lefty?

Bright-side? Nick Hagadone, scoreless frame... Did it in five pitches, all strikes. How efficient is that?

[JOHNNY COME LATELY]

As mentioned, Johnny Damon was not in the lineup, but as expected he was added to the roster before the game and he joined his teammates Monday in Chicago. Damon seems happy to be back in the bigs after his ramp-up process in extended spring.

"In no way was I thinking about retiring," said Damon, wearing his new Indians gear as he sat inside the visiting dugout at U.S. Cellular Field. "I do want to keep on playing. I feel like I have a lot to give, whether it's on the field or my experience. I know I can play and I want to play.I'm glad the process brought me here to be a Cleveland Indian," he said, "and brought me here to the Windy City of Chicago."

Acta said the club felt comfortable moving forward with Damon only having played in extended. If anything, it was probably better than a minor league stint as he was under the watchful eye of the Indians Goodyear personnel and training staff. As for not starting him on Tuesday? It was a matter of getting him settled in, according to Acta at least.

Manny made no-bones about where he'd be hitting Damon though when he did play. Lead-off.

"Other than the .350-plus on-base percentage that he has lifetime?" Acta said. "Other than that? And the close to 3,000 hits he's got? And the fact that over the last three years he's hit lefties even better than righties? What, the beard? The hair? What else do you want me to give you?"

Uh, that beard is filling in and I can see the hair growing out a little bit. We going to get the caveman in Cleveland? One an only hope.

You have to love Damon's mindset. I think it plays up to that free-and-easy attitude he has. He's a guy that's done it all and I don't think it's about a paycheck. He was simply not interested in retiring. He loves to play baseball and if he thinks he can still do it, and last year he did it well enough, then why not?

"I have nothing to go out there and prove," Damon said, "except to help the Indians stay atop of the standings, get to the playoffs and help some young players mature and become professionals. I've been playing this game for a long time and I've loved it. I've been able to play it with passion and play it with a smile."

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

In addition to likely seeing Johnny Damon make his first start on Wednesday, we could see the return of Shin-Soo Choo from a hamstring tweak. He's been out for an entire week-plus and after his workout on Tuesday, Acta said he's anticipating Choo being in the lineup. He went through some running and agility drills and hopefully the weather dictates that it isn't too bad and he can get out there. If it's rainy again I might consider holding him out just because you never know.

But Acta seemed to indicate that he needed one more day and that Choo will be back on Wednesday baring a set-back.

"He needed one more day," Acta said. "If it wasn't for the weather, we probably were going to have him run the bases and do all the normal stuff that you do during batting practice."

Choo and Damon were both available as bench options on Tuesday, but of course, no need for either of their uses.

Completely un-mentioned in the Damon part of this post was how the Indians got Damon on the roster. It was logical really and if you didn't listen to me when I said it would probably be Jose Lopez, you just didn't analyze things properly. Aaron Cunningham is the only other person other than Michael Brantely that can play center field. After Manny Acta said it would "take a bus crash" for him to put Jason Donald in center, it became pretty clear to me that Johnny Damon was not going to be taking the spot of Aaron Cunningham.

Donald is more valuable as an infielder and utility guy. He does a little more, is faster, and quite frankly a much better defender than Jose Lopez. How many games was Lopez hitting? About one a week? Big deal, he's expendable. Sorry Jose. Lopez was designated for assignment, so there's a chance he clears and accepts his demotion to Columbus, but, who knows.

Plus you add in the schedule and how Cunningham will no doubt be needed to either play center or replace Damon and Duncan in left late in games. It only made sense. I think Cunningham is safe for now, but if Trevor Crowe continues to lurk, his time may be coming to an end, especially since Cunningham isn't even that much greater in the field. He's just more serviceable and can actually play center without botching it.

Minor League Awards: Luigi Rodriguez of Lake County was named the minor league player of the week in the Indians organization. He was 10-for-18 with a pair of home runs. Jeremie Tice of the Carolina Mudcats was named Carolina League hitter of the week as he is hitting .328 with four home runs on the season. Against Lynchburg on April 25th he hit a pair of home runs in his second 3-for-4 night in a row. On...Fire...

Make sure you are voting for your April winner of the Golden Fedora of Greatness. You can do it on the blog or on Facebook. You should also like the blog's page on Facebook, because it would be a kind deed.

[TIGER WATCH]

Detroit spanked the Royals... Their Monday game was postponed and on Tuesday, Rick Porcello shucked his way out of the limelight as Luke Hochevar got absolutely drilled for nine runs in just four innings of work. Much of it came off a five run first inning, but Hochevar can pitch, he swears. He did it against Cleveland.

Manny Acta Golden Fedora of Greatness: April 2012

2012-05-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

You may have heard the term "Golden Sombrero" used in baseball talk. It is in reference to a hitter striking out three times in a game. Well on this blog, we have the Golden Fedora, which is far better and more coveted. You also don't suck to get it.

The Manny Acta Golden Fedora of Greatness is handed out every month to the Cleveland Indian who was the team's MVP in that particular month of play. I nominate five players, you vote on them for one week and we name a winner.

At the end of the year, we take all six winners, vote on a Team MVP and then have a party. Last year, Asdrubal Cabrera was nominated five times, won once and then won the overall biggest Fedora. Not that it's bigger in size, it's just... yeah whatever, let's get going here.

April's Nominees

Last year this was fun in April because a lot of people were hitting and pitching and fielding and doing all the stuff needed to do to be successful and win ball games. Sort of the same situation this year. It was tough to pick five.

Travis Hafner

For April .295 AVG, .450 OBP, .909 OPS, 17 R, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 17/9 BB/K, 0/0 SB

2012 Season: .295 AVG, .450 OBP, .909 OPS, 17 R, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 17/9 BB/K, 0/0 SB

Nominations: 1

Up to a point Travis Hafner was getting on base at the flip of a coin. Pronk started hitting last year, but this year, it seems his batting eye has returned and in addition to that, he's taking a lot of what is being given to him in terms of hitting away from the shift. He's not mega run-producing, but he's making the people around him better.

Jack Hannahan

For April .290 AVG, .375 OBP, .778 OPS, 3 R, 1 HR, 14 RBI, 9/14 BB/K, 0/1 SB

2012 Season: .290 AVG, .375 OBP, .778 OPS, 3 R, 1 HR, 14 RBI, 9/14 BB/K, 0/1 SB

Nominations: 1

One of the guys perhaps benefiting from that is Jack Hannahan, who is leading the team in RBI thus far. Super Mannahan has come up with some really clutch hits, making the two-out runner in scoring position his forte thus far.

Carlos Santana

For April: .262 AVG, .417 OBP, .863 OPS, 10 R, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 18/18 BB/K, 0/0 SB

2012 Season: .262 AVG, .417 OBP, .863 OPS, 10 R, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 18/18 BB/K, 0/0 SB

Nominations: 1

Carlos can be productive without having really gotten it going. He did it last year and even though it seemed like he was just there all season, he still produces. He did that in April by walking a bunch and still finding ways to be dangerous.

Derek Lowe

For April: 5 GS, 4-1, 2.27 ERA, 31.2 IP, 10/9 BB/K, 35 H, 1.42 WHIP

2012 Season: 5 GS, 4-1, 2.27 ERA, 31.2 IP, 10/9 BB/K, 35 H, 1.42 WHIP

Nominations: 1

Without Derek Lowe, who knows where the Indians would be with their rotation. Lowe has been the consistent go to guy in the middle of the rotation, picking up four of the Indians 11 wins so far. He only had one bad outing and he's been working deep into games. Lowe has been the Indians best starter so far.

Joe Smith

For April: 9 G, 0-0, 4 HLD, 1.74 ERA, 10.1 IP, 3/9 BB/K, 8 H, 1.06 WHIP

2012 Season: 9 G, 0-0, 4 HLD, 1.74 ERA, 10.1 IP, 3/9 BB/K, 8 H, 1.06 WHIP

Nominations: 1

I'm glad I picked him to have a disappointing year because I'm always wrong about that sort of stuff. Smitty is picking up where he left off in 2011. He's continued to get righties out and has also been called upon to do a little more as well. So far, so Smith.

You can vote for the Manny Acta Golden Fedora for the Month of April over on the side of the site or on Facebook. You have one week to vote and the winner will be announced formally next Wednesday.

Morning Rundown: Winning In a Wahoo Sort of Way

2012-04-30T07:30:00.000-04:00

I'm perfectly okay with a weekend series against the Angels in which the team takes two out of three games. Set aside the fact that they are struggling. It doesn't matter because they are talented and are capable of busting out at any time. Add in the fact, despite the struggles, that two of the starters they put out there were Dan Haren and Jered Weaver? Their offense is struggling, not those two. Those two pitched well enough for the Angels to win both of those games and they won only one.

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

April 29th, 2012
Los Angeles Angels - 0
Cleveland Indians - 4
W: Derek Lowe (4-1) L: Ervin Santana (0-5)

[BOXSCORE]

So if you ask me, I'll take a loss to Dan Haren, who looked untouchable on Saturday, a win in the game Weaver pitched and rubber match on Sunday with Derek Lowe going for the Indians.

Because boyyyy was Derek Lowe some kind of good on Sunday afternoon. It seems like the weather perked up right at the best time for Lowe to go out there and pitch one that matched the weather. His sinker was sinking, his slider was looking good and the Angels hitters, struggling or not, were just beating the ball into the dirt and the defense was making plays.

That's my favorite type of pitching to watch. Someone who knows what they are doing and shuts down a lineup in that fashion. Nothing special, just having his best pitch going and getting players to beat it down into the dirt because that's what you do with that pitch. The Angels could be red hot and they were not touching Lowe on this day.

"Lowe was outstanding," Acta said. "They couldn't do anything but beat the ball in the ground and that's a good-hitting ballclub. That's what he does. He was cruising. His pitch count was terrific after the sixth inning. He just continued to make pitches the whole day. It was just a very good pitching performance."

He was efficient early, which enabled him to work deep into the game. Hitters did not go deep into the count against him and he only walked Macier Izturis twice. No Angels hitter saw more than 15 pitches in three at-bats against Lowe. He faced just three hitters over the minimum and had a 14-7 ground-out to fly-out ratio.

He won't pitch a better game all year in all likelihood, but that isn't to say he won't pitch like that again. That's simply Lowe at his best doing what the Indians brought him in to do. Using his infield defense to get most of his outs and frustrating the hitters by giving them something they can only roll over on. They hit a few hard but they were right at defenders.

With Ubaldo Jimenez slated to start coming here, I hope he took note. Heck, Masterson to. Lowe's aggressive pace should be mimicked. Get the ball, get the sign, go. Lowe was quick, worked fast and his defense rewarded him by being ready. That's how a pitcher should work in my mind and when we saw Ubaldo has his biggest success this season, that's how he operated, much like how Lowe was on Sunday afternoon.

"This guy is hopping around every day full of energy," Acta said, "like he's a 23-year-old who just got called up. It's great, because he rubs off on the other guys. He's always upbeat and never has that attitude that he's been up here for 16 years -- been here, done that."

Now in order to get Lowe that win, the Indians needed to score some runs, something they didn't look like they were going to do against Ervin Santana for awhile. Then the fifth hit and thank you mistake.

Santana wasn't overly dominant or anything. Heck, the first two hitters of the game reached only for him to get out of that jam with a double play and a fly out. But it seemed as if the Indians were going to need a lucky break and it didn't appear they were going to get it after Asdrubal Cabrera sent a high pop to right field with two outs.

Photo - AP via Yahoo! Sports

That was until, as Manny Acta called it, the mighty sun got in the way and caused Torii Hunter to not really see where the ball was landing. The ball hits the turf and the Indians were given two runs that I'm sure they'll gladly take given their offensive struggles.

"You can't beat the sun," Hunter said. "I've been playing this game for a long time. It seems like the sun wins. Whenever you lose the ball in the sun, you can't defeat God's light."

And on this day, with Lowe pitching the way he was, that's all this team would need.

After Santana exited with seven innings, Kevin Jepsen was jumped. Hafner beat the shift and Santana clanked his third hit of the day into left off a broken back single. In this situation, with one more inning left, you play for a run to get some insurance, especially since your big-boppers just were at bat and Hannahan and Duncan are the ones you need to count on.

Great strategy overall by Acta to do such as he was rewarded with two runs as Jepsen threw the ball away on Hannahan's bunt. The fact that it hit the plate and bounced high up into the air meant it would be nearly impossible for him to get Donald at third, but he still gave it a look, which caused him to rush the throw and while it was in the area and Izturis caught it, his arm was looking like it was going to get bent the wrong way with Hannahan bearing down.

So the Indians pretty much were given their four runs, but when you aren't manufacturing them yourself, take what you get, just take what you get and the Indians got enough. Duncan flied out to center, which was more than good enough to get a fourth run in.

You take it. It isn't like the Indians didn't deserve to win this game. They got out nine hits, their pitcher was dominant. If not for Kendrys Morales he would have had a no-hitter going through the entire game. If not for Morales and Izturis, he'd been tossing a perfect game as those were the only two hitters giving him any sort of issue.

The Angels didn't get a whole lot of run production for Dan Haren, their offense really wasn't good enough to get that win, but Haren was on Saturday. So a few runs, an excellent Dan Haren and that is a win.

Same formula for the Indians on Sunday. And despite me laughing at Eric Karros mistakenly calling Derek Lowe the Indians number one starter during the FOX broadcast, he may have inadvertently been correct as Lowe has been stellar thus far.

Random Details...

Not one inning after Hunter's adventure in right, did Aaron Cunningham have one of his own. A fly ball sent him forward, or not as he slipped. Luckily the ball wasn't going too much further than where he already was and Cunningham was able to get up quickly and travel back enough to make a great catch on what could have been a horrible mistake.

Speaking of sir Cunningham, in his mini-starting gig with Choo out since last Sunday against Oakland, he's had a hit in all but one game. Overall he went 7-for-20 with a few RBI in the six games against Kansas City and Los Angeles. Not bad for a fourth outfielder. Some of his at-bats have been frustratingly short though.

Michael Brantley ended any sort of no-hit business for Santana with the leadoff hit. It was the first time since his no-hitter last year that Santana returned to Progressive Field.

Big spot for Vinnie Pestano to come in on the eighth. Lowe had run out of gas by the time Ianetta had clubbed one to right to set up a two-out and two on situation for the top of the order. It was clear Acta needed to get Pestano and he did just that. With a little room to work he walked Trout and then got Kendrick to strikeout. Big... Strikeout...

Of course Perez got a few strikeouts himself but was taken out of a save opportunity by the two runs in the eighth inning. I'll take the insurance over a save opportunity though.

Perez's clean ninth led to the first shutout of the season for the Indians pitching staff. About time, ya?

Should be noted in addition to getting the bunt down with runners on in the eighth, Hannahan walked in the fourth inning with Santana on second and two outs. The opportunity was there for Hannahan to do his two-out-runner in scoring position routine, but Santana was clearly just scared.

It's worth noting that Lowe has over 1/3rd of the Indians wins thus far.

From the previous two games...

Saturday's start was delayed by rain, but the two teams did get their chance to play. We already talked about Haren and he was good. Eight solid innings and he finally got his first win of the season. But Gomez... Gomez was just as good.

Jeanmar Gomez only went six, but he gave up two runs off five hits and two walks. He struck out a career high seven and his slider looked to be really developed and really good. The Indians have themselves quite the fifth starter on their hands. When he's actually 'started' he's done nothing but go out and give the Indians a qualify start. You won't argue with the effort from Gomez even though he had to take the loss.

It's a shame the Indians had to lose that game 2-1 because Joe Smith and Nick Hagadone were also excellent coming out of the bullpen. Smith even went two innings, didn't allow a baserunner at all and got a pair of strikeouts.

It struck me to check out some numbers and this is what I've found.

This year the Indians bullpen's numbers look as such after the first month of play.

ERA: 4.35, 7 HR, 26 BB, 61 K

You take those first five games at home out when the Indians pen was rocked by the Jays and White Sox?

Their ERA is 2.01 since they hit the road for Kansas City. Much much better.

On Friday it was the first walk off win of the season. The Indians didn't do much winning their first home stand and this current one was looking gloomy after the two games against the Royals, but that walk-off was much needed. Of course it was Asdrubal Cabrera who came up with the big hit, who else?

But of all the one run games the team was playing (and until the game against Haren, they were 6-0 in those games), they had not yet walked-off until Friday.

They didn't touch Weaver for runs, but making him walk four hitters, cranking out seven hits and even striking out eight times got them to that maligned Angels bullpen and the Tribe did all their damage in the seventh inning on. It's not how you start, but how you finish as Masterson shut the Angels down after some early trouble. To go into the ninth giving up four hits says something. He did walk five and that is troubling, but he got the job done and went deep into the game.

He spread the walks out, so he didn't get himself into many jams and tough situations. Take in mind in what we we've been discussing with Masterson though in the battle against righties and lefties. There wasn't a true left-handed hitter in the Angels lineup Friday. There were many switch-hitters hitting left-handed, and he actually walked them three times.

Michael Brantely over the past few weeks since the road trip in Kansas City, after Opening Weekend when I tore him up: 18-for-59, 5 RBI, 11 R, 4 BB, 6 K. That's a .300 hitter kids... That's what we need from the Tribe's leadoff hitter.

[HERE COMES DAMON]

Well, so much for minor leagues right? All Johnny Damon needed was a few weeks in extended spring and he appears to be ready. Early May? How about the earliest in May possible. It's Paul Hoynes who is indicating that the Indians are going to be purchasing the contract of Johnny Damon and he will join the team for their series in Chicago starting Tuesday.

I guess it's time. Damon has been playing in extended, hitting well and has had plenty of time to test himself in the field. Really when you think about it, if he's playing and in game shape, what is the point of even sending him to any of the affiliates? It's not like he's rehabbing, it's not like he can get used to major league pitching in Columbus any better than he can in extended. He's played so many years that the only thing that will get him ready for the majors is the majors. If he's in game-shape, he should be on the major league roster.

So, we'll see Damon Tuesday and I have to imagine he'll be in the lineup, whether Choo is ready to go or not. Duncan could use the mental break even with two of the three pitchers the White Sox are sending out this week are left-handers. It may not be the greatest timing matchup-wise, but I'm not sure it matters, let's just get him up and in the lineup.

Many would believe that this is Aaron Cunningham's end, but this could actually mean the end of Jose Lopez if you ask me. The Indians need someone to play center field and with Choo's injury, the extra outfielder is also probably necessary. Lopez is expendable because Donald is the main backup infielder and if the Indians need someone to play third base, they can always have Donald there, and still have Hannahan among others able to back up at first.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

Asdrubal Cabrera was awarded with his 2011 Silver Slugger award prior to the game on Saturday. Congrats Asdrubal!

Acta was non-committal about keeping Jason Kipnis in the second spot in the order. Right now, the only reason he is there is because Choo is out and the lineup needs shuffled a bit. He says he likes him everywhere, not just in the two hole.

"He's got pretty good power for a second baseman and a guy his size," Acta said. "He can run. He can bunt. So I think he's going to be a very good player. It's just that there's a process with these guys. You don't want to put too much pressure on them right away. Hitting second, he fits good there because he's got some juice.

Shelley Duncan's struggles are puzzling. He seems to grow in frustration and it's building. Acta says he's overly aggressive and not laying off pitches he was just a week ago. He got a big RBI with the sac-fly on Sunday, so hopefully he can settle down.

"Hey, if they don't pitch to you, just walk," Acta said. "That's what he was doing good earlier."

He is not doing that though. He was walking and now he's not. It's a little odd that he's gone away quickly from what he was doing, but maybe it speaks to how he is as a regular starter.

Part of the reason Duncan can't get a mental break by sitting is the fact that Choo is still out. However we could expect to see Shin-Soo Choo back in right field on Tuesday. He continues to get better, jogging on Sunday and I think with that weather warming up, he'll probably feel a lot looser.

"I think so, but who knows?" said Choo, standing at his locker in the clubhouse. "I don't like to stay in here and not play."

Another off day on Monday should do the trick, but we can never know until Tuesday when he wakes up, goes to the park and tests it out.

Grady Sizemore was swinging a bat on Saturday but has not started running the bases.

And to continue our run of outfielder injury updates, it won't be WASH Time for a few months as LeVon Washington is expected to undergo hip surgery today. He'll miss two to four months, likely taking him out a good portion of this season. He got off to a really hot start, getting 11 hits in 25 at-bats for the Captains this season, but it looks to be another lost season for the former second and first round pick.

More injury news from a few days ago, Rafael Perez was placed on the disabled list Friday. It only furthers the speculation some of us had a few days ago after he looked to have a major dip in velocity and a concerning battle with his command. The surprise to this move though was why the Indians put him on the DL and it had nothing to do with the shoulder that caused him to miss some spring.

"It's a different spot [than the shoulder soreness]," said Indians manager Manny Acta, referring to the source of the injury. "We were concerned because we saw his lack of velocity, but we kept coming to him and asking him about how he felt and he said he was fine. He felt that it was probably just a lack of Spring Training."

It is telling though that the Indians think it was due to a lack of spring training that Perez is hurt. We've seen this happen before, especially to Joe Smith, so it isn't surprising. And Perez's actual arm is so durable, it seemed unlikely that was what was hurt.

And because Perez is out, Nick Hagadone is back. And now that he's back, Acta thinks he's here to stay for a little longer and he will be called upon in crucial situations because he's essentially being thrust into Rafael Perez's role.

"He's the second lefty out of the 'pen," manager Manny Acta said. "I trust him now to come out and do those type of things [that Perez did]. Plus, it looks like he's going to be here for a while with Raffy out. So we might as well test him out."

Hagadone was not gone long. In fact because the Indians placed Perez on the disabled list, that gave the Indians the ability to recall him before the 10 mandatory days passed for Hagadone to be recalled.

And as we've seen this weekend, Hagadone has already been called upon in close situations, so they're definitely going to be testing Hags as time goes on here.

I questioned aloud on Twitter as to what the hell it was that Aaron Cunningham was coming up to bat to. It sounded some sort of weird trumpet-like polka music, but not quite. Of course even though I had already read the annual CastroTurf event of all the Indians batting music, I had skipped over Cunningham's music.

But uh, it's this thing.. At least the part from seconds 0:24 to 0:34... That little bit sounds weird. And if you listen to the rest of the song, it sounds like some straight up Jamaican type music. So that's our fourth outfielder.

On that note, Travis Hafner really turned up the WWE-fan boy this year with his music, using three wrestling themes... So there's that too.

Kind of on the topic of themes... I guess you can use that as a segue? Yeah I can. I think everyone pretty much uses Chrome. Or even FireFox. Heck, even if you don't, and use silly IE Explorer, you can download this free Cleveland Indians Browser theme. I'm using it now and it's pretty cool. Thanks to Brand Thunder sending the link my way, they did a nice job with it.

[TIGER WATCH]

The reason the Indians sit atop first place after this past weekend? The Yankeeees Win, Theeeeeee Yankeeees Win!

Yuk, but in this instance, I'll take it. The Tigers and White Sox are now both 11-11, .500 teams with the Indians sitting at 11-9.

The Yankees won a pair from the Tigers with Max Scherzer struggling again on Sunday and a walk-off passed ball on Friday. Justin Verlander was semi-human, giving up some runs and although it seems Prince Fielder is heating up, the Tigers could not outscore the Yankees enough this past weekend.

Tribe Daily Inivtational: April 2012 Update

2012-04-29T12:05:00.003-04:00

A few months ago, I had an idea. An idea that would unite a brand of misfits in one common goal. To help me satisfy the need of being in a normal fantasy baseball league and establishing my dominance. That idea has gone totally wrong.

After one month of play in The First Annual Tribe Daily Fantasy Baseball Invitational, I've submitted to the realization I had during the draft.

I let too many people who know their stuff in on this league. But I guess I shouldn't have expected any less because they are all followers of this blog or my Twitter account and they are all intelligent Indians fans.

And this is still a league for anyone's taking after one month in as many teams have been up and down. It could be the early season fluctuation, but not one team looks to be really bad. All the teams have players and all the teams have managers that know what they are doing.

For instance, Grady's Back, operated by Cleveland.com's Glenn Moore missed the draft, but as of the final days of April tick away, he's posted on top of the league standings.

What do you mean he still has Doug Fister starting and Josh Willingham's hot start was wasted on the bench since he has never set his lineup?

I'm trying to prove a point here... Let's just, continue.

I'm going to provide a monthly recap of this league, because I'm sure it will break up the routine of you reading morning rundown every once and awhile. And because there has been minimal trash and well, YOU ALL SUCK!

Not really, but in the spirit of no trash talk happening, you do!

- As of April 29th -

1st Place: Grady's Back (OUCH) - 76 Points
Owner: @GlennMooreCLE

Best Player: Paul Konerko (5 HR, 15 RBI, 13 R)
Best Pitcher: Roy Halladay (3 W, 1.95 ERA, 24 K)

What's going good: The crusher's alley of Braun, Holliday, Knerko, Wright and Ortiz has given Grady's Back the backing offensively. The team leads the league in both average and OBP. They are also second in both ERA and WHIP leading one to believe that this team is going to be one based off fundamentals and pure consistency, which is easily a formula for success.

What's not going good: There doesn't seem to be a real weak link other than Doug Fister, starting despite injured thanks to Glenn's inactivity. A few injuries to his starters mixed in with that could lead to a quick downfall of this first month's leader in the clubhouse. Swisher and Willingham are wasting away on the bench.

2nd Place: Hawk Blood (DUNC) - 75.5 Points
Owner: @nextyearinCLE

Best Player: David Freese (5 HR, 20 RBI, 10 R)
Best Pitcher: Brandon Beachy (2 W, 1.05 ERA, 20 K)

What's going good: An outfield comprised of versatile stat guys like Corey Hart and Adam Jones is powering this team along with a surging Mike Napoli and early season stud David Freese. Not to mention some worthwhile production from Edwin Encarnacion, Hawk Blood is loaded with capable producers from the the corners and it helps fuel the leader in home runs and second placer in RBI. Pitching is also consistent with a quiet trio of Beachy, Wandy Rodriguez, and Tommy Hanson supporting stud Clayton Kershaw.

What's not going good: Uh, Albert Pujols isn't hitting yet. And if that's your only bad thing right now, the rest of this league is in serious trouble.

3rd Place: Ogea Can You See? (OCYS) - 72 Points
Owner: @SamAmeen

Best Player: Matt Kemp (11 HR, 24 RBI, 22 R)
Best Pitcher: Justin Verlander (2 W, 2.41 ERA, 35 K)

What's going good: What isn't going good? The league's second best name (Crusty is still king) has the most well-rounded team. There is no dominating in one specific category but he is at least above average in almost every stat column. The team though is built on speed as the they lead the league in stolen bases behind Dee Gordon and a few other decent base stealers. Crafty pick up of Austin Jackason has also helped and the pitching. Oh the pitching is good with two saves monsters in Chris Perez and Brandon League, and stud starters Verlander, Hamels, and Shields.

What's not going good: Daniel Hudson wasn't very productive and then hit the disabled list, but Bartolo Colon's surprise has more than made up for it. Nelson Cruz and Hunter Pence have yet to really break out and there seems to be a minor weakness at second base. One wonders if Ogea can see his depth at third/first thanks to having a trio of Cuddyer, Young, Ramirez, and Gordon and if they can capitalize on the roster positioning.

4th Place: Florida Feather heads (FLAF) - 71 Points
Owner: @petermatulis

Best Player: Andre Ethier (5 HR, 24 RBI, 10 R)
Best Pitcher: Colby Lewis (3 W, 1.93 ERA, 29 K)

What's going good: Ace like stats of Colby Lewis is adding in nicely to a pitching staff that has Felix Hernandez and Dan Haren. Crafty pitching strategy of having two hold monsters in Joe Smith (who also gives a good ERA and WHIP) and Tyler Clippard has the team in need for some more wins and strikeouts, but high in saves, holds, ERA and WHIP. The same strategy is taken offensively as the team gets its offensive points for on base percentage and average led by Longoria, Posey, Trumbo, Werth, and surprising Adam LaRoche.

What's not going good: Promising Lorenzo Cain played in just a few games before hitting the DL and so far, Jose Reyes and Shin-Soo Choo could stand to provide a little more bang for the buck. With neither Neil Walker or Dustin Ackley really taking off, Florida Feather heads doesn't have much production from their middle infielders.

5th Place: Gatsby Green (GG) - 66.5 Points
Owner: @wfkroll

Best Player: Chase Headley (4 HR, 14 RBI, 19 BB)
Best Pitcher: Stephen Strasburg (2 W, 1.13 ERA, 34 K)

What's going good: Pitching, pitching and more pitching. The best pitching staff in the league by far as Gatsby Green has a little bit of everything. From saves (Papelbon, Betancourt, Putz, and Rodney) to strikeouts (Peavy, Strasburg, Sabathia, Chapman). The scary part in addition to leading in saves and strikeouts is the lead in ERA and WHIP. The team that was cursed at the most for taking Crusty's picks is not surprisingly ahead of the Rusty One.

What's not going good: There is an offensive need in multiple areas as Gatsby is last in runs and RBI and tied or last in home runs. It hasn't helped that both Lance Berkman and Jacoby Ellsbury have missed a lot of time and Adrian Gonzalez and Carlos Santana, while serviceable, have not busted out completely. Luke Scott leading the team in RBI and HR is never a good thing.

6th Place: Crusty Rusty (RUST) - 65.5 Points
Owner: @TheTribeDaily

Best Player: Ian Kinsler (5 HR, 12 RBI, 23 R)
Best Pitcher: Jered Weaver (3 W, 2.02 ERA, 36 K)

What's going good: The name of the game is scoring runs and winning games and I'm getting it done with Crusty Rusty leading the lead in runs and second in wins. With no one dominant player, I've managed to get the best out of a stud like Ian Kinsler and pieces like Billy Butler, Mike Aviles, and Matt Joyce. You know what you get from Madison Bumgarner, Weaver, and CJ Wilson. A lot to like.

What's not going good: But there is a serious lack of production from two key pieces on the offensive side of the ball. First and third round picks Jose Bautista and Giancarlo Stanton have three total home runs, I expected at least 15 combined. Ian Desmond isn't filling the SS hole, which would be better if Aviles was there and production was coming from Cameron Maybin so Youkilis could be the IF and Bautista could be the third baseman regularly. Average and OBP are hurting.

7th Place: Clubhouse GM (CLUB) - 62 Points
Owner: @ClubhouseGM

Best Player: Miguel Cabrera (7 HR, 19 RBI, 15 R)
Best Pitcher: Gio Gonzalez (2 W, 1.52 ERA, 27 K)

What's going good: Can you feel the power? A HR and RBI monster in the early going, Clubhouse GM's factory is producing thanks to Miguel Cabrera, Cursti Granderson, Jay Bruce, Yoenis Cyborges (TM), and Matt Wieters. This offense lacks consistency in the average and on-base numbers, but mashes like no other.

What's not going good: Pitching has been rough as the team is low in the ERA and WHIP categories. Although taking in the second most wins, the lack of other areas is hurting. Zack Greinke is the team's ace, but not quite there yet and other parts like Max Scherzer and Frank Francisco are not helping the numbers.

8th Place: Roger Dorn (RD3B) - 60.5 Points
Owner: @IGetRealLow

Best Player: Josh Hamilton (9 HR, 24 RBI, 20 R)
Best Pitcher: Anibal Sanchez (1 W, 2.73 ERA, 33 K)

What's going good: Getting on base and staying there. The team gets on base and then steals some more to be one of the best in all three categories offensively. Andew McCutchen hasn't hit a home run, but he, Hamilton, Heyward, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Joe Mauer provide to the consistency aspect of this team's success.

What's not going good: They don't have much scoring power though and their pitching, phew the pitching is bad. Maybe Roger Dorn is also playing third? Oh he is. Mark Reynolds is the regular third baseman and dictating to the lack of power numbers are Reynold's 0 home runs and three RBI. Dorn has also gotten a lack of production from stud Joey Votto. Aside from Anibal Sanchez, there is not a lot on this pitching staff thus far. Luckily out of Gallardo, Johnson, Holland, Danks and Moore, someone is likely to turn it around.

9th Place: Thome Don't Play That (WIN) - 56 Points
Owner: @DillsbigPickles

Best Player: Adrian Beltre (4 HR, 13 RBI, 12 R)
Best Pitcher: Kyle Lohse (4 W, 1.62 ERA, 21 K)

What's going good: Carlos Pena and Adrian Beltre are a deadly combo on the corners, but this team is getting it done with it's pitching staff. Jordan Zimmernan, Lohse, Lilly, Bard, Cain, Hellickson, and Luebke... This team is stacked and there is no surprise after going down that list that they lead the league in wins. Add in a productive Ian Kennedy and a healthy Cliff Lee will only make it more dangerous.

What's not going good: Carl Crawford started the year on the DL, Cliff Lee would join, and now Ryan Zimmerman gives Thome the best DL-team. That won't help. There's some good pieces in place though, with productive players. It's hard to figure out why this team is close to last in so many categories as they have productive pieces, but the lack of production is probably key. First round pick Robinson Cano has three RBI, and other players like Lind, Upton, Rios, and Ramirez have not hit double digits in the RBI category.

10th Place: Inglewood Corndogs (WIN) - 55 Points
Owner: @IgorRamone

Best Player: Pablo Sandoval (3 HR, 13 RBI, 14 R)
Best Pitcher: David Robertson (3 HLD, 0.00 ERA, 13 K)

What's going good: Despite being last, the Corndogs are third in runs and OBP and fifth in average. Why are they last? They are barely in last place and as dangerous as any other team in the league. There's a lot of talent that has yet to produce, armed with Fielder, Sandoval, Tulowitzki, McCann and Ichiro, they're bound to get out of the basement and make a run in more offensive categories.

What's not going good: Their pitching has had a hit with no Tim Hudson, Chris Carpenter, and Kyle Farnsworth up to this point. But there is a lot of solid pieces to replace them. Consistent in many categories, good in just a few, and bad in a few more has this team at the bottom, but they'll break out soon. Cody Ross, Daniel Murphy, and Martin Prado are decent pieces, but with others not producing, they've been the best for this particular team.

-

It's a long season... And we're not even a full month into things. Standings and points change on a daily basis so far in this league and it's sure to be a wild ride. Every team is competitive and has a chance with some more maneuvering and a change of luck. Another update towards the end of May.

Morning Rundown: Tribe Drop Series to Royals, Offense Struggling

2012-04-27T07:42:00.001-04:00

Golden opportunities are golden for a reason. Let's just hope that this is... like a sliver opportunity and that the best is yet to come. Right? Right...

April 26th, 2012
Kansas City Royals - 4
Cleveland Indians - 2
W: Luis Mendoza (1-2) L: Josh Tomlin (1-2) S: Jonathan Broxton (2)

[BOXSCORE]

It was said that yesterday, the Indians needed to really win this series. After sweeping them last time out, going on the road, doing well, and now coming back home and seeing the Tigers lose two, and now what turns out to be three games to them, they needed to win this series.

It's not the end of the world. Far from it. But it hurts to see the opportunity like this one go away, especially when you are playing a team you need to win series from.

We've reached a point, although still very early, where you need to be doing the calculations in your head. You need to win a series like this one against a team that isn't playing good ball. Sure, the Indians don't seem to be playing their best right now, offensively especially, and maybe Kansas City is starting to bust out of this funk.

But the see-saw of winning and losing, this is the saw part. Or is that the see? Whatever the part that goes up.

A day game = no viewing pleasure, but with the advance of modern technology and access to MLB AtBat 12, the soothing sounds of Tom Hamilton helped me out on this one.

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

What I can say from afar and now looking at the box score is that my thoughts on Johnny Damon/Shelley Duncan from Wednesday's post are starting to echo in my brain. As I scan the box score, There's three more at-bats and three more strikeouts. He does have a walk, but the game on Thursday put his series line looking like this. Careful when you look, it may hurt your eyes.

3 Games, 10 AB, 1 H, 1 RBI, 8 K, 1 BB

10 at bats, eight of them strikeouts. Um, ouch.

Now strikeouts have been proven to not be the hugest of deals. If you come up with no one on and two out and you strike out, it's not as big of a deal. Sure it counts the same as if you were to come up with the bases loaded and nobody out, but the meaning is incredibly different.

But Duncan just looks a little frustrated as mentioned yesterday.

I'll be the first to admit that when Damon was signed, I pouted a bit for Duncan, going as far as suggesting that not only was Shelley Duncan better at this stage defensively (how about those two catches?) but offensively as well.

Maybe I got a little over-zealous. Maybe I should have remembered that I used to say Shelley Duncan was made to be a bench player, coming on in a pinch and doing his work. Playing sparingly, not often, and being used as a guy to matchup against certain pitchers.

I think he's grown, having become more of a regular player than a bench player over the past few months of him playing.

But perhaps he shouldn't be starting every single day, especially against the tough-right handed hitter.

We went over those left/right splits and it's proven he needs to play against the left-handers, (which works good with Damon), but against most right-handers, it's best if he sits. Of course don't sit him completely against the righties. Find him ways to get him in there either at first or playing Damon as the DH (when you give Hafner days off, who needs more by the way, as Paul Cousineau astutely points out).

Right now, he's gotta take his lumps. He was in there and was hot to start the year, walking a lot more than we expected a guy like him to, but now he's a little frustrated, a little overwhelmed, and in need of a little mental reset.

Seems like the entire team needs it after these two games. It's two games, but it hurts because the team was playing so well on the road, they now come home with the pressure off, and they were facing the Royals.

"It's coincidence," manager Manny Acta said. "We love playing here. We scored enough runs last year here. We played well last year here. It's four bases and a mound wherever you go. No one is going to bring up the lake, the weather or anything like that. We just haven't been able to swing the bat well."

Acta said that the offense has definitely struggled the last four games. It's like a weird stretch of, they don't have it, now they do, now they don't. It just happened that it's revolved around a home-stand a road trip and another home-stand.

But the players, including Josh Tomlin, believe it's just a bit of a fluke that they can't get it done at their own home turf.

Tomlin wasn't sharp, especially not after his great performance against Seattle last week. Was it perhaps the extra time off? He got an entire week off between starts, so that's pretty unusual and it could lead to not being so sharp. Sometimes rest is good, but too much can make you loose a little bit of momentum. Perhaps that is what he's talking about in consistency.

"The consistency is not there, for sure, this year," Tomlin said. "You can't go out there and go eight innings and then go four innings or vice versa. You want to stay as consistent as you can for as long as you can. Unfortunately, that didn't happen today."

Yeah it didn't happen and it resulted in a real short outing and another early entrance for the bullpen. But in this one, that wasn't the issue, but rather that offense we've been complaining about.

"The last four games, we have struggled to score some runs," Acta said. "Today we continued to scuffle at the plate a little bit. We hit some balls hard, but they played some good defense."

It still did not equate to much, and it is a little frustrating against a bad pitching team like the Royals to only score eight runs in the entire series after you had scored eight runs in one game against them not only a few days ago.

But that's baseball I guess. Seattle was looking pretty bad, getting beat by the Indians the ways they did, getting a perfect game tossed against them by Phil Humber of all people. But now look, swept the Tigers a few days later. Phil Humber gets beat up, and the Indians can't score runs against a team that just lost 12-straight games.

Things can change in an instant in baseball, so let's hope the Indians change it right back with the Angels and their bad luck coming to town.

Random Details...

This team has not hit a home run since they broke their streak of not going a game without hitting a home run. That's kind of... weird? These three games at home though, don't look to be home run hitting conditions and they did just play in Oakland, so, understandable.

Dan Wheeler has tossed 4+ innings of shutout ball since he gave up three runs to the White Sox on April 11th. A little more repetition and consistency for him should be a good thing. Reasons I'd rather keep him over Asencio right now.

And Tony Sipp continues to settle in himself, which as we've talked about this week, is more important for the health of this bullpen.

Jason Kipnis stole his fourth base of the year. You don't think of him as much of a base stealer, but he could steathly lead this team if he's given the right opportunities and steals at the right spots, because there isn't one dominant base stealer on this team.... Hmm, wonder why.

Speaking of Kipnis, since he went 4-5 against Oakland in that 5-1 win on Saturday, he's hitting .429 with three walks and three RBI. Settling to see your young second baseman settle in after a rough start.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

We may want him in the lineup now, especially with the adventures of Aaron Cunningham in right field and Shelley Duncan struggling at the plate, but Shin-Soo Choo, as I'm sure he wants to get in too, keeps perspective on this issue he's dealing with in his hamstring.

"It's still early in the season," Choo said on Thursday morning, "so I didn't want to make it worse."

There still seems to be a day-to-day timetable on Choo and it seems like it will be up to how he's feeling before he gets back in there. Choo has learned from that oblique injury last year not to rush, and with a hamstring especially, you don't want to get back into the game before it's completely right or it could lead to further damage.

And Choo says he felt a little soreness prior to the game, but it wasn't till the sixth when it was one of the worst hamstring pains of his career.

"I've never had my hamstring hurt that much in my baseball career," he said. "It's tightness, so maybe it's OK. I've had tightness many times before during the season, but not that sore. It was the first time I felt like that with my hamstring, so I shut it down."

Choo will be back, if anything by next week. It's only a few games. The Indians survived with Cabrera out for a few games and they'll survive with Choo out for a few games. They won't survive if he's missing a month or more, so patience.

Okay so I guess no one is listening to me. After I told everyone in the media to leave Casey Kotchman alone, they go ahead and bother him even MORE!

"You can't really control results," Kotchman said. "You control the effort you're putting in with your preparation, and you accept the stuff that comes from it. Stuff will turn around over 162 games."

And Manny Acta went on to say that it's only been a few weeks. So just as we shouldn't get too low on the people struggling, don't get too high on the people playing above their ceiling.

"It's only been a few weeks," manager Manny Acta said. "We have a lot of guys in the lineup that we know [are] better than [how they're hitting]. And there are some guys in the lineup that we know, at the end of the day, they're not going to be hitting .350, either."

This is probably a good time for me to bring up the Matt LaPorta whispering. Stop it. More than anything, stop it. I know I was tooting a Trevor Crowe horn early on. Prematurely? Yes, but I wasn't saying that the Indians needed to replace anyone with Crowe, merely that he's establishing himself as an option and at this point, I think I'd rather see Trevor Crowe than Aaron Cunningham.

This team cannot replace Casey Kotchman with Matt LaPorta. Matt LaPorta is doing what he always does in Triple-A and the minor leagues. He's mashing hitting that he is SUPPOSED to be mashing. He's a serviceable bat in the major leagues. Great, he's supposed to be a masher, which is why most of us have some angst towards him. I would have no problem starting Matt LaPorta in like, left field, if options were scarce.

But right now, Casey Kotchman is the best fit for this team because he brings something that doesn't go into slumps. He brings more than a solid glove, especially anything LaPorta does. He'll turn it around offensively, even if it isn't anything special, he'll be a serviceable bat.

Manny Acta said that Rafael Perez's stuff is simply down a bit because of his missing of spring training. He said on Wednesday, he was "off". Well look, when we're talking about velocity early in the season, I kind of, don't talk about it. In fact I think this is the first time I'm really acknowledging head on the loss of velocity with a pitcher other than Ubaldo. Look, early in the year it's a little more cold, with players like Chris Perez and Rafael Perez, some pitchers might not be all the way there. That's why I wait a month or so before I start worrying.

However I will worry a little bit about Rafael Perez because it goes beyond velocity.

We don't even really know the full extent about Perez's injuries this spring. He seemed to quietly get shutdown and built up to game-shape. In addition to that, he also seemed to have a slower recovery than it was being reported. There may be something a little more there because he doesn't look right, or at least he didn't on Wednesday. We'll see with his next outing, but I would be a little worried about him not being totally 100 percent.

Harold Guerrero was suspended 50-games by baseball for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. He pitched last year for Mahoning Valley and a little for Lake County, going 2-4 with a 5.74 ERA. He made seven starts for the Scrappers and also came out of the bullpen for a majority of his season.

[TIGER WATCH]

As hinted at, the Detroit Tigers dropped their third game to the Mariners, getting swept and with the White Sox idle, falling with the Indians out of first place into second. Rick Porcello followed up his shellacking of last week by giving up a three run homer in the first and a solo shot to Miguel Olivo in the fourth. The Tigers would battle back on the scoreboard and tie it up, giving Porcello an opportunity to not only not lose, but perhaps win if he could get through the seventh and the Tigers could score.

Not the case as he'd give up another run and not finish the inning. The Mariners bullpen shut things down from there, and they would nail down a sweep of the Tigs. You wanna start talking about their pitching yet?

Morning Rundown: The Big Ewww Helps Snap Royals Streak

2012-04-26T08:12:00.002-04:00

The mood was trending towards being one of those days and I should have known after Butler's home run that there would be doom on this day... I should have realized this early and not gotten my hopes up that our Tribe would be able to dismay the Royals once again.

April 25th, 2012
Kansas City Royals - 8
Cleveland Indians - 2
W: Luke Hochevar (2-1) L: Ubaldo Jimenez (2-1)

[BOXSCORE]

I like a good nickname. And if you are good, I'll use that nickname more than your real name. I also like a good nickname that can be used if someone sucks and you don't want that. Not that as a player you care with this random guy in Akron, Ohio with 1,000 Twitter followers thinks.

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

But you should, because I did create Bullpen Mafia, yes?

Yes.

Let's put it this way. I don't want to be using The Big Eww and Ewwbaldo, but, I'm going to start.

Ewwbaldo reared his ugly head once again against the Royals and it helped them snap their hilarious 12-game losing streak. Luke Hochevar aside, Ubaldo sucked.

Manny Acta can say he battled all he wants. He sucked. He did the same thing he did last time out. He worked slow, painfully slow, threw too many pitches, just wasn't real aggressive. He was throwing these looping breaking pitches that were nowhere near the zone, bouncing in front of the plate, sending Santana diving to the side.

It's truly ugly. Eww-baldo... Uh-Bald-O... U-Bad-O... We can go all day with this and as it pains me to do, it has to be.

This cannot continue. It absolutely cannot. We talked vaguely about the possibility, hoping it wouldn't happen. Hoping that Jimenez would come out and not make any issues for this rotation. He'd pitch good, if not out of this world, ace-like starting pitching, he'd at least be worthy to be a complimentary to Justin Masterson, being a more than capable number two.

Well Masterson's struggles aside, Ubaldo is not doing it and him not doing it is more concerning, because he's more of a wild card than any other starter.

Someone needs to slap him across the face and tell him that the Indians need him. I'll do it. I already threatened to punch Matt Underwood in the larynx. I have no shame at this point.

The big story of the game however seemed not be Jimenez, but the Indians offense. Make not mistake about it, both sides of the coin need blamed in this one. I just think in this instance, Jimenez is more crucial because he can't be doing this every night. Sure, his outing came down to two pitches he made that harmed him in two two-run home runs...

But the offense was not good. They scored two runs, but could have scored more and had an opportunity to tie it up late. Yeah Hochevar pitched well, but the Indians let some opportunities slip by. Opportunities that they've been coming up in. Casey Kotchman probably said it best when he was good enough to win and get outs.

And as Acta said, you can't give your outs away. As good as Hochevar was, he let the Indians give some outs away.

"We're not going to be hitting people around every night," Acta said. "In order for you to win some of those games like tonight, you're going to have to take care of your 27 outs better. You just can't be giving outs away, because we don't have five or six guys hot right now in our lineup."

That biggest opportunity came late in the game as the Indians were actually wearing Hochevar down.

Sixth: Brantely and Cabrera get on base with an out, Brantely makes it to third on a steal and then Santana walks, loading the bases. Travis Hafner gets his fastball on the first pitch and hits it good, but close enough to Alcides Escobar to get an out at second. A run scores, but it effectively ends the opportunity because Shelley Duncan had an awful night.

Seventh: Same situation in the seventh with Kipnis and Kotchman on base, but this time Aaron Cunningham comes through with a one-out single up the middle that knocks in Kipnis. Mind you that Cunningham's hit and Kotchman getting hit are the first two batters Tommy Hottovy faced in replacing Hochevar. Very crucial for Brantely to continue to keep him on the ropes, but he strikes out on four pitches. At least he gives Cabrera an opportunity, right?

Ehk, Aaron Crow comes in and it's a good battle between the two, and Cabrera gives it a good ride, but it's a deep fly out to end the inning.

It just isn't their night. It should have been clear after the first inning when the Indians had their other best opportunity, and it got spoiled by some bad baserunning and unlucky Hafner. Cabrera singles with one out and that brings up Santana to do the same. Although Santana's single is a little more interesting as it bounces off Eric Hosmer and sort of to Jeff Francoeur, who fumbles around with the ball. Cabrera hits third, cause he can actually run and has the time.

And someone will have to explain to me why Santana thought it was a good idea to break for second on that when he's A) not fast and B) Jeff Francoeur is in right field. Dead duck at second and it kills a golden opportunity with Hafner coming up.

Because with runners on the corners, it's likely the Royals infield alignment is sort of normal and ready for a double play. Instead, they can shift like normal and guard the middle, which is right where Travis Hafner smoked the ball in his at-bat. Instead of a one-run single and runners on the corners again, Hafner grounds out.

Opportunities, given away. You could call it bad luck on Hafner, but I call it what Manny Acta said, giving away outs.

That will not win you the ball game.

Random Details...

Perhaps things looked better if Kipnis and Cabrera wouldn't have let an Alex Gordon grounder get through as Eric Hosmer homered with two outs. I mean, that is true that if you want to blame Santana for the blunder costing a run, you have to blame Kipnis (more so) and Cabrera for letting a grounder by Gordon go by. It would have been out number two, and Butler would have popped out to end the inning and Hosmer wouldn't have had a chance to hit a two-run bomb to make it a 4-0 lead.

"Somebody," Acta said. "It probably looked like Jason was closer to the ball, but that's not what we preach around here. What we preach around here is you collide going after a ball. You don't look at each other. We've been saying that for three years here. We have ice. We have a training staff here. We don't look at each other and let a ball drop. Unfortunately, that cost us."

And those two runs tie the game for the Indians, make the Royals hang their heads and Acta not go for the Jairo Asencio show.

What a bad show this is. I think it's about time we've nixed this experiment. Far be it from me to pull an early plug on someone because it is only April, but I'm done with Jairo. I'm willing to roll with someone like Dan Wheeler because even though he looked like cow dung, he's at least a veteran who has a proven track record and innings like the seventh last night are reasons to keep him around awhile longer.

Innings like that from Jairo Asencio, when the game is still in reach against a sputtering Royals squad, and you get absolutely bombed? Forget it. I'm done with you. Even to be a batting practice dummie, I'd rather trash him right now. That's what Wheeler is for. Get someone who can produce up here.

How about Rafael Perez? Guy walks two, gets a double play, somehow out of the inning despite throwing just FOUR strikes. You heard me, FOUR Strikes out of 16 pitches and he gets three outs without damage. Perez did not look right as his velocity was way down and he had no control what so ever. It's typical of Perez to be a little erratic, even when he's good his slider moves lots, but he just didn't look right even for not having it. I'd be a little concerned and it may be a reason that the Indians can't get rid of Jairo, as they may need his arm to throw out there just in case.

Shelley Duncan struggled and looked visible frustrated after each at-bat. Maybe it may be time to give him a rest. I'd sit him Friday against Jered Weaver, who is not only right-handed, but really good. That is of course if Choo is ready to go.

I may not want to admit it, but Duncan's struggles against right-handed hitting suggest he'd be better off platooning with Johnny Damon, letting Damon play the majority of time against tough righties. He's 5-30 with 10 strikeouts and 8 walks to being 7-18 with 6 strikeouts and 4 walks against the left-hander. He should play everyday against the left-hander, that's for sure, but with his issues, it may be better if Damon plays the majority against right-handers, at least the tough ones.

Speaking of struggles... Can we please stop pointing out that Casey Kotchman doesn't have a hit in so-many at-bats. Just, stop it. We get it. I'm sure Kotchman knows and doesn't need reminded. Seriously? He's struggling, let him be and maybe he'll get a hit faster instead of reminding him every game that he didn't get a hit.

That was mainly to the media, but whatever.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

The big news is that Shin-Soo Choo's hamstring kept him out of the lineup on Wednesday and given the early start, could keep him out Thursday as well. It appears it shouldn't keep him out long though as Manny Acta is not expecting to have to place Choo on the disabled list with a bum hamstring. He also said he showed up better than expected on Wednesday.

"We could tell that he went kind of slow after a ball ... hit to right-center field," Acta said. "So we were approached by the training staff and we talked to him and he just felt it was sore. If it was up to him, he probably would've stayed out there."

But Choo was removed on Tuesday and sat Wednesday. It's for the best. Healthy Choo > Anything else we see thrown in right field at this point.

Rafael Perez is mysterious, Dan Wheeler did something decent last night, and uh, Jairo Asencio.... There's not much going on beyond that and if we don't get Nick Hagadone, the Indians need Tony Sipp to be good and not bad. He's been good lately, which was definitely not the case early on when he looked like cow dung.

"He's had about three or four now in a row where he's been good," Acta said. "We need him. We know how big he's been for us the last couple of years. I feel now that he's gotten back. Three good outings in a row pretty much would help anybody."

You need everyone of course, but that 7th/8th inning when Acta needs to get a tough lefty out, this will be the guy. He has to be right, no ifs about it. Hagadone or not, Sipp has to be right because he's got the most experience, he's proved the most, he will be the one that is called on.

Good to see the Indians make no light of the issues they had with Kansas City a few days ago. Heck, even with Sanchez plunking Kipnis to start things off there were no thoughts of intent.

"That was a curveball," Indians third baseman Jack Hannahan. "That stuff is over and done with. We're just playing baseball."

And this is a forkball.

On the injury front, Grady Sizemore started running and throwing. Great to hear, but still very early. Manny Acta still has not acknowledged any sort of wrist issue for Michael Brantely.

[TIGER WATCH]

What saved this night from being a total let-down was the fact that the Indians remained tied for first place with the Tigers and White Sox both losing. Detroit finally learned why they can't have crappy hitting because when they face pitchers like King Felix, who can shut them down, their offense cannot save them.

It was another long day for their bullpen as their starter went just two innings and they got shelled to the tune of 8-1 against the Mariners, effectively losing the series, something the Indians did not do.

And then you look at the White Sox, who dropped their series to Oakland after two games, something the Indians also did not do.

It's extremely crucial now that the Indians take this series from Kansas City, or their division foes follies against the weakness of the West will be all for nothing.

Morning Rundown: The Jack Hannahan of New Trades and Old

2012-04-25T07:26:00.001-04:00

What's that saying? And the meek shall inherit the earth? Yeah, if the meek continue to lose games, it may be awhile before they inherit anything.

April 24th, 2012
Kansas City Royals - 3
Cleveland Indians - 4
W: Derek Lowe (3-1) L: Jonathan Sanchez (1-1) S: Chris Perez (7)

[BOXSCORE]

The meek of course, are the Royals, who have now lost 12 straight after the Indians did it again. Since the two teams last met over a week ago, yeah, the Royals still haven't won.

And they're streak continues. They didn't win a single game out of the 10 they had at home and they'll go all of April without winning one as they don't have another home game until May.

I'd hate to be cheering for Kansas City right now, but we know what it feels like.

So for once, it's good to be on this side. Of course coming into this one, the Indians had only one home win themselves, so to get that victory over the sputtering Royals, was indeed a big one. Series are also easier to win when you win the first one.

So, go get 'em. Beat the Royals while they are down. Their offense doesn't seem to be doing much and it is only a matter of time before it actually does because that is the one thing that this team has. Their pitching is bad and there were clear signs of it as a guy they intended on being one of their best starters had some clear troubles.

It is just unfortunate that an offense that has been taking advantage of the more un-advantageous situations couldn't get it done in the several situations they had when Jonathan Sanchez was on the ropes.

"We would've loved to score more runs," Acta said. "But, we won. That's what counts."

And if you don't think SEVEN walks was on the ropes... Yikes... Seven? And on top of that he led off the game in the only way that is explainable, by hitting Jason Kipnis.

Yeah, let's uh start off that way. As if there wasn't any chance for controversy. Things seemed to be all good though through that, especially since the Indians took full advantage by getting a nice return from Asdrubal Cabrera and his double and a sac-fly by Carlos Santana.

But back to the seven walks, one of which came in the first to Travis Hafner.

Three more in the second to lead off the inning with probably your three most least concerning bats, Hannahan, Kotchman, Cunningham.

Then he practically does it again in the fifth before exiting when he walks Cabrera, strikes out Choo and then loads them up with walks to Santana and Hafner.

In the fifth, the Indians took advantage, Shelley Duncan's sac-fly gave them the lead and a double from Super Mannahan extended that, giving us some sort of salvage and doing that whole "two-out" song and dance.

It's unfortunate that the knock out punch had a little less oomph as it could have had. As the Indians let that opportunity in the second go by the wayside. Instead of it being a definitive exclamation point, it turned into simply a minimal lead that was tested by the bullpen. When the bottom of your order coaxes three walks to lead off the inning, you have to do better than no runs. You absolutely CAN'T do no runs.

Jason Kipnis committed the first biggest sin by swinging at the very first pitch, which ordinarily would not be a big deal for most other than a cliff-note. But in doing so, he popped up and made a quick out. He took an advantageous position and completely wasted it.

Then Asdrubal Cabrera commits the second biggest sin with the bases loaded, by grounding into a double play. Of course Cabrera has no control over where the ball goes once he makes contact, but he too was swinging at the first pitch and did not take a count in which Sanchez threw three off-speed pitches. Shame, shame.

So in the end, thank goodness for Jack Hannahan, who is completely out-earning his paycheck. He's not overachieving either. This isn't the same Hannahan from last season that was just going on a home-run binge. The guy hasn't hit one since Opening Day. He's getting it done with good old fashioned tough-hitting.

Of his 13 RBI, 10 have come with two outs and all of them have come with runners in scoring position. That's a hitter. I don't care who you are, what your career average is. If you are presented with these opportunities and you are coming through, you are doing something right.

"He's flying high, confidence wise," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "We want to see him up there. He's already been huge for us in a few games. His heartbeat is probably a lot slower than a lot of the yougner kids that we have here."

There is such a thing as late blooming. Jack Hannahan hasn't always been the greatest hitter, maybe he wasn't the best on his college team, but he had to have known something about swinging the stick or he wouldn't have made it as far as he has on glove alone. Maybe this guy has made the necessary adjustments at the big league level. Maybe just maybe, some people need to realize there is something more than just a serviceable defensive third baseman here in this guy.

I won't say anymore, but he's hitting. He won't continue this unworldly production (even though it isn't out of this world, just out of Hannahan's world), but I think there's something here worth holding onto for longer than a few months until Chisenahll is deemed ready. And if there is any doubt that Jack Hannahan is a perfect fit for this town, Terry Pluto removes it all.

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

The other story is Derek Lowe's great start and he's now gotten himself back on track after the blunder in Seattle. I guess he just never really liked that place after they traded him.

Lowe was more than sufficient yet again, going six very strong innings, giving up one run off another high number of hits (8). However the key as it seems to be with him in his three wins is the low walk total. Lowe called it a 'typical team win' that had good defense and timely hitting.

"They've had [19] hits in two games against me and somehow we've scored enough runs," Lowe said. "As long as you can stay away from that one big inning. They had a chance there with the bases loaded [in the fourth] and we were able to get out of it and kind of keep the momentum going."

If there's anyone who's going to benefit from Lowe's presence, it will be Josh Tomlin as he's essentially looking at his future. Lowe's way of surviving is the way Tomlin has been living the past year.

Random Details...

Michael Brantely did not start, as Acta said it was just a day off. He did come into the game late as a defensive replacement for Shelley Duncan, with Cunningham sliding over to left field. However I find it kind of weird when someone gets an off day after an off day. Same principle with Kotchman getting an off day before an off day. Makes me think it's more than just an extended breather. Also, worth noting that Hamilton and Rosenhaus on the radio broadcast mentioned a sore wrist.

Manny Acta said that it would take a bus crash for the Indians to put Jason Donald in center field the other day. Well it wasn't center field, but after Shin-Soo Choo was lifted with a pulled hamstring, Acta placed Donald in left field. Cunningham was then moved from left to right and Donald played the ninth in left.

Speaking of fielding, Casey Kotchman made a stellar play in the ninth to save what could have been disaster for Chris Perez. Jack Hannahan also made a great play. Remember what I said earlier about these guys saving more games than they'll lose with their glove? Yeah. I hope so.

Pestano and Perez both gave up a run off two hits, but with enough Hannahan-insurance, no sweat. Tony Sipp had a great inning, making very quick work of the side in the seventh and actually looking like the Tony Sipp we know for the first time all season. That's a good sign at least.

Jason Kipnis, hit, walk, HBP... Three times on base. Brantely take note. Not a real impactful game, but set up opportunities. in the 1st and 2nd spots in the order, Kpinis is 8-27 with 2 walks, compared to 6-32 with 3 walks everywhere else.

[A PRONK OF OLD]

Can we talk about Travis Hafner? The dude is locked in right now. He's showing signs of the old Pronk. And not that "oh he's showing signs" we've said in the past... He's actually doing the things that made him successful back a few years ago.

Granted the constant bombs are not there, but that Hafner isn't coming back because he'd likely kill himself getting to 40 home runs. This Pronk may be a little more lethal though in that in addition to a return of his batting eye, as well as his patience at the plate, he's more experienced.

"I think it's really important for hitters to have a good two-strike approach. You can sit on pitches early in the count. You can take chances. And if you do swing at two breaking balls in the dirt, it's not the end of the world."

I think we forget how good of a hitter Travis Hafner really was until we see him doing what he's doing now. As Manny Acta put it, he doesn't panic when he gets two strikes. For a few years there he was waving at pitches Pronk didn't usually swing at, looking feeble in his attempt to swing. Now he's swinging with authority or not swinging at all.

And he's also using the shift to his advantage. Bemoan the fact that he's going to hit a few more singles than you'd expect someone of his power to hit, but this guy is not a power hitter. He's a professional hitter, he knows how to swing the bat and he's going to take what he's given, or else he's walking to first.

For example, last night, his last two at-bats were hard hit and well hit. Kelvin Herrera's 97 mph fastball was smoked into the outfield. It was hard hit, a good piece of hitting, but it went right to an outfielder. In the eighth against Jose Mijares, he hit a deep fly ball that just got a little too much air under it and gave enough time for the defense to settle under.

He's swinging well.

And when this guy is doing his job, even if he isn't hitting, he's walking and getting on and that makes the lineup better, as it used to.

"Tons," Duncan said. "You can tell it puts a lot of pressure on the pitcher when you've got someone in the middle of the lineup like that raking. And then it also gives us a boost."

If anyone benefits, it's Carlos Santana hitting in front of Pronk. It will keep pitchers on their toes and more likely to pitch to him rather than around him.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

As mentioned, Derek Lowe had his ring stolen. At least that is the report. Lowe's house in Florida was robbed and among the items missing were the World Series ring Lowe earned as a member of the 2004 Red Sox (and what a ring that is breaking the long-drought for Boston) and a replica trophy.

Hopefully he gets those back and the odds are they'll track down that ring considering the players have their names etched into the rings. So if anyone sees a World Series ring that says LOWE, you know who to call.

Johnny Damon continues to progress through his time in extended spring training, completing another game on Tuesday in which he went 2-4 as a designated hitter, stealing a base and hitting a double.

Congratulations to Akron's Jared Goedert on being named Minor League Player of the Week. Goedert really has no business in Akron still, but he is what he is at this point, an organizational soldier.

Curious as to how Matt LaPorta hasn't garnered that honor the way he's been swinging. LaPorta went 4-5 in a Clippers loss to Toledo last night and he hit his fifth home run in the process. He's got 10 RBI on the year and hitting .344... As Kotchman struggles, the LaPorta watch is on, but really, it will take more than a month of both for anything to happen.

Someone created a Bullpen Mafia Song.... I'm not sure how I feel about it... I'm still not sure about any of the shirts out there.. Nothing of the Yoenis Cyborges caliber, that's for sure.

[TIGER WATCH]

We'll look here... Good old Wedge and Company doing us a favor. The Mariners beat the Tigers in their own place, taking a 7-4 contest and cranking out 15 hits in the process.

Max Scherzer got rocked for the second straight game. Jason Vargas didn't have the same success he did with the Indians last week, but he was good enough to get through six and let the Mariner offense do the work against Scherzer, who's given up seven and eight runs in his last two starts.

The good news in all this? That loss combined with the White Sox loss created a three-way tie for first place in the AL Central.

Guest Author: Sports Empower

2012-04-24T08:11:00.001-04:00

The following is a guest post from Zachary Fenell. He's a writer and author who has written a book entitled "Off Balance". Visit him at his website http://www.zacharyfenell.com/ and check out his other contributing work on Yahoo! Sports and Cleveland State of Mind. You can also follow him on Twitter.

Man (and woman too), am I hyped about providing The Tribe Daily a guest post! While the Tribe enjoyed an off day Monday, Nino and I figured today a fitting day to discuss the player who never rests. Of course I’m talking about the 10th man, the fans. I wish to detail how the passion you feel for a sports team, personally for me the Cleveland Indians, can empower you and drive you to succeed.

First though let me properly introduce myself. My name is Zachary Fenell and I’m a professional writer/author. I’ve been a Cleveland Indians fan since 1995, when big bats (Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez) and slick fielding (Omar Vizquel, Kenny Lofton) captured my attention span at eight years old. Interestingly enough my writing pursuits stem from my love for the Tribe, but more on that soon. Currently I cover a “Cleveland Indians Fan Perspective Beat” for Yahoo! Sports (see my Yahoo profile).

Additionally I penned Off Balanced, currently available on the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook. Off Balanced serves as my teenage memoir exploring how having a mild case of the neurological disability cerebral palsy (CP) affected me socially as a teen. I explain cerebral palsy in Off Balanced writing, “CP, a neurological condition which ranges in severity, can make simple tasks often taken for granted, like walking and talking, difficult.” I proceed to describe my individual case with the following.

“I’m lucky. I only have cerebral palsy to a mild degree. My main symptoms include awkward gait, poor balance, tight muscles, and poor vision in my left eye. The poor vision hinders my hand-eye coordination.”

Given these symptoms, my parents didn’t allow me to play little league baseball. Every summer when Mom and Dad readied themselves to sign up my two brothers for the local little league organization I asked, “Can I play baseball this year?” And every summer I received an apologetic no. Being so young I failed to grasp an argument able to trump my parents’ “safety first” attitudes.

Perhaps never getting the opportunity to play little league baseball caused my deep attachment to the Tribe. I couldn’t bond with teammates over game experiences because I didn’t have any! Yet I found some belonging through baseball and the Cleveland Indians. I traded baseball cards with my best friend. At 10 years old I started swimming lessons and I recall always talking Indians with the instructor, a fellow Tribe fan, before classes began.

Basically Cleveland Indians baseball gave me an in at a time where I too often, thanks to my disability, felt like an outsider. By the time I became a teenager I experienced further isolation from my peers. The Tribe filled my social void. Instead of hanging out at the mall with friends or going out on awkward-filled dates with girls I stayed home and watched the Indians. Ultimately, I dreamed about playing for my home team someday. In Off Balanced I flashback,

“I found myself dreaming about running out onto Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) to a booming sold out crowd donning a white Cleveland baseball jersey reading “Indians” in red across my chest and white baseball pants to surely get stained with dirt.”

Eventually reality crashed down on me and I decided, “If I couldn’t play for the Cleveland Indians, I could write about them.” Starting my sophomore year of high school when people asked me what I wanted to do after I graduate, I’d literally respond, “Do you know Paul Hoynes, the Indians beat reporter for The Plain Dealer? I want his job!” Today I’m happy writing on a freelance basis, especially expressing my opinions about the Cleveland Indians to thousands and thousands of Yahoo! Sports readers.

In conclusion I believe the journey my Cleveland Indians fandom led me on carries an important message, sports empower. Whether you use your home team’s amazing comeback as metaphorical inspiration to keep you going during hardship or utilize a day at the ballpark as a chance for quality family time, remember to use your fandom to empower yourself.

*To learn more about Zachary Fenell visit www.zacharyfenell.com. Check out www.offbalanced.wordpress.com for the latest on Fenell’s teenage memoir Off Balanced.

Morning Rundown: Tribe Take Seven for the Road

2012-04-23T08:18:00.001-04:00

It's rather hard to be so critical of the last loss of a road trip in where your team ventured off to the West Coast and managed to go 7-2. However, it's hard to put too much stock into said road trip when the three teams you racked up some wins against are the Kansas City Royals (proud owners of a 10-game losing streak), Seattle Mariners (proud victims of a Phil Humber perfect game), and the Oakland Athletics (proudly the most offensively challenged team in the American League). But uh, let's try to make sense of it all.

April 22nd, 2012
Cleveland Indians - 1
Oakland Athletics - 5
W: Tyson Ross (1-0) L: Justin Masterson (0-2)

[BOXSCORE]

Most fresh in our minds is the loss on Sunday to Oakland, in which the Indians dropped the final game of the series in depressing fashion. But the Indians did win the series and the previous two, which means they had a very successful road trip that included an early swing through the AL West.

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

So we might has well start with the bad.

While Justin Masterson did his best to lose one game (in which the Indians pulled off that remarkable comeback), he will only be credited with one of the two losses on this road trip. It is both concerning and kind of uplifting (in a hey look what we can do with our best starting pitcher not pitching well sort of a way) that you're best pitcher has now thrown up three real concerning starts after his opening day gem.

So what's the problem overall? We saw what he did April 5th, what has changed in just a few weeks? Why is the guy imploding? He went from walking two hitters in his first two starts to walking 10 in his last two.

Uh well, let's start with that problem that once plagued Justin Masterson before he became that guy the Indians could rely on to be their horse.

Left-handed hitters. The Oakland A's did what any team would logically do. They loaded up on the left-handed hitters. This is something they've done in the past and on Sunday, every hitter minus Kurt Suzuki and Yoenis Cespedes were hitting left-handed against Masterson. He now has given up 18 of his 23 hits to left-handed hitters and 8 of his 12 walks to left-handed hitters.

Look no further. Masterson is struggling against the left-handed hitters again. Seattle did the same thing, starting seven of their nine hitters as either switch-hitters or left-handed. Chicago? They're naturally more right-handed than left and the one walk would seem to indicate there are some legs to this theory. Toronto also had more right-handers than left-handers.

We're creeping dangerously close to this being a problem. This was not an issue last year. In fact, he walked more right-handed hitters (while facing significantly more left-handed hitters) than he did left-handed hitters. The lefties hit better off of him (and hit more HR) and he struck out more righties, but the point is he did his job and he didn't let that left-handed hitter lay off his pitches and work a walk.

Early on, he's looking a lot like 2010 Masterson, which wasn't bad, but wasn't great. 2010 Masterson let up 46 walks in 443 plate appearances by left-handers compared to 27 walks in 359 plate appearances by right-handed hitters.

The start against Seattle was taken with a grain of salt because it seemed to be a blip on the radar. He was acting like Ubaldo in that he was working slow and looking not himself. But he sort of looked himself on Sunday but was not getting the results. He's laboring against the left-handers and I hope teams continue to challenge him with the lopsided lineup. He proved he can be successful against his bugaboo last year, and he needs to do it again. Right now, Masterson says that he's 'close' and just missing his spots.

"The ball is moving," Masterson said. "The ball is moving a lot and we're really close. We're not trying to pick the corners, but we seem to be right there and just missing. We're just really close. It's nothing way out -- nothing crazy. It's just something that's happened."

Boy, I sure hope so. Masterson would go on to say that he's trying to improve against all hitters and that it's 'the same for all of them.'

Well ya it's about being consistent Justin, but it isn't all the same. We've seen this before and it is not a pretty sight.

Now what was a pretty sight was this road trip as a whole. A lot of people will say that the loss on Sunday needs put into perspective. It was only two of nine on the road trip and even though the Indians failed to sweep, they end the road trip doing what they really just needed to do. Win the series. They won all three. They won all three against three teams they need to beat. That is what you need to do. You win series and you win the games you are supposed to win. They are supposed to beat these three teams and they did. They should have been in a position to sweep based off having won the first two and having Justin Masterson on the mound for the finale, but again, you do not get upset at this west coast swing.

A lot of people in turn will say, well yeah, they are supposed to win those games, so do not get too excited. These three teams are cellar dwellers right now, playing as if they should be, showing talent that dictates just that. Kansas City's pitching is awful, Oakland can't hit, and Seattle is just Seattle. There should be absolutely no reason for the Indians to not have a successful road trip, so good job for doing what you are supposed to do.

I think both groups of people are right. But it's more of a little bit of both than it is dominantly one or the other. It's a little bit of the same idea we had with the blowout in Kansas City. You need to temper your excitement, but also realize that there is something there. The Indians won't go 7-2 on every road trip or home stand, because they won't face a trifecta of teams like that every time out. But they're a team capable of winning games.

"I'm very happy with the way we played on the road," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "It was a very good road trip. Winning three series, that's something that you don't see very often. We came out and played well after starting shaky at home, so I'm happy about that."

So, like we said last week. Don't get too excited, but get a little excited. Winning the first three road series is something the Indians haven't done since 1988 (this guy wasn't born yet), so it's something not easily done.

Random Details...

Travis Hafner walked two more times, which made it six total in the three games against Oakland. He now leads the American League in on-base percentage and is one of three players over .500 (Kemp at .500, Hafner .509, and Wright .510). He's tied with teammates Shelley Duncan with 12 walks and is one behind teammate Carlos Santana for second in the AL.

Hafner's RBI double in the first inning which led to the only run was pretty much a home run without that extended wall. Choo's double that was hit was also a home run if that wall wasn't there. The A's have those additional pads in right and left, with it being open in the center. Those were some hard-hit streamers.

Those were just two of the four hits as the Indians were stifled over-all by Tyson Ross in terms of the hit. But he too had some issues with the walk as he issued five free passes.

The Indians let perhaps another opportunity go by the wayside in the second after Aaron Cunningham reached on a fielders choice and Jack Hannahan was safe after an error. It gave the Indians two on and one out with Lou Marson at the plate. Unfortunately Hannahan didn't read the pitcher well and got caught up in a rundown and Lou Marson grounded out despite a tough at-bat.

Had Marson come through, it would have been another two-out RBI (Hafner's was) and just a continuation of what seems to be this team's calling card early on.

"It's quality at-bats. That's it," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "That's what we concentrate on regardless of how many outs there are. Hey, when you have traffic, good things will happen."

Nick Hagadone's final outing before returning to Columbus was blemished by some baffling defense. Jason Donald fielded a ball deep in the hole cleanly, but couldn't get enough on a throw that brought Jose Lopez off the bag. That wasn't the bad play.

Lopez fumbled around with the ball and nerdy glasses wearing Eric Sogard came motoring around third and was able to score thanks to Lopez. Not Hagadone's fault, but not an error and an earned run for him.

In that light, I think it sucks that Hagadone is getting called back when Cabrera returns. I think Hagadone is one of the better arms right now. If Tony Sipp keeps pitching the way he is, I'd almost rather see them make that swap. I think Dan Wheeler has almost run his course though, so we'll see Nick soon enough.

[OTHER GAME STORYLINES]

There are some other things to point out. The Indians very much went with their 'B' lineup in this game on Sunday. With Asdrubal Cabrera out already, they gave Carlos Santana a break as well as Shelley Duncan. Two of the most productive bats sitting in addition to another one of those productive bats? Ouch.

The Indians have scored just a total of four runs in the three games they've started three or more reserves. It's also accounted for half of their losses. Jack Hannahan has been on fire, but he should be nowhere near the sixth spot in the lineup, which is where he was on Sunday.

It was the first game that Shelley Duncan did not start in left field. He had Choo had been the only ones to have started every contest thus far. Which is sort of interesting considering that Johnny Damon guy is now in the fold. Granted, Cunningham would often come in for defense late and the off days have been nice, but it's interesting that Duncan is one of the two people Acta did not sit until now.

Casey Kotchman was also sat down in the midst of 0-16 slump. However I'd rather have that in there than the bumbling around of Jose Lopez on defense. The guy hit two home runs last weekend, so I think he'll be alright. Everyone does need a break, but, I'm not sure it's necessary with the off day on Monday.

Ubaldo's game on Friday... Wow. I tell you... The point was made (I think by Manny Acta) that the good pitchers fine a way to win games even when they don't have it. That Jimenez did. He's managed to get to 2-0 despite not having his greatest stuff two times out now. Which I guess is more than you can say about Justin Masterson.

But five more walks, he definitely was flirting with danger against the A's on Friday. He gets some timely hits from his offense, leaves with a lead, manages to find his way through six and he's 2-0. I guess you take it and like Masterson, hope the best is yet to come.

"I still have a lot of work to do," Jimenez said. "I have to keep working hard during my bullpen sessions and things like that. I'm trying to find a way to find myself for my next game."

Jeanmar Gomez pitched well in, what I guess we'll finally call his 2012 starting debut. I guess last week was his official starting debut, but this was his first chance to actually pitch. Gomez shut the A's down for five innings before letting a run slide in the sixth. He only tossed 88 pitches into the sixth, but you have to remember he's pitched in just two innings his first start, he's still building up.

But Gomez, great effort in what Manny Acta said was not even his best stuff...

"We were worried a little bit about his stamina and pitch count," said Acta, who turned to reliever Dan Wheeler when Gomez reached 88 pitches. "This guy hadn't thrown more than two innings since like the third week of March. But, he got better as the game went on. He didn't have his best stuff, but he did battle."

Well I guess none of the starters have their best stuff. Masterson bleck, Jimenez so-so, Lowe, arf, Tomlin, seems to have turned it around, Gomez, battling.

I hope they all get their best stuff soon.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

Josh Tomlin went toe-to-toe on Thursday with King Felix. He was masterful in his second start and seems to have put some of the early season worries to rest. And he was given some credit from Phil Humber after the White Sox starter threw a perfect game against the Mariners. Humber said he watched what Tomlin did in his eight-inning masterpiece and worked off that.

He also happens to be a good friend of Josh Tomlin.

"We're good friends," Tomlin said. "I wasn't nervous watching. I'm happy for him -- don't get me wrong. I'm excited for him. He deserves it. He works hard."

Great for Humber... Nice of Tomlin to help him out.

Johnny Damon Watch: The veteran has been in extended and he has been playing against some young-bucks. He hit a home run on Saturday and looks to be "on track" for a May debut. You have to think he'll be in the minors at some point this week.

The Clippers will be receiving David Huff, fresh off his activation from the Indians 15-day disabled list. He was activated and immediately optioned to Columbus. Couldn't have come at a better time as Kevin Slowey was scratched on Sunday after he was hit by a line-drive in batting practice on Friday. More on that situation whenever there's more, but right now, that depth isn't needed.

Great analysis over at Waiting for Next Year on the UniWatch competition. Mentioned the opening up of that "rebranding" contest that the UniWatch blog was putting on for the Cleveland Indians and Washington Redskins. There were 35 entries for the Indians, many of which reused the old "Spiders" moniker and some more creative ones.

As cool as some of these look (and as bad as some do, when did we get Strasburg?)... I'm pretty holding firm that this is just a nice little way to see what people can come up with, but no real groundwork in getting anything changed. I will not like any of these other ideas better than the Cleveland Indians. I've avoided voicing my opinion on the "Indians" name on this space and will continue to do so. I like the current look, I like Block C, I like Wahoo... I like the Cleveland Indians. I mean, it looks cool, but the Cleveland Deers? DEERS?! If a deer ran across downtown Cleveland, it wouldn't survive.

And if anything, I would never rock a hat that had a spider on it. Eww.

I do appreciate a good tribute to the midges though. And I can appreciate the idea of just calling the team "The Cleveland Tribe" but that has no ring to it. I mean, I use the Tribe more than I do the Indians, but I just say the Tribe, not the Cleveland Tribe. It just doesn't have a good ring to it.

I would credit this individual though for his complete reformation of Chief Wahoo into an Uncle Sam-like version of Wahoo. I would discredit this individual for trying to give a second team an ugly orange color scheme. Gross.

Speaking of creativity, I mentioned that Oakland A's outfielder Yoenis Cespedes was built like a tank. Seriously, that guy is playing center? He's a freakin' cyborg. My Twitter rant eventually led to me calling him Yoenis Cyborges and thinking of how awesome a t-shirt would look with him as a cyborg. Then after a few observant followers pointed out other features (such as his GOLD TEETH!?), I began crafting this beautiful piece of art-work.

I have decent Photoshop skills. I think so.

I would purchase a authentic Vinnie Pestano jersey if he pulled out a back hand spring on his sprint to the mound.

[TIGER WATCH]

They have 10 wins, but they have just as many loses after a titanic battle with AL West powerhouse Texas. The Rangers exposed the Tigers biggest flaw in a big way.... Their lack of pitching beyond Justin Verlander. The Cy/MVP was responsible for the only win in the four game series, but it took him 115 pitches in just six innings to do so. Jimmy Leyland is going to burn this guy out by the All-Star break at this rate.

But it was a win and it was much needed after Rick Porcello was bombed earlier in the double header and then the Rangers won an extra-innings affair on Sunday. In the first two games, the Rangers put up two ten-spots on the Tig's pitching staff. Ouch.

Morning Rundown: Vargas Leaves Indians Sleepless

2012-04-19T09:28:00.003-04:00

When Run DMC came together with Aerosmith to help them out with "Walk This Way" they wanted it to be a big enough hit for the Seattle Mariners to use for this particular series against the Cleveland Indians. I can only hope the sound techs at Safeco are utilizing it justly.

April 18th, 2012
Cleveland Indians - 1
Seattle Mariners - 4
W: Jason Vargas (2-1) L: Derek Lowe (2-1) S: Brandon League (5)

[BOXSCORE]

Derek Lowe walked one single solitary hitter in his 14 innings this season. How in the wide world of Indians baseball did he manage to walk six Seattle Mariners?

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

Even with the latest increase in walks, Seattle is still in the bottom six of the entire major leagues in walks. They're not the most disciplined team either was they've struck out 76 times. They're not the Cleveland team that the Indians have displayed to be these first few weeks in working the walk and not striking out.

So what gives? Two pitchers that have walked a grand total of three hitters in 26 innings coming into this series have walked 10 hitters in eight innings.

I'm not sure as Lowe nor Masterson really answered that question.

All Lowe could muster was that it wasn't his night and I mean, that happens. But nothing frustrates this guy more than walks, especially from two pitchers who are not prone to giving them up. Especially a veteran in Lowe who even admitted that he had a lot of "non-competitive pitches" that he threw.

"To give up six hits on top of the two home runs," Lowe said, "and six walks, and they only scored two runs? Try that. That's not easy. But, yeah, it was just a lot of non-competitive pitches. I think I was on about Plan G by the time I got taken out of the game. I tried so many things.

"There were times where you could've easily made a pitch and got out of an inning, but it just wasn't going to happen."

I'm not even going to touch that last part of the quote. I've never pitched, so I'm not going to begin to try to understand, nor try to argue. He's a pitcher, who really knows.

It's maddening that he walked so many, because he also gave up so many hits, but still was only tagged for four runs (two off solo home runs in the first inning). As Lowe said himself. Try that. It's impressive, but also not effective because he A) Exited before the fifth inning was completed and B) Already put his team in a hole.

Not expecting perfection, but again, walks are frustrating. He could have went a little deeper into this game than he did. Granted the bullpen didn't get real taxed (2+ clean innings from Asencio/Wheeler? Score), but you just hate watching the same type of pitching performance two nights in a row.

It was the same type of stuff Masterson was dealing with. Going deep into the counts, laboring, just not being able to retire hitters. I'm not sure if it's the fact that it's the poor-hitting Mariners that makes it frustrating or not.

But really, none of it matters because there may have been no beating Jason Vargas on this night, even with a better outing by Lowe. The lone Indians run came off a sac-fly by Jason Kipnis, that was set up by an Aaron Cunningham leadoff double. Acta had to play small-ball just to get him around and the idea of playing for one run at the time was good because it looked as if Lowe could settle in and a 2-1 game would be manageable.

But Vargas shut it down from there. He walked three and gave up three other hits on the night. He just pitched well.

"He held us in check the whole night," Acta said. "He changed speeds to both sides of the plate. He just did a very good job."

And just like that, sometimes that's what a game comes down to. I can huff and puff about Derek Lowe and Masterson walking people they shouldn't, but Jason Vargas was too good to beat on this night.

Random Details...

Not only did the win-streak come to an end, so did the streak of scoring eight runs on the road (never have the Indians scored as many runs as they did to start the season on the road than they have this season and it set a record that was only bettered by one other team). They also lost their home run streak as they failed to hit a home run in a game for the first time this season. I mean, they ALMOST did it.

Jason Donald was in the leadoff spot with Michael Brantley getting the day off. He was the one in the position to bunt Cunningham over for Kipnis to drive in. I'm wondering if Acta takes the same approach if Brantley and Cabrera are there.

The other hits other than Cunningham's double (which was oh-so-close to being a home run and extending that streak) came from Kipnis, Santana and former Mariner Jose Lopez. Pretty harmless.

Shin-Soo Choo had three of the four walks. Looks like Vargas wanted no part of that former Mariner.

Speaking of, this lineup contained three former Mariners in Lopez, Choo, Kotchman. Just think if Jack Hannahan and Asdrubal Cabrera also started. The Mariners team only comprises of a former Indian coaching staff and Kevin Millwood.

Nick Hagadone with another opportunity to pitch in front of friends and family and he struck out a pair in an impressive inning of relief. Cunningham is also from the state of Washington, so he got an opportunity in front of his home. Hagadone said his 2012 debut was perfect. His second outing was just as good, if not better, but his first, really helped the Indians win that game.

Speaking of, how about him in his second start of the year? Throwing out Ackley at first, playing good defense, getting a hit. If Johnny Damon wasn't on the way in, he might have been a serviceable fourth outfielder. Just maybe.

[MLB SUSPENDS GOMEZ, FINES OTHERS]

Are you kidding me with this? The commissioner's office came down with their punishment stemming from the Royals/Indians incident last Saturday and not one single Kansas City Royal was disciplined, yet four Indians were.

Granted, I can't think of any Royal that deserves disciplined for it, but it seems rather unfair. I guess it gives truth to the adage that he who retaliates is the one that gets caught.

The heftiest was given to Jeanmar Gomez who got five games for intentionally hitting Mike Moustakas with a pitch. Of course Gomez will continue to maintain that he wasn't trying to hit Moustakas, but just pitch inside. But I think everyone knows he was repaying the Royals the favor, even though it was not intentional that Jonathan Sanchez hit Shin-Soo Choo.

But in baseball, sometimes messages need to be sent and players need to be macho enough to enforce those messages by plunking people. So here we are. Gomez will appeal and it looks as if the Indians will handle it the same way they handled the Ublado Jimenez suspension, let Gomez pitch his upcoming start, drop the appeal, go forth with them basically re-aligning their rotation thanks to off days.

"We respect the league's decision," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "We're going to make the proper adjustments. Gomez is going to appeal, he's going to pitch on Saturday against Oakland, and then probably after that he'll drop it and pitch again."

Maybe the part that seems unfair in this is that Gomez is just a pawn in this whole game. He's not a central character to the story. Choo and Sanchez are. Jack Hannahan's craziness is more of a topic than Gomez hitting Moustakas is in my mind. The fact that he suffers the most from this just seems unfair when he was just sticking up for a teammate.

But again that's baseball.

Other fines were given to Hannahan and Manny Acta. It didn't seem right for Hannahan to get suspended because as he pointed out, he threw no punches. But perhaps another character that now has a prominent role in this story is Chris Perez.

Because he was fined too.

What? Why?

Well, MLB is watching everything and they saw Chris Perez's tweet following the content in which he gave the Royals a little P.S. "You hit us, we hit you. Period."

Oooh. Chris is a fired up guy on the mound, he likes to say that doesn't follow him outside the chalk, but sometimes his fire is evident.

In return, MLB said that he crossed a line and fined him $750. No that's not a typo, Seven-hundred and fifty dollars. It's actually $250 more than Jack Hannahan and if they fined him that for one tweet, what do you think they'll say to his response tweet?

Not that it can be directly linked to the fine in anyway, but let's be real. Chris has a way of throwing those jabs in there.

Personally, I love it. It's harmless and it's fun. A millionaire was fined to what is the equivalent for someone like myself a few bucks. Perez will dish out the $750, as he said, in straight cash, and continue to tweet as if there was no dent in his armor.

It's all good.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

The main guy who could be directly effected by the signing of Johnny Damon is Shelley Duncan, and he couldn't be happier.

"I couldn't be happier to have a guy like him as a teammate," said Duncan, who played with Damon on the Yankees from 2007-09. "It's premature and irresponsible for people to say certain things are going to happen [in regards to playing time].

"I have all my trust, and everybody on this team has a trust, that [manager Manny Acta] puts the best nine on the field to win that ballgame each day. I want that. Every day I play with that attitude. If I'm not hitting good, I shouldn't be in the lineup, because other guys can help this team win."

It's an attitude like that will net him what he deserves. Duncan keeps playing the way he is playing, this will work itself out and he'll get everything he deserves. Simply as that. You can also see the genuine happiness as Damon talked of the same situation in regards to Duncan.

Injury updates to Grady Sizemore and David Huff... Sizemore is going to start baseball activities next week while David Huff will be starting for Akron on Friday.

[TIGER WATCH]

The Royals blew a 3-1 lead to the Tigers after Prince Fielder chipped away in the fifth and then Jose Mijares threw it away in the seventh, setting the stage for Fielder to then give the Tigers the lead once and for all. The Royals still winless at home have now lost again and the Tigers are beating the teams they need to beat.

Morning Rundown: Midnight Madness in Seattle

2012-04-18T10:16:00.001-04:00

I'm getting a funny feeling about this team...

April 17th, 2012
Cleveland Indians - 9
Seattle Mariners - 8
W: Rafael Perez (1-0) L: Charlie Furbush (0-1) S: Chris Perez (3)

[BOXSCORE]

I don't know about anyone else. But when I go to sleep and the score of a west coast Indians game is 8-1, the last thing I expect to wake up to is a replay of said game with the score 8-8. Unless of course it is the Indians that have somehow blown that 7-run lead.

But uh, yeah we've been steadily trained for that.

That would be the exact timeline for me. I had all intentions of sticking with that game as long as I could, knowing full well I would be getting up at 6:45 AM Tuesday morning, come hell or high water. The 8-1 lead seemed like a justified reason to roll over to my other side and let the sleep timer on the television run it's intending course.

Back to my original introduction.

Funny feelings are starting to come out with this team. I know its' only 10 games into the season, but there's something strange going on. There seems to be a little bit of that inexplicable quality to them. An almost sort of "what the hell is going on here" sense of excitement and joy.

Here we go...

Fifth inning return aside, here is Nick Hagadone in the bottom half of the inning walking the leadoff guy, but then getting what seemed to be a ground ball that would have at least gotten one out, but possibly two. Of course Jack Hannahan continued his early battle with the fielding version of the yips by booting the ball. Not sure what is going on there but a different question for a different day (hopefully that never comes as he never makes another error that ends up hurting the team in a big way).

But as only someone who is in his first big league appearance of the year fresh off the plane from Columbus can in front of friends and family in his hometown, Hagadone strikes out Brendan Ryan (who had been walked in his previous two at-bats) and John Jaso (who had hit the big home run off Masterson) and then gets a lazy line-drive out to center to end the inning.

I'm just getting that feeling.

Then with a prime opportunity in the seventh off a leadoff single by Travis Hafner, Shelley Duncan would walk to give the Indians two on and nobody out. Okay so you score seven damn runs in the fifth, no problem to get one right?

K.K.

As in strikeout, strikeout. Not Okay Okay.

The defensive wizards strike out and in comes Eric Wedge's favorite stepson Tom Wilhelmsen for what is surely the final out of the inning to face the guy who wasn't even supposed to be in the lineup, Jason Donald.

I've got a feeling friends.

Single, lead, things just got real. It would only be the two-out hit juggernaut Indians that would set up that scenario to come through.

Rather clean seventh and eighth from the Mafia with just a walk (Ryan, who else?) and Chris PErez comes in for the ninth.

But why would that be clean or easy? Of course it makes perfect sense that Justin Smoak led the inning off because he was in my dreams last night, clubbing me to death. Not hard shots or anything, just soft blows that give me minimal amounts of'pain, but ultimately add up to one sore back. It was Torii Hunter all over again. Nightmares!

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

But of course, ground out..

But two back-to-back singles harsh the party and if you read the game play-by-play it will say Jesus Montero singled on a ground ball to center that was deflected by Jason Donald. But it should say deflected by Jason Donald's face, because the trooper took one off the money-maker. (I've done surveys, Jason Donald is well-liked).

"Bad hop is an understatement," Donald said. "That thing, I just saw it at the last second kick up. There was nothing I could do. I didn't put a glove on that thing -- nothing. It was all face pretty much. Hopefully my girlfriend still wants to date me after getting smoked in the mouth like that."

Sorry ladies, TAKEN!

Then of course, as only he decides to do (and very much like last time he came out for a save), Perez walks Brendan Ryan.

Can I just take a pause in this recount of historic events to ask WHY the entire Indians staff walked Brendan Ryan, the team's eight-hole weak-hitting shortstop who had TWO walks the entire season, FOUR times?

Are you THAT scared to make any sort of meaningful pitch to the fearful slugger that is the .207 hitter from Seattle?

Let's not even mention how many times I saw him take a hefty swing and miss at some garbage pitch from Masterson and Hagadone. Why on earth would the team walk this guy four times? That home run power (13 career) will totally kill ya guys if you make a mistake!

Ugh and double ugh.

But back to this dream sequence that I was having that would hopefully be coming to an end.

There is the other man that has been giving me issues. John Jaso. I thought he was still in Tampa, but here he is on the left coast making things difficult. But that was hours ago, before I had went to bed. Certainly I've shut him out, unlike Justin Smoak, he isn't getting in, right?

Right, Chris Perez, door, slammed. Goodnight Mariners, good morning Ohio. If you went to be like me, you missed a lot of fun. If you woke up and turned the television on to where you had left it just like I did, you were delighted. Surely even if the Indians would have lost that, the simple fact that they battled back from a 8-1 deficit gives you happy thoughts that the poor souls who attempted to stay up with the team even after that fourth-inning bombing of Justin Masterson were rewarded for their bravery or insomnia.

And we've not even touched the fifth inning of this victory, the one that saved Justin Masterson from looking like a complete bum.

"I think it was pretty incredible when [Seattle] scored all the runs," said Masterson, who was charged with eight runs on seven hits with four walks and a hit batsmen. "Then I was like, 'We're at least going to get six or seven.' I mean, I didn't necessarily think in that next inning."

Not that he didn't look like a complete bum in the fourth. Was he in the Ubaldo Jimenez-school of whatever it is that we saw on Sunday? After two brilliant starts, these two have come back to put up some real stink-bombs. As I mentioned earlier about Ryan (who Masterson walked twice, getting ahead 0-2 once and then throwing the same pitch FOUR TIMES to get the same result, a ball), Justin's biggest problem was Justin. Both in that he was killing himself with walks (four) and another guy named Justin. Smoak of course turned out to be an issue for everyone as he had just as many dumb singles than Ryan had dumb walks.

So I'm glad Justin knew he'd get taken off the hook, but I'd rather him not put himself in that position from now on.

"These guys are not going to quit," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "They know they're capable of doing it. They did it last year a bunch of times. I thought it was great. I was hoping to come back two at a time, but they went out there and just put a seven spot up. It was just wonderful."

Yup, just wonderful. Wonderfully agonizing.

You know who didn't quit? Jason Donald. The guy got the two biggest runs of the game and he took one to the freaking face. But because he was already playing when he wasn't supposed to, there was no one else to play shortstop, so he manned up and stuck in the game. Donald came through with a sac-fly to tie the game in that big fifth inning after a rally ended with Carlos Santana's big home run and then was re-started when Duncan walked and Kotchman doubled. Donald could have hit into a double play and caused us anger. In fact, if this was last year, that probably would have happened.

But a solid fly ball and this game was tied.

Then he saved the day in the seventh with two on and the previous two hitters striking out. The two-out hit lives.

I think I'm going to need to be punched in the freakin' face myself. Hurts a lot less than getting hit in the face with a ground ball or beaten by Justin Smoak singles.

Random Details...

Not to harp on it, but here is the pitch breakdown for Brendan Ryan's walks..

Perez and Smith both walked him on four pitches...

The one time he was out, was when Nick Hagadone struck him out. He gave him issues though as he got ahead with a few fastballs getting him to swing, then threw a few outside trying to get him to chase.

The two Masterson walks. Again he got ahead of him with a few sliders, then tried getting fancy and threw four straight balls. The first time up he got ahead with his sinker, then tried throwing it again on the outside corner but he couldn't get the call.

Michael Brantely stole a base. I know, I was shocked too. He still trails Casey Kotchman in that department (really?).

Shelley Duncan, .514 OBP, more walks (10) than hits (9)... Caw...

Continues to be homerless, but Choo is right up there with Santana in knocking in runs.

If you ever needed Derek Lowe to give you seven, Wednesday would be the day. But the extra arm should help. I think it should be noted that despite the baserunners and the drama, for all the flack they got, the bullpen deserves credit for shutting the game down after Masterson's stinko.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

The whole stage for Jason Donald to do what he did was set with the sudden news that Asdrubal Cabrera would be missing the rest of this west coast road trip. After the passing of his grandfather, Cabrera was placed on the bereavement list and not only was Donald inserted into the starting lineup, but another hero from that game, Nick Hagadone, was called up.

"All I can tell you is that he was pretty shaken up," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "It was his grandpa, who was a very important person in his life. ... He's going to Venezuela and he's probably going to miss the rest of the road trip."

Obviously not good for the Indians and best wishes to Cabrera and his family. Seattle is usually a good place to Cabrera as he would often make his former team play in their own house of worship, so I'm sure he was primed for this series.

The Indians plan on going at it with the extra arm in the bullpen until next Tuesday when Cabrera is expected to rejoin the team back home after their swing in Oakland. Unless of course something happens and they need someone to play short. I would have to think it's Cord Phelps who is on-call if such a need were to arise.

Johnny Damon was officially signed to his minor league contract on Tuesday. The announcement was made official and when his contract is purchased, he'll obviously be making that planned salary. Damon and Antonetti spoke to the media and Damon's focus was not on starting, not on 3,000 hits, or anything else other than helping Cleveland in anyway asked.

"That's why I've been able to help some teams win championships and help some teams that really weren't that good become a bit better. Three-thousand would be great, but I'm playing to win. I'm playing for the Tribe fans. I'm playing for the Indians organization. I'm not really playing for myself."

Damon went on to acknowledge Duncan's hot bat and that he will fit anywhere he's asked. He mentioned platoons and filling in whatever role asked. That's certainly nice to hear. Damon is in Goodyear right now taking part in an extended spring training. He was able to hit and shag some fly balls. If Columbus was back home this weekend I'd almost think he'd be there, but they don't return home until next Tuesday. Lake County is on the road and Akron starts a road trip this weekend, so there is no other option.

Congratulations to T.J. House on being named Minor League Player of the Week in the Indians organization. House struck out 17 hitters in 13 shutout innings in his first two starts. Guy should be in Akron as soon as other people start moving up.

The Indians will pick 15th in the June 4th MLB Draft. Yay?

There was some action from some of the reporters on Twitter yesterday that the Indians could see some discipline from the Commissioner's office for that spat with the Royals over the weekend. Really? If they suspend anyone... Word is there could be stuff handed out today and Gomez, Hannahan, Choo, and even Acta better be on the look-out. I would guess if anything, fines are sufficient, but Bud Selig is a jerk sometimes.

[TIGER WATCH]

After Justin Verlander pitched a complete game (go ahead Leyland, keep riding that horse until he falls over), rookie Drew Smyly pitched six innings giving up just an unearned run. That will help. Poor Royals get a good performance from the always amazing Bruce Chen and they waste it by not scoring any runs. Valverde danced his way to his second save and the Tigers to an 8-3 start. The Royals have dropped five straight at home, ouch.

Morning Rundown: Indians and Offense Now Said in Same Sentence

2012-04-16T08:00:00.000-04:00

The Indians play the Royals like 18 times, or something like that. Right? Just checking...

Photo - Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

April 13th, 2012
Cleveland Indians - 8
Kansas City Royals - 3
W: Derek Lowe (2-0) L: Luke Hochevar (1-1)

[BOXSCORE]

April 14th, 2012
Cleveland Indians - 11
Kansas City Royals - 9
W: Jairo Asencio (1-1) L: Greg Holland (0-1) S: Chris Perez (2)

[BOXSCORE]

April 15th, 2012
Cleveland Indians - 13
Kansas City Royals - 7
W: Ubaldo Jimenez (1-0) L: Luis Mendoza (0-2)

[BOXSCORE]

This past weekend is exhibit A in two different arguments that needs to be made about April baseball.

The first, do not get too low on your team's offensively sputtering start. Especially since said team was far from horrible. I mean, the reaction around Cleveland was as if the Indians had been shut out in their first five games. Hand off the panic button.

The second, do not going thinking the Indians are some offensive juggernaut.

We're talking about the Kansas City Royals and the half of the roster they call a pitching staff. This team is going to hit this year (and it is of no surprise to me they made that comeback in the second game), but they are going to struggle when it comes to throwing the ball over the plate to the opposition.

If anything, I'm shocked they didn't come roaring back in the game on Friday. If anything, credit Derek Lowe for doing what Ubaldo Jimenez and Josh Tomlin could not do. Kill the Royals when they were down.

Let the jokes roll though, right? Johnny Damon is already having an impact on this offense!

And he's not even playing...

It took only a few paragraphs for a Johnny Damon reference, so I will go ahead and refrain from it until later on, we've got some games to dissect. Overall, there was one thing the Indians did well in this series against the Royals and it was very clear in the Sunday win.

Two... Out... Hitting...

"Something we started last year was just worrying about having a quality at-bat," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "It's not basketball. The clock is not going to run out. The two-out rally is something we take pride in."

That wins you a lot of ball games and will score you a lot of runs. If you can hit with two outs, you'll score and you'll also break the spirit of the other team. Just look at the runs scored with two outs this weekend.

Friday: 5 out of 8
Saturday: 2 out of 11
Sunday: 12 out of 13

19 out of your 32 runs scored came with a two-out hit. That's well over half and well done if you ask me. The one game the Indians didn't score a majority of them with two outs was Saturday and in that one, it took til the 10th inning when Choo hit the double for them to get any. When you score 9 without two outs, then you're doing something right before hand.

So all in all, you can't play better offense than the Indians did this past weekend.

But temper your excitement for that simple fact that this is the Royals we are talking about. Again, the Royals. Now I'm not saying to take the weekend with a grain of salt, not in the least bit. But just as you shouldn't have gone crazy thinking the Indians were going to sputter offensively, don't go thinking they'll bash everyone's brains in like they did against Kansas City.

However, get excited for the way the team scored their runs, because again, you get a two-out hit, you're doing things right. The home run offense is nice, but it won't carry you far. The offense the Indians used to win these three games, that carries and that's how you play.

Some of the stars of this explosion...

You think Shelley Duncan is worried about his job security with Damon signing?

Hawkman on the weekend: 3-8, 5 R, 4 RBI, 5 BB, 2 K

Just goes to show you that you don't have to hit to produce. The guy was on base more than half of the time he went up to the plate. And the thing is he was doing this even the first five games. It wasn't on the scale in which he did it against the Royals, but in five games he walked three times and had five hits. His numbers flipped. He's getting on base and he's being a productive left fielder worthy of playing every day and hitting where he's hitting in that lineup.

Oh and that moon shot on Sunday? That was some serious #HawkBlood

You know what's fun? Not knowing who to highlight next because there are so many good performances to chose from.

But I might as well mention that the enigma that Michael Brantley was in the first five games was a little more clear. After going 1-for-17 (you heard me) and hitting .059 going into the series against Kansas City, the Indians center fielder raised his average to .206 in a single weekend.

Brantley was 6-for-17 with four runs scored and three runs batted in against KC. A complete 180 shift from what he was doing the first few games of the year. This is the team's leadoff hitter, the guy setting the table most of the time. He needs to do this type of stuff. Brantley's best game was Sunday and it came when he just simply put bat on ball. He had an infield hit and his RBI knock was turned into a double with some hustle. That's how Brantley needs to keep playing the game.

If anything, he more than Duncan is the one in the spotlight with Johnny Damon coming soon. His ass is on the line because he is in a prominent position on this squad. He's hitting leadoff. He's setting the tone and he's the one the team needs getting on base. Duncan is hitting. If Brantley isn't and Damon needs playing time, the Indians will FIND a way to make that work and it may cost Brantley some time or his job.

I would go no further than to what Brian McPeek said better than I could even restate.

Why? Well, as old as he is Damon has always and still plays the game hard. He’s a dirt bag and I’ve watched him throw his body around the field for nearly 20 years. I’ve never questioned Damon’s intensity and passion and I’ve always admired the production he’s given whichever team he’s played for. Contrast that to Brantley who looks walks around as though he’s disinterested and aloof and who doesn’t always look like he’s putting forth an abundance of effort and I’d rather have the guy busting his ass, even if he can’t throw a ball from one end of the dugout to the other.

So there ya go Brantely. There's your motivation to not suck. Damon is coming and if you don't pick it up, you may be the one sitting, not Shelley Duncan.

Overall, it's hard not to highlight anyone. So here's how the rest of the lineup stacked up this weekend.

Asdrubal Cabrera: 6-16, 5 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB (1 HR) - This team is at it's best when Cabrera is scoring runs and not knocking them in. His production is nice but this team thrives if he's on base and scoring five out of seven times.
Shin-Soo Choo: 4-13, 3 R, 6 RBI, 1 BB - He had the big hit on Saturday to win the game, but things are good when he only has four hits, but knocks in six runs and still manages to score three more.
Travis Hafner: 3-9, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB (1 HR) - After an 0-for on Friday and a day off on Saturday, Pronk came back in a big way on Sunday. His home run was just as majestic as Shelley's was. He made use of his first start in the four-hole since last season.
Casey Kotchman: 5-11, 5 R, 3 RBI, 3 BB (2 HR) - For all the abuse he took to start the season, he sure did laugh back all the people that made fun of him.
Jason Kipnis: 4-11, 4 R, 5 RBI, 1 BB (2 HR) - He wasn't supposed to play much on Saturday with the off day, but after Hannahan's ejection, Kipnis was inserted (Lopez was DHing) and he had himself a game, then followed it up on Sunday by homering for the second straight game.

Notice one name missing from that list of players? How about Carlos Santana who was still 3-9 with two walks, a run scored and two runs batted in. Santana did not play on Sunday though, so he missed out on the biggest production day of the year.

That's when you know things are good. When you're best offensive producer can sit down for the day and not be used and the team scores more runs than they have all season.

All this is fun and good and showing off all the nice pretty stats for the hitters is something that makes you feel better about the first five games. But there were some other storylines at work here this past weekend.

First... Ubaldo Jimenez... He got a win, perhaps to make up for the one he deserved last Saturday, because he certainly didn't pitch like a winner on Sunday.

Jimenez managed to get through five with the lead after the Indians big third inning. But he was not the pitcher he was the first time out. He gave up the nine hits and three walks, but he was working slowly, not getting ahead in the count and just overall not being very efficient. Against the Blue Jays he only struck out three, but throughout the game he was getting ahead and getting hitters to roll over with ground outs and hit lazy fly balls. He was working quickly and just overall looked locked in.

Against the Royals? He was working slow and not getting ahead. I don't know if the two have anything to do with each other, but it would seem as if they go hand in hand. He just didn't look like the same pitcher and that is really concerning. Was it the seven days of rest? Jimenez doesn't think so and I don't either.

"The first three innings, it was hard to get in a good rhythm," said Jimenez, who refused to use rustiness as an excuse. "I didn't have command with my fastball."

I'm not sure how to pinpoint why Jimenez wasn't in a rhythm but it better not continue. We need to see the Jimenez we saw on Saturday. He needs to get the ball, get the sign, and go. When he was laboring he was getting the ball, walking around in a pacing like manner, taking his glove off... He was wasting time. It didn't look like he was locked in and it didn't look like he had his head in the game.

Random Details...

Derek Lowe gave up 11 hits, but from the Josh Tomlin school of control, you can do that when you don't walk anyone. It was not Lowe's best outing on Friday, but it was effective and with the offensive backing he got, it made enough for a win as he pitched into the seventh inning and hadn't even reached 100 pitches. And he did it all with a quick warmup. Such a pro, such a vet.

The final out in that seventh inning was nabbed by Tony Sipp, who other than that out, has struggled in all of his appearances thus far. He pitched in all three games and on Sunday he was a bit better with a clean frame, but he labored Saturday night and of course last week against Toronto. Inconsistency is not what you want right now.

I want to credit the bullpen for sticking with it as best they could Saturday, but I simply can't. Josh Tomlin does not factor into this equation. He's simply an extra arm right now until the Indians throw him out on Thursday against the Mariners. He had a rocky time out in relief of Jeanmar Gomez, but he got through a few innings and managed to get the game to the pen at a manageable point.

And they simply did not get the job done. Smith, Sipp and Pestano were all tagged for runs. They slowly let the game drip away and if not for Choo, who knows what would have happened. However credit Asencio for striking out a pair in the ninth to get it to that point and Chris Perez for making rather quick work in the 10th for his second save.

Jason Donald fed off the hitting mojo. He originally started at second and moved to third after the Hannahan ejection on Saturday and went 2-4 with a RBI. I'll continue to bemoan every time I see him but if he can knock in runs every other time he goes out, I guess I'm fine with Jose Lopez for now. A two-run double is nice.

Oh and the Indians have homered in all eight games so far to start the season. So as bad as the offense was, they still put runs on the board and have this very weird streak going to start the year. Go figure.

[MARKED MAN?]

Shin-Soo Choo's battle with...well...everyone that throws at or near him reached a boiling point on Saturday when Choo was face to face with the man who broke his thumb last year. When with San Francisco, Jonathan Sanchez hit Choo with a pitch and shattered his thumb. The two are now reunited with Sanchez's arrival in Kansas City.

And Sanchez hit him again on Saturday.

"I know he didn't hit me on purpose," said Choo, who now has been hit three times already this season. "But still, I have a memory of last year."

But that didn't stop Choo from getting a little feisty. Again. Yes again. It was just a week ago Choo was miffed when Toronto got a little too close and now benches cleared again when Choo was beaned by Sanchez. Even though Choo believed it wasn't intentional, he simply got heated at Sanchez and told him to throw it over the plate.

It's understandable and I get it. No one wants to get hit, especially when it injured Choo last year. But he needs to reign things in. The fire is great and I like it, but he can't get irritated every time someone hits him. It's baseball and it's going to happen, especially if you are a good player who pitchers want to pitch in on. He just has to wear it and take that anger back up to the batter's box next time like he did in the tenth inning.

In reality, it cost the Indians a starting pitcher. Had Choo simply put his head down and taken his base, the Indians evidently don't lose Manny Acta and Jack Hannahan, but they perhaps keep Jeanmar Gomez too. When the benches clear, the warning is given from the umpires and then retaliation is clear.

Gomez hits Moustakas and that likely is the warning and he stays in the game. It's as simple of that. It ruined what could have been a nice little outing for Gomez as he was cruising through with no issues. Acta wasn't too pleased losing his starter and putting his bullpen in a tough spot.

"I believe he's trying to protect his teammate," Acta said. "He went overboard a little bit on that one. First of all, there was a warning in place. Once you hit a guy, you're going to be thrown out of the game. That early in the game, it really taxes your bullpen."

All in all, the Indians survived, they also made it through Sunday despite their starter going five innings in that one and now they have a much needed off day on Monday to get the bullpen back to full strength. And Choo came up with the game-winning hit on Saturday, which makes it all good. Everything seemed to subside on Sunday as well and as mentioned, these team's have a lot of games left, so hopefully no bad blood lingers. Although it would be fun if a little rivalry ignited with these slugging youngsters as they have a bright future.

[THE UNOFFICIAL DAMON]

The worst kept secret in baseball right now is that Johnny Damon will become a Cleveland Indian. When? Not really known, but the reports look to be true, or I don't think Damon would be telling everyone that he's headed to the Tribe.

"I had a conversation with them today," Damon said on Thursday. "I told them I've been staying in great shape, been running, been throwing, been hitting, been playing soccer. So I told them I feel like I could be ready in a couple of days. But I understand the grind of standing between innings and all that stuff, so I think I'm going to go out and work out for a week, and hopefully that's enough.

"Like I said, I've kept myself in pretty good shape, and I'm just excited that Cleveland is giving me this opportunity to see what I can do and also go help out a young team and provide some leadership to them."

We've gathered that the Indians have signed Damon to a $1.25 million dollar deal with a extra $1.4 million to be made in incentives. Damon also has what is being called a "greener pasture's clause" in where he has a handshake agreement with Cleveland that he can go elsewhere if Grady Sizemore returns and is essentially unhappy with his playing time. There is nothing in the contract that states this specifically but it is certainly one of the most creative things the Indians have ever done and they've done some creative things before.

The Indians continue to dance around the subject though as the deal is not official. It seems to be the Indians are waiting to get Damon situated, get the go-ahead from MLB, check Damon out physically and develop a plan of attack in getting him ready to play in Cleveland. The report is that he's going to sign officially on Monday and get worked out in extended spring training. The Indians will basically sign him to a minor league deal, get him ready, send him to Columbus and get him to Cleveland as soon as possible. Terry Pluto says the Indians believe May is the target and he could even stop at Akron, probably depends on who's playing at home.

So, out of sight, out of mind right now. The Indians are hitting well right now. I still think the move is knee-jerk based off a few games and that the start only hastened the desire to get something done with Damon, but that he really is not an answer, what this team did this past weekend is. It will be nice to have another bat like Damon, but he's not fixing anything that's incredibly broken. Pluto goes on to note that Damon likely platoons with Duncan, with Damon getting right-handers (a majority of the starts) and Duncan contining to play against left-handers. But Damon will likely stay in the lineup if he hits by playing DH (no more Jose Lopez) and maybe even some first base.

He will be reunited with a few teammates, Derek Lowe from his time with Boston, Shelley Duncan with his time with New York, and Casey Kotchman from his 2011 with the Rays. Kotchman had high praise...

"Johnny has a lot to offer any team," Kotchman said. "He's a winner, as history shows. He brings energy and is always upbeat. He never has a bad day. To have him on the [Tampa Bay] team last year was critical. Over the course of six months, you're going to have ups and downs. It's nice to have somebody there who has been there and done that. Johnny always brings a positive attitude."

It's never bad to have a nice presence in the clubhouse, but he just should worry about hitting and being somewhat serviceable in the outfield, because that's where he's playing.

[TIGER WATCH]

Looks like we may be having to keep an eye on the Chicago White Sox now too. The White Sox have now started 3-1 in the division after taking two out of three from the Tigers this past weekend. If not for a Rick Porcello gem or a postponement, it could have been 5-0 or 5-1.

The Tigers scored just three runs in two losses to the Sox, falling to Jake Peavy and Gavin Floyd. There are two things that stick out in terms of what I said in my AL Central Preview.

1.) The White Sox can be really dangerous if their pitching comes through... See that series as Example A.
2.) The Tigers may be a great hitting lineup, but that ultimately loses to great pitching. It will also win games, Example A and B with their first two games and then Porcello on Sunday.

Looks like a muddling division to me right now. Game On...

OOTP 13 Simulation: Fourth Place, Okay?

2012-04-13T08:05:00.000-04:00

Another year, another simulation. That's right, the chance to prognosticate doom or gloom has arrived!

It's become a norm around here. If you've been reading this space for the past two years, you should have expected this post. I love Out of the Park Baseball. I absolutely love it. Unfortunately now a days I don't have much time for the game, but when I do, you better believe I horse around on it.

By now you should know what OOTP is if you read this blog. If you're a new face around here, let me put it to you this way.

You can be Mark Shapiro, Chris Antonetti, Manny Acta, Ross Atkins, Brad Grant, and all the minor league coaches, front office personnel, etc. all rolled into one. It's a total control baseball simulation game that lets you take control of a franchise and control as many or as few aspects as you want and it's fantastic. You have no real control over how well the team plays in the game like a normal video game for your standard console, but you have all the power in making the decisions as to who plays, who you want on your team, and all that good stuff.

You want Lonnie Chisenhall at third? Go for it. You want the team to not sign Johnny Damon? Go ahead and don't do it. You want Grady Sizemore to not get hurt? Well, sorry but OOTP is so real, their latest update has the most up-to-date rosters and Sizemore is on the DL.

As always, I'm not getting paid and this is hardly an advertisement. It's quite simply cross promotion and if this is the only "advertisement" you guys have to put up with on this site, you can just not read. My endorsement will likely mean nothing to you, but if you really enjoy this type of stuff, there's really no other option out there and there's no option that's better.

I haven't totally explored the new version, but what I have played with, I have to say I enjoy two new features.

First is the League Newspaper that pretty much organizes all the important news and latest items you should read. It's a total upgrade over the messaging system that you'd have to read every single one of. The League Newspaper is a nice snapshot of what's going on.

Secondly, the Offseason Center is awesome. Again for the organization freaks like myself, this is just a nice simple way to have a snapshot of things.

Overall, the game is just updated and better. It's what I've come to expect. It's perfect if you love to control your team in every aspect and be the armchair general manager. You play how you want to play and the game offers so much more. You can keep track of stats of all your teams so you can better control your players, make all the demotions and promotions, control the entire draft, and make all the decisions. I'm not one to simulate in-game, but you can also go in and be the manager, taking control of how the game flows and making the decisions for that too.

Every year I take part in their mass simulation among Baseball Bloggers Alliance members and the results in full will be out soon. Here how ever is what my simulation resulted in.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

EAST - New York Yankees

CENTRAL - Detroit Tigers

WEST - Los Angeles Angels
WILD CARDS - Tampa Bay Rays defeated Texas Rangers

NATIONAL LEAGUE

EAST - Philadelphia Phillies

CENTRAL - Cincinnati Reds

WEST - Arizona Diamondbacks

WILD CARDS - St. Louis Cardinals defeated Milwaukee Brewers

PLAYOFFS

League Division Series

ALDS - Tigers Defeated Yankees

ALDS - Rays Defeated Angels

NLDS - Reds defeated Phillies

NLDS - Cardinals defeated Diamondbacks

League Championship Series

ALCS: Tigers over Rays

NLCS: Reds over Cardinals

World Series

Tigers over Reds (4-2)

AWARDS

Cy Young

AL: CC Sabathia, NYY

NL: Yovani Gallardo, MIL

MVP

AL: Albert Pujols, LAA

NL: Joey Votto, CIN

SUMMARY

The Tigers? Come on man! And it was after they had barely led the AL Central during the year and when they won it, they had an 81-81 record. Jerks... The Reds won over 100 games and looked like no one was going to stop them. I guess even though they had more than 20-less wins, the Tigers just got hot.

CLEVELAND 2012 SEASON

I will take a different approach this year and take you through from start to finish...

April (11-10)
- Highlighted by the Indians 7-7 record on the 23rd, it was the definition of a mess in terms of the AL Central standings. They were anywhere from 2nd to last this first month, but never first.

May (9-20)
- And dive bomb... By May 3rd, they were 11-13 and three games back.
- On May 2nd, Derek Lowe announced he would retire at season's end.
- May 7th: Andy LaRoche's contract was purchased, but he was DFAed on the 18th, then had his contract purchased again on the 23rd, signaling that the Indians had gone ahead and collectively slapped themselves multiple times. Brantley was also optioned out on the 7th and recalled on the 18th. It wouldn't be the last time.
- May 19th: Aaron Cunningham hit the DL and was later DFAed on the 23rd. His DL stint opened up the chance for Ryan Spilborghs.
- May 29th: Grady Sizemore is activated and sent on his rehab assignment, to make room David Huff is DFAed.

June (12-15)
- On the 1st, the Indians were 20-31 and 5 1/2 games back in last place. They would then drop to 9 1/2 games back and a 25-40 record by the 17th.
- June 6th: I'm not really sure why but the Indians traded shortstops Francisco Lindor and Ryan Rohlinger to Tampa Bay for... Carlos Pena. He had just two solo home runs at the time of the trade (2 HR, 2 RBI).
- June 13th: Ryan Spilborghs returns and Brantley is optioned out again.
- June 23rd: Grady Sizemore was added to the active roster.
- June 25th: The Indians traded Chris Perez to Miami... You ready for this? In return they got Catcher Jacob Realmuto and 3B Yerfi Perez. They also designated Nick Hagadone for assignment as they activated Roberto Hernandez and sent him on a rehab assignment. Big changes?

July (12-14)
- By the 6th of July, the Indians had a 36-46 record and had climbed up to third place and just five games back of the division lead.
- Carlos Santana was selected to the All-Star team.
- July 3rd: The Indians made another trade, shipping Josh Tomlin to Baltimore for outfielder Jai Miller and starting prospect Nick Maronde.
- July 7th: Shelley Duncan was DFAed. Caw.
- July 10th: Roberto Hernandez was called up to the big league roster.

August (13-16)
- At the 16th, the team remained five games back with a 51-67 record and in last place. Chicago was only 55-61 and in first place and the fourth place team was Kansas City and they were just a game and a half back. I'm dead serious.
- August 5th: Travis Hafner hit the disabled list for the first time and Russ Canzler was called up.
- August 12th: Roberto Hernandez was designated for assignment after just six starts in which he compiled a 1-3 record and a 9.53 ERA.
- August 13th: CC Lee! The rookie is called up.

September/October (13-16)
- Finish Strong!.... I guess... The Tribe was 58-77 and in last towards the start of the month and then would wind up finishing at 70 and 92 and tied for fourth (and tied for last?). The Royals would share that record and spot with them while the Twins were 73-89 and in third, with Chicago finishing at 79-83, just a few games out of first.
- Jason Donald, Michael Brantley, and Lonnie Chisenhall were all recalled.

Rankings
These are not pretty...

Runs - 674 (13th - AL)
SB - 40 (14th - AL) --- Really, 40 stolen bases? Ouch.
BB - 573 (4th - AL)
ERA - 4.48 (12th - AL)
BPEN ERA - 3.46 (5th - AL) Mafia!
K - 1112 (10th - AL)

Players

Justin Masterson: 5-18, 5.44 ERA, 130 K
Derek Lowe: 10-16, 4.26 ERA, 115 K
Ubaldo Jimenez: 10-16, 4.74 ERA, 177 K
Kevin Slowey: 10-10, 4.55 ERA, 139 K
Vinnie Pestano: 7-3, 19 SV, 2.82 ERA, 61 K
CC Lee: 1-0, 2.08 ERA, 21 K in 17.1 IP

Carlos Santana: .277 AVG, .375 OBP, 29 HR, 102 RBI (Lead Team in All)
Shin-Soo Choo: .267 AVG, .352 OBP, 15 HR, 66 RBI, 9 SB (SB Led Team)
Asdrubal Cabrera: .270 AVG, .322 OBP, 13 HR, 74 RBI
Travis Hafner: .236 AVG, .338 OBP, 17 HR, 48 RBI
Jason Kipnis: .222 AVG, .283 OBP, 12 HR, 51 RBI, 4 SB
Russ Canzler: .214 AVG, 5 HR, 21 RBI in 74 Games
Grady Sizemore: .252 AVG, 11 HR, 41 RBI, 4 SB in 87 Games
Carlos Pena: 11 HR, 48 RBI in 77 Games

Summary

Wow and you thought the slow start for the Indians in real life was depressing? Look at this... I mean, this is depressing. Masterson loses 18 games, the team trades Francisco Lindor for Carlos freaking Pena, and then trades Chris Perez and Josh Tomlin. Roberto Hernandez comes back to get killed and DFAed, and Grady Sizemore plays, but is, meh.

I mean, that's depressing. Especially when Detroit wins with a 81-81 record and goes on to win the World Series. I don't think any of that will happen in real life, but... man.

Screenshots