Lazy Easter Sunday Looking for a New Start

Another loss and all I can wonder is, “Where, oh where, is that “RESET” button?”
0-5, the Tribe’s worst start since 1985, the starters giving up 30 earned runs in 20 /13 innings pitched, the offense unable to get a big hit, and on and on and on…

Before we roll off into the usual Sunday links, I think it’s best to first get some things off of my chest on this 5-game start…mainly to see if it makes me feel any better.

Yes, it’s early and a 5-game losing streak is magnified by it occurring at the beginning of the season, meaning that we all need to sit back, relax, and let the season get into the rhythm that a baseball season does, right?

Well, sort of, as certainly 5 games a season does not make, regardless of when it occurs on the calendar; but there are some serious concerns about this team that are starting to reveal themselves, 5 games or not.

Right off the bat, the Indians have been outscored by a total of 22 runs with 47 runs allowed…the most in MLB (10 more than the Nationals) against 25 runs scored. This is important because, usually over the course of a season, the number of runs scored against the number of runs allowed usually gives a pretty good indication of a team’s final record. It’s not an exact science, but it is close enough that it’s found some footing as an indicator of how a team’s winning percentage shakes out. The fact that they’re already 22 runs in the hole in run differential after 5 games speaks to the fact that the Indians aren’t just losing…they’re getting blown out and that multiple aspects of the team are faltering.

The starters have been otherworldly bad (that much is obvious at even a cursory glance) and Cliff Lee has now given up 11 earned runs, a number he didn’t compile until May 24th of last year in his 9th start of the year. While most people thought that Lee was due for a bit of a downturn from his magical 2008, “a bit of a downturn” is an awfully kind way to describe what he’s done thus far. The caveat that “it’s still early” still applies, but the command on Lee’s fastball simply isn’t there and (at least according to Fangraphs), the frequency of him throwing that fastball that dictated his success last year has gone from him throwing 70.1% of his pitches as fastballs last year to suddenly only throwing 57.0% of his pitches as fastballs in his two starts this year. Is that because he knows that his fastball command is not as sharp and is trying, suddenly, to mix up his pitches because of the lack of command with his fastballs?

I don’t know, but it is telling that the percentage of strikes that he’s throwing is down considerably as 60.7% of his pitches in 2009 have been strikes versus 69.3% of his pitches in 2008 being strikes. In what is not a very good sign, that 2009 strike percentage is worse than even his 2007 number (64.5% of pitches thrown were strikes), so it bears watching as Lee’s success in 2008 was a direct result of him spotting his fastball time after time for strikes, generally early in the count, resulting in low pitch counts, a high percentage of strikes, and longer and usually successful outings. To this point, Lee has been nearly the opposite, struggling with his fastball command, getting behind early in the count, and logging high pitch counts. It is two starts…this, I know…but I also know that those two starts look like a sharp departure from the approach and the results of his 2008 Cy Young season.

And unfortunately, as bad as Lee has looked, the whole pitching staff has seemed to follow suit as 13 Indians’ pitchers have given up runs in 45 innings.
Read that again, and yes, the fact that Scott Lewis is on now the DL means that there’s been 13 pitchers on the roster after 5 games, but EVERY single pitcher who has thrown for the Tribe this year has given up at least one earned run.
Every. Single. One.

In 2008, during their bad start last year, they didn’t give up 47 runs until their 10th game (a loss, which ran their record to 4-6…a record that looks awfully good right now) and the Indians didn’t have 13 pitchers with an earned run last year until their 26th game of the season on April 28th in New York.

The struggles are significant and they are widespread.
Now, throw into the hopper that the starter who, at least on paper, had the best start is off to the DL with that horrible “elbow strain” that could go in so many different directions and it means that the evolution of this team (which is a topic that I’ll share some thoughts on early this week) is on already.

We all knew that this rotation was going to be a work in progress with different names and arms sharing innings until the right mix of players was found, but not this early and not with the Indians ALREADY skipping Anthony Reyes in the rotation as a “precautionary measure.”

But even past the rotation, the bullpen has been spotty at best as they’ve been unable to stop the bleeding initiated by the Tribe starters or have been unable to hold the opposition in check long enough for a comeback to materialize, much less hold a lead. To date, Zach Jackson, Masa Kobayashi, and The Incredible Chulk have been the best relievers…does that even look right? There are two pitchers on the pitching staff with WHIP’s under 1.70 and only one pitcher (Masa) who is holding the opposition to a batting average lower than .250 in their brief appearances.

If the rotation is a concern, the bullpen’s performance thus far constitutes a bit of worry as, while they haven’t been able to really pitch with a lead and go into the progression that figures to define their roles, they’ve collectively looked bad.

That “collectively looking bad”, though is the worrisome part of all of this is that the Indians, with the possible exception of the Saturday game when Peralta’s 2B was nearly a HR and Shoppach’s drop on the tag of Millar cost the Indians a run, aren’t losing because of luck or a bad bounce. Rather, they’re losing because they simply never find themselves in a position to win or to make any real threat of victory as the performance of the pitching staff has sabotaged every game thus far.

Sure, there are some bright spots (and I say this cautiously…“Is that you…Pronk?”) and it is still extremely early, but the manner in which the Indians are losing doesn’t translate into just having one or two players pick up the slack.
Widespread Panic may be premature, but the feeling is mounting.

With that unpleasantness finally out of the way, and it didn’t feel real good to get that off of my chest, let’s finally get rolling on a bit of a Lazy Sunday before I have to go pick up all of those thin green plastic strips masquerading as “grass” that fill Easter baskets as The DiaperTribe thought it would be fun to decorate the first floor with them.

Nevertheless we’re off:
Terry Pluto starts us off with some random thoughts on slow starts, Cliff Lee, the offense and correctly summarizing that “It is still early, but the Indians must turn things around soon, or it really will be too late.”

Castrovince keeps the ball rolling with a myriad of stats that can ruin anyone’s day and throws this beauty of a line out there – “Lee insisted his fastball location was fine today. And it's times like these when I wonder why we even bother interviewing guys after games.”

Courtesy of ’64 and Counting, here’s Mark Shapiro on WCPN last week talking Tribe (he shows up @ the 37 minute mark), taking phone calls from listeners and talking about DiamondView, the Indians’ oft-discussed computer database that they rely on to assist them in their personnel decisions.

I’m not sure why, but everytime I hear about DiamondView, I think of that guy standing next to the Super Computer in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, which has been programmed to reveal the location of three remaining golden tickets.
“I am now telling the computer EXACTLY what he can do with a lifetime supply of chocolate…”
Don’t ask me why so many things I encounter remind me of “Willy Wonka”…just don’t.

One of the guys I imagine to be standing around this giant computer in a white lab coat, Keith Woolner, had a revealing chat with Baseball Prospectus (his former employer), even if he didn’t get into any specific players. Woolner lets loose a couple of very insightful quotes in the chat saying, “Ticket revenue is still a huge part of our business, and anything that affects it has ripple effects on the rest of our decision making. It's an area of great concern” as well as saying that, “The sabermetric community has a lot of wonderful ideas, and we're not averse to cherry-picking the best of them. The biggest difference is that clubs have data that the public doesn't have access to, so there are practical limits to what the community can help with”.

But the line of the whole chat comes when Woolner is asked how he likes living in Cleveland and concludes that, “I like to tell people that Cleveland is a great product with bad marketing.”
That’s pretty solid.

If you’re looking for some good news related to the Indians, it’s not much but Joe Posnanski’s Indians’ all-time team defeated Bill James’ Red Sox all-time team in the Seamheads Historical League to win the World Series. It’s something that Pos has been talking about, in terms of where it ranks with Cleveland Sports History, and not unlike my unsuccessful attempt to improve on the Indians’ 1986 season a few years ago on The Sporting News…but, let’s face it – we need something positive these days to stave off our worry.

Enjoy your Sunday, be it Easter or just a beautiful Spring Sunday, and let’s hope that this start is something we all look back on one day and laugh about in a few months…because I need a good laugh when thinking about the Tribe these days.

A good laugh and one win…is that really too much to ask for?

U-G-L-Y Tomahawks

Well, this isn’t how this season was supposed to start, is it?
Getting swept at the hands of the Rangers (THE RANGERS?!?) is not the ideal start to the season and while, yes, this is just the first three games of the season…yes, on the road, certainly some things that were a concern prior to the season reared their ugly heads and made us all the more aware of what to look for over the course of the next two weeks to see if some of the problems in the rotation early on are simply aberrations or…well, if this is what we’re looking at.

Particularly concerning was the performances from the front two in the Indians’ rotation (remember, the ones we supposedly “know” about or at least have some semblance of expectations for) as Lee and Carmona allowed 13 ER in 10 innings while allowing an average of 2 baserunners per inning pitched. Say what you will about one start, first start, and on and on - that…that’s not a formula for success at the top end of the rotation.

Past them, you had the man who is vying to be heretofore known as Carl Pav-OH NO, if 1 inning of work (and I use the term “work” VERY loosely) can teach us anything. Look, I thought Pavano was going to be bad. I didn’t think he’d make it to the end of May, but what he did today was an abomination…and I have no use for that, particularly from the pitcher purported to be the #3 starter in the rotation.
As much as I truly hope that Pavano bounces back from this and proves me wrong, it must be said - let the Carl Pavano Death Watch commence….now.

Of course, the bullpen didn’t fare much better as it’s saying something about your pitching staff when Kobayashi, The Zach Attack, and Joe Smith were the most impressive pitchers in the first series.
Quick show of hands, who had that troika locking down the bullpen?

Sadly, by the time the offense finally found that Arlington jet stream, most of the games were out of hand or became untenable as Ranger hitters launched bomb after bomb into the Texas night. We all knew that the Texas offense was dangerous, but isn’t the idea that most teams should be able to stay with them on the scoreboard in these pinball games?

OK, breathe…and…nevertheless, the season is underway and it’s time to let those Tomahawks fly:
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While the hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth has started with C.P. Lee’s outing in the Opener, let’s take a quick step back and see how Lee and the other pitchers that finished in the top 5 in ERA in MLB in 2008 fared in their first outing. While I know that ERA is an imperfect measure of a pitcher’s performance, due to things that can happen after a pitcher leaves a game among others, I’ll simply use it to illustrate a point as the pitchers that finished in the top 5 were obviously among the best 6 or 8 pitchers from last year.
Here’s how each fared in their first 2009 appearance:
Johan Santana (2.53 ERA in 2008)
5 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 7 K

Cliff Lee (2.54 ERA in 2008)
5 IP, 7 ER, 10 H, 1 BB, 5 K

Tim Lincecum (2.62 ERA in 2008)
3 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 5 K

CC Sabathia (2.70 ERA in 2008)
4 1/3 IP, 6 ER, 8 H, 5 BB, 0 K

Roy Halladay (2.78 ERA in 2008)
7 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 2 K

Outside of Santana, the other top pitchers of 2008 laid eggs in their respective Opening Day appearances. Lincecum went 3 innings, Halladay gave up 2 HR, and CC…well, more on that in a bit. The point is that very little can truly be gleaned from one regular season start (even under the bright lights of Opening Day) and even if you consider that Lee had a lousy Spring, he was awful in Winter Haven last year, so what can truly be taken from Spring Training numbers and one start?

Is it fair to take into consideration that Lee’s career ERA is now 8.56 in Arlington, worst among all parks he’s ever pitched in and worst by a long shot (5.91 in Yankee Stadium and 5.79 in Fenway being the next worst road ERA), and took a ball off of his pitching forearm, which may or may not have affected his performance, directly or indirectly?

I’m not trying to make excuses for Lee here (though looking at it, it certainly looks like I am), but can we wait until maybe the end of the month of April before writing off Lee’s 2008 as a “fluke” and calling him a middle-of-the-rotation starter?

Doesn’t the Cy Young Award the previous year merit some sort of “grace period” before Lee is decried as closer to his 2007 self than his 2008?
Didn’t a wise man (or at least someone thought at one time to be a wise man), once tell us that “all we need is just a little patience…patience”?

OK, stop whistling and doing your Axl dance…
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Much more concerning than the performance of Lee was Fausto’s first start as it looked eerily similar to the way that Carmona pitched in 2008, even before the hip injury put him on the shelf. High pitch count (95 in 5 innings), giving up walks (2 in the 5 IP), giving up too many hard hit balls that have no chance of turning into GIDP…it was all there again.

Remember how all off-season, I stressed that even more important than Lee coming back as closer to his 2008 than his 2007 was Fausto coming back like 2007, not 2008 (confused by those years yet)?

After one start by each, we got Cliff Lee v.2007 (the one that spent some time in Buffalo) and Fausto v.2008 (the one that walked more players than he struck out).

Again, it’s early and these two have earned a longer look than to simply come to these snap decisions (unlike, say, that other guy that pitched – goes by Pav-OH NO!), but Carmona’s performance in 2009 could determine whether the Indians have a steady top of the rotation or a shaky one.
So, yeah, he’s pretty important and his first outing didn’t exactly allay many fears.
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Back to the Hefty Lefty, in case you missed the first overreaction by the NY media to CC’s clunker, here’s the NY Post from the day after the game, forwarded by reader Carolyn Bushey, who seems to enjoy every misstep (or potential misstep) by the “aCCe” even more than I do.

The wordsmiths in Gotham had just as much fun as the folks that come up with the pun-filled headlines (I’m sure there’s an actual title for that position), as George A. King III led off his recap of the Opener in Camden with:
Which was worse? The endless tease or the putrid first impressions?
Good luck with that CC…

Actually, Yankee “fans”, I wouldn’t worry too much about CC’s first start as he’s a notoriously slow starter. What I'd be more worried about is that CC is at his worst when he puts pressure on himself or “pushes” himself to get better. Do you think that attempting to justify a $161M contract might force him to put pressure on himself?

Even more than what presumably happens between CC’s ears, what about that left wing and the miles it has logged over the past two year? Over the past two years, CC has led MLB in innings as he was one of only 13 MLB pitchers to log 200 innings or more in both 2007 and 2008. Take a look at the inning totals of those 13 pitchers in the last two years, including their post-season totals:
CC Sabathia
513 IP (19 Playoff IP)

Brandon Webb
476 (13 Playoff IP)

Roy Halladay
471 1/3 IP

James Shields
455 IP (25 Playoff IP)

Johan Santana
453 1/3 IP

Dan Haren
438 2/3 IP

Mark Buehrle
426 2/3 IP (7 Playoff IP)

Gil Meche
426 1/3 IP

Andy Pettitte
425 2/3 IP (6 1/3 Playoff IP)

Javier Vazquez
425 IP

Matt Cain
417 2/3 IP

Bronson Arroyo
410 2/3 IP

Justin Verlander
402 2/3 IP

Now, Bob Feller and his feelings on pitch and inning counts be damned, CC has averaged more than 250 IP over the last two years. Throw in the news that Brandon Webb (2nd on the list of IP) is experiencing “arm trouble” obvious enough for an insurance company to raise “red flags” that caused the D-Backs to pull an extension offer off of the table and this CC-NY situation gets very interesting. Certainly, it’s possible that Sabathia is that rarest of breeds, able to withstand the wear and tear of logging this many innings, but let’s just say that if he’s not…umm…those guys that write the headlines?
Yeah, they’re going to have a field day.
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Want some good news?
How about YOUR Akron Aeros winning their Opener 9-5 as Hector Rondon let up only one run 5 2/3 strong innings while notching 6 K, Carlos Rivero had 2 RBI and Carlos Santana hit a 3-run HR and compiled 4 RBI.
It’s been said before, but if you’re in the vicinity of either the Aeros or the Clippers this year, the talent on those two teams is as good as it’s been in the Indians’ organization since the mid-1990’s in terms of potential impact players. Obviously, a lot can happen between Akron and Cleveland (and I don’t just mean driving through the likes of Brecksville on I-77), but some of these players in Akron have the potential to be very special, very soon.

I know…I hate looking for silver linings in AA too.
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Realizing that the popular thing to do after a few games is to declare a player “done” or say that two or three games is enough for anyone to take an educated stance on what 2009 holds in store for a player, this Travis Hafner evolution bears watching.

Watching his AB thus far, I’m confused about what he’s trying to do with the ball – is he trying to take advantage of the shift by going the other way…or does that mean that his bat speed is down, is he trying too hard to turn on one…or is he only able to do that when the ball’s not coming in over 90 MPH?

Obviously, it was nice to deposit one in the RF bleachers (meaning he turned on it, even if it was 84 MPH), but maybe the thing to watch with Hafner (outside of how long he stays in the #4 hole) that may lend a clue as to what people who are paid to know what’s happening with Hafner or what to expect from an AB by him would be to see how long this shift to the right side of the infield continues.

If opposing scouts tell their teams that Hafner no longer has the bat speed to catch up to a fastball, the shift no longer becomes necessary for Hafner, who may be going the other way because that’s what he CAN do right now. For me, if every team that the Indians play stops employing that shift, it means that our eyes aren’t the only ones saying that Hafner’s swing isn’t what it used to be.
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Finally, if you’re heading to the second of the two city-wide holidays happening Friday with the Home Opener (St. Patrick’s Day is the other…and by “city-wide holiday”, I mean “excuse to drink all day downtown with 100,000 of your closest friends), have one for me. While I’ll likely head downtown after the game for some cocktails, I’ve always fancied myself as a bit more of a “Second Game” kind of guy – amongst my people, the other 8,000 frigid souls that brave the April weather to watch an early-season baseball game without the pomp and ceremony of the Home Opener. Not that there’s anything wrong with enjoying a few cold drinks (that sometimes feature a thin layer of ice on the top) during the Home Opener, I just find those April weekday night games more enjoyable…I know, call me crazy.

Regardless, if you’re heading down to the Home Opener – be safe, enjoy that Fish Fry Special at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, dress warm, have fun…and, above all else, bring home a win for the rest of us…we need it.

All Is Not Lost

After all of the excitement, all of the anticipation of Monday’s Opener in Arlington, I have to say that Opening Day 2009 could really not have gone worse for yours truly. From being home with a sick 2-year-old – no, seriously, not just to watch the 2 PM game, I have a doctor’s trip to prove it…juxtaposed right between watching Hafner looking like he did last year (hello, inning-ending GIDP) and listening to Hank Blalock making Cliff Lee look like he did in 2007 – to watching the snow fall all day long on the North Coast, it was pretty rotten.

Factoring in that I didn’t see the Blalock HR until 5:45 this morning on the 2nd replay on STO as I sat on the couch with a sick little boy who couldn’t sleep (yes, the last 48 hours have been that bad) because yesterday was so hectic…and I hope you start to feel my pain.

Just a brutal day, even if I got to talk Tribe with the Doctor as The DiaperTribe sat, sad face and all, on the paper covering for the patient table. By the way, he thinks the Indians’ year is a “real black box”, because nobody knows what we have in store for us and wishes he could get a team of nine Grady Sizemores…this, of course, after prescribing an antibiotic for my wearied and worn boy.

For a moment, though, let’s all remove ourselves from “Suicide Watch” after 1 game and put our shoelaces back in and put our belts back on. It’s time to remember that, as much as we all looked forward to the Opener as it represented a new beginning and an end to a long winter (though not really as the snow is still falling in Cleveland), Monday’s game represents 0.62% of the season, which is comparable to about the first 6 minutes of a 16-game NFL season. That’s season…not game.

We’ve got a LONG way to go and while there were certainly some discouraging signs, namely Lee, Lewis, and the lifeless offense, let’s all take a deep breath and relax.

That is, unless Fausto walks 8 on Wednesday night in 3 innings and the Indians get shut down by Vicente Padilla.
Because if that happens, make some room on that ledge.
Just kidding…I think.

What Lies Ahead

In lieu of the average season preview, it’s time to unleash the 2nd version of a modified “Season in Preview”, complete with inane incidents, fabricated numbers, and outright frivolity of what may come to pass this season. While the events that follow are wildly unlikely to happen in this order, it is one man’s best guess as we stand at the precipice of another glorious baseball season as to what 2009 holds in store for us.

The ups and downs, the surprises and disappointments…they’re all here as I kick back and let my mind just go:
April 6th vs. Texas - Season Opener
Proving once again that Spring Training stats are meaningless, reigning Cy Young Award winner Clifton Phifer Lee picks up right where he left off in 2008, pounding the strike zone with his fastball all afternoon and going 8 innings of shutout baseball before turning the ball over to Kerry Wood to close out the 9th for the 1st of his 38 saves of the year as the Indians start out their season on the right foot, winning 3-0. The offense is keyed by a big day for 1B Victor Martinez, who miraculously avoids injuring himself and blasts the first 2 of his 24 HR that he will hit in 2009, knocking in all 3 of the runs.

April 10th vs. Toronto - Home Opener
In his first start of the year, newly minted 4th starter Scott Lewis recaptures the success that he found early in Spring Training, lasting 6 innings against the Blue Jays allowing only 4 baserunners and 2 runs. Despite a scare in the 7th inning from Rafael Perez, who gives up 2 more runs in what will be the first of his early rough appearances attributed to “WBCitis”, the Indians’ early offense carries them to a 5-4 win as Kerry Wood makes his Progressive Field debut to much acclaim and fanfare by notching his 3rd save of the young season. The start signifies a stretch of competency for Lewis, who fills out the rotation adequately (when healthy) as he eventually finds himself 3rd on the team in wins at end of year with 9, yes…3rd on the team with 9 wins.

April 16th vs. New York (AL) - Opening Day @ Yankee Stadium
Connecting on the very first pitch thrown by new Yankees “ace” CC Sabathia in new Yankee Stadium, Grady Sizemore wallops the first of his 2 HR of the day off of his former teammate, making his Yankee debut. The superhuman efforts, and 5 RBI, by Sizemore prove to not be enough, despite Sabathia going only 4 innings as his pitch count tops 100 after only netting 10 outs. The day is saved for Yankee “fans” (and ESPN) as the Yankees score 5 runs off of Rafael Betancourt and Rafael Perez in the 6th and 7th innings, allowing the Yankees to take the day while CC is left to face a horde of NY reporters and tell them that he was NOT overly amped up to face his former team on Opening Day. It is the first such uncomfortable session of many throughout the year that Sabathia and the NY media will endure.

April 20th
David Dellucci is activated from the DL, as the Indians send Trevor Crowe, who had gone 1-3 in his very brief time with the Indians, back to Columbus for everyday AB to prepare him for the more permanent spot on the roster that awaits him in less than a month.

April 24th vs. Minnesota
For the second time in his three starts, Carl Pavano is pulled before getting out of the 4th inning as Zach Jackson relieves the Tribe’s ineffective “reclamation project”. Jackson does not fare much better as the Twins batter the Indians’ pitchers (a regrettable combination of Pavano, Jackson, and Kobayashi) for a final score of 14-5. With the win, the Twins assume first place in the Central, a spot they will not relinquish for the next five months as their strong starting pitching paces them and allows the team to assert itself as the leader of the pack in the Central for much of the season.

April 26th vs. Minnesota
Laying waste to a solid starting effort by Anthony Reyes, Masa Kobayashi gives up 5 runs in the 6th inning as Eric Wedge attempts to save his beleaguered pen (consistently overtaxed in the early season by short starts from Pavano, Lewis, and Reyes) for the defending AL Champion Red Sox, who come to town the next day. After the game, the Indians cut ties with Kobayashi, eating his $3M salary and calling Spring Training darling Vinnie “The Incredible” Chulk up to the parent club to replace Kobayashi on the team. Upon hearing the news, Kobayashi loads up the Wal-Mart shopping cart that he has inexplicably brought into the clubhouse with his “suction” machine, his home eyebrow waxing kit, and other gadgets to return to Japan, never to return stateside.

April 29th vs. Boston
After taking the first two games in the series from the BoSox, the Indians are unable to complete the home sweep when, after loading the bases against Boston closer Jonathon Papelbon down by 1 run, the erstwhile rally is snuffed out when Travis Hafner weakly grounds out to Dustin Pedroia, who initiates a 4-6-3 game-ending double play. The game-ending DP drops Hafner’s season OPS below .600 as his struggles from 2008 have carried into 2009 despite only playing a little over half of the games the Indians have played. In his post-game press conference, The Atomic Wedgie announces that Hafner will be dropped from the #3 hole in the lineup, which he has occupied in his limited starts, to the #6 spot in the lineup to “take some of the pressure off” of Hafner that he is allegedly putting on himself. Replacing Hafner between DeRosa and Martinez (who will drop to the #4 hole) on a full-time basis is SS Choo, who has shown early in 2009 that his second half of 2008 was no fluke as he leads the team in 2B and SLG, sitting at or near the top of both categories in all of the AL, through the first month.

May 3rd vs. Detroit
Despite making only his 3rd start of the season after being skipped in the rotation twice because of cautiousness about his elbow, Anthony Reyes leaves the game in the 4th inning complaining of “elbow discomfort”. In his first two starts, Reyes has been competent, if babied by the coaching staff in terms of pitch counts, allowing only 1 run in 11 innings in his first two starts. The “elbow discomfort” is diagnosed as tendonitis, which lands Reyes on the DL, a spot that he will not leave through the end of the year. In a surprise move, Jeremy Sowers is recalled to replace him in the rotation as Sowers’ performance in Columbus has vastly outpaced that of Aaron Laffey, the other assumed candidate to replace Reyes.

May 5th vs. Toronto
Fausto Carmona pitches 8 scoreless innings to run his consecutive scoreless inning total to 25 as he mows his way through the Blue Jay lineup in only 75 pitches before giving way to Kerry Wood, who has yet to allow a run as the Indians’ closer. Carmona is named the AL Pitcher of the Month in April, narrowly edging out Cliff Lee as Wedge sniffs in his post-game press conference that, “if it weren’t for those two at the top of the rotation and Wood and Lewis in the bullpen…I don’t want to think about where we may be this early in the season.”

May 9th vs. Detroit
Pinch-hitting for Ryan Garko in the 8th inning, Dave Dellucci pulls up lame as he attempts to leg out a weak grounder to 2B. He will return to the DL with the same calf issue that sidelined him at the end of Spring Training, replaced by Trevor Crowe who returns to the team after thriving in Columbus as an everyday OF over the course of the previous month. Little does anyone know it at the time, but it will represent Double-D’s final appearance in an Indians’ uniform as the injury will keep him on the DL for the next month and when he is ready to return, he is DFA’d by the club, cutting ties with The Looch.

May 16th vs. Tampa Bay
Zach Jackson comes in for Carl Pavano in the 2nd inning as each pitcher lets up 6 runs apiece over the first 5 innings of a laugher against the Rays. As the two seem to be competing for the worst ERA and WHIP on the team…no, make that the league, Wedge intimates to the beat reporters in the post-game presser that changes may be afoot. Those changes reveal themselves the next morning when the team announces that Carl Pavano (and his ERA over 7.00 and WHIP over 2.00) has been released and that Zach Jackson (and his ERA over 7.50 and WHIP over 2.25) has been sent to Columbus with Aaron Laffey and John Meloan being promoted to take their places in the rotation and the bullpen. Pavano blames the cold weather for his woes and leaves the clubhouse in a huff, while Jackson is told to keep himself ready for the garbage innings that he’ll be sure to eat up as the starters beyond Lee and Carmona (which, from this point forward is Lewis, Sowers, and Laffey…for now) continue to struggle to go further than the requisite 5th inning.

May 24th vs. Cincinnati
Ben Francisco hits his 3rd HR of the season in the 9th inning, becoming the last player in the lineup that day to have at least one extra-base hit. The Indians, with Francisco’s HR providing the nail in the coffin for the Reds, sweep their in-state rivals with a 12-8 victory that gets the team back to the .500 mark for the season. The 12 runs scored puts the Indians back at the top of the AL in runs scored as the AL leader board for offensive categories is littered with the names “Sizemore”, “Peralta”, “Choo”, and “Martinez”.

May 30th vs. New York (AL)
Kelly Shoppach hits 2 HR in his first 2 AB of the game off of Yankees’ starter AJ Burnett, who leaves the game after the 4th inning with what is reported as “shoulder tenderness” which will ultimately lead to Burnett being placed on the DL three weeks later. The early scoring output is enough to win the game for the Indians, who find themselves locked down by the New York bullpen after Burnett’s departure. Ironically, the player who struggles most against the Yankee relievers is Shoppach, who strikes out in his final 3 AB of the game in what turns out to be a microcosm of the season for Shoppach, who finishes the year with the most HR of all AL catchers (despite playing only 130 games), but also leading all AL catchers in K…by a wide margin.

June 2nd vs. Minnesota
In the 54th game of the season, the AL Central leading Twins shut out the Indians with Francisco Liriano whiffing 13 Cleveland players. The game is monumental as Travis Hafner finally notches his 100th AB of the season (yes, in the 54th game) as the Indians’ reluctance to play Hafner in consecutive games has evolved into Hafner only seeing the field 1 to 2 games a week. Despite the rest, Hafner’s shoulder remains a nagging problem though, as neither the Indians’ medical staff nor specialists brought in to examine Hafner’s shoulder are able to pinpoint the problem, much less rectify it. In the plate appearances that he has netted, Hafner has shown the same predilection for soft grounders and lazy fly balls that plagued his 2008 season as his OPS has not (and will not) see the north side of .600.

June 9th vs. Kansas City
Scott Lewis earns his 6th win of the season by pulling a “5 and fly” that has become his specialty as a Tribe starter. The game is preserved by the emerging dominance in the bullpen as Rafael Perez (who has shaken off the “WBCitits”) and Jensen Lewis continue establish themselves as tremendous bridges from the 6th inning to the nastiness of Kerry Wood at the back end. The middle relievers remain in flux, with Joe Smith thriving against tough RHP and with John Meloan working his way up the Wedge ladder of progression in the bullpen, but the stabilization of the 7th and 8th innings that Perez and Lewis have provided has ensured many victories when the Indians’ starters hand them a late-game lead.

June 12th vs. St. Louis
Albert Pujols hits 3 HR in his first visit to the corner of Carnegie and Ontario since his 2001 rookie campaign. The victim of the first of the two moonshots, Jeremy Sowers, is sent down to Columbus after again finding it difficult to translate his early AAA success into MLB competence. In his 7 starts since being recalled from Columbus to replace an injured Anthony Reyes, Sowers’ ERA has hovered between 5.00 and 6.00 while he has walked more batters than he has struck out. To replace him in the revolving-door-rotation, the Indians add Dave Huff to the 40-man roster and promote him to Cleveland. Huff earned the promotion after starting the season off slowly in Columbus when he was asked to skip starts at the beginning of the season as the Indians’ gave Huff and his tendonitis the “kid-glove” treatment. Once the Indians’ deep thinkers took the reins off of Huff, he responded with a 6-start stretch that saw him average more than a K an inning and garner more strikeouts than hits allowed and BB allowed combined. Huff will continue his hot streak into Cleveland as he quickly establishes himself as the Indians’ 3rd best starter.

June 17th vs. Milwaukee
In a win against the Brew Crew, Jhonny Peralta goes 4 for 5 with 2 doubles and 1 HR, lending the stability in the #5 hole that he does all season while lengthening the quality and depth of the lineup. Peralta, as he has for what seems like forever, provides a consistent bat in the middle of the lineup while not producing gaudy numbers, but never prone to the extended slumps that other players experience. His consistency is all the more remarkable when his movement between SS and 3B is considered as Peralta has seen 15 starts at 3B as Mark DeRosa has been asked to pick up some of the offensive slack at LF and at 1B, forcing Peralta to occasionally move to his right to cover 3B as DeRosa makes his way around the field as holes reveal themselves on the roster.

June 20th vs. Chicago (NL)
After dropping the first game of the series to the North Siders, the Indians take the Saturday afternoon tilt, thanks to a Mark DeRosa HR in the 9th inning that puts the Indians in front by a score of 5-4. DeRosa, despite the fact that he just hit a 9th inning HR off of the Cubs, is given a standing ovation by the Chicago crowd, which is dotted with “DEROSA 7” jerseys, bearing both Cubs and Indians logos. The lovefest continues for former Cubbies as Kerry Wood enters the game on the heels of DeRosa’s heroics to strike out the side as the (probably drunk) Cub faithful inexplicably cheer Wood on as if he was going for strikeouts #18, #19, and #20 as a 20-year-old wunderkind.
After the game, a not-so-random-group of Indians’ fans celebrates the day…at a site to be determined at a later date.

June 25th vs. Pittsburgh
Ryan Garko, manning LF to “keep his bat in the lineup” despite an OPS under .700, runs headlong into a wall at PNC Park, catapulting him into the stands on the 3rd base side. Garko is tended to by Indians’ trainer Lonnie Soloff, who helps a hobbled Garko off of the field with an assist from Mark DeRosa. After the game (a 9-4 win by the Tribe), Garko is placed on the DL with a thigh injury as the wall gets the better of the meeting. The Indians promote Matt LaPorta from AAA Columbus, where he has posted a eye-popping .625 Slugging Percentage and leads the team in most offensive categories not led by Michael Brantley (OBP and steals), to take Garko’s spot in the convoluted “platoon” of 1B/LF/DH which earns LaPorta a spot in the lineup nearly every day as Hafner’s shoulder and Francisco’s measured mediocrity make the chance available for LaPorta to thrive in MLB.

June 30th vs. Chicago (AL)
Lowering his ERA below 2.75, Fausto Carmona throws a 3-hitter against the flummoxed Pale Hose, the start coming on the heels of an 8-inning masterpiece by Cliff Lee against the South Siders that push the Indians again back above the .500 mark and push the White Sox below the Royals into 4th place. Carmona, speaking without an interpreter, tells the gathered press corps that this season has been great and all, but that he’s not really even trying out there. He explains further to them that he’s just throwing the ball to the catcher’s mitt. In the locker beside him, Victor Martinez is no longer able to contain the smile that he had been suppressing.

July 3rd vs. Oakland
In an appearance that rivals the post-game fireworks, Rafael Betancourt gives up a towering Grand Slam to Jason Giambi in the 6th inning as Betancourt’s command issues continue. After being relegated to mop-up duty (and looking up at Vinnie Chulk on the bullpen ladder), Betancourt is unable to find the success that he experienced even prior to his 2007 dominant season. After the game, Betancourt is placed on the DL with back spasms and replaced by LHP Tony Sipp, who had been serving as the Clippers’ closer in AAA to much acclaim as (finally fully healthy) he had found success against both LH and RH hitters to the tune of an otherworldly 8.5 K/BB rate.

July 9th
In a bit of a surprise, Asdrubal Cabrera is named as a reserve on the AL All-Star team, joining starting OF Grady Sizemore and pitchers Fausto Carmona and Cliff Lee, on the strength of his .850 OPS as a 2B (second only in the AL to the Red-Sox-2B-whose-name-shall-not-be-mentioned) and his nearly nightly appearance on Baseball Tonight’s “Web Gems” segment. AL Manager Joe Maddon tells the exasperated New York press (who assumed that Robinson Cano would get the nod despite poor defense and a sub-700 OPS) that he knows defense and that he knows real talent when he sees it and that Cabrera is the best defensive middle infielder in the AL, and knows it because he (like everyone else) still sees “Web Gems” despite judiciously watching it with the TV on “Mute”.

July 17th vs. Seattle
After notching his 9th win of the season with another patented “5 and Fly”, Scott Lewis complains of a pulling in his ribcage, which is diagnosed as an oblique strain that will land SLewis on the DL. Coincidentally, Lewis’ start against the M’s falls on the same day as Jake Westbrook’s rehab appearance in Akron as Westbrook’s long road back from Tommy John surgery and hip surgery looks to finally lead back to Cleveland. After a brief roster shuffle that puts Rich Rundles on the team for an uneventful 4 days, Westbrook returns to the team to assume Lewis’ spot in the rotation, behind a cruising Dave Huff and in front of an on-again-off-again Aaron Laffey, where his presence will allow the starting rotation to finally settle into some semblance of consistent effectiveness.

July 23rd vs. Toronto
With Victor Martinez already playing in his 60th game at 1B because of Ryan Garko’s injury, Ben Francisco’s inconsistency and Travis Hafner’s struggles (which have allowed Matt LaPorta to play every day without taking AB away from Vic at 1B), and the Indians’ push to keep Kelly Shoppach’s bat in the lineup, the Indians win a 2-1 game in Rogers Centre as Cliff Lee outpitches Roy Halladay, who is able to ignore persistent trade speculation to pitch 8 strong innings, but is done in by a Martinez 2-run HR in the 8th. The victory gives Lee 12 wins on the season, trailing only Carmona on the team and only Carmona and Jon Lester in the AL, putting the Indians 6 games over .500 at 51-45, trailing the AL Central leading Twins by 8 games.

July 29th vs. Los Angeles of Anaheim of Orange County in California
Playing in his hometown in a 8-6 Tribe loss, Ben Francisco slides hard into 2B attempting to stretch a single into a double, breaking his right thumb. While Francisco’s playing time has diminished with LaPorta taking AB away from him in LF, the injury could not come at a worse time for Francisco, for whom part-time duty had suited him quite well as his OPS since LaPorta’s promotion had been raised over 75 points as he played the role of “platoon LF/4th OF to perfection. The thumb injury would prove to be too much for Francisco to overcome as his spot on the team will be filled by Michael Brantley, whose 27-game hitting streak in AAA had opened more than a few eyes as he led all AAA hitters in OBP. Brantley assumes the role that Francisco had found so much comfort in, netting a little more playing time in LF as Travis Hafner (still on the roster, but with a rehab appearance deemed by doctors to be akin to him “spinning his wheels” as playing in AAA wouldn’t be any different than playing in MLB) finds himself on the bench more frequently and LaPorta’s name is penciled into the DH spot on a more regular basis. As the evolution of the lineup looks to be nearly complete, Victor Martinez finds himself as the team’s everyday 1B with Shoppach behind the plate as LaPorta assumes the “almost full-time” DH mantle and Brantley takes over as the nearly everyday LF as the Indians get ready to feast on what looks to be the weak part of their schedule.

July 31st vs. Detroit
In a game pitting the Indians and what is essentially the Toledo Mud Hens, the Indians batter the stripped-down Detroit team by a final tally of 11-3, the first win in a sweep of the decimated Motor City Kitties. Earlier in the afternoon, just before the Trading Deadline, the disappointing Tigers had jettisoned Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez, Placido Polanco, and Carlos Guillen, in an unprecedented day of roster overhaul as the Tigers, in financial trouble and in last place in the AL Central, attempt to re-stock their barren farm system and fill their 25-man roster with cheap talent necessary because of their unprecedented decline in attendance. The situation is so dire that Bud Selig, asked by some to look into the Stepien-esque roster dumping, can only throw up his hands after meeting with GM Dave Dombrowski and owner Mike Ilitch and claim that he cannot fault the Tigers for the moves in the least.

August 6th vs. Minnesota
Behind a solid 7 innings from Jake Westbrook, the Indians notch their 6th straight win and 10th in the last 12 to inch ever closer to the Twins as the Indians record, now standing at 61-47, puts them just 3 games back in the loss column in the AL Central. The return of Westbrook and the emergence of Huff look to be providing the stability that has eluded the rotation all season long as the team, riding the fully healthy and effective rotation of Lee, Carmona, Huff, Westbrook, and Laffey, look to begin one of their patented late-year pushes.

August 13th vs. Texas
Despite Aaron Laffey’s best start of the season, the Indians find themselves behind the Rangers 3-2 in the bottom of the 9th inning as Kerry Wood allows a 2-run HR to Josh Hamilton in the top of the inning. The Indians make some noise to start the bottom of the 9th as Victor Martinez and Matt LaPorta single to get men on 1st and 2nd with two out. After Wedge inserts pinch-hitters for both runners, Kelly Shoppach laces a ball to the gap as the pinch-runners, Josh Barfield and Trevor Crowe, circle the bases. Crowe runs through a stop sign by Joel Skinner to arrive at the plate at the same time as the ball, sliding just beneath the tag of Rangers’ catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia to score the game winning run as the Indians and the home crowd go wild as the win gives the Indians sole possession of 1st place for the first time all season. The celebration is short-lived, however, as the blister trouble that had been bothering Kerry Wood for the past week and had affected his dominance (particularly on this day) is too much for Wood to bear and he is placed on the 15-day DL to give rest to the blister.

August 20th vs. Los Angeles of Anaheim of Orange County in California
In a bullpen suddenly thrown off-kilter by the absence of Wood, Rafael Perez loads the bases against the injury-riddled, 2nd place Halos with the Tribe ahead 6-4 in the 8th inning without getting an out. Joe Smith is called upon to face the teeth of the Angels’ lineup and bails the team out of bases-loaded jam by whiffing Bobby Abreu, Vladimir Guerrero, and getting Torii Hunter to harmlessly pop out to 3B to end the inning without any damage being done. In the 9th, however, Jensen Lewis gives up a 3-run HR to Jeff Mathis as the Angels complete the three game sweep of the Indians in Cleveland. The loss is the 5th of the last 7 games played and drops the Indians to 65-55 as the Twins pass them up in the standings once again while the Indians attempt to settle their suddenly leaky pen on the fly.

August 30th vs. Baltimore
David Huff throws a 4-hit masterpiece in Camden Yards, going the distance to best another former Indians’ 1st round pick, Jeremy Guthrie, to pick up his 7th win of the season while lowering his ERA to 3.63. Huff’s win is sealed in the 8th inning when Mark DeRosa drops a suicide squeeze down to score Michael Brantley racing from third base to ensure the 1-0 victory, only the 2nd win by the Indians in their 7-games on the road in Kansas City and Baltimore. After the game, Wedge comments that he hopes that Huff’s performance acts as the impetus for the team to stop losing ground in the Central as the victory should serve as a reminder that the Indians are still very much in the race at 67-63 as the Twins are unable to take advantage of the Indians’ struggles to pull away from Cleveland in the standings.

September 3rd vs. Detroit
On a cold night in Motown, Jhonny Peralta hammers a GW 3-run HR in the 8th inning off of Joel Zumaya to run his HR total to 27 on the season, good for 2nd on the team, behind only Grady’s 33 and just ahead of Shoppach’s 25, Victor’s 22, and Choo’s 20. Keyed by the 3-run blast, the Indians take 2 of 3 from the Motor City Kitties, finding the AAA team currently wearing Tiger uniforms to be just the balm that the team needed to stop the bleeding that had been occurring nightly to the team for the previous 3 weeks.

September 12th vs. Kansas City
In the midst of a successful homestand, the Indians are rained out on Friday against the Royals, forcing the scheduling of a day-night doubleheader on Saturday to make up the previous night’s game. Rather than taxing their rotation, the Indians dip into their 40-man depth, calling upon new farm darling Hector Rondon to pitch the second game against the Royals. Rondon, who continued the success he experienced in AA Akron to AAA Columbus, dominates the overwhelmed Kansas City batters, striking out 12 Royals in 8 innings before giving way to a fresh-off-the-DL Kerry Wood, who finishes off the last three batters via strikeout to herald his return as the Tribe takes the nightcap from the Royals by a 6-1 count. The win puts the Indians at 74-67, tied for first with the Twins in the AL Central with 21 games left on the schedule.

September 20th vs. Oakland
Against Roy Halladay, acquired by the AL West leading A’s at the Trading Deadline on his way to an AL Cy Young Award, September call-up Luis Valbuena smacks a bases-clearing double, putting the Indians ahead to stay 4-3 as the Indians win their only game among four in Oakland after losing 2 of 3 to the Twins in the previous series as the Twins now hold a 4-game lead in the Central. The weeklong skid by the Indians is caused by the team-wide slump, during which only Matt LaPorta (building his case for AL Rookie of the Year with his .850 OPS despite not getting called up until late June) is consistently able to drive in runs. Kelly Shoppach, who will leave 17 runners on base in the Oakland series alone, comments after the win that “Valbuena’s hit was huge because it feels like we haven’t been able to get a hit…any kind of hit…with a runner in scoring position all week.”

September 25th vs. Baltimore
Feasting on Baltimore’s September call-ups (one series after feasting on Detroit’s September call-ups), the Indians’ offense hangs a 10-spot on the O’s en route to a 10-2 victory, providing Cliff Lee with his 17th victory (one behind team leader Fausto Carmona) and bringing the team to within one game of the Twins in the AL Central race at 82-73. The Indians are able to take 5 of the 6 games in at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario against the Orioles and Tigers as the team, with the offense finally hitting again, looks to be firing on all cylinders – healthy and ready for the final week of the season with only series’ against the White Sox and Red Sox standing between them and the end of the season.

September 29th vs. White Sox
In a final argument in his case for AL MVP, Grady hits two HR (for an even 40, leaving him three stolen bases short of the 40-40 club) and preserves the win with a game saving catch in the 9th against the White Sox, allowing the Indians to sweep the final home series from the South Siders. With the sweep, the White Sox suddenly find themselves fighting the Royals for 3rd place, as time has simply caught up with the aging Chicago roster. When asked about Sizemore in the visitors’ clubhouse, Ozzie Guillen says, “What can I tell you (expletive)…I’ve been telling you that he’s the best (expletive)-(expletive) (expletive) in our division. Now there’s nobody (expletive) better in the whole (expletive) league.”

October 4th vs. Red Sox
Having won two of the first three games of the series against the AL East Champion Red Sox, the Indians throw Cliff Lee on their final game of the season, locked in a tie at the top of the AL Central with the Twins. Lee pitches 7 strong innings, while Jhonny Peralta hits a 2-run shot over the Green Monster against a Red Sox team admittedly already preparing for the ALDS. With the Indians up 4-1 in the 8th inning, the final score of the Twins-Royals game is placed into the scoreboard of the Green Monster at Fenway…KC 6, MIN 4, meaning that if the Indians can close out the final two innings of the game, the AL Central crown is theirs. After Rafael Perez blows the Red Sox away in the 8th inning, Kerry Wood comes on to notch his final 3 strikeouts of the regular season, preserving the win for the Indians and clinching the Central for the Tribe. The Indians flood the Boston infield as the Red Sox players, aware they’re looking at their ALDS opponent celebrate in their stadium, cast their vengeful eyes to the events in the middle of the diamond.

October 6th vs. Red Sox in ALDS Game 1
The Red Sox, with their rotation rested and in proper order, throw Josh Beckett against Jake Westbrook, as both Indians’ aces (Carmona and Lee) pitched the final two games of the season and will not be available until Game 3. The BoSox hit Westbrook early and often as Beckett cruises through an Indians’ lineup that simply looks happy to be in the playoffs as the Red Sox take the first game of the ALDS by a final tally of 6-1.

October 9th vs. Red Sox in ALDS Game 3
Back in Cleveland after dropping the first two games in Boston as Aaron Laffey fared no better than Game 1 starter Jake Westbrook, the Indians turn to 19-game-winner and AL Cy Young runner-up Fausto Carmona to stave off elimination from the playoffs and Carmona does not disappoint, going 8 innings of 4-hit baseball, relieved by Kerry Wood in the 9th to slam the door on a 5-0 win made possible by a 4 RBI night for Big League Choo, who hits 3 doubles off of Daisuke Matsuzaka on his way to a 4 for 5 night to keep the Indians alive for one more night.

October 10th vs. Red Sox in ALDS Game 4
With Cliff Lee finally rested and ready for action, the Indians throw their second “ace” against Boston’s Josh Beckett, who is pitching on three days’ rest and tells the adoring Boston media that he “owns this team”. Beckett makes good on his boasting, shutting down the Cleveland bats for 7 innings, going scoreless inning for scoreless inning with a cruising Cliff Lee. In the 8th, the 0-0 tie is broken by a solo HR to right-center field off of the bat of Kevin Youkilis as the Red Sox bullpen gets busy to notch the final 6 outs of the game. Despite the Indians men on 2nd and 3rd with two outs in the 9th against Jonathon Papelbon, Mark DeRosa’s long fly ball to CF is hauled in by Jacoby Ellsbury, ending the Indians’ season and sending the Red Sox to face the eventual AL Champion Oakland A’s, who on this night will beat CC Sabathia for the second time in the ALDS to punch their ticket to the ALCS.

After the game, a disappointed Grady Sizemore, mere weeks away from being named the AL MVP, shows that his status as a Clevelander is near completion as he wearily looks at the assembled press corps around his locker and mutters, “well, I guess there’s always next year.”

Lazy Sunday Looking Forward to the Season

With all of Cleveland still buzzing about Rock Hall Induction Ceremony at Public Hall, the real news is that THE SEASON STARTS TOMORROW! Sorry about the caps and the exclamation point, but after a long winter of discontent it’s nearly time to finally start watching some games that matter played by the team that matters most…YOUR 2009 Cleveland Indians.

So, without further ado, let’s get into the last off-season Lazy Sunday and get this thing rolling as tomorrow can’t come soon enough:
Starting where we often do, Terry Pluto puts forth some predictions for the season, all of which (not surprisingly) look to be right we’re I’m at (though I’m a little less optimistic on Hafner…which is to say, I’m not optimistic at all) as I put the finishing touches on the Season Preview that I’ll post later tonight. If you forgot the format, here’s last year’s “preview” which will look remarkably similar to the one I post tonight, though it won’t (SPOILER ALERT) include a photoshopped picture of Shapiro holding a World Series trophy at the end.

The other nugget of information in this morning’s PD comes from Sarah Crump, who interviews St. Grady in a weekly piece she does called “My Cleveland”, with this one giving some insight into the best player on the Indians and affirming the fact that I have a man crush on this guy and am not afraid to admit it.
Hanging at The South Side, Sushi Rock, and Rocky River Brewing Company while signing bras (!) for fans?
Grady, you had me at hello.

Moving on, did anybody else have their spirits (flying high with the knowledge that the season is days away) dampened by the cover of the Baseball Preview edition in SI? In case you missed it, it features a certain big-boned LHP who we are all quite intimately familiar with. Actually, if you read the piece on The Hefty Lefty in the preview, you’ll find out that you know very little about him in terms of his upbringing and life events, which is a crime as Sabathia was too often taken for granted while in Cleveland. Of course, it chaps me to no end that this assumption that Sabathia “burst on the national scene” in Milwaukee last year…you know, after winning a Cy Young in Cleveland in 2007, but it is what it is and we can only watch from afar as CC attempts to rein in his emotions in the bright lights of the big city.

Lest anyone forget, with CC pitching for a contract, here’s how he came out of the gate for the Tribe in 2008, something that bears watching as he christens the new stadium in the Bronx…but more on that later.

Nevertheless, since it is time for Season Previews, here’s the one you’ll find inside the CC SI Preview issue, with the Indians predicted to finish 2nd in the AL Central with a 82-80 record. It’s a fairly mundane preview (and, not surprisingly, SI predicts the Yankees to have the best record in baseball) as they’re limited in space to fit each team into less than two pages, usually using some angle to present the “Season at a Glance”.

For what it’s worth, ESPN has the Indians 9th in their 1st Power Rankings, just ahead of the Twins…if that means anything at the beginning of April.

Rolling on with the national previews, Ken Rosenthal has the Indians in 3rd in the Central, saying “Love the offense, love the bullpen, distrust the rotation. The Indians' dirty little secret is that not even Cliff Lee and Fausto Carmona are sure things.” Not that there’s a lot to disagree with there in that short, succinct, “season-in-a-sentence”, but Rosenthal did, if I remember correctly, have the Indians beating the Braves in the World Series last year.

For a much more complete Season Preview, here’s the one from Castro at The Official Site, which very accurately lays out the possibilities and contingency plans in place for the season, as vast and wide as each are while taking an honest look at the team as a whole.

Speaking of Castro, if you’ve not yet checked out Vince Grzegorek’s “’64 and Counting” Blog, be sure to add it to your favorites (it’s on my Google Reader and let’s just say that there aren’t many things on my Google Reader) as he always comes through with some Cleveland-centric pieces, whether frivolous and funny or entertaining and informative, like the first part of his interview with Indians.com beat reporter Anthony Castrovince, where Castrovince attributes his following on Indians’ blogs (read: here and LGT) to his “Seinfeld” references.

If that’s what he wants to think (though he’s wrong), we’ll go with it…and seeing as how he admits to being a regular visitor (“I do check out The DiaTribe and Let’s Go Tribe, though not as frequently as I’d like or, perhaps, should. Those guys do really nice work.”), I have a feeling this may get back to him someplace in Texas.

As a quick aside, Vince also reveals the patch that the Indians are using to commemorate Herb Score, which looks very similar to the one put forth by reader Tim Harrison a few months back. Personally, I think that Tim’s design is a little classier, but at least it’s nice to see the Indians acknowledge both Herb’s playing career and broadcast career as Tim so wonderfully did.

In the second part of the interview, Castro hits on all of the principals for the season, like what to expect from Hafner (he, like everyone else has no idea) and how he thinks that the performances of Cliff Lee and Fausto Carmona are the two most important things for the 2009 Indians…and rightfully so.
Not sure if a third one is coming (though I hope it is), but it’s a great read from two very good writers.

Rolling on with the interview section of the show, LGT continues Jay Levin’s interview with Antonetti , this time the topic being the Hafner contract, due diligence on medical history and exams, and whether the Indians would do anything differently on the Hafner extension today. It’s another fascinating read as Levin really stays on top of Antonetti for about as clear of an answer and an explanation that you could ever imagine.

Keeping on the topic of Q and A’s with the Tribe brass, for an interesting look at how the Indians approach the MLB draft, here is an interview that Mark Shapiro did with Real Baseball Intelligence on the upcoming MLB Draft. The answers are fairly obvious and doesn’t get too in-depth on anything, but it does represent the thoughts of Shapiro directly, insightful or not.

In terms of how the youth is becoming a valuable commodity in MLB and how it pertains to the Indians, Sweet Pete Gammons brings the topic to the Indians’ situation saying that:
In Cleveland, in an economically depressed area whose state has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs in this century, the Indians have averaged 87 wins a year the past four seasons, tying Boston for the league lead in wins in 2007.
“We have to focus on our young players,” said Indians GM Mark Shapiro. “We know what our budget restrictions are. We have to scout and develop and make good decisions.”
Thus, the Indians have their self-developed players like Jhonny Peralta, Victor Martinez, Fausto Carmona, et al. They have made extraordinary trades for talent out of other organizations, like Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Shin-Soo Choo, Kelly Shoppach and Asdrubal Cabrera. With all their young players and a relatively lower payroll, they were able to add two modest but significant additions in the offseason: Kerry Wood and Mark DeRosa.
Perhaps no teams showcased more young talent this spring than the Indians and Marlins. By the end of this season, it's conceivable that the Indians can bring in catcher Carlos Santana, outfielders Michael Brantley, Matt LaPorta and Trevor Crowe and third baseman Wes Hodges as contributors.

We all know that Gammons thinks very highly of the Indians’ organization, but it’s always nice to see him wax poetic on how he feels the Indians’ Front Office is doing things the right way.

Gammons also comes through with some tasty nuggets on some of the players that are likely to fill out what should be some stacked AA and AAA rosters for the Tribe (and those teams in Akron and Columbus are going to be STACKED with high-caliber talent like they haven’t been in a long time), pointing out that a few were among the most impressive youngsters this Spring:
4. Carlos Santana, Indians catcher. Acquired from the Dodgers last season in lieu of L.A. having to pay Casey Blake's salary, Cleveland grabbed a future star (one club still loves him as a third baseman). He has a great arm, live bat from both sides and put up an OPS of more than 1.000 last season. This next generation of Indians players is extremely impressive.

20. Michael Brantley, Indians outfielder/first baseman. The player to be named later along with Matt LaPorta in the CC Sabathia deal last season had a great spring. As the season wears on, Brantley, Trevor Crowe, Carlos Santana, Matt LaPorta, third baseman Wes Hodges and second baseman Luis Valbuena could all contribute. Now if they can get two out of the pitching group of Aaron Laffey, David Huff, Jeremy Sowers and Hector Rondon into the picture, this could be a prolonged time in the high life for the Tribe.
Any time the words “High Life” and “Tribe” appear in the same sentence, color me satisfied.

For more on the aforementioned LaPorta, here’s a bit from Baseball Prospectus on The GateKeeper:
Indians outfielder Matt LaPorta had a tough second half of the 2008 season after being the primary talent acquired in the CC Sabathia deal. Based on what scouts saw this spring, the bat is back, and the numbers agree as he hit .361/.439/.611 in 36 at-bats before being reassigned to Triple-A. "He looked good enough to be in the big leagues to me,” said one scout. “If they need a corner outfielder, I wouldn't feel uncomfortable at all starting him in the big leagues—he should be one of their first call-ups unless they decide to work his service clock.”
Not sure why service clock issues would be at play, given that LaPorta’s already 24; but the fact that he’s never played an inning above AA might have something to do with the Indians easing him into the 2009 season. I don’t think that there’s any question that LaPorta represents Plan B in case the Indians find themselves lacking in LF, at 1B, or at DH as LaPorta could easily come up (relatively early in the season…assuming he’s hitting in AAA) to fill the first hole that reveals itself at any one of those three positions.

From one of my other “Google Reader” entries, Joe Posnanski has a piece that is supposed to be about the new book on Roger Clemens and quickly (and thankfully) evolves into a dissection of the Indians’ lineup in 1984. It mentions Pat Tabler, so obviously it’s worth the read.

Speaking of those mid-to-late-1980’s teams (the ones that hooked me on baseball), there was a phenomenal show on STO this week that was called the “Alumni Roundtable”. The show featured Tabler, Brook Jacoby, Scotty Bailes, and Cory Snyder reminiscing with Bob DiBiasio about their time in Cleveland. The show was full of classic stories, like Scott Bailes getting bailed out of jail by Pat Corrales in Oakland, Bailes allowing his arbitration case to be decided by the outcome of an NCAA Tournament game, and a great re-telling of the Pat Corrales-Dave Stewart “karate kick” incident.
It’s on again tomorrow at noon, so set your DVR for it…in addition to the game, which starts at 2 PM obviously.

Since I’m so sick of reading about and watching EVERYTHING about this new stadium in the Bronx, here’s a piece from the Chicago Tribune dissecting why the Cubs are playing the Yankees this weekend in some exhibition games. The piece is wildly uninteresting…that is, until you get to the bottom and read this beauty about some of the sightlines at the Yankees’ new stadium:
Incredibly, despite following small details to ensure it looks as much like the old Yankee Stadium as possible, architects drew up the bleachers without anyone noticing some fans in right-center field will have their view of left field obstructed by a mammoth sports bar. They won't be able to see a home run clear the fence, and some won't be able to see third base. A team spokesman told the New York Times that “people can get up and watch the entire game from (the Bleachers Café), plus there will be TVs.”
So, if I have this right, if you’ve selected your seats at the new stadium (and probably paid through the nose for them) and they just happened to be in right-center field, the Yankees are OFFICIALLY telling you to “get up and watch the entire game from (the sports bar that’s blocking your view), plus there will be TV’s.”
Of course, that’s only if you want to see 3rd base…though, it begs whether you can even imagine how difficult it would be to watch game action without being able to see 3rd base?

How is that different from just going to a bar to watch a game and how furious would you be if those were your season tickets that you’ve likely laid out a large amount of cash to net?

Nevertheless, the season starts tomorrow and in a surprise move of sorts, The Atomic Wedgie shed his cloak and dagger approach to the media and revealed his Opening Day lineup:
CF Grady Sizemore
3B Mark DeRosa
1B Victor Martinez
DH Travis Hafner
SS Jhonny Peralta
RF Shin-Soo Choo
C Kelly Shoppach
LF Ben Francisco
2B Asdrubal Cabrera
How long that particular version of the lineup lasts or how frequently the lineup looks just like that (if you ask me, not long and not often) is going to be one of the compelling things to watch this season as the lineup, the rotation, and the roles in the bullpen are sure to evolve from April to October as they always do.

Season Preview at some point tonight because the season starts tomorrow, kids…it’s been too long coming.

Parting Shots

Spring Training is over and, regrettably, that means the final installment of pictures from photographer extroidanaire Larry Jones of Lazy Lightning Media, who has been the man on the ground in Arizona making everyone feel like they’re under the desert sun everyday with the vibrancy of his colors in his crisp and amazing action shots.

As a quick aside, please do make it to Lazy Lightning Media’s website as Larry is offering some of his pictures for sale and, frankly, quite a few of them are as good as I’ve ever seen in terms of close-up and action shots and he has been providing these images all Spring with nothing more than the thanks that I have been putting them up...which, obviously I have been more than happy to do.

For the last shots, we cover two games with a spectacular look at Cliff Lee in various stages of his wind-up, to all of the guys that we can’t wait to see playing on Monday in Arlington:



















































As usual, all images are the property of Lazy Lightning Media, all rights reserved.

Last One to Leave, Turn the Lights Out

As I continue to hammer out my convoluted “Season Preview” that will go up on Monday for the Season Opener (and hope that The DiaBride keeps her tradition of her “Top 10” alive before Monday), I’ll allow these pictures from Larry Jones at Lazy Lightning Media take you to Arizona.

Today, we have Scotty Lewis in the midst of his train wreck last start, shots of nearly all of the offensive cogs, and some quick snaps of The Atomic Wedgie strategizing all over the field. These just keep getting better and better as we pull this Spring Training train into the station:































As usual, all images are property of Lazy Lightning Media, all rights reserved.

Monday’s so close you can almost taste it.