Kyle Davies

Kyle Davies first start of the year for the Royals was a lot different than I had imagined it in my head. In my head, he gives up 5 runs in 5 innings as the Indians hit him around the park and get into the Royals bullpen early. However, the Indians made him look like a Cy Young award winner with stuff that they had never seen before and didn't even think about hitting hard. Davies went 5 solid innings. 1 ER, 5 H en route to an easit 4-2 victory for the Royals. CC pitched well, but the Royals took advantage of his mistakes. And when I say the Royals, I mean David DeJesus. He went 2-4 with a double, HR and 2 RBI and 2 runs. My favorite closer, Joakim Soria went 2 innings to close out the game. I really wish we had this guy, he's so dominant, and I have no idea how he does it. I was optimistic though when the Indians took the lead in the 3rd off of a Jamey Carroll single that scored Franklin. This was a terible loss, mainly because the Royals had lost their previous 12 games. I know they were going to win a game eventually, but it didn't have to be against the Indians and my thoughts of a sweep were crushed. Going into Sunday, I still feel that we're going to win the series because the last thing we need is to lose 2 straight games to the Royals.

Cliff Lee: Stopper

Thank you Cliff. We needed this one. He didn't pitch his best baseball of the year, but he did enough to get the win. 6 innings, 4 runs, 10 hits, 1 walk. It could have been worse, but he kept getting out of jams with excellent pitching at the right times. Grady also showed up and belted 2 homers off Gil Meche and Casey Blake came through with the go ahead 2 run homer in the 6th. The bullpen pitched 3 shutout innings to perserve the win and Borowski got another save lowing his ERA to 10.29. All in all, this was a good game for the Indians that they needed and hopefully will propel them in the right direction.

Hafner to DL. Choo off DL

Hafner certainly needs a break from baseball. Maybe his sore shoulder is why he's been struggling so much, maybe it's not. But he has not been helping the Indians offense at all lately and maybe the best thing for him now is to take some time off, recover, play some minor league games and get his confidence back. This may be a good thing for the Indians. On the other side of things, Shin-Soo Choo takes his place on the roster after playing some rehab games at Buffalo. Choo had a stellar 2006 season and was looking good last year until he got hurt. I'm hoping he gets plenty of playing time and gets a chance to cement his place in the lineup. The only thing is that he's an outfielder, and the Indians already are quite abundant on outfields. Grady plays every day, Ben's been their best player the last month and Gut and Dellucci have been playing decent as of late. But the DH spot is now open, so one of them could play there, but that will most likely go to Victor, Garks or Aubrey. So we'll see how this plays out, and I am happy to have Choo back, this could be the boost that we need.

Indians vs Royals preview

So this is going to be the series that the Indians get back on track and back into contention in the AL Central. Hopefully. The Indians need at least to win the series to get some confidence back. Like always, I am optimistic about the thought of a sweep. It could easily happen, the bats just need to wake up a little bit more. I know the series is on the road, but it's the royals, it shouldn't matter that much.

Cliff vs Meche: Meche is 3-7 with a 5.35 ERA. Cliff is 7-1 with a 1.5 ERA. Should be a no brainer, right? However, Meche dominated in his last start against the Indians going 7 innings of shutout ball in route to a 2-0 Royals win. But also, in his other start against the Indians at Kaufman stadium, he only went 3.1 innings and gave up 8 runs in route to a 15-1 Royals loss. Cliff played the role of stopper in his last start and he'll need to do it again.

Prediction: 5-2 Indians win.

Sabathia vs Kyle Davies: Davies will be making his first start of the year. This former Braves starter has a 17-28 record and a 6.24 ERA in 63 games, 56 starts. This should be an easy win, but the Indains sometimes struggle in facing a starter that they havent seen this year. Altough, Davies went 0-3 last year in 3 starts against the Indians. CC has been pitching like CC as of late and I see no reason for his recent success to decline. After a couple hard luck losses where he's only given up 3 runs in the last 2 games but got the losses due to the Indians poor run production, CC is poised to get the win.

Prediction: 7-1 Indians win.

Byrd vs Bannister: This is the most interesting game of the series. Both pitcher have been pitching decent of late, but not overly dominant or fantastic. This game is pretty much a tossup and could go either way. Byrd is only 2-4 with a 4.1 ERA and has lossed his last 2 starts. Floyd's son is 4-6 with a 4.93 ERA and has lost his last 3 starts. Something has to give here. This is probably not going to be a pitchers duel and the Indians offense should come to life.

Prediction: 9-7 Indians win.

Westbrook OK, Indians lose again

I was excited about Westbrook coming back from the DL, I thought he would give an added boost to the team. However, I knew he might be a little rusty and have some trouble. He ended up going 5 innings, 3 ER, 5 hits, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR. I still don't think that A. Ramirez ever hit home plate, but I'm not the umpire. Losing 6-5 is always tough, they hit well enough to win, but didn't quite pitch well enough to win. The rafy's again sputtered giving up the other 3 runs. The Indians got to Floyd early scoring 2 runs in the 1st. The 6th was also a big inning after Dellucci's HR scored Victor and Peralta hit a 2 run HR to give the Indians the lead. Once again, the bullpen got outpiched by the White Sox trio of Dotel, Linebrink and Jenks. Losing 2 of 3 again does not sit well with me, that's 4 straight series that we lost, winning only 2 games in the last 12. Changes are being made, I don't know if they're the right ones or if they'll change anything, but Jorge Julio is not the reason for the poor performance recently. Hopefully playing Kansas City will turn things around, that's the best thing going for the Indians right now.

So long Jorge Julio

So yeah, I knew that Westbrook was coming off the DL today to start tonight's game. However, I figured that they would send Ed Mujica back to AAA to make room, that's why I was happy he got a chance to pitch last night because I thought it was his only chance. But the Indians pulled a fast one on me and decided that the Jorge Julio reclamation project was officially over. He started out well, then tanked his last appearance, most likely cost the Indians the game as they went on to lose 13-9. He gave up 5 runs in less than 2 innings and saw his ERA go from 3.38 to 5.60. When Wedge didn't turn to him in the extra innings loss on Monday, I had a feeling that Julio had fallen out of favor and might be on his way out. But I thought he would get another chance to prove himself, but he finds himself out of a job and most likely will not accept his assignment to AAA. I figure someone will want him, the Tigers is the logical choice since they have no other options, but we'll see. He pitched well his first 14 appearances, it's a shame he gets cut after one bad one. I'd still rather him than Betancourt at this point. Oh well, that's major league baseball.

Much needed 8-2 victory

It's about time that a favorable pitching matchup went in the Indians favor. Laffey did his job by pitching 6 solid innings to protect the lead that was put up early. I was happy in the first when Francisco hit a sac fly because taking a 1-0 lead would have been good enough for me at this point. But then, Franklin came through with a grand slam after Buerhle walked 2 to put the Indians up 5-0 and they never looked back. After the White Sox scored 2 in the 3rd, i was a little worried, but the Indians then came through with a 3 spot in the 6th to put the game out of reach. Masa pitched well and Ed Mujica got into the game just like I had predicted. Also, Paul Konerko really sucked last night, he dropped a ball at 1st and then botched a run down that allowed Dellucci to steal home and it ended up being a triple steal. So thank you Paul Konerko for the little extra stuff that the Indians need to happen to continue winning games. Let's try to get a winning streak going, now we're only 2-8 in our last 10 games.

Buehrle vs Laffey, part 2

Last week I had stated that this was probably the best pitching matchup for the Indians to have. And it didn't work out like usual due to the lack of offense from the Indians. Laffey lost the game 3-1 bringing his record to 2-3, despite a stellar 1.6 ERA. I'm trying to figure out how the Indians are going to find a way to blow this game. I'm still mad about last night's game, I'm thinking maybe Borowski will blow a save in his typical disastrous attempt to get through an inning's work. Masa should be ready tonight and I'm hoping to see some Ed Mujica before he gets sent down to make room for Westbrook to come back tomorrow. To go 1-9 over the last 10 is just really sad and the Indians need a win big time, and hopefully Laffey can outpitch Buerhle, that would be great.

Scott Elarton? Really?

The Indians really needed this one. Once again, they get out to an early lead and sputter the rest of the way. By the power of Delucci's and Peralta's HR's, they had a 3-1 lead after 5. Thome again kills us by hitting another HR And Pierzynski hit an RBI single to tie up the game. The game then goes into extras, and I was of course worried because of the bull pen with all of the moves that were made bringing borowski back from the DL, calling up ed mujica and for some reason giving scott elarton a chance and letting jensen lewis go back to the minors. Borowski came through with a solid inning, and I know at that point it's the 12th, and you go to your long reliever if you have one. But if that person hadn't relieved a game in 5 years, maybe the top of the 12th isnt the best idea. Masa was overused, that's ok. Julio was still available and he should have been the number 1 go to guy, or even mujica would have been fine. But bringing in Elarton in that situation did not make sense at the time and it still doesn't make sense. Who knows if the Indians would have ever scored, maybe 1 run was possible, but they weren't overcoming 3 runs in the bottom of the 12th. The Indians have now lost 9 of 10 and it's starting to get really old and really sad, really fast. I miss Jensen Lewis, I'm hoping he comes back soon. He's a much better option than Elarton and Borowski. Enough said.

9 runs not good enough, lose Carmona to make things worse

This was just a really bad series, again. After being swept by the Reds and the White Sox last week, the Indians lost the series to the Rangers, but at least did win 1 game. However, the way they played, they should have won all 3. The first game was a classic extra innings pitchers duel between Mathis and Sabathia. Mathis didn't pitch that great, but the Indians bailed him out in numerous situations was lucky to escape many of them. CC pitched dominantly once again but was given no run support once again. To lose a game 2-1 in extra innings is not a good way to go. At least Cliff Lee played the role of stopper to take the second game 5-2 and improve to 7-1, and hey! look! Joe Borowski's back! And he got a save! yay! I'd rather have jensen and breslow back than have borowski and elarton. The bullpen situation is going to be interesting. The Indians showed up in game 3 and scored 9 runs for their biggest offense output in weeks. But the Indians pitchers didn't show up, Carmona got hurt and they gave up 13 runs. A 4 spot and a 7 spot put up on the Indians in the first 3 innings is definitely not a good thing. However, the Indians did attempt a comeback, although futile, they didn't give up which is a good sign. So although they lost 2 of 3, I'm still optimistic going into the next series against the White Sox, and with it being at home, i like our chances even more. And once again, I say good bye to Jensen Lewis and Craig Breslow and hope to see you soon.

Indians vs Rangers

Once again, I am excited for a series. This time, I am definitely not predicting a sweep by the Indians, instead I'll hope for 2 out of 3. All of the pitching matchups favor the Indians. But as always, it will depend on the Indians scoring more than 1-2 runs a game.

Tonight's match up: Carmona vs Gabbard.

Gabbard has been pitching well lately, however, he is no match for Fausto. If anyone can end the six game losing streak, it's Fausto.

Saturday's match up: Lee vs Feldman.

Cliff is coming off his first loss, but I think that's not a bad thing and I think he'll rebound with a big win here. I would only be impressed with Scott Feldman if he was Corey's brother, nothing he's done this season has impressed me so far. Advantage Cliff big time.

Sundays match up: Sabathia vs Mathis

Most people don't know who Doug Mathis is. Here's all you need to know. He's pitched 5 innings this season, given up 6 runs for a stellar 10.13 ERA and this will be his second major league start. And he's facing Cy Young CC, who has been amazing his last few starts

So in all, the Indians have the favorable matchup in every game. But, the Indians offense is always a mystery and Josh Hamilton is currently winning the triple crown, so shutting him down for 3 games could be a difficult task. Good luck this weekend Indians, I'll be away all weekend so the updates won't come until Monday most likely.

6 in a row...the wrong way

Being swept by the reds was bad enough. To be swept by the White Sox is just awful. It's not been six straight losses, and pretty much always in the same fashion. The Indians are up 1 or tied through about 6 or 7, then the wheels fall apart and the offense never comes alive. Laffey pitched well, definitely well enough to get a victory and keep a spot in the rotation. Hopefully he'll get another chance once Jake comes back. Laffey is now 2-3 with a 1.6 ERA, thank you cleveland offense. The offense was once again nowhere to be found and they made Mark Buerhle look like Mark Buehrle from 2003, not 2008. Masa was again ineffective coming out of the pen and I have to rethink my previous thoughts on him. Sizemore had a nice RBI double, but that was the only highlight. This is getting really old, fast.

Laffey vs Buerhle

OK, this is going to be the easy win I've been looking for the last 2 games. Right? Our top rookie is facing an aging ineffective formerly good pitcher. However, with the Indians offense in a sputtering downward spiral, I guess anything could happen. I've been impressed with Laffey all season. After Jake went down, either Laffey or Sowers had to step up, and Laffey clearly has. He has an impressive 1.34 ERA, .86 whip, 5 walks, 0 HR in his 4 starts. But sadly, he only has a 2-2 record, so thank you Indians offense for that. Whereas Buerhle is 2-5 with a 5.27 era and a 1.54 whip. Even though it's on the road and this is Laffey's first start on the road, I still think that this is a favorable matchup for the Indians. If facing any pitcher in the league could bring the Indians offense out of a slump, I think that pitcher can easily be Mark Buehrle. But who knows, he threw a no-hitter last year, and the way the Indians are playing this season, they could easily be no-hit. So like always, I am optimistic about tonight's game, but won't call it a sure thing quite yet.

I should have known better

I was excited yesterday and in a good mood after the Indians took a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the 6th. Byrd had been pitching well, no damage done so far. The Indians offense was kind of showing signs of promise. Aubrey hit another HR in the 2nd, which made me happy because I want him to stay in the lineup. And then in the top of the 6th, Hafner came through with a clutch double to score ben, who had previously doubled, even though I still think he had an easy triple. So yeah, things were going well. Then the bottom of the 6th started. O. Cabrera and Quentin get on base and i was like it's ok, byrd can still work out of this. Then Dye hits a 3 run HR and i'm just like that sucks. Then Crede doubles in a run and he scores on a sac fly and all of a sudden they're down 5-2. I was still hoping for a comeback at this point, it could have happened. Then Thome and Dye hit HR's off Julio and Breslow. So yeah, another loss, to the white sox, it sucks. I really don't know what's going on with this team, but it's starting to make me angry.

Byrd vs Vazquez

Paul Byrd has pitched much better than a 2-3 record. 3.61 ERAand 5 walks in 8 starts and 47 innings. However, 22 strikeouts doesn't look very impressive. I know that he is definitely not a strikeout pitcher, but averaging lass than 3 K's a start is kind of sad. Vazquez has been pitching well this season as well. 3.53 ERA, 58 K's, 12 walks in his 9 starts and 58.2 innings. So on paper, another pitchers duel and I'm guessing the Indians will not wake up again. Aubrey is starting at first, so I'm excited for that, however 1B/DH is not as much of necessity as other positions. And I'm hoping Carlos Quentin figures out that he's Carlos Quentin that the diamond backs gave up on and not the all-star who's leading the AL in HR. The White Sox are similar to the indians in the fact that their "stars" are playing like utility players. Swisher has a .208 average, Konerko a .215, Thome a .206, O. Cabrera a .219. They have Quentin, Dye and Pierzynski playing well where the Indians just have Ben and Victor. This could be another snoozefest tonight with a max of 4 runs scored. Here's to hoping that Byrd can out pitch Vazquez.

Another offensive struggle

Once again, CC pitches great and the offense is nowhere to be found. CC goes 7 innings, 2 ER, 8K, he only made 2 mistakes, and luckily there was no one on base at the time. He definitely pitched well enough to win. But Jose Contreras dominated the Indians over 6 innings, giving up only 4 hits. The white sox bull pen also pitched well not giving up a hit or a run over 3 innings. It was another poor performance and something needs to be done to turn things around. I'm hoping for better things tonight.

Contreras vs Sabathia

I've never really liked the White Sox. Or Jose Contreras. I'm not a fan of overpaid Cuban imports and like to see Contreras struggle. However, Jose is pitching well this season and with the Indians offense sputtering, this could be another pitchers duel. CC has really turned it around this season after an awful first few starts and apparently has figured out how to pitch like a Cy Young award winner again. After being swept by the Reds, the Indians definitely need to at least win the series and am hopefuly for another sweep. But last time I predicted a sweep, the Indians weren't the ones doing the sweeping. So maybe I should stop predicting things.
I was hoping for Michael Aubrey to be in the starting lineup, but Francisco in the 2-hole should improve things. But the middle infield of Asdrubal and Carroll is offensively anemic with a combined .376 average between them. Anyway, I'm excited for the game.

Swept by the Reds? Really?

So I was away at camp this weekend working and did not have TV/internet access. So I was not able to watch any of the games sadly. Coming home and seeing that the Indians were swept by the lowly Reds was not fun. Plus the fact that in my previous post I had hoped for a Sweep of the Reds. Instead, the Indians offense never showed up, Cliff lost his first game and lost his ERA title to Volquez and Masa blew his first save by giving up a 3-run HR to Adam Dunn. I was happy to see Michael Aubrey in the lineup and hope that he stays there. I know the spots where he play are occupied by Garko and Hafner, but neither are impressing right now and the roster needs a shakeup. I really don't have much to say about this, I'm just not happy and hope that they can figure out how to score again against the White Sox, because I really don't like them. Even though Masa blew the save, I hope that he gets another shot before Borowski comes back from the DL this week.

Reds vs. Indians

Alright, I'm from Columbus. We get two baseball teams on a regular basis on TV. We got the Indians and STO and the Reds on Fox Sports Ohio. So these are the two teams I get to see the most of without seeking other ways to watch/listen to games. Also, both teams are written about in the Columbus Dispatch everyday so I get to read about both each day while eating breakfast/lunch. However, I am not overly excited for the battle of Ohio. I don't really care for interleague play, except I'm hoping CC gets to pinch hit instead of Dellucci or Tyner. This won't be my first time seeing Johnny Cueto, so that doesn't really get me excited. and I'm never really excited to see Jeremy Sowers pitch lately. I think that a sweep is definitely a possibility and tomorrows matchup of Carmona vs Harang and Sundays matchup of Cliff vs Volquez should be very interesting. I have to give the edge to the Indians offense with Keppinger being out of the lineup for the Reds.

First place baby

Another dominating performance by the Cleveland Indians. This is 5 in a row, and absolutely amazing. The offense may only be scoring 3-4 runs a game, but the pitching is only giving up 0-3 a game. 8-2 over the last 10 games is fantastic. Can the pitching keep this up the whole season? who knows, but I'm loving this. Laffey dominated through 7 innings only giving up one unearned run. Laffey lowered his ERA to 1.35 and should keep a spot in the rotation when Westbrook returns. I still say that Betancourt is overworked and am very happy to see Kobayashi getting another save. It was a little shaky with the wildpitch and all, but I really like the guy. Peralta with a HR and a stolen base in the same game doesn't happy very often, but i'll take it. Next, we head off to Cinicnnati to see Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez. Let's see who has better young pitching, I'll take Carmona and Laffey any day.

Battle of the 2-5 aces

Tonight's matchup has two 2-5 starters pitching, both who were supposed to be the ace of the staff and started on opening day. Why Rich Harden didn't start opening day still puzzles me. However, Joe Blanton sports a 3.82 ERA compared to CC's 6.55 ERA. This should be an interesting game, can CC shutout the A's to continue the starting pitchers scoreless innings streak, probably not. I'm expecting an Indians 6-4 win and hopefully a Kobayashi save, it's time for Betancourt to rest. I'm hoping Jason Tyner gets a chance to play some more, i've always liked the guy, one of the fastest white guys you'll ever see, if only he could consistently hit.

12-0, what else can I say?

This was just an all around awesome game. I can't remember the last time we won 12-0, it feels really good. Laffey pitched like a superstar, no runs, 6 hits in 7 innings. Craig Breslow even got in 2 innings to preserve the shutout (Breslow hadn't pitched since April 29th). A six run inning, including Grady's leadoff HR, and singles by Victor, Asdrubal, and Casey. Then a 3 run inning highlighted by a Grady Double and another Victor single. Then another 3 run inning with Grady's second HR of the game, this time a 3 run shot. Grady was a monster tonight with 5 RBi giving Laffey all the run support he needed. McGowan had been pitching well, so getting to him for 9 runs in less than 4 innings is amazing and hopefully then can keep it up tomorrow when AJ Burnett takes on Fausto Carmona. I'm hoping for a sweep of the series which would be great, it was just an overall fantastic day. Way to go tribe, keep it up.

C.C's Back!

That's 4 consecutive solid starts for CC. He shut down the Blue Jays over 7 innings, only giving up 6 hits and 1 ER. He outdueled Roy Halladay to earn his second victory of the season. He's only given up 6 runs in his last 4 games after giving up 27 in his previous 4 starts. After a slow start, he's finally returning to Cy Young form, and I couldn't be happier. The Indians got to Halladay in the 7th, chased him after a Casey Blake double, then went on to score a total of 6 runs in the inning to provide the only offense they needed all night. I really thought that Francisco had a grand slam when the ball first left the bat, but i'll settle for a 2-RBI double off the top of the wall. Francisco is showing that he needs regular time in the lineup and could be a consistent power threat that the Indians have been greatly lacking.

It was a good day for the Indians and I hope they keep the offense rolling today as Aaron Laffey takes on Dustin McGowan in a night game at Progressive Field. McGowan has been pitching well of late and looks to improve on his 2-2 record. Laffey looks for his first win of the season after two tough luck losses and sporting a 2.24 ERA. I am excited for tonight and an hoping it's another good game and of course an Indians victory.

Nice Try Papa John's

Incase you didn't know, Papa John's will put their logo on anything including a football stadium and a t-shirt that mocks one of the most recognized players in the NBA. If you haven't Read the AP article here: I laughed when I read the article last week, I thought to myself, it's going to be a zoo Thursday in Cleveland, I'm glad I'm in Columbus, they're going to go crazy over a .23 cent pizza in Cleveland. And then, yesterday, I come to find that the offer was extended to the Columbus area for some reason. I was excited, .23 cent pizza sounds good to me, but then I found out the stipulations. Must pick up: 1 per person: Must order in person: Must be one topping: Must wait at least 2 hours in a rediculously long line: Must find a parking space in a parking lot meant for 10 when there are already 45 people there. We have 2 Papa John's by my house, and both are quite small with even smaller parking lots. Even driving past them was a dificult task yesterday, there were people parking everywhere, overflowing other companies parking lots, people walking near a mile just to get a pizza. I deemed the task worthless and just laughed at all of the people going crazy over a cheap pizza. Hopefully this taught Papa John's a lesson that you don't have to put your name on everything you can, you're already one of the top pizza places around (for some reason), it was a nice attempt to mend things, but just stick to those cheezy ads that I see on the TV all day and continue making pizza that tastes like cardboard, it's been working so far. I don't know how much money they lost, but they do have a large amount of stores in the columbus to cleveland area, so I'm hoping it was enough of a setback so the person who thought of the idea to sponser the crybaby t-shirts got fired, or at least a stern talking to.

That is a gutless, 6 foot 7, .200 hitting, formerly good player

Richie Sexson over reacting after a pitch that is nowhere near him

This video is absolutely rediculous. The Mariners are down 4-0 in the fourth inning and with a stellar record of 14-22, so what does the great Richie Sexson do to turn things around? He over reacts after a pitch from Kason Gabbard is about 2 feet high and 2 feet away from Richie. Richie immediately charges the mound, and instead of throwing the first punch, he throws his helmet at Gabbard, classic. He then attempts to tackle Gabbard, then Gerald Laird comes running full speed tackles richie and jumps on his back in full catcher gear, hilarious. But the best part about this video is the announcer who clearly does not like Richie and calls him a gutless, 6 foot 7, .200 hitting, formerly good player. Which is absolutely true, he did used to be good and now he just kind of hangs around, strikes out and counts his money. This guy used to be one of my favorite players with the Indians and I was irate when they traded him years ago. Check Out His Stats from 1999 to 2006, his home run and rbi totals are good to fantastic, whereas his average and strikeout rate have never been something to be proud of.
Great video, definitely worth watching for a good laugh.

Hafner sits out second straight game

For the second straight day, Hafner is MIA. Yes, I know, he pinch hit the previous day and hit into a double play by hitting it about 6 inches. Today, Victor wasn't in the lineup, so the indians needed another power hitter, instead of going to Hafner, they went to David Dellucci. Yes, David Dellucci. I hope you've noticed how many times I've said Hafner, and not Pronk. Pronk was Hafner's alter ego from 2004-2006. Then something happened, he turned back into Travis Hafner, the 31st round pick from a small town in North Dakota. So what did happen? I've heard things like he was on the juice and now doesn't have the same power he used to. I also heard that pitchers know how to pitch him now and he hasn't adjusted. I just don't buy this. Hafner has always been a monster, I can't see him taking steroids. And he's been around since 2003, and progressively gotten better until the end of 06, so he gave the pitchers plenty of time to adjust, and he kept on rolling. So my thinking is the fact that Hafner was hit by a pitch from Mark Buerhle in the eye in mid 2005, but he was able to rebound from that and finish with a strong 05 and a great 06. But, in late August 2006 he was hit by a pitch from C.J. Wilson on the wrist/hand and missed the rest of the season. He came back in 07 and just didn't look the same. His power numbers and average significantly dropped and his hands arent driving through the zone like he used to. He is no longer the feared monster Pronk that every one was afraid of in 05 and 06, now he is just Travis Hafner, who is hitting .207 and trying way too hard. He just needs to take it easy, shoot the ball to left and center and stop trying to pull the crap out of the ball (Same goes for Asdrubal). So will Hafner come back this season, I don't know. I think he should take a trip to the DL, rehab, figure exactly what is wrong, I still think it's the wrist, or lack of confidence. But something needs to be done because I miss the Pronk badly and am not a fan of this Travis Hafner fellow.

No Victor = No Victory

Apparently Eric Wedge decided to concede victory before the game even begins. Sitting out Victor today after being DH last night is absolutely crazy, it's not like he was catching last night and today, maybe Kelly needed a break then. Having Peralta as a cleanup hitter does not make sense. At least have Hafner and his .209 average in there if Victor's not playing just to give the idea that there might be some kind of power threat out there. Having Dellucci at left is basically having 4 light hitting outfielders in the game. Casey did come through with a clutch double where he went to third on the throw home and later scored on Kelly's single. Francisco showed some nice hitting with a double in the ninth but also showed his laziness by not stretching it into a triple after Abreu poorly played it in right. Byrd just didn't have it today, left too many balls up in the zone and Giambi and Damon took advantage by finding that short right field porch. And Robinson Cano, who the YankeesChick called slumpy mcslumperson apparently likes Byrd pitching by getting two extra base hits off Byrd to raise his stellar average to .172. I wasn't expecting much today, but am still disappointed that Victor was not playing.

Almost to .500!

Is it too early to pronounce Cliff Lee as the 2008 Cy Young Award Winner? C.C. may have over a 7 ERA and a 1-5 record, but Cliff's 6-0 record and .81 ERA more than makes up for it. Cliff was just unstoppable tonight. He gave up 6 hits, 4 of them didn't leave the infield (1 should have been an error on Casey) and the 2 doubles were ground balls that went down the lines. The offense wasn't overly terrific though. Wang pitched well, but we should have had more than 3 runs. Francisco needs to learn how to bunt because Dellucci can't save him every time and Grady needs to learn how to go first to third on a throw home from the outfield so he doesn't have to try to steal third with Victor at the plate. The bullpen held up today, but they're overusing the rafy's. Perez has pitched 5 times this month and Betancourt has pitched 4. The last thing I want is them to get burnt out and see more Craig Breslow and Tom Mastny than I want to. Julio, Jensen and Masa have been pitching well, give them a chance in pressure situations than always turning to the Rafy's, it's a long season and there's more than 2 people in the bullpen. Overall, it was a great day, but we need to score more than 3 runs tomorrow off Moose if we expect to win. But if we do win tomorrow, they'll finally be back to .500 which would be fantastic considering how every one except Cliff and Victor have gotten off to a slow start this season.

Wang vs. Lee = Excitement

I hope that I am not the only one excited by tonight's matchup. How often are the pitchers a combined record of 11-0? Come on, Lee has been incredible this season going 5-0 with a .96 ERA, 32 K's, and only 2 walks, which is insane. But he is facing the Yankees, will they make him revert to his usual self? Last year, in 20 games, 16 starts, he went 5-8 with a 6.29 ERA and 17 Home Runs given up in 97 innings, whis is quite awful. Cliff was lucky to start out the season in the rotation because Sowers and Laffey didn't step it up in spring training either. But who knows, now that Cliff's 30, he finally figured things out and knew this season might be his last chance to get it right. But with the Indians offense struggling so mightily against the likes of Gil Meche and Luke Hochevar, this could be a long game. And the chances of light hitting David Dellucci hitting another 3 run HR off of Joba are very unlikely. And with Wang on the mound, who is a sinker ball monster, it could easily be a 1-0 game. However, the Indians blew up Wang last season in the ALDS, but the only Indians position player playing like it's last season is Victor, everyone else is struggling to break a .225 batting average. So hopefully Victor can go 5-5 and Ben Francisco will continue to play decent. Well, i'm excited and can't wait.

Bye Bye Jason Michaels

It's official, Jason Michaels is no longer a member of the Cleveland Indians and Ben Francisco was brought up to take his place. Michaels was brought in before the 2006 season to solve the Indians left field woes by having a steady, consistent hitter to take the pressure off the middle of the lineup. To get Michaels, we traded Arthur Rhodes, who was our best left handed reliever in 2005 with a 2.08 ERA. I was angry at the time, but Rhodes blew up in Phily in 06, didnt play in 07 and is now struggling with the Mariners. I just have never understood why Mark Shapiro brings in players that used to be back ups with little starting experience and expects them to start for the Indians. Michales batted .304 in 2006, looks good, right? However, he had only 289 at bats in 105 games while splitting time in a crowded outfield with Pat Burrell and Bobby Abreu. So in '06, the Indians planted Michaels in left field and gave him almost 500 at bats, he responded by hitting .270, 9 HR's, 55 RBI. Those are solid numbers, but not for a left fielder in Cleveland where the fans expect you to put up Manny Ramirez/Brian Giles type numbers. Because after all, we could have had Brian Giles playing in left after Manny left. So when Michaels didn't put up any better numbers in '07, he was put in a platoon with the likes of David Dellucci and Franklin Gutierrez until losing his job pretty much for good when Kenny Lofton came back to town. I still think the Indians should sign Kenny, i know he can still play. On a side note, my girlfriend was excited to hear the news because she never liked Michaels and made an "ew" face whenever he was shown on TV because she thought he had an ugly horse face and referred to him as horse face the last 3 years. Hopefully Francisco can step up and play strong while he is up, if only Brad Snyder could hit over .225 and when is Trevor Crowe going to be ready?

Beard of the Day - Casey Blake

Obviously, I have a beard and I like it very much. I also enjoy other people's beards. Today we will be looking at Casey Blake's beard (before he shaved).
I have to say that it's a pretty good beard for an athlete, screw the Yankees, I think all teams should require their players to grow facial hair, not keep them cleanshaven.
Way to go Casey!

Now and Then

I won't lie, I miss the mid to late 90's cleveland indians very badly. The days of the 3-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to win every game, Albert Belle beating up trick or treaters, skinny Manny, Jim Thome playing 3rd base, prospects that weren't good enough to play for the indians but later were all-stars for other teams (Brian Giles, Jeromy Burnitz, Richie Sexson, Sean Casey, Jeff Kent, Danny Graves). Also missing are the usual 5-7 all-stars each season and the old guys that were always brought in to give some veteran leadership (Eddie Murray, Dave Winfield, Denny Martinez, Orel Hershiser, Dwight Gooden, they even tried Cecil Fielder one year).


Then : Now : Advantage

RF : Albert Belle : Franklin Gutierrez : Belle, still trying to find a decent right fielder.

CF : Kenny Lofton : Grady Sizemore : Sizemore, I still love Kenny though.

LF : Manny Ramirez : Ben Francisco : ManRam, this isn't even fair

1B : Jim Thome : Ryan Garko : Thome, I love them farmboys

2B : Carlos Baerga/Robbie Alomar : Asdrubal Cabrera : Baerga/Robbie

SS : Omar Vizquel : Jhonny Peralta : Omar, didn't we almost get Carlos Guillen?

3B: Travis Fryman/Matt Williams : Casey Blake : Fryman/Williams, I miss Casey's beard

C : Sandy Alomar, Jr : Victor Martinez : Victor, close, but Victor's a monster

DH : Paul Sorrento : Travis Hafner : Push, Hafner if this was from 2006

SP : Charlie Nagy : Fausto Carmona : Carmona, when he's on at least

SP : Bartolo Colon : C.C. Sabathia : C.C. I wonder who could eat more?

SP : Chuck Finley : Cliff Lee : Push, can Cliff keep up his outrageous April?

SP : Denny Martinez : Paul Byrd : Martinez, Byrd should use more HGH

SP : Orel Hershsiser : Jake Westbrook : Push, Bulldog went to Bowling Green

SP : Jaret Wright : Jeremy Sowers : Push, they had a decent year then imploded

RP : Jose Mesa : Joe Borowski : Mesa, even if he did blow game 7 in 1997

RP : Mike Jackson : Rafy Betancourt : Rafy, at least last year

RP : Paul Assenmacher : Rafy Perez : Assenmacher, what a pro that guy was

Yes, I know, that wasn't every played that played for the Indians since there last great season of 1998, but they were the main parts. The indians have been struggling to find corner outfielders the last 10 years to live up to ManRam and Joey Belle, JuanGone did work for a year, but people like : Ryan Ludwick, Brady Anderson, Shane Spencer, Karim Garcia, Jason DuBois, Chris Magruder, Alex Ramirez, Marty Cordova, Jason Michaels, Jody Gerut, David Dellucci have not even come close. There's always hope with the Indians, but there will always be some nostalgia reasons that make me miss a decade ago.