We're back

OK, gonna give this thing another try....

Today's performance just reinforces my strong belief that Carsten Charles is not a #1 and the Indians will let him walk to the west coast come '09. Granted the Tigers have an impressive lineups, but 3 HR? Come on CC., that's about the 3rd or 4th time its happened this year. Barring injuries, and a little luck (which I should know by now doesn't exist on the shores of Erie), the top 3 in the '09 rotation will be Carmona, Miller, and Sowers. Mix in either Lee and Westbrook, or one of the other semi-promising guys on the way-up, and you've got a damn good (and cheap) rotation with an assured chance to lock in Pronk and possibly a stud corner outfielder or 3B (Carl Crawford and/or Hank Blaylock perhaps?). How good would G-size and Crawford look patrolling the Jake? You might as well put a net up from RC to the Left field line.

The Home Stretch

The Tribe (currently 7.5 games out in the Central, 1 game out of the wild card - behind Oak/Ana and the Yankees):

Games remaining: 29
Home games remaining: 16
Road games remaining: 13
Games against winning teams: 15
Games outside division: 6
Days off: 4
(Note: Cleveland's scheduled game with Detroit on Tuesday was rained out and has yet to be rescheduled.)
Toughest road trip: Sept. 19-25, 3 at CHI, 4 at KCKey series: Sept. 12-14, 3 with OAK

Comment: The division is still in play, especially with two series remaining against the White Sox. But the Indians' best ticket to the postseason might be the wild card. If they can hold their own against the White Sox, beat up on the losing teams within their division (Detroit, Kansas City) and take advantage of another series with Tampa Bay, they could slip in.

...whereas the Pale Ho's:

Games remaining: 30
Home games remaining: 16
Road games remaining: 14
Games against winning teams: 17
Games outside division: 4
Days off: 2
Toughest road trip: Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 4 at DET, 3 at CLE
Key series: Sept. 19-21, 3 with CLE

Comment: Even with a poor August, the White Sox have the biggest lead of a first-place team. But two series with the Indians -- including the last one of the season in Cleveland -- will make the final month interesting. Ideally, the White Sox would like to wrap up the Central crown in mid-September to rest some regulars and get their pitching in order for the playoffs.

The A's:

Comment: The A's have a challenging schedule, playing every contender except Chicago in the final month. Their season likely will be determined by how they fare in their 10-game road swing in the middle of the month. If they can survive that, 10 of their final 13 are at home.

The Angels:

Comment: Like their division rivals, the Angels face a challenging three-city trip. Given the closeness of the race in the West, their season might well come down to a four-game set with the A's in the final week. Unfortunately for the Angels, that one is in Oakland.

The Sox:

Comment: The best home team in baseball has the most home games left of any AL contender. But, balancing things out, the Sox also play more games against teams with winning records. It will be interesting to see how the demands of the schedule affect this veteran team. Thanks to a makeup game with the White Sox on Labor Day, they have just one off day in the final six weeks.

Yanks:

Comment: The Yankees have two series remaining with the Red Sox to try to close the gap in the AL East and a huge series with Oakland this weekend. They'll need to play better on the road than they have most of the season to keep their postseason streak alive. It would help if they could figure out a way to beat Tampa Bay, too, since they have six games remaining with the Rays.

Guttierez Frist To Make it Up

From ESPN:

OF Franklyn Gutierrez was called up from Class AAA Buffalo prior to Wednesday's game against Detroit. He started the season in Class AA Akron but was promoted to Buffalo on August 10. The 22-year-old batted .261 with 11 home runs and 42 RBI at Akron and .254 with seven RBI in 19 games at Buffalo. Gutierrez was acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 4, 2004 along with RHP Andrew Brown in exchange for OF Milton Bradley. Gutierrez made his major league debut in the ninth inning as a pinch runner for Victor Martinez. To make room for Gutierrez on the roster the Indians optioned lefthander Brian Tallet to Buffalo.

Road Rage

After last night's W at the big Naranja, ESPN noted their continued road success: and other fun facts: "The Indians have won eight straight road games and 10 of their last 11 since July 28. ... Cleveland is 43-2 when scoring six or more runs. ... In the Indians' last 24 games, they have hit 31 home runs and scored 141 runs (5.875 per game)."

From Buster Olney's weblog (8/23):

Surging Indians in Familiar Spot
The Cleveland Indians made a run toward the top of the standings last year, too. After slogging along at 42-46, the Indians won 21 of their next 30, hitting like crazy, doing everything right. On Aug. 14, Jake Westbrook shut down Minnesota, allowing only one run in seven innings, and Cleveland pulled to within a game of the first-place Twins.
And then the Indians utterly collapsed, plummeting into a precipitous losing streak which wrecked all the work they had done the previous month. "We just fell off," Westbrook said Monday. "Nine in a row."
The Indians are making another run now: They've moved into a first-place tie for the wild-card lead, and like mile runners who hear the bell for the final lap, they are elbow to elbow with the Yankees and the Athletics. Westbrook believes the knowledge gained last year will help them. "We realize we can't slack off, that we have to be more consistent," said Westbrook.

Peralta is now leading all MLB SS's in OPS. He's ahead of Tejada by .023 and over Michael Young (both '05 All-Stars) by a whopping .054. That;s pretty solid company....and to think people were calling out Shapiro just a few months ago for letting go of Omar.


Willy Taveras

I was curious as to why the Tribe let the speedster (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2137637) go back in '03. I was intruiged by an OF of Sizemore, Crisp, and Taveras, though not short on speed definitely lacking power. A nice rebuttal and background on the trade by Jay Catalano, Indians guru:

Well, that was a pretty abysmal deal (the one for jeriome (with an "i")robertson) - but i think Taveras is very average. You can't win anymorewith a slap-hitting center-fielder, not that I'm down on everybody'sfavorite marlin, juan pierre........but I am. I don't think the tribecould win with the outfield you mention, albainy. you've got to have somewhack at all three spots. grady and coco give you like "half-whack", soyou need the third outfielder to have big whack, not no whack a la Willy.That outfield could maybe work in the NL in a big park (like ours) providedyour infield dropped serious bombs, but the tribe's in the AL, and theirinfield is pretty mediocre with the bat other the Jah-hanny.unfortunately, the one criticism of an otherwise strong tribe farm systemis bearing itself out this year - that being, that there really is no30-homer masher. gutierrez was supposed to be but he's having a crap year.if you dropped Manny Ramirez circa 1995 into the Tribe's lineup this year,they'd take the Wild Card easy - but those guys don't grow on trees.

Other notes:

Former Indian and current Brave Julio Franco turned 47 today.

Brian Tallet was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo on Tuesday by the Cleveland Indians, who are in a virtual tie for first place in the AL wild-card race....Andrew Brown was sent back to Buffalo.

Tearing the peices off of Rachel Phelps

The Wahoo Warriors just tore the leopard skin shoulder strap off of Ms. Phelps cardboard cut-out. With Wednesday night's win over the poor Buddy Bell's hapless Royals (12 L's in a row), the Tribe leaped over the Jankees in the Wild Card race and are now 3.5 games behind the Angel/A Cali congolmerate.

Call me the master of the obvious, but clutch hitting continues to be the key to the Tribe's success. In 10 of the last 13 games (10 wins), the Indians have had at least 10 hits.

Can they catch the A's?

In their typical scrappy fashion, the Tribe has eeked out some bigs wins this week including:

- Today's 6-5 comeback on 2 out HR's by Sizemore and Blake, and then a bug 3R shot in the 8th by Ronnie Belliard
- Holding on for dear life to a 6-1 lead spotted to Scott Elarton in a 6-5 win over the Yanks
- Coming up with a huge 10 hit, 9 run outburst to finish off game 1 in the Tiger series

Let's compare upcoming August schedules for the key wild card players at the moment:

Tribe - no more Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, and a lot of Devil Ray
- 3 at KC
- 3 at home v TB
- 3 at home v Texas
- 3 at home v sinking Oriole ship
- 3 at TB
- 3 in hoser country
- 3 at home against Detrot

Angels
- 3 at Oak
- 3 at Seattle
- 3 home vs Toronto
- 4 home v Boston
- 3 at O'
- 3 at TB
- 3 home v Oak

Yanks - mixed bag
- 3 home v Pale Ho's
- 4 home v Texas
- 3 at TB
- 3 at Pale Ho's
- 4 home v Toronto
- 3 home v KC
- 3 at Seattle

A's - home cookin'
- 3 home v Angels
- 3 home v Minnesota
- 3 home v Baltimore
- 3 home v KC
- 3 at Tigers
- 4 at B'more
- 3 at Angels


Sched is looking quite favorable to the A's in the next 3-4 weeks - they're a great home team (best in AL) playing some sputtering squads. If the Tribe could play all their games on the road, I say they would have the best go at it in the next stretch (6 TB games, 3 KC, 3 O's).

Suspensions?

Given KM, RT, DR, and EW's suspensions, I can't believe 'Shiggy' was not reprimanded for plunking Sizmore - worse yet after the game he called out the play as intentional. How does the Tribe get 4 suspended, and Mariners none, when this started from Hasegawa's feeling that 'they were getting too comfortable over there'. And to accuse Riske of throwing at Ichiro in the 9th because he stole second in the 7th is ridiculous. Call it a wash and eliminate the suspensions. ESPN's recap:
"Four members of the Indians have been disciplined stemming from incidents that took place during the team's July 29 game at Seattle. RHP Kevin Millwood has been suspended for five games and fined for intentionally throwing at Seattle's Yuniesky Betancourt. RHP David Riske has been suspended four games and find for throwing at Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki. Indian manager Eric Wedge was suspended one game and fined for the intentional actions of Millwood, while bench coach Robby Thompson was suspended one game and fined for the intentional actions of Riske."


Vic and Jhonny have stepped it up huge

Good recap from Terry Pluto:

Martinez, Peralta hit well in the middle
• Heading into the weekend, Victor Martinez had more RBI (53) than any catcher in baseball. Only the Boston Red Sox's Jason Varitek (17) had more homers than the Tribe's catcher.
• Martinez was at his best when the Indians needed him most. In the 17 games missed by designated hitter Travis Hafner (concussion), Martinez hit .409 with 18 RBI. The Indians went 10-7 in that stretch, primarily because shortstop Jhonny Peralta and Martinez took over in the middle of the lineup and consistently produced.
• Remember early in the season when the switch-hitting Martinez was batting less than .150 from the left side and some fans wanted him to exclusively hit right-handed? He went into the weekend hitting .274 from the left side, .255 as a righty.
• After a dismal first two months where he batted .210 with four homers and 15 RBI in 157 at-bats, Martinez has transformed his season and played again like an All-Star. Since June 1, he's a .316 hitter with 10 homers and 38 RBI.

Tribe Updates - Looking ahead to the hapless M's

The Tribe enters the weekend after losing 2 of 3 to the A's only 3.5 games out from the card. There are 7 teams w/in 5 games of the lead, and if the Tribe does not take advantage of the weekend series with the M's, they'll find themselves in a tough spot w/ the Yanks coming to the Jake on Tuesday.

Pronk to the DL

From the CPD: "Hafner returned to Cleveland on Tuesday night to recover from the lingering effects of a concussion suffered July 16 when he was struck in the face by an 86 mph fastball from Chicago's Mark Buehrle....."

"....Buehrle, who started the All-Star Game for the American League, has not called Hafner to check his condition. "I wouldn't want him to call me," said Hafner. "I wouldn't care what he had to say. I really don't care."

Gotta love that spirit.

On the farm:

"Lefty Brian Tallet was recalled for the third time this year from Buffalo. He will replace Fernando Cabrera, who was optioned to Buffalo on Tuesday. "

"Indians first baseman Stephen Head went absolutely berserk in high Class A Kinston's 25-4 throttling of Frederick. Head, the Indians' second-round pick in June out of Mississippi, blasted his first two Carolina League home runs--including a seventh-inning grand slam--but that is only part of his ridiculous batting line. He finished 6-for-7 with nine RBIs and four runs scored, raising his high A batting average 86 points to .354."

What's up with the C'town faithful?

D'town Roger Brown: "Through 51 dates at Jacobs Field, the Indians are averaging 22,517 spectators. At that rate, the Indians will draw 1.82 million this season - short of the 1.95 million ownership has claimed is needed to break even. That said, the Indians should draw huge crowds next Tuesday through Thursday, when the Yankees visit."

What more does this team need to do? They are in the thick of the wild card chase, and they are a pretty damn exciting young team, albeit quite inconsistent.

A Great String of Takes from Sons of Geronimo Faithful

On Jody Gerut's trade and the 1B of the future:


It's probably a wash, but why trade a team favorite at this point in the
season? I guess they've seen the best Gerut has to offer, and Dubois has
more upside. I don't know of a more solid number 4 outfielder than Gerut.
On a side note, I say it's time to bring up Garko to play 1st, move Blake
to 3rd (I'm cringing as I type that) and play Dubois everyday in right (they say he is a 25-30 hr guy).

On Dubois (the next Ludwig?):


DuBois is (supposedly) the big-RBI right-handed bat they've been looking
for after it turned out that Ludwick and Juan-Gone were not. Gerut is
certainly one of the better 4th outfielders in baseball, but anytime you
can trade a reserve player for a potential everyday player, especially one
that addresses a weakness, it's a good move. Also, Gerut will be arbitration-eligible after this season, while Dubois will not be until after the 2007 season, so Gerut projects to make about 1.5-2.0 M for each of the next two years compared to about 350K for Dubois.

Re: Soriano rumors:

I don't think Adam Miller is available. There are 20+ teams in baseball whose only chance at getting a true number one starter is to produce it themselves or give up most of their farm system for one. The Tribe has (kind of) had one in the past 20 years (Colon), and I'd be
shocked if they gave up a decent chance at another one for the right to overpay an overrated player for one year and a half years before he becomes a free agent. I've heard outfielder Brad Snyder's name in those rumors, which would make more sense. And I can't remember who the other guys were supposed to be, but the Tribe has plenty to offer. I think what I'm supposed to say is, thank you, I'm out.

On Sabathia and other recent bums in Tribe memory....

Sabathia is a bum. I'm not losing the faith yet, because this team always emerges w/ a huge winning streak. But, losing a game to the Royals in which they had 2 errors and 2 wild pitches and Jose Lima on the mound is just god awful.


yeah, i'm so off sabathia. i just dropped him yesterday off my fantasy roster. he may end up being good someday but my juggernaut sons of geronimo squad cannot wait for him to get his act together. that fat-ass.

Terry Pluto's take on sending CC to Buffalo: http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/sports/12233112.htm

Paul Hoynes had this to say about CC:
http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/sports/11224567494180.xml&coll=2


what indians pitcher in recent memory is worse than cc sabathia? chad ogea pitched in the world series. jason grimsley was over .500 a couple of times. jason bere was the second coming. ryan drese was an up and comer. even doc gooden came out of his crack haze to put together a few outings. do we have to take it all the way back to mike bielecki in 1993? or jack armstrong in '92? i don't know who it is, but there aren't many i'd take cc over...


Rich Yett..?


Always gotta throw my in favorite Kane Davis. JC astutely pointed out he was part of the 2000 debacle when the Tribe used like 45 pitchers including household names like the aussie wrangler Cam Cairncross, Scott Kamienicki, Sean Depaula, Jamie Navarro, Jim Brower, Alan Newman, former prospect Willie Martinez....and so on. For old times sake ManRam hit .351, 38 HR, 122 RBI in '00. Not a bad season considering he probably only cut-off the cut-off throw 2-3 times.


to continue memory lane...
c. baerga clubbed 200 hits, good for a .321 average, 21 bombs, 114 rbi and scored 105 runs in '93. oh, the good years. he also did enough booger sugar to kill a small horse. that's when athletes were men.

I still think the Jose Jimenez/Scott Stewart combo was one of Shapiro's most cunning moves. I mean those clowns had era's of 8.42 and 7.24, respectively.