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Indians Tidbits (2006 season)..

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Considering how poorly these guys have started in the past and have tended to heat up as the season has gone on, it's hard not to get excited. Imagine what could have been last year if the Tribe had just played .500 ball in April and May...
 
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ABJ

4/12/06

Tribe pushes streak to six

Middle of order leads assault on Mariners with eight hits, five RBI

By Sheldon Ocker

Beacon Journal sportswriter

<!-- begin body-content -->Six and counting does not refer to the number of wiseguys whacked on The Sopranos this season.
Actually, it might, but the issue here is the Indians, who won their sixth game in a row Tuesday night at Jacobs Field.
The Tribe toppled Seattle 9-5, even though Mariners killer Cliff Lee appeared to hit the wall in the sixth inning and gave up two runs.
Even though their heretofore impenetrable relief corps looked a little shaky, the Wahoos won.
Vulnerabilities that often make the difference didn't matter. Winning might indeed be contagious. If so, maybe the Indians will remain in quarantine for several more days, while the Mariners then the Tigers try to find the antidote for rampant early season success.
Even the fans are responding. Attendance of 17,559 was hardly historic, but there was a walk-up crowd of 2,700, unusual for April. Of course, so was the temperature, 73 degrees at first pitch.
``Everybody feels confident,'' Lee (1-0, 3.97 ERA) said of the persistent winning. ``We're on a roll. For me, I only pitch once every five days, so the streak doesn't really have anything to do with me. It's the offense. Everybody is doing it.''
On this night, the attack began slowly but eventually turned on the jets to amass 13 hits, including six for extra bases.
Jhonny Peralta collected three hits, including a two-run homer and a double. He drove in two runs and scored three.
His explanation was simple: ``I feel pretty good,'' Peralta said. ``I don't like cold weather. Hot is better.''
Victor Martinez also had three hits, including a double, and contributed two RBI.
Travis Hafner continued to excel at big ball, hitting his fifth home run of the season in addition to a single. He also had one RBI and scored three times.
Peralta, Hafner and Martinez comprise the three, four and five hitters in the lineup, who together were 8-for-10 with five RBI and six runs.
``They do complement each other,'' manager Eric Wedge said. ``But I don't look at it as just the 3-4-5 guys. There are the hitters in front and behind them.''
It was a game in which if the Tribe scored three runs, the Mariners would rally for one, and that is not the way to beat the white-hot Wahoos.
For a while, it didn't look like the offense would be called on to win the game at all. Lee was doing well enough all on his own.
He didn't give up a hit until Kenji Johjima doubled with two out in the fifth inning.
Through five, Lee put only one other runner on base -- Ichiro Suzuki, who walked leading off the game -- and struck out eight. In other words, he did nothing to foreshadow what would transpire in the sixth inning.
``Mostly, I was throwing fastballs and locating them,'' Lee said.
With a suddenness of a team that knew what was coming, the Mariners began hammering Lee's pitches. Yuniesky Betancourt, who bats ninth, led off the sixth with his first of three doubles, and one out later, Jose Lopez homered to cut the Cleveland lead to 6-2.
No big deal, really, but Lee limped through the rest of the inning, which culminated with second baseman Ronnie Belliard snagging a wicked line drive off the bat of Carl Everett.
Wedge acted as though the rough inning never happened.
``I thought Cliff was good throughout,'' the manager said. ``They have a pretty good lineup over there. Cliff had to work a little; his pitch count (96) was up a bit as he went through the sixth inning.''
Lee felt that Betancourt hit a good pitch, but not Lopez.
``He did what he was supposed to do with that pitch,'' Lee said.
With a large lead, Lee was concentrating on not giving up walks.
``You get a lead like that, you don't want to put guys on with walks,'' he said. ``And we had a big enough lead.''
Fernando Cabrera, Matt Miller, Scott Sauerbeck and Rafael Betancourt kept the hopes of the Mariners alive, though with nine runs through the seventh, the Tribe was almost upset proof.
But the three relievers combined to allow three runs, four hits, two walks and a hit batter in three innings.
``They had to work for it tonight,'' Wedge said. ``But in the end they got the job done. That's the bottom line.''
And when the bottom line has produced six wins in a row, why quibble about small malfunctions?
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ABJ

4/12/06

NOTEBOOK

<!-- begin body-content -->CLEVELAND - Ticket sales picking up
for Tribe home games
With 1.4 million tickets sold, Jacobs Field is starting to feel like the place to be again.
The Indians didn't sell that many seats last year until June. The Tribe sold 6,500 single-game tickets Monday.
THE PHENOM -- On Thursday, the Wahoos will face one of the most talked-about young starters in years, Seattle Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez, who turned 20 last weekend.
``I didn't see Dwight Gooden when he was that age, but of all the 19- and 20-year-old pitchers I've seen, he's the best,'' Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said.
Hargrove has imposed no restrictions on Hernandez except, ``We want to keep him under 200 innings. Of course, if we're in this thing late in the season, we might have to revisit that.''
In addition to having three above-average big-league pitches, Hargrove likes Hernandez's demeanor.
``He's not arrogant,'' the manager said. ``He walks around like he should be up here, but he doesn't act like it. He has a lot on the ball.''
BELLIARD RETURNS -- After missing two games with a strained calf, Ronnie Belliard was in the lineup at second base.
``You always feel it a little,'' he said. ``But I think I'm ready today.''
FARM FACTS -- Charles Lofgren yielded only two hits and one unearned run in five innings, as Kinston beat Wilmington 4-1 in Class A.
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ABJ

4/12/06

Carmona's debut set for Saturday

Rookie to start against Tigers in place of Sabathia

By Sheldon Ocker

Beacon Journal sportswriter

<!-- begin body-content -->CLEVELAND - As the accidental beneficiary of an injury to C. C. Sabathia, Fausto Carmona is scheduled to make his major-league debut Saturday, when he starts against the Detroit Tigers at Jacobs Field.
``That's the way it looks now,'' manager Eric Wedge said Tuesday. ``There's nothing definitive, but more than likely he's the guy.''
Carmona was proclaimed the Indians' No. 6 starter in spring training, when he impressed Wedge with his ability and his poise, yet as the manager said, ``We can only take so many guys north, but he did more than enough to make it.''
Only 22, Carmona has made two starts at Triple-A Buffalo and is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA. In the spring exhibition season, Carmona pitched in four games, giving up one earned run in 12 innings, walking one and striking out eight.
Meanwhile, Sabathia, on the disabled list with a strained oblique, has begun throwing again.
``He's thrown a couple of times already,'' Wedge said.
``It's not long toss yet, more like playing catch. But he's feeling good. Last year, (a similar) injury was definitely worse than this.''
It's impossible to say how many starts Carmona will get before Sabathia returns, though it's unlikely the Tribe ace will miss fewer than four more starts.
``C.C. probably will have to go out and throw off a mound (on rehab) a couple of times,'' Wedge said.
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ABJ

4/12/06

Martinez just keeps on hitting

By Terry Pluto

<!-- begin body-content -->CLEVELAND - Victor Martinez hit .380 after the 2005 All-Star break.
And .370 in spring training.
And he's batting .444 this season.
Guess he's still hot.
Just like the Indians.
Let's think about this for a moment. Martinez led the major leagues with that .380 average after the All-Star break, and the Indians were 46-28.
After Tuesday's 9-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners, they have started this season at 6-1, and Martinez has hit in every game.
Martinez just hits.
In Tuesday's game at Jacobs Field, Martinez had a single to center field, a double to right-center and a base hit to left. He's hitting fastballs, breaking balls, all sorts of balls thrown by virtually every kind of pitcher.
He hits left-handers, and he hits righties.
That's because he also bats lefty, and he bats righty.
Most catchers can't hit from one side of the plate. Martinez does it from both.
Martinez just hits.
He did it in the minors when he won batting titles at Class A Kinston and Class AA Akron. He was on his way to a third batting title at Class AAA Buffalo when he was called up in July, taking his .328 average with him.
Keep in mind, Martinez is a catcher.
Catchers winning batting titles are like cement trucks winning the Daytona 500.
Not supposed to happen.
Catchers spend much of a three-hour game squatting, their knees aching, their body being bruised by foul balls, pitches in the dirt and collisions at home plate.
On a sweltering afternoon, they can lose 10 pounds -- and maybe as many points off their batting average.
When it's cold, every foul ball off the chest protector feels like a boot to the gut.
Catchers just don't hit, at least not most catchers with most teams. Tribe fans have been spoiled, because Sandy Alomar supplied far more offense than most catchers.
But Martinez just hits.
Which is why his stumbling start in 2005 was so shocking. He batted .207 in April, .213 in May and then started to hit -- and hasn't stopped since.
Last year, Martinez caught 142 games. Only the Oakland A's Jason Kendall (147) spent more time behind the plate. Martinez should have been tired by the end of the season, yet he hit .352 in September.
OK, that was down from .402 in August, but you get the point. His final numbers for 2005 were .305 with 20 homers and 80 RBI -- this came after batting .283 with 23 homers and 108 RBI in 2004.
Martinez just hits.
Keep in mind that manager Eric Wedge is a former catcher and very demanding of his catchers. His throwing remains the weakest part of his game, but Martinez has made himself into a solid catcher. Wedge said Martinez works well with the pitchers in terms of calling the game and studying opposing batters.
The remarkable thing about Martinez is how he keeps hitting.
``Part of that is his offseason conditioning,'' Wedge said. ``He's in great shape. He's a tough guy. He is one of our more vocal guys in the dugout and clubhouse, but most fans don't know it because he's pretty humble.''
Martinez is from Venezuela. Like most Latino players, he's always interviewed here in a second language. He's careful of what he says. But you sometimes grab glimpses of him joking with his teammates, and he has developed special handshake for his guys on the team.
He really does love to play, and enjoys Cleveland. He signed an extension through 2009 (club option for 2010) during the opening week of the 2005 season. That set an example, since followed by Travis Hafner, C.C. Sabathia, Jhonny Peralta and Grady Sizemore.
Wedge talks about giving Martinez some rest, or at least a little more than last year. He used Martinez at first base in a few spring training games and said the 27-year-old is adequate at that position.
But no matter where Martinez plays, he hits.
And right now, he's hitting better than ever.
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Dispatch

4/12/06

Wednesday, April 12, 2006
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Wednesday, April 12, 2006
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CPD

4/12/06

Tribe spring sees growing confidence

Indians reverse trend of slow starts to season
Tuesday, April 11, 2006 Burt Graeff
Burt Graeff
April has been more than showers, snowstorms and dodging potholes on Cleveland streets during the Indians' Eric Wedge era.

It also has included a plethora of losing games - triggering starts to the season that meant playing catch-up over the next five-plus months and early disinterest among fans.

One week into Wedge's fourth season, signs indicate a reversal of fortunes. The Tribe (5-1) takes a five-game winning streak into tonight's game at Jacobs Field against Seattle (3-4).

"These guys have a way of using the past to learn and I think that's what they are doing here," Wedge said. "They are playing good ball right now.

"They've come out and played aggressively."

In three previous seasons under Wedge, the Indians have come out of spring training apparently ready for solid starts. It didn't happen. Here's a look at the three previous springs and subsequent Aprils under Wedge.

- 2005: Spring training: 16-13. April: 9-14.
- 2004: Spring training: 18-14. April: 9-13.
- 2003: Spring training: 19-11. April: 7-20.

The Indians went 20-12-1 this spring and have gone undefeated since losing, 10-4, on Opening Day in Chicago.

"We've had good spring trainings in recent years," said pitcher Jake Westbrook (2-0, 1.98 ERA), "but for some reason we were tight once the season began.

"These starts have definitely been on our minds. We're making a real effort to stay loose, just like we were in spring training."

The Indians are coming off a three-game sweep of Minnesota, a series in which the offense hit .346 (36-of-106), with five home runs and 17 runs scored while the pitching held Twins batters to a .177 average while compiling a 2.67 ERA.

Westbrook, who did not win his second game last season until May 29, gave up one run on two hits in 7 1/3 innings of Sunday's 3-2 victory over Minnesota. "We're playing with a lot of confidence right now," he said.

One week into the season, the Indians have done little wrong. The talk show hosts are grasping to find beefs.

Offensively, the Tribe ranks among the top three American League teams in batting average (.317), slugging percentage (.507) and on-base percentage (.370). The pitching staff is holding opposing teams to a .204 batting average, best in he AL. The staff's ERA (3.76) is third.

Numerous players have contributed, including No. 9 hitter Casey Blake, who exemplifies how an individual turnaround can affect a team.

Blake is batting .400 (8-of-20), with one home run, six RBI, a .500 on-base percentage and a .600 slugging percentage. In six games last season, when the Tribe was 3-3, Blake hit .190 (4-21), with one home run, four RBI, a .292 on-base percentage and a .333 slugging percentage.

"There is a long way to go," Blake said, "but believing in ourselves and being more mature as a club has something to do with this start.

"In the last few years, we may have been confident, but we didn't know how good we really were."

The Indians were a combined 25-47 (.347) in three previous Aprils under Wedge, then went 216-198 (.522) the rest of the way. In the past two seasons, the Tribe played .556 ball (155-124) after going 18-27 (.514) in April.

The trend may be changing. Nineteen more games in April to truly find out if the start after one week is a mirage, or the real deal.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter [email protected], 216-999-4479
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