Indians Tidbits (2006 season)..

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

INDIANS 6 RANGERS 5
Grand entrance: Kouzmanoff hits slam on first pitch

Sunday, September 03, 2006

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ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kevin Kouzmanoff stepped into the batter’s box with the bases loaded for his first major league at-bat, and his Cleveland Indians teammates had the audacity to predict a grand slam for the rookie.
Kouzmanoff homered with the bases loaded on the first major league pitch he faced and the Indians went on to stretch their winning streak to five games with a 6-5 victory over the Texas Rangers last night.
"Everybody in the dugout was saying he was about to do it," Indians starter Cliff Lee said. "It’s pretty impressive to do it on the first pitch he faced in the big leagues. He wasn’t scared. He went up there and hit his pitch."
With Travis Hafner out due to a bruised right hand, Kouzmanoff made a smashing major league debut as a designated hitter a few hours after he was called up from triple-A Buffalo.
Kouzmanoff had a few nervous moments yesterday when his flight to Dallas/Fort Worth International was delayed, but he reached the ballpark in time for batting practice.
It wasn’t long before he was circling the bases on his grand slam, just like Hafner has done six times this season to tie a major league record.
"I don’t really remember running around the bases," Kouzmanoff said. "I couldn’t believe I did it. It hasn’t sunk in yet. I still can’t believe I did it."
Grady Sizemore led off the game with a homer for the fourth time this season and seventh of his career.
Kouzmanoff became the third player in major league history with a grand slam in his first at bat. The others are Jeremy Hermida for the Florida Marlins against St. Louis Cardinals on Aug. 31, 2005, and Bill Duggleby for Philadelphia Phillies against the New York Giants on April 21, 1898.
Kouzmanoff joins Hermida, Duggleby and Bobby Bonds (on June 25, 1968 for the San Francisco Giants against the Los Angeles Dodgers) as the only players with grand slams in their first major league game.
Lee (11-10) allowed four runs and seven hits in seven innings.
Tom Mastny pitched the ninth for his fifth save in as many chances despite allowing a run. Gerald Laird led off the ninth with a single and went to third on Kinsler’s double. After Nelson Cruz grounded out, Matthews Jr. singled in Laird but Kinsler was called out on right fielder Casey Blake’s onehop throw to Martinez.
Rangers third base coach Steve Smith did not hesitate to send Kinsler, and Smith was convinced that umpire Dale Scott made the wrong decision. "If I don’t send him, I’ve got 40,000 (fans) yelling at me," Smith said. "It took a perfect throw and he was still safe."

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

Rookie looks like shoe-in for ‘07 Tribe
Sunday, September 3, 2006

Do Heon Kim, a reporter for the Daily Sports Seoul, spent most of the last two weeks with the Indians. His assignment was to write about Indians outfielder Shin-Soo Choo.
Kim talked to Choo before games. He talked to him afterward. He interviewed everyone associated with the Indians in any way (even the team’s beat writers) about Choo.
“He asked me a lot of questions about what it’s like to play in America,” Choo said. “He wanted to know whether it was tough, with the change in language and food and everything. I told him it was not that big a difference. I love hamburgers. I love steak. And I really love pizza.”
Choo laughs as he tells the story. He is a friendly 24-year-old who has quickly fit in with his new team since the Indians acquired him from Seattle for first baseman Ben Broussard on July 26. He can often be seen playing cards with teammates or just chatting.
His easygoing nature and solid command of English (he came to the U.S. in 2001) has endeared Choo to fellow players. What they like most about him, however, is his talent.
Choo brings ingredients the Indians were lacking — specifically, speed on the bases and a strong outfield arm. He has hit well enough for a rookie (.271, 17 RBIs in 96 at-bats) despite a recent slump.
The Indians have been playing Choo in left field over the last week or so. He hasn’t hit well against left-handers in the minor leagues, and incumbent left fielder Jason Michaels is more effective against lefties (.293 this season). It’s possible Choo and Michaels could platoon in left field next season, with Casey Blake in right.
Or, Choo and his rifle arm could become the everyday right fielder.
Or, the Indians could sign a productive veteran hitter for the outfield over the winter and move Choo based on the identity of that player.
In any case, Choo definitely has worked himself into the team’s plans for 2007.
“He’s played a lot of both (positions) in the past, and he’ll be good in both,” Indians Manager Eric Wedge said. “I think he will be an above-average outfielder in left or right.”
“You don’t have that long throw to third base when you play left,” Choo said. “Other than that, there’s not a big difference.”
Kim returned to Seoul last week, but not before Choo had made himself quite clear.
“I told him the other stuff — the food, the language — doesn’t matter,” Choo said. “Baseball is my life.”
n
The rookie-league Single-A Burlington (N.C.) Indians announced this week the Cleveland organization will end its 21-year affiliation with the club. Burlington will become a Kansas City farm team in 2007.
The move was not entirely unexpected. Indians farm director John Farrell said earlier this summer that the Appalachian League had developed into one populated by college-age players, making it difficult for the Tribe to send its youngest new signees there. Burlington won league championships in 1987 and 1993, but had produced just two winning teams in the last 13 seasons.
The Indians this season began fielding a Winter Haven team in the Gulf Coast League, a league that plays at spring-training sites with rosters filled primarily by teenagers.
n
Double-A Akron second baseman Eider Torres, third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff and right-hander Adam Miller were named to the Eastern League’s postseason all-star team.
n
Bobby Howry set an Indians franchise record with 79 appearances last season. He had already worked 72 games for the Chicago Cubs this season, through Friday. His 4.43 ERA and .272 opponents’ batting average since the All-Star break prodded Chicago reporters to ask Howry if he is being overworked.
“If I tell them I feel good, I expect to (pitch) in those situations,” Howry said. “If it gets to a point in September where it starts wearing on me and I start slowing down when I’m throwing five of six, I’d have no problem walking in and saying, ‘I need a little time off,’ and they’d be happy to give it to me.”
n
Because this is Canton and this is football season, this week’s baseball column can’t be concluded without a note from the gridiron.
About a month ago, Kansas City pitching coach Bob McClure approached veteran left-hander Mark Redman about adding a cut fastball to his arsenal. McClure sold Redman on the idea by appealing to his days as a high school quarterback.
“He asked me if I’d ever thrown a football,” Redman told the Kansas City Star. “Well, I was a quarterback. That was my love. He told me to hold it and throw it like a football. Don’t do anything with your wrist. Just throw it like a football. ... It just cuts.”
Redman and his new pitch were particularly effective Tuesday. He worked a complete-game, five-hit, 2-0 shutout of Minnesota at the Metrodome.
Reach Repository sports writer Andy Call at (330) 580-8346 or e-mail: [email protected]
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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Wasted chances turned into loss

Indians defuse own rallies, drop second in a row

By Sheldon Ocker

Beacon Journal sportswriter

<!-- begin body-content -->TORONTO - Losing isn't exactly a novel experience for the Indians, but believe it or not, since Aug. 16 they have played 17 games without consecutive defeats.
Until Monday, that is.
The Tribe opened its three-game set with the Toronto Blue Jays by finishing second, 4-3, at Rogers Centre, following a 5-2 defeat at Texas on Sunday.
Nothing to be alarmed about, of course. The season went south for the Indians long ago, but winning remains a far superior outcome than losing.
In that respect, Indians manager Eric Wedge was clearly upset with his troops, who were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. To his way of thinking, the offense should have done a more efficient job.
``We blew opportunities at the end of the game,'' he said. ``We had chances to tie it and win it. I am very disappointed with some of our at-bats late in the game.''
The eighth inning was particularly annoying to Wedge. Ryan Garko led off with his fifth home run of the season, which triggered the entrance of Blue Jays closer B.J. Ryan.
Usually, when Ryan trots to the mound, the game is all but over.
But this time, the lefty had problems with his control. He got behind pinch hitter Jason Michaels, who hit a 3-and-2 pitch to the track in left for the first out of the inning.
Jhonny Peralta followed with a single, and Kevin Kouzmanoff blooped a hit to right. Hector Luna heightened the tension by drawing a walk to load the bases.
But with Ryan obviously struggling to throw strikes, Andy Marte swung at the first pitch and popped to the second baseman.
Swinging at the first pitch isn't necessarily a bad thing to do. Then again, it might not have been the preferred strategy in this instance.
``It's all right to swing at the first pitch if it's a good pitch to hit,'' Wedge said. ``But you have to get the barrel of the bat on the ball. If you're going to swing at the first pitch, you'd better get to it.''
Marte didn't, defusing the rally. Grady Sizemore ended it by striking out.
To put the best light on Marte's pop fly, maybe it advanced his baseball education. Marte was one of four rookies in the lineup, and first-year players don't always exhibit the most mature judgment on the field.
``It's all part of them learning at the major-league level,'' Wedge said. ``So many things happen to young players up here that didn't happen in the minors. But you have to learn from it. You can't be making the same mistakes. So you definitely hope some things that happened today will sink in.''
Wedge didn't necessarily like the approach his hitters took against starter Shaun Marcum, who established a career high with six strikeouts, even though he left after giving up two runs in five innings.
This was Marcum's second start against the Tribe in six days. At Jacobs Field, he gave up only one run in 6 1/3 innings in a no-decision.
``We made him throw 100 pitches in five innings, but we didn't do any damage to him,'' Wedge said. ``We played right into his hands in both games by swinging at pitchers' pitches out of the strike zone.''
Garko, who like Marcum is a rookie who matriculated in the International League, had faced the right-hander before.
``I faced him at Syracuse,'' said Garko, whose home run came against Scott Downs. ``He makes you do that (swing at bad pitches). He doesn't give in. But when we face him again, we have to be more disciplined.''
In addition to the home run by Garko, Hector Luna also went deep, again with nobody on base, leading off the fifth inning.
The Blue Jays even made two errors to help the Indians get rolling, but nothing helped. Both misplays happened in the sixth inning and became another example of the Tribe failing to take advantage of opportunity.
Shin-Soo Choo led off with his second single and took second on a wild throw by Brandon League attempting to keep the runner close. Peralta and Kouzmanoff struck out, but the Jays raised false hopes when shortstop John McDonald bounced a throw to first on Luna's ground ball for an error that put runners on first and third.
But no two-out hit was forthcoming. Marte ended the inning with a fly to center.
C.C. Sabathia (10-9, 3.31 ERA) pitched relatively well, holding onto a tie until he gave up a two-run homer to Vernon Wells in the sixth inning.
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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Lee family knows not to take life for granted

By Terry Pluto

<!-- begin body-content -->It started with the flu.
Babies get the flu; that's what Kristen Lee told herself. Jaxon was only 4 months old, but Mom thought everything would be OK.
Kristen was with her husband, Cliff. This was early September 2000, long before anyone knew Cliff Lee would become a reliable member of the Indians' starting rotation.
It was the final two games of the season. Cliff, Kristen and little Jaxon had spent the summer in Jupiter, Fla., where Cliff was pitching for the Montreal Expos Class-A farm club.
The last series was to be played in Daytona Beach. Cliff was starting with a chance to have the lowest ERA in the Florida State League.
Kristen and Jaxon joined him on the road.
Suddenly, Jaxon was sick. Very sick. And hot. Too hot.
A baby shouldn't be this hot, thought Kristen.
They waited and waited, but Jaxon just got sicker and sicker, hotter and hotter.
Finally, they took their 4-month-old son to the emergency room.
They first were told it was a urinary tract infection. That made sense, thought Kristen. That can make you really sick.
But the doctors wanted to run more tests.
Cliff had to go to the game, and Kristen stayed at the hospital. She was 20, feeling so alone. Being on the road meant she had no family, no baseball friends around. Just herself, her husband at the ballpark and her baby with strange doctors and nurses.
A doctor approached her in the waiting room.
``Where's your husband?'' he asked.
``At the park,'' she said.
``Get him back here,'' he said.
That scared Kristin Lee. Her heart raced, mind whirled.
What was wrong? She wanted to know right now. The doctor wanted her husband there. It's never good when they want the husband present for the news, she thought.
Cliff's cell phone was broken. She called every member on the team until someone finally answered his cell phone, and then found Cliff.
When he arrived, the doctor said, ``It's possible your son has leukemia.''
``No, he doesn't,'' thought Cliff. ``That can't be right.''
Like most young couples, they expected their baby to be healthy and happy.
``We didn't know anything,'' said Kristen.
Dealing with diagnosis
The doctors wanted to send Jaxon to Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando. Kristen rode in an ambulance from Daytona Beach. Cliff followed in their car.
The next day, there were more doctors, more nurses, more tests.
Cliff was starting that night and returned to Daytona Beach. Jaxon would be fine in a few days. Just wait, they thought.
Kristen checked the family histories. No cancer, no leukemia. Not on her side, not on Cliff's. Doctors do get these things wrong sometimes.
This time, they didn't.
The new round of tests confirmed what the original doctors feared: Jaxon had leukemia, a very aggressive form called acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), where the infant survival rate was about 30 percent.
``I was in shock,'' said Cliff. ``It was just hard to believe it was happening.''
The doctors were talking about months of treatments... MONTHS!
It was going to be a long, long road with lots of turns. No one knew where it would end.
Kristen and Cliff Lee knew each other in junior high school, back in Benton, Ark. They married when he was 22, she was 20. About a year later, Jaxon was born -- seemingly healthy, but only 5 pounds.
Cliff had signed for $300,000 with the Expos in 2000. Kristen was determined to be the best, most supportive wife and mother.
``Nothing prepared me for this,'' she said.
Handling the treatment
The closest hospital to their home that best fit Jaxon's needs was Arkansas Children's in Little Rock, so Jaxon was taken there. Kristen went with her son. Lee's teammates and their wives helped him pack up their apartment in Jupiter, Fla., so they could have their things in Arkansas.
Kristen took the lead with the doctors. In some ways, Cliff withdrew. He was there, but didn't know what to say. While Kristen could spend days and nights at the hospital, Cliff would get to the point where he had to leave. He'd work out. He'd chop wood. He'd try to keep busy.
He wanted to do something -- anything -- to save his son.
But there was nothing to be done. Just wait to see if chemotherapy would work. Wait to hear some news, any news. Wait for spring training and stay in shape. Whatever happened to Jaxon, Cliff needed to pitch, to make some money.
Who knew how much insurance would cover?
Jaxon weighed 13 pounds at age 4 months, when the leukemia was detected. He seemed so tiny, so vulnerable. They began running tubes into him -- central lines -- for the chemotherapy. After a few months, things were going well.
Then Kristen noticed something wrong with his right eye. It seemed to be protruding. They had to attack that with radiation. At another point, Jaxon lost his voice. Then there was a scare that he might develop cystic fibrosis.
Taking the lead
Cliff never thought Jaxon would die. Kristen didn't dare let herself dwell on it; she stayed busy prodding doctors, talking to them, insisting nurses closely watch Jaxon.
``The fact is no one cares as much about your child as you did,'' she said. ``I'd track doctors down in the hospital and demand they tell me what was going on. I'd tell the nurses if something didn't seem right.''
She fought for her son.
By nature, Kristen is the talker, Cliff the doer. She talks in sentences long enough to fill a page; Cliff barely finishes a sentence. He allowed her to take the lead because this battle required words and persistence. Kristen is blessed with both.
In January 2002, they went to a hospital in San Antonio for Jaxon to receive a stem cell transplant from a donated umbilical cord. There was another round of chemo, where doctors basically shut down Jaxon's immune system to try to kill the cancer cells.
``For a long time, Jaxon couldn't even leave his room,'' said Kristen. ``He was near death, and they didn't want him to get an infection.''
Happy and healthy
That was more than four years ago.
Jaxon is now considered in remission. There have been no recent relapses.
As Cliff and Kristen Lee told this story, Jaxon, 5, and his 3-year-old sister, Maci, chased each other around a pole, making circles.
Then Jaxon climbed on top of the sofa, followed by a dive on a nearby pillow. It's a belly-flop as he yelled, ``Superman.''
As he demanded Cliff's attention, Jaxon crawled in front of his parents, covered with a huge blanket, acting like a dog.
``He's just like any other 5-year-old boy,'' said Kristen. ``He and Cliff wrestle. He rides his bike. He's athletic.''
Jaxon is small, only 30 pounds. But he's healthy, growing and glowing.
Cliff and Kristen learned they were pregnant with Maci in 2003 on the day Cliff was promoted from Triple-A Buffalo to the Tribe.
They didn't worry about having another child ``because leukemia is not genetic,'' said Kristen. ``They really don't know how you get it.''
Cliff and Kristen are the honory chairpersons for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Northeast Ohio Light The Night Walks (www.lightthenight.org/noh) to raise funds to fight the disease.
Kristen has spent a lot of time talking to other parents in her position. She remembers how it felt to be so alone, so scared, so uncertain of what it meant to have a child with leukemia.
She knows that not every story ends like Jaxon's. She has attended four funerals for children of friends who lost their fight against the disease. Another close friend just learned her child had a relapse after being cancer-free for a few years.
``Every day, Cliff and I look at Jaxon and we're just so thankful that he's a healthy little boy,'' Kristen said. ``You never take that for granted after what we've been through.''
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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Marte's slam blasts Blue Jays

Five-run eighth inning helps Indians overcome pitching of Halladay

By Sheldon Ocker

Beacon Journal sportswriter

<!-- begin body-content -->TORONTO - The Indians' sizeable gang of rookies has decided to get in on the action. After all, there's no rule that says Travis Hafner has to hit every grand slam.
Kevin Kouzmanoff set the tone when he hit the first pitch he saw as a big-leaguer for a slam in Texas last weekend.
The Tribe's deep-thinkers have been waiting for Andy Marte to show them the hitting skills they traded for, when they sent Coco Crisp to the Boston Red Sox last winter.
He gave them a taste Tuesday night, when he hit the first grand slam of his brief career, propelling the Indians to a 7-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
``It was great to see Andy step up right there,'' Tribe manager Eric Wedge said. ``This was a different day for him. He was up there yesterday with the bases loaded, and they got him.''
Not this time. Marte made sure he would be the featured attraction in the five-run eighth, when he whacked the first pitch from Jeremy Accardo directly over the center field fence.
There were two outs, and if not for two shaky defensive plays by the Jays, Marte never would have come to the plate.
Ryan Garko began the rally with a one-out double, then Shin-Soo Choo topped a roller to first baseman Lyle Overbay. He flipped the ball to Accardo, but Choo beat him to the bag (Accardo also might have missed the base with his foot). Franklin Gutierrez, running for Garko, took third.
Gutierrez scored when Accardo gloved Casey Blake's slow roller, but his throw to the plate was late.
``A lot of good things happened that inning before Marte got up there,'' said Wedge, referring to hustle plays on the bases.
The Indians reloaded the bases on a two-out walk to Joe Inglett, setting up Marte to break the franchise record for slams in one season with the team's 13th.
``It feels awesome,'' Marte said. ``I never hit a grand slam before. It's my first, and better to be up here than in the minors.''
Marte, who faced Accardo in spring training, was looking fastball.
``I was ready for it,'' Marte said. ``But I wasn't thinking about (home run). I was trying to drive the ball, put it in play.''
Jeremy Sowers, who might have made his final start of the season, worked seven strong innings, allowing both runs on five hits and no walks.
Sowers (7-3, 3.35 ERA) threw only 83 pitches, but including his time at Triple-A, he has thrown 180 2/3 innings this year. Two weeks ago, Wedge and General Manager Mark Shapiro vowed to save Sowers' arm and shut him down early in September.
``We'll talk about that tonight and go from there,'' Wedge said.
``I'm not worrying about what I'll be doing,'' Sowers said. ``It's extremely hard to ignore, but I have to go out and pitch.''
Sowers needed only 55 pitches and allowed two singles through the fifth inning. Both hits came in the second inning, when the Jays had runners on second and first and two outs. At that point, Sowers retired 10 batters in a row before running into trouble.
Former Tribe utility infielder John McDonald started Sowers' problems, leading off the sixth with a single. One out later, Alex Rios hit a smash to center field that rolled to the fence for an RBI triple.
Sowers maneuvered through the rest of the inning without further incident, but Bengie Molina hit the first pitch of the seventh over the wall in right for a home run that gave Toronto a 2-1 lead.
Former Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay, the ace of the Blue Jays staff, was practically unhittable for three innings, as he struck out five and walked two.
Asked if he thought Sowers would be energized by pitching against Halladay, Wedge said, ``It's hard not to be.''
Sowers looked at it in a little different way.
``When you go up against arguably the best pitcher out there, your margin for error is smaller, that's for sure.''
In the fourth, Victor Martinez led off with a double, and Blake delivered a two-out, RBI single to put the Indians ahead.
Halladay finished the seventh before retiring for the evening, having allowed one run, five hits and three walks. He struck out nine, his high for the season.
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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Canal Park provides peek at Tribe future

By Terry Pluto

<!-- begin body-content -->A few months ago, some fans took me to the journalistic woodshed for writing a rave review after the Indians' Jeremy Sowers won his first big-league game, beating the New York Yankees.
How dare I call him a ``phenom''? The kid wins one game, and I'm anointing him as another Jamie Moyer or Kenny Rogers.
That was not the first time that I had seen Sowers in person.
I saw him last summer at Canal Park and realized that he was the most polished pitcher that I had seen come through Akron in years. Most serious Aeros fans would have agreed.
That's part of the fun of going to Canal Park, where the Aeros open the Double-A Eastern League playoffs at 7 tonight against the Altoona Curve.
You can do some scouting.
Some fans wondered why I was so positive about Ryan Garko, despite his failing to hit .250 early this season at Class AAA Buffalo. That's because I saw Garko in 2004, when he batted .331 for the Aeros.
He had a short, quick swing. I loved Garko as a hitter, and realized that he didn't have much of a future as a catcher. Garko batted .303 at Buffalo last year, which confirmed my good feelings about him.
This is not bragging about my baseball acumen. I absolutely fell in love with Jeremy Guthrie during his first stint with the Aeros (6-2, 1.44 ERA) in 2003. He was promoted to Buffalo and was shelled. He returned to the Aeros in 2004 (8-8, 4.21) and looked like a different guy.
I still don't know exactly what happened to him.
That's a big part of going to Canal Park, trying to do your own projections and matching them with the experts in the Tribe front office.
Tonight, you can eyeball Adam Miller, the 21-year-old right-hander who has been sensational.
He is 15-6 with a 2.75 ERA. In 153 innings, he has struck out 157 and walked only 43. I've seen him before, and I think he needs some work on his off-speed pitches.
He also needs to throw inside to lefties a little more, but the kid can become very, very good. Maybe not as soon as next year, but soon. At least, that's my opinion.
Tribe fans are enamored with Kevin Kouzmanoff. Aeros fans saw him earlier this season; he hit .389 with 15 home runs and 55 RBI in 244 at-bats. He's another guy with a compact, whiplike swing from the right side of the plate. He just looks like a natural hitter.
I saw Tribe closer Tom Mastny pitch a couple of times for the Aeros. Yes, he had a 2.18 ERA last year and 1.09 ERA in 24 innings this year. I wasn't impressed. Now, I see him as an important part of the Tribe bullpen next year, even if he doesn't close.
Instead of focusing on Mastny's average fastball, I should have noticed that he struck out 30 in 24 innings this spring. No one ever struck out swinging at a radar gun reading; a fastball with movement is far more effective.
Russell Branyan spent parts of the 1997 and 1998 seasons with the Aeros. His power blinded the Indians; his strikeouts dismayed me. He missed pitches by three feet! In 300 at-bats with the Aeros, he fanned 114 times. A guy who strikes out every three times in Double-A will have trouble in the majors. I don't care how far his home runs carry.
Of the current Aeros, I want to see more of Brian Barton. He hit .295 with 13 homers and 26 steals in 308 at-bats at Class A Kinston. Promoted to the Aeros, he was better: .351 in 151 at-bats. I hadn't heard of this speedy outfielder, a 24-year-old undrafted free agent, until a few months ago. Looks good at first glance.
Little Joe Inglett has played parts of three years with the Aeros, hitting .283, .320 and .516. (Yes, .516 as in 33-of-64 this spring!) I know that it's very hard to throw a fastball past the Tribe's new utility man.
The Eastern League playoffs are this week. The Aeros' season is almost over, but there's still time to take one last look. There aren't many better ways to spend a late summer evening.
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ABJ

Indians notebook

Pitching shuffle starts with ride from Buffalo

Five pitchers added from Triple-A, meaning rotation, bullpen get new options

By Sheldon Ocker

Beacon Journal sportswriter

<!-- begin body-content -->TORONTO - They showed up in force at Rogers Centre after traveling 90 miles from Buffalo by limousine.
``Yeah, they sent a limo for us,'' said Jeremy Guthrie, one of six Triple-A players called up by the Indians on Tuesday.
And what was the limo stocked with, champagne, cheese and nuts, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups?
``Absolutely nothing,'' Guthrie said. ``There wasn't even water. Just ice. Juan Lara and I were eating ice.''
Lara might be one player unfamiliar to most Indians fans. In 40 appearances for the Double-A Aeros, Lara posted a 4-2 record with seven saves and a 2.70 ERA. He was promoted to Triple-A Buffalo and made 13 appearances, compiling a 1-1 record with one save and a 3.00 ERA.
His most distinctive quality: He throws with his left arm, and lefties are scarce in the upper levels of the Tribe farm system.
``He's effective when he throws the ball where he wants to and trusts his stuff,'' manager Eric Wedge said.
Pitchers Guthrie, Lara, Fausto Carmona, Brian Slocum and Rafael Perez were joined in the call-up by outfielder Franklin Gutierrez.
That means there might not be room for all the relievers in the bullpen.
``We're going to have to work off each game and try to do the best job we can to get these guys in there when an opportunity presents itself,'' Wedge said.
Perez, as well as Lara, is a left-hander, who had his first taste of the big leagues earlier this season. For a while, he pitched effectively before suddenly losing command of his fastball.
``He's been better his last couple outings locating his fastball and his slider,'' Wedge said.
After his unsuccessful trial as a closer, Carmona was sent back to Buffalo to stretch out his arm in anticipation of becoming a starter. That will happen Saturday in Chicago when he faces the White Sox.
The plan has been to shut down Jeremy Sowers at some point, though when remains a mystery. However, Tuesday night might have been his final start of the season.
Wedge said that Slocum, who primarily will be in the bullpen, might get a start or two later in the month. Or maybe not.
``Right now, we have six starters,'' Wedge said, referring to Carmona.
Miller returns
Matt Miller (elbow surgery) has been activated from the disabled list and has joined 12 other relievers in the Indians' bullpen.
``I feel pretty good,'' he said. ``I still have a ways to go in my velocity, and I have the normal soreness. Eric told me they're not going to push me. Mainly, I'm getting ready for spring training.''
Hafner still sidelined
Travis Hafner, hit on his right hand with a pitch Friday, continues to improve.
``They (doctors) felt because it was the hand and gripping a bat was important that it could potentially be this long,'' Wedge said.
Hafner did receive some good news Tuesday. He was named the American League Player of the Month.
Hafner hit a league-high 13 home runs and drove in 30 runs. He hit .361 (35-for-97) and had a 14-game hitting streak.
Coaches in jeopardy?
Often when a team comes up short of expectations, one or more coaches take the fall. Will that happen with the Tribe?
``I feel like our guys do a good job here,'' Wedge said. ``They care about our players. We're all on the same page.''
For the rest of the season, Buffalo manager Torey Lovullo will be with the Tribe, both at home and on the road.
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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

INDIANS NOTEBOOK
Relievers improve, but jobs not yet secure for ?07
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Scott Priestle
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
<!--PHOTOS--><TABLE class=phototableright align=right border=0><!-- begin large ad code --><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE align=center><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle>

</IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=credit width=200>MARK DUNCAN ASSOCIATED PRESS </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Indians right fielder Casey Blake snags a fly ball by the Blue Jays? Aaron Hill in the fourth. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


CLEVELAND ? The Indians bullpen, which has been fluid since Day One, recently has taken on a new shape. Tom Mastny has settled in as the closer, with Rafael Betancourt and Fernando Cabrera as the main setup men, followed by Jason Davis and Brian Sikorski.
The 2007 bullpen still has no shape. Manager Eric Wedge said all seven spots remain "wide open."
"We need to see something," he said, "and we need to continue to see that through September. We can?t downplay September."
The Indians should have plenty of money to spend this winter ? perhaps $20 million or more ? and general manager Mark Shapiro has said he will look for multiple veteran relievers. The Indians have plenty of talented young pitchers to flesh out the bullpen but none has separated from the pack for more than a few weeks at a time.
"We still have five weeks left," Cabrera said. "I want to improve my game. I?m trying to get back from a bad season early. We aren?t going to the playoffs, but we have a chance to show we still have good talent on this team."
Complicating matters is that Cabrera, Davis, Andrew Brown and Jeremy Guthrie will be out of minor-league options next spring. The Indians could not send them back to triple-A without first getting them through waivers, which is unlikely considering their talent. But it is unlikely all four will make the club, considering their inconsistency.
"I think about it when I?m away from the field," Brown said. "When I?m here, obviously I?m not thinking about it; I?m just trying to get better every day. When the phone rings, I go out and do the best I can."
Almost finished ?

Rookie Jeremy Sowers will start tonight in what could be his final home outing of the season. The Indians are expected to shut him down next week, to keep from overworking him down the stretch.
Sowers has thrown 168 innings between Cleveland and Buffalo, more than he threw last season and more than every pitcher in the organization except Jake Westbrook.
Fausto Carmona joined the rotation at Buffalo last night and is expected to replace Sowers.
Next up ?

Wedge mentioned left-hander Juan Lara and infielder Kevin Kouzmanoff as candidates to be promoted when rosters expand in September. They are not on the 40-man roster and have not participated in bigleague spring training.
"It would be a chance to put our eyes on them," Wedge said.
Kouzmanoff has hit .384 with 22 home runs between double-A Akron and Buffalo. He recently began working out at first base, in addition to third base.
[email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Tables turned on Tribe in loss

Recent successes flip for Indians, Westbrook as Lilly befuddles bats

By Sheldon Ocker

Beacon Journal sportswriter

<!-- begin body-content -->TORONTO - The Indians began Wednesday night's game against the Toronto Blue Jays having taken four of five against the Blue Jays.
Starting pitcher Jake Westbrook came into game with five wins in his past six decisions.
So what could go wrong? Just enough for the Tribe to lose 3-2 at Rogers Centre.
The biggest problem was Jays starter Ted Lilly, who on this night was no shrinking violet. Lilly (12-12, 4.63 ERA) stood his ground for six innings, giving up both runs on only four hits.
He walked four, but only one runner who coaxed a free pass from Lilly was able to score.
Lilly used a live breaking pitch to good advantage. Tribe batsmen either waved futilely at the air or took good pitches that appeared to be headed somewhere other than the strike zone.
``Lilly threw the ball well tonight,'' Tribe manager Eric Wedge said.
``We helped him out when he threw that breaking ball, swinging at some pitches out of the zone. But he dropped some curveballs over the plate, and other times he got us to chase balls down and away.''
Lilly's well-being was threatened only once.
The Indians scored both runs in the fifth inning.
Andy Marte led off with a double to left, Grady Sizemore walked, and Jason Michaels followed with a two-run double.
At that point, it appeared the rally would go on indefinitely. But with no outs and a runner on second, the next three batters slapped the ball on the ground for easy outs.
Michaels reached third on the first bouncer, but neither Ryan Garko nor Casey Blake was able to drive in the tying run.
``The offensive side just wasn't able to get anything going,'' Wedge said.
Westbrook is a ground ball pitcher. Ground ball pitchers tend to give up lots of hits, because the pitcher can't control the direction of those bouncing balls. But Westbrook has almost transformed the act of giving up hits into an art form.
It didn't quite work Wednesday night, though. Westbrook (12-9, 4.22 ERA) entered the game with a 2-1 record when he gives up 10 or more hits.
He yielded an astounding 15 hits in an eight-inning start against the Boston Red Sox, yet won the game 8-7. Against the Detroit Tigers two weeks ago, he yielded 12 hits and won 11-8.
He did lose a 7-5 decision to the Angels, giving up 12 hits in 3 2/3 innings, but until he faced the Blue Jays that was the exception to the rule.
There are two important elements involved in giving up tons of hits and still winning. Only one is under the control of the pitcher: walks. The other is getting lots of help from the offense.
So Westbrook allowed 11 hits and lost, though barely. He pitched well enough to win -- despite the fact Blue Jays' runners littered the bases in the six innings Westbrook was on the mound.
Wedge expressed little concern about Westbrook's tendency to give up double-digit hit totals.
``Not with Jake's ability to get two outs with one pitch,'' Wedge said. ``What I worry about is when they're getting hits in the air.''
The keys to Westbrook being able to keep the game in order were limiting the Blue Jays to one walk and producing two double-play balls.
Both double plays were essential in keeping the Indians in the game. The Blue Jays scored all three runs in the second inning, which nevertheless ended prematurely for the home team because of a double-play ball.
With one out in the second, four Blue Jays' batters hit safely in succession, with Russ Adams contributing a two-run single and Gregg Zaun scoring on a wild pitch.
``I crossed up Victor (Martinez) on the wild pitch,'' Westbrook said. ``He kept going through the signs. I thought I was supposed to throw a sinker, he thought it was a cutter.
``When I saw him set up low and inside, I should have called time. The sinker goes one way, the cutter the other. I was out in left field with the signs. It was a mistake that cost us, and it was nobody's fault but mine.''
The fourth inning began to shape up as another disaster for Westbrook, as the Blue Jays loaded the bases on a single, double and walk with one out. But Frank Catalanotto bailed out Westbrook by bouncing into another double play.
``If it was any consolation, I settled down and gave us a chance,'' Westbrook said. ``But sometimes all a team needs is one big inning.''
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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Indians notebook

Garko learning a lot from Tribe teammates

Rookie first baseman says trusting his swing is the most important thing

By Sheldon Ocker

Beacon Journal sportswriter

<!-- begin body-content -->TORONTO - Ryan Garko went to college at Stanford, which means he already knows everything or he's smart enough never to quit learning.
For Garko, it's the latter. And some of his new teammates have become professors to the Indians' rookie first baseman.
What has been the biggest lesson Garko has learned in his five-week big-league career?
``You have to trust your swing and not try to analyze every single thing the pitcher might do,'' Garko said. ``I was talking to Grady (Sizemore) about guessing how I'd be pitched and what the guy would throw.
``He said, `You have to trust your approach and not worry about looking for this pitch or that pitch.'
``At Buffalo, I used to catch myself overanalyzing pitchers. Every conversation I have with Grady and Travis Hafner is the same. Trust your swing.''
Garko has been a touted hitter since he was signed as a fifth-round pick in the 2002 draft. He already has made an impact with the Tribe, carrying a .319 average with five home runs and 21 RBI in 91 at-bats.
In the minors, Garko was primarily a catcher, so he can relate trusting in one's own ability as it applies to pitchers.
``Pitchers do that, too,'' he said. ``They have to pitch to their strengths most of the time, not the batters' weaknesses. If you know a guy has trouble hitting a curveball, you still don't throw it if you have a bad curveball.''
One other thing he's noticed since being called up from Buffalo.
``Pitchers' stuff is way better up here,'' Garko said. ``You never run into a guy who's really good to hit against. When a guy makes a pitch you can hit, you better hit it.''
Decision time
Jeremy Sowers will make his final start of the season Tuesday against Kansas City.
``This is definitely the right thing to do,'' manager Eric Wedge said on Wednesday. ``We could get greedy and play it out till the end, but that's not a smart thing to do.''
Splitting the season between Buffalo and Cleveland, Sowers has accumulated 181 innings. If Sowers were to remain in the rotation, his total probably would approach 210.
The Indians beat the Blue Jays 7-2 Tuesday night, but after the seventh, the Tribe trailed 2-1.
``If we hadn't at least tied it in the eighth (the Tribe scored five runs), I would have sent Jeremy back out there,'' Wedge said. ``I didn't want him to lose the ballgame.''
Sowers had thrown only 83 pitches.
Hafner still on hold
Travis Hafner was wearing a tight wrap around his bruised right hand, but apparently that was not a sign he had incurred a setback.
``I've been wearing this quite a bit,'' he said. ``I wear it to sleep and around the hotel. Actually, it's getting better. I can grip a bat, but I don't have a lot of strength.''
Wedge said he was hoping to use Hafner tonight in Chicago.
Maybe
Wedge said that Brian Slocum probably will get a start later in September and that it was possible that Jeremy Guthrie might also start.
Getting to first
Kevin Kouzmanoff might be sent to the Arizona Fall League to become more adept as a first baseman.
``We'll get him some time at third before the end of the season,'' said Wedge, referring to Kouzmanoff's primary position. ``He also will see some action at first.''
Farm facts
Kinston left-hander Chuck Lofgren (17-5, 2.32 ERA) was named Carolina League Pitcher of the Year, and outfielder Jordan Brown was selected the league's MVP. Brown was third in the league in batting with a .290 average and slugging percentage (.469). He led the league in RBI with 87.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

INDIANS NOTEBOOK: Sowers will be shut down following Tuesday?s start
Thursday, September 7, 2006 <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>[FONT=Verdana, Times New Roman, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]INDIANS NOTEBOOK ANDY CALL[/FONT]


TORONTO For Jeremy Sowers, it will be one-and-done.
Indians Manager Eric Wedge said the sensational rookie left-hander will start Tuesday against Kansas City at Jacobs Field, then be shut down for the remainder of the regular season. Sowers, who pitched 159 innings last year, is up to 180 2\/3 this season.
?It?s definitely the right thing to do,? Wedge said. ?We could get greedy and play it out, but it wouldn?t be the smart thing. You need to work off the previous year and also understand there?s a difference between a major-league inning and a minor-league inning.?
If there is a difference, you couldn?t tell it by Sowers? numbers. His ERA at Triple-A Buffalo was 1.39. His ERA with the Indians since July 22 is 1.93.
?My body?s not hurting. My arm?s not hurting. I feel fine,? Sowers said. ?Obviously, I?d like to pitch more, but their justification for it is very logical. I understand.?
Sowers has won six in a row and is 7-3 with a 3.35 overall ERA in 13 starts. His 2.39 ERA since the All-Star break is the lowest of any American League starter.
?He?s been as even-keel as you can be,? Wedge said. ?He?s a quality competitor with tremendous perspective for a young player.?
Fausto Carmona will join the starting rotation this weekend. Wedge said right-handers Brian Slocum or Jeremy Guthrie could make a spot start, if needed.

MATCHING UP The pitching matchups for the Chicago series ? tonight, Cliff Lee (11-10, 4.63) vs. Mark Buehrle (12-11, 4.71); Friday, Paul Byrd (9-7, 4.78) vs. Freddy Garcia (13-9, 5.10); Saturday, Fausto Carmona (1-8, 5.76) vs. Jon Garland (16-4, 4.37); Sunday, C.C. Sabathia (10-9, 3.31) vs. Javier Vazquez (11-8, 4.98).
STILL WAITING The Indians hoped DH Travis Hafner (bruised hand) would be available to pinch-hit Wednesday night. Hafner said he is able to grip the bat, but not strongly enough to generate full power. ?I haven?t punched any walls over this yet,? Hafner said. ?I already passed that point a couple days ago. You know, you don?t realize how much you do with your fingers. I?m walking around with my shoes untied.?
ALL OUT The Indians have 11 games remaining against playoff contenders Minnesota and Chicago. Manager Eric Wedge said he will not sacrifice winning those games to give experience to his young pitchers. ?There will be opportunities to get those guys in there and see them in different situations,? Wedge said. ?Winning those games is still our first priority. Regardless of who we?re playing, we?ll be playing to win.?
BYE BYE BUBBIE Indians farm director John Farrell said Double-A Akron right-hander Bubbie Buzachero has been placed on the restricted list and faces an uncertain future in the organization. Buzachero reportedly got into a fight Sunday that left teammate Eider Torres with a broken jaw and will force the Eastern League All-Star second baseman to miss the league playoffs. ?No final decision has been made on Bubbie?s future,? Farrell said. ?He is the on restricted list because of behavior that we absolutely do not condone.? Cleveland infielder Kevin Kouzmanoff, who spent most of the season at Akron, was stunned. ?Eider is such a nice, quiet guy that I can?t even imagine him in the middle of that situation,? Kouzmanoff said. Buzachero was traded to the Indians by Toronto for left-hander Brian Tallet in January.
Reach Repository sports writer Andy Call at (330) 580-8346 or e-mail: [email protected].


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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Lee earns 12 th victory with aid of hit parade

Friday, September 08, 2006

Rick Gano
ASSOCIATED PRESS

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</IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Cleveland?s Jason Michaels avoids the tag and slides across home plate in the third inning. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


CHICAGO ? Just when the White Sox thought their starting pitching was coming around after three straight solid efforts in Boston, Mark Buehrle failed to get out of the fifth inning.
Cliff Lee pitched six strong innings for Cleveland, and the Indians got homers by Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez off Buehrle to beat the slumping White Sox 9-1 last night.
"I think you can blame the season on the starting staff. We haven?t been where we wanted to be and where we were last year," Buehrle said. "Everybody had career years last year, and I don?t think you can expect every guy to duplicate what happened last season. Obviously, we?re not close to what we did last year, and that?s been our downfall."
Not that the defending World Series champions are out of the playoff picture. They?re still only one-half game behind the Twins for the American League wild card and 5 1 /2 back of Detroit in the AL Central, despite losing six of eight.
"We got to be thankful that the two teams in front of us, they?re in a little funk right now, as well," Buehrle said.
Cleveland, which has won 13 of 18, generated five runs with two-out hits, including two by rookie Ryan Garko, who was 3 for 3 with two walks. Andy Marte singled, double and tripled for the Indians, who had 17 hits.
"Obviously, they?re playing to make the playoffs and we?re playing to get on a good streak for next year," said Lee, who gave up a run and five hits.
Garko, batting .349 in his last 16 games, has given the Indians an offensive lift, especially while Travis Hafner has been sidelined after being hit in the hand with a pitch last Friday.
"We had some guys who really clutched up. Garko had a couple of big hits for us," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "Garko is right in the middle of our lineup. Particularly with Hafner out of there, he?s done an outstanding job."
Lee (12-10), who retired the first 10 batters, walked Tadahito Iguchi and Jermaine Dye in the fourth for his first runners before retiring Jim Thome on a flyout and Paul Konerko on a popup.
Rob Mackowiak got Chicago?s first hit with a leadoff single in the fifth. Lee lost his shutout bid the following inning when Iguchi doubled and Dye singled to cut the Indians? lead to 7-1. But a potential rally attempt was stopped by Dye?s baserunning blunder ? he took off from second on Mackowiak?s one-out fly ball to center and was doubled off.
"That tells you how bad we played," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said of Dye?s gaffe. "That?s not the first time somebody has made a mistake."
Buehrle (12-12) gave up five runs ? four earned ? and 10 hits in four-plus innings. The All-Star lefty dropped to 3-6 in the second half and is 0-3 in five starts against the Indians this season.
Sizemore, the Indians? talented center fielder and leadoff hitter, got his AL-leading 81 st extra-base hit with an oppositefield homer to left ? his 23 rd home run of the season ? to make it 2-0 in the third.
Jason Michaels followed with a double and Garko delivered his second straight two-out RBI single to make it 3-0. Martinez led off the fifth with his 14 th homer to put Cleveland up four. After Garko singled for his third straight hit, Buehrle was replaced.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch


Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">WHITE SOX 7 INDIANS 6
Pierzynski?s home run in ninth sinks Indians

Saturday, September 09, 2006


FROM WIRE REPORTS

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CHICAGO ? A.J. Pierzynski hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning after Chicago closer Bobby Jenks blew a save by giving up four straight doubles in the top half, and the White Sox rallied past the Cleveland Indians 7-6 last night.
The wild victory kept the White Sox a half-game behind Minnesota in the American League wild-card race.
Paul Konerko singled for his fourth hit to start the ninth and Pierzynski connected on an 0-and-2 pitch from reliever Tom Mastny (0-1).
Pinch-hitter Casey Blake, Andy Marte, Grady Sizemore and Jason Michaels hit consecutive doubles off Jenks as the Indians turned a 5-3 deficit into a 6-5 lead in a span of seven pitches to start the ninth.
"Any time you fight back against a guy like Jenks, it?s special," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "It?s tough enough to score one run off him, let alone three. We let it slip away, but that doesn?t take away the effort."
Alex Cintron?s RBI single in the eighth put Chicago ahead 5-3, and the White Sox turned the game over to Jenks.
Marte made it 5-4 with a drive to right-center and Sizemore tied the score with a blooper down the left-field line. Michaels hit a hard grounder down the first-base line for Cleveland?s fourth straight double, and Jenks was replaced by Matt Thornton (5-2), who finally ended the rally.
It was Jenks? fourth blown save in 43 chances.
Juan Uribe, in an 0-for-21 skid, homered and had two hits for the White Sox. His 17 th homer leading off the fifth tied the score at 2. Konerko delivered a two-out single in the inning to put the White Sox ahead 3-2.
Uribe started another rally in the sixth with a two-out single, stole second and scored when Scott Podsednik hit an RBI single for a 4-2 lead to finish Indians starter Paul Byrd.
The Indians cut the lead to one in the seventh when Victor Martinez hit a two-out RBI single off Mike MacDougal. Byrd gave up nine hits and four runs in 5 2 /3 innings.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

Hafner?s season ends due to injury
Sunday, September 10, 2006
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>[FONT=Verdana, Times New Roman, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]By Andy Call REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER[/FONT]
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CHICAGO - It was late Saturday afternoon, and Travis Hafner had already started planning his offseason.
?I?m going to try to get quicker,? Hafner said with a grin.
Cleveland?s 29-year-old designated hitter wasn?t referring to foot speed, but to his ability to jump out of the way of errant pitches. Hafner was told Friday night he will not play again this season due to a broken bone in his right hand.
The man called ?Pronk? was struck by a pitch from Texas left-hander C.J. Wilson on Sept. 1. X-rays taken that night showed no broken bones, but Hafner had been unable to grip a bat ? or tie his shoes ? for a week. A second X-ray exam Friday showed a displaced fracture of the right fourth metacarpal.
?I thought (it might be broken) about one minute after the first X-ray,? Hafner said.
Chicago left-hander Mark Buehrle hit Hafner in the face with a pitch last July 16, and Hafner wasn?t his normal productive self for nearly two months. He also suffered a broken left toe when hit by a pitch on May 9, 2003, and didn?t return to Cleveland until July.
?It?s fairly common for lefty-on-lefty,? Hafner said. ?Fastballs do tail in.?
Hafner will see hand specialist Dr. Tom Graham in Baltimore on Monday to determine what can be done for his hand, other than simple rest. Indians head trainer Lonnie Soloff said surgery is ?a remote possibility.?
Soloff said Hafner?s activity will be limited for at least 4-to-6 weeks.
He hasn?t played in a week, but Hafner still came into Saturday ranked second in the American League in home runs (42) and walks (100) and third in both RBIs (117) and runs scored (100). His .439 on-base percentage and .659 slugging percentage were best in the league and his .308 batting average was five points shy of the top ten.
He broke Andre Thornton?s 1982 franchise records for homers and RBIs as a designated hitter.
The only statistical milestone Hafner expressed regret at not being able to pursue was Don Mattingly?s 1987 big-league record of six grand slams in a season. Hafner had tied Mattingly on Aug. 13.
?It would have been nice to get a couple chances with the bases loaded and to see what would have happened,? Hafner said. ?I?ll probably never get another chance like that in my career.?
Mattingly, oddly enough, never hit another grand slam before or after 1987.
Four different players have worked as the DH since Hafner?s injury, but rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff is likely to see the most at-bats down the stretch.

MORE GRADY Grady Sizemore is the third player in Indians history with 20 or more home runs and 20 or more stolen bases in the same season. The other two are Joe Carter and Robbie Alomar.
IT?S A MISTAKE Tom Mastny suffered his first blown save Friday when Chicago?s A.J. Pierzynski reached down to dig out Mastny?s sinking fastball and clubbed a game-ending two-run home run. ?It was a couple inches below the knees, but probably too much down the middle,? Mastny said. Manager Eric Wedge agreed, noting, ?Tom missed his spot. He tried to go away and it ended up being down-and-in. A lot of left-handed hitters like a ball down-and-in. It?s a pitch they can drive.? Mastny was 5-for-5 in save situations before Friday. ON THE FARM Ben Francisco led Triple-A Buffalo with 80 runs scored this season. The 24-year-old outfielder hit .278 with 17 home runs and 59 RBIs.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Ocker on the Indians

Enough power for success

Fastball not fastest, but rookie Jeremy Sowers finds way to victory

By Sheldon Ocker

<!-- begin body-content -->CHICAGO - How does he do it?
There is nothing electric about Jeremy Sowers' arm. His fastball crosses the plate at a modest 87-89 mph, occasionally climbing to 90. His breaking ball wouldn't buckle the knees of the meekest batter.
Throw a dart at a list of Double-A teams, and you probably will hit one whose staff has three or four pitchers with better stuff than Sowers. Yet, Sowers has been an instant success in the big leagues.
As a 23-year-old Indians rookie, it took him exactly four starts to figure out how to win in the major leagues. On July 16, Sowers' record dipped to 1-3, when he gave up five runs in seven innings against the Minnesota Twins.
To that point in his fledgling career, he had compiled a 7.15 ERA and allowed four home runs in 22 2/3 innings. But he hasn't lost a game since, winning six consecutive decisions with a 1.93 ERA.
``Talk about a seamless transition from the minors to the big leagues,'' manager Eric Wedge said. ``I don't think it could be any better.''
Maybe the most remarkable aspect of Sowers' ability is his capacity for efficiency. Even when he was 1-3, he threw an average of only 15.1 pitches per inning. Since then, he has averaged 13.9.
To put that in perspective, if Sowers were to throw a complete game -- which he has -- he would use 125 pitches. That number is far from Maddux-like, but keep in mind that Sowers is still a kid in terms of experience.
Moreover, he put away the Twins and Seattle Mariners in the fifth and sixth starts of his career using only 104 and 109 pitches, respectively. Both were complete games, and both were shutouts.
So what is Sowers' trick? What's his gimmick? How long will it take for the secret to get out? When will someone show him the kryptonite? No pitcher can be this good this fast, unless he throws 98 mph fastballs or sliders that turn 40-home-run hitters into whimpering children.
Of course, Sowers is left-handed, which automatically adds inscrutability to his pitches. Moreover, it has been pointed out repeatedly that he has excellent command of all his pitches.
When Sowers picks out his target, a few square inches in space, he has an uncanny accuracy rate. One indication of his control: He is issuing walks at the rate of 1.84 per nine innings.
And even though Sowers does not throw hard, he will pitch inside, another key element in his success.
Sowers also has a keen aptitude for sizing up batters' weaknesses. What does that mean? He has a knack for determining holes in hitters' swings, not only generically (``The guy chases breaking balls off the plate'') but also from pitch to pitch.
``Jeremy is about as intelligent, with feel (for pitching), as any young pitcher I've ever been around,'' Wedge said.
Intuitively, or more likely, because he has made a study of the subject, Sowers usually knows when a hitter is looking inside, off the plate, up or down. For most pitchers and hitters, this is a guessing game. Sowers doesn't seem to do much guessing.
He once told me that a batter's swing gives him important clues as to how to attack a hitter. I asked a scout about that. He told me that many pitchers don't even see the batter swing.
Pitchers often fall off to the side of the mound or jerk their heads to the left or right because of the violence of their delivery or because their mechanics don't allow them to exert total control over their bodies. The scout said that notable exceptions to this tendency are Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. And Sowers.
``Those guys keep their heads still, even as they finish off their deliveries,'' he said. ``Sowers does that, too. His head doesn't move. He's always looking at the hitter, even after the pitch leaves his hand.
``Most pitchers who don't have great stuff but know how to win have still heads.''
But can a pitcher instantly process enough information about a hitter's immediate vulnerabilities just from watching the way he swings?
``Some guys can,'' the scout said. ``It's true. If you watch someone swing, it can tell you a lot.
``But there's one other thing about Sowers: He doesn't have real good stuff, but his pitches break late, very late. Maybe in the last foot or foot and a half before they get to the plate. That's enough to turn a line drive into a short fly ball or a ground ball to short.''
That helps explain why hitters swing at pitches early in the count against Sowers. Until the ball is within a millisecond of the plate, it might look like a great pitch to hit, before suddenly veering slightly off course.''
All of this analysis for a pitcher who has been in the big leagues for less than half a season? What if Sowers' early effectiveness turns out to be a mirage? What if he comes back next year and makes Northeast Ohio fans forget about Jason Johnson?
It could happen. But it won't. Sowers is the real deal. Despite a physique that makes him a candidate for one of those ``before'' ads in muscle magazines, Sowers has won everywhere he has pitched: in college, during his stay in the minors (23-5) and now in the major leagues.
Of course, he will go through periods of ineffectiveness, but probably less frequently than pitchers who rely on power fastballs and ultra-sharp breaking pitches rather than location.
There are days when pitchers find their 98 mph fastball traveling only 94 or their 12-to-6 curveballs flatten out at about three o'clock. Those kinds of problems are less important to Sowers. On days when his fastball lopes along at 85, he can find another way.
Sowers isn't the first pitcher to figure out that his head can be his best tool. But he's done it faster than most, and so far, he's setting the curve for the rest of the class.
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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

WHITE SOX 10 INDIANS 8
Konerko?s HRs help Garland win 17 th

Sunday, September 10, 2006


ASSOCIATED PRESS

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CHICAGO ? Paul Konerko homered twice and Jon Garland pitched six innings to help the Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 10-8 last night.
Garland yielded five hits and one run for his 17 th victory, tying Minnesota?s Johan Santana and the New York Yankees? Chien-Ming Wang for the major-league lead. Garland struck out six and didn?t walk a batter.
Juan Uribe and Jermaine Dye also homered and Tadahito Iguchi had three hits for the White Sox, who stayed a halfgame behind Minnesota in the AL wild-card race and moved 3 1 /2 games behind the AL Central-leading Tigers.
Garland (17-4) left with a 10-1 lead, but the Indians rallied with a seven-run seventh inning. Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a three-run homer for Cleveland, his third homer of the season.
Matt Thornton got one out for his second save in five opportunities. Chicago did not use closer Bobby Jenks, who has blown his past two save opportunities.
The White Sox had a brief scare in the sixth when Dye made a running catch into the right-field fence. Dye went down for a moment, but after speaking with White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and a team trainer, Dye stayed in the game.
Indians starter Fausto Carmona (1-9) gave up a single to Iguchi and walked Jim Thome in the first. Konerko, coming off a four-hit night on Friday, hit Carmona?s 2-and-0 pitch deep into the left-field bleachers to put Chicago up 3-0. It was Konerko?s 31 st homer of the year.
In the first three games of the series, Konerko is 8 for 13 with two home runs and six RBI.
With two out in the second, Scott Podsednik singled up the middle and stole second, and Iguchi followed with an RBI single.
Dye hit a run-scoring triple and Thome followed with an RBI single in the fourth inning off reliever Brian Slocum, giving the White Sox a 7-1 lead.
It was Carmona?s first start in the majors since being demoted after serving as the Indians? closer for a brief stretch. In a six-day span from July 31 to Aug. 5, Carmona blew all three of his save opportunities, allowing seven runs and five hits ? including two game-ending homers.
Carmona gave up five runs and seven hits in three innings against Chicago.
Notes
In his past six starts, Garland is 5-0 with a 1.44 ERA. ... Konerko has 101 RBI and has driven in 100 run or more in three straight seasons. ... Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore made a spectacular diving catch on the warning track, robbing Brian Anderson of extra bases in the fifth inning.