Indians Tidbits (2007 Season)

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

Hafner starting to heat up
UPDATE: 5:20 PM, Wednesday, September 5, 2007



MINNEAPOLIS Indians players were watching baseball highlights on the clubhouse TV Wednesday morning when the cameras showed Travis Hafner?s father applauding one of his son?s two home runs during Tuesday night?s 11-inning victory over Minnesota.

?Hey, Pronk,? a teammate yelled across the room at Hafner. ?Who?s taking care of the fields? Isn?t it harvest time??

Hafner just smiled. He no longer has to help out on the family?s North Dakota farm, tasks he hated as a teenager. But in a baseball context, it?s definitely harvest time for Hafner.

Cleveland?s powerful designated hitter has been swinging the bat like the ?Pronk? of old recently. He contributed a single, an RBI double, two walks and two runs during Wednesday?s 6-2 victory over Minnesota at the Metrodome.

Continued.....

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

Plain Dealer columnist Terry Pluto tells Cleveland fans to enjoy Indians' success


Wednesday, September 05, 2007 Terry Pluto
Plain Dealer Columnist
When the first-place Indi ans took the field Tues day night . . .
How do you come to terms with that yet? It's Sept. 5, the Indians went into Tuesday's game with the third-best record in baseball. They had a healthy six-game lead over Detroit.
The season is winding down, and they are gearing up.
Wait a minute, is that some grumbling from the eat-dirt-and-die crowd? They are the ones who wake up in the morning and say, "What about The Fumble? The Drive? Jose Mesa?"
They are convinced that if you look hard enough at the collapse of the mortgage market, you'll discover Eric Wedge is behind it because the Tribe manager plays Casey Blake too much and won't bunt enough.

Continued......

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

Cleveland Indians closer Borowski made a crucial choice with shoulder


Thursday, September 06, 2007

Minneapolis- Joe Borowski's right shoulder will probably never be 100 percent again.
"There's a torn something in there," the Indians closer said.
In 2004, when Borowski pitched for the Cubs and strained his shoulder, the doctors gave him two options - rehabilitation or surgery. There was a catch, there usually is with a pitcher's shoulder.
"He said if you rehab, it'll give you a chance to pitch again," Borowski said. "He said if you have surgery, you'll never come back. When they talk about putting screws in your shoulder, you're not coming back."
What course of action did Borowski take?
Tuesday night, he saved his 40th game for the Indians in a 7-5 victory over the Twins in 11 innings. He's the fifth Tribe pitcher to save 40 or more games in a season.
Jose Mesa is the franchise leader with 46 in 1995. Bob Wickman had 45 in 2005, Doug Jones 43 in 1990 and Mike Jackson 40 in 1998.

Continued......

 

[LitlBuck]

I cry inside a little everytime he enters the game.:!

You need to read the Pluto article posted by OBJ today where he says something to the effect that you don't judge Saves like Figure Skating. You don't need to give them a rating as long as the job gets done. I know that it is hard but maybe it will ease your mind.

 

[LitlBuck]

It is beginning to look like the Indians have been pointing toward using Jeremy Sowers to start the makeup game against the Seattle Mariners all along.

Makes you wonder what is going to happen to Cliff Lee comes the off-season. He is not a happy camper now in the bullpen and this probably will make him even less unhappy.

 

[Bleed S & G]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Anderson carries Angels to win over Byrd, Indians

Friday, September 7, 2007 3:32 AM


Associated Press

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Garret Anderson extended his streak to a club-record 11 games with at least one RBI, driving in three runs and leading the Los Angeles Angels past the Cleveland Indians 10-3 last night in the opener of a four-game series between American League division leaders.

Continued....

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

INDIANS INSIDER
Cleveland Indians manager keeps focus on remaining games


Friday, September 07, 2007 Paul Hoynes
Plain Dealer Reporter
Anaheim, Calif.- Manager Eric Wedge isn't accepting any congratulatory messages no matter who sends them.
Before Detroit beat Chicago in extra innings Wednesday night, manager Jim Leyland all but conceded the AL Central to the Indians. Leyland told the Detroit Free Press: "At this point, I tip my hat to them. They are winning the way division champions win. For the most part, to be realistic, we are playing for the wild card. I'm sorry if people look at that and get mad and say that's negative. It's not negative. It's a fact."
Leyland's Tigers cut the Tribe's lead to 6? games with a victory over Chicago on Thursday afternoon. They have a three-game series against the Tribe next week at Jacobs Field. So you'll have to excuse Wedge if he didn't send a heartfelt thank you to Comerica Park.

Continued.....

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

Call out to pen pays off

Relief pitchers answer Wedge with cool success
Friday, September 07, 2007 Paul Hoynes
Plain Dealer Reporter
Anaheim, Calif.- In the Indians' three-game sweep of the Twins earlier this week, the latest segment in a 20-game run that might have won the AL Central for manager Eric Wedge's team, the most telling game came Tuesday.
The Indians came from behind to beat the Twins, 7-5, in 11 innings. It was a big night for Travis Hafner, who hit two homers and drove in four runs, but in dissecting the victory, that proved to be only a sliver of the evidence Wedge was seeking.
The big find that night was the bullpen.

Continued.....

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

Leyland: Tribe has ear markings of a division champion
UPDATE: 9:52 PM, Thursday, September 6, 2007
BY Andy Call
REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

ANAHEIM, Calif. There are always significant milestones over the course of a long baseball season. When a veteran baseball man like Detroit Manager Jim Leyland gives what amounts to a concession speech, such a statement can certainly be characterized as significant.

Leyland characterized his team?s chances of catching the Indians as a ?longshot? prior to Wednesday night?s victory over Chicago.

?At this point, I tip my hat to them,? Leyland told the Detroit Free Press. ?They are winning the way division champions win. They are going on the road and winning at Minnesota. They are coming back and winning games. They have all the ear markings of a division champion right now.?

The Indians came into Thursday holding a 7-game lead over Detroit in the Central Division with 23 games remaining for both teams. Another way to look at it is, if the Indians were to go 11-12 the rest of the way, the Tigers would need to go 18-5 to tie for first place.

Continued....

 

[osugrad21]

ABJ

Defense improved from '06 numbers Tribe has reduced errors, unearned runs this year
By Sheldon Ocker Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Monday, Sep 10, 2007
ANAHEIM, CALIF.: Tribe manager Eric Wedge doesn't believe the quality of a team's defense can be measured by statistics.
''People don't know how to look at defense,'' Wedge said Sunday. ''They look at numbers and think the defense is good or bad. There's nothing further from the truth. Even people who claim to know defense usually don't.''



Cont..

 

[Zurp]

By my figuring, the Indians' magic number is 14.

 

[BuckFanAtAkron]

By my figuring, the Indians' magic number is 14.

You are correct

 

[LitlBuck]

Cleveland.com

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 Paul Hoynes
Plain Dealer Reporter
Chicago- The most boring word in sports is depth. General managers talk about building depth on their roster and the eyes of reporters and fans glaze over.
The depth chart will never be mistaken for Paris Hilton when it comes to breaking news.
Except this season with the Indians.

Continued

 

[LitlBuck]

Cleveland.com

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 Paul Hoynes
Plain Dealer Reporter
Chicago- After the Indians lost to Detroit, 6-2, in 10 innings on Aug. 14, Tribe manager Eric Wedge questioned his team's toughness. He said there were a couple of players who were feeling sorry for themselves, but wouldn't name him. He said he'd let the players try to figure that out.
Wedge was emotional that night. The next day he said he went further than he intended. Still, it was far from an eye-popping Lou Piniella tirade. As with almost everything Wedge says to reporters, there was a meaning behind it.
"Anytime I talk to reporters, I assume players are going to see, hear or read about it," Wedge said.

Continued