Indians Tidbits (2007 Season)

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Royals 4Indians 3
Westbrook can find satisfaction in loss

Sunday, September 30, 2007 3:59 AM
By Scott Priestle


The Columbus Dispatch


KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- By the sixth inning last night, Jake Westbrook had a familiar bounce in his step: Run to the mound, induce three quick outs, run to the dugout.
It took him awhile to find the form. The early innings were marked by bad pitches and worse luck. It has been the story of his season.
The Cleveland Indians overcame Westbrook's rough beginning last night but could not produce a happy ending, losing 4-3 to the host Royals. The same cannot yet be said of his season. A bigger prize awaits.
The loss notwithstanding, Westbrook continued to build momentum toward the postseason. He has a 2.91 ERA in his past 13 starts, turning around what was a frustrating season. If he can pitch in the next month as he has in the past two, it would be a significant boost to a club that already has great confidence in its first two starters, C.C. Sabathia and Fausto
Carmona.

Continued.....

 

[LitlBuck]

Fuck. Home field would have been big.

I certainly agree with that statement plus we could have started the Division playoffs on Wednesday. Now we will have to pitch Westbrook and Byrd in games 3 and 4 (if necessary) in New York and I do not have pleasant thoughts about those two guys facing the Yankees lineup at Yankee Stadium.

With all the left-handed bats that the Yankees can send to the plate, I would almost prefer Laffey getting the starting nod over one of those two guys, probably Byrd. Paul just has not pitched very well as of late. The only problem with starting Laffey is that you just don't start a rookie in Yankee Stadium during the playoffs. I just hope that we win the first two at home and maybe it will rain:) on Saturday or Sunday.

 

[LitlBuck]

Laffey makes playoff roster

CPD

He not only pitched five innings to earn Sunday's victory but was told that he had made the Indians' postseason roster for the American League Division Series against New York that begins Thursday at Jacobs Field.
It doesn't get much better for a rookie who started the season with Class AA Akron and didn't get called up to the Indians until Aug. 4.


"Without a doubt, it's exciting," said Laffey. "To come up in early August and make the playoff roster is great. I'm pumped to get the playoffs going."
Laffey's presence to the postseason roster does not bode well for Cliff Lee. Laffey, who took Lee's spot in the rotation when he was optioned to Class AAA Buffalo in late July, probably will pitch long relief. The Indians are going to carry 11 pitchers against the Yankees, but it's doubtful they'll need two lefty long relievers.


The Indians aren't expected to announce their roster until Wednesday or Thursday. They don't have to submit it to MLB until 10 a.m. Thursday.

Continued...

 

[TGfan06]

OK, prediction time:
ALDS:
Angels over Red Sox in 4

Indians over Yankees in 5

NLDS:
D backs over Cubs in 3

Phils over Padres in 5

ALCS:
Indians over Angles in 6

NLCS:
Phillies over D Backs in 5

World Series:
Indians over Phillies in 6

 

[LitlBuck]

OK, prediction time:
World Series:
Indians over Phillies in 6

That would be nice if we do get that far:) and met up with Charlie. I would love to beat his ass since he thinks the Phillies hitters are much better than the ones he had in Cleveland during the late 90s.

 

[Zurp]

OK, prediction time:
ALDS:
Angels over Red Sox in 4

Indians over Yankees in 5

Very optimistic. I don't know that I can be that optimistic. The Yankees have been on fire the second half of the season. The Indians will need Carmona and Sabathia at their best, and the hitters can't be sleeping, like they did for 6-8 weeks through the season. It helps, though, that the Indians get the home-field advantage.

I can see the Red Sox losing. Unless they've been coasting into the playoffs to save up their energy, they've just been a flat tire. I think I'd pick the Angels in 4 games.

So if the Angels beat the Red Sox, and the Indians can beat the Yankees, the Indians get home-field advantage in that series. I like the Indians' chances in that series. I don't really know why. I don't know much about Los Angeles, or Anaheim, or whoever they are this year.

I don't know crap about the National League. But I know that the American League gets home-field advantage. So that's pretty sweet, if the Indians make it that far.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Indians
Power runs through lineup
Slugging balance makes Tribe a threat in playoffs
Tuesday, October 2, 2007 3:36 AM
By Scott Priestle


The Columbus Dispatch

CLEVELAND -- The Indians have five players with more than 20 home runs, making them one of only four teams with such power so widely dispersed. A sixth fell just shy of 20 homers, and a seventh, Franklin Gutierrez, likely would have topped 20 had he been given more playing time in the first half of the season.

Though the Indians' offense was a disappointment for much of the summer, there is danger throughout their lineup and hope with nearly every swing, which becomes even more important when runs get scarcer, as they often do in the postseason.
"If you can score a run with one swing of the bat," said first baseman Ryan Garko, one of the five with more than 20 homers, "that's easier than trying to string hits off a good pitcher."

Continued....

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

INDIANS VS. YANKEES
Cleveland Indians pitchers praise work of catcher Victor Martinez

Tribe mound motto: In Victor, they trust
Tuesday, October 02, 2007 Mark Gillispie
Plain Dealer Reporter
Baseball's deep thinkers have figured out a way to measure just about every aspect of a player's performance. Yet here is a key Indians statis tic that even hard-core sabermetric freaks don't have in their databases: NOTAPHSOVM.
For those of you keeping score at home, that's "Number Of Times A Pitcher Has Shaken Off Victor Martinez."
And the answer? Not very often.

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[Big Papa]

Not sure how I feel about Westbrook pitching game 3. I figured that would go to Byrd. Does Byrd have a terrible record against the Yanks?

 

[NFBuck]

Does Byrd have a terrible record against the Yanks?

I don't know, but he's been terrible the last month.

 

[ekeen]

I don't mean to be cynical but does anyone really think we have a chance against the Yankees?

 

[tsteele316]

I don't mean to be cynical but does anyone really think we have a chance against the Yankees?

why wouldn't they?

good pitching beats good hitting in the playoffs a majority of the time, and cleveland has the far better pitching staff.

and, don't bother trying to cite regular season head to head records as an indicator as they are not close to indicative of postseason results.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

Building for the present

Blueprint for success required putting time into foundation
Wednesday, October 03, 2007 Paul Hoynes
Plain Dealer Reporter
Indians General Manager Mark Shapiro looked around the locker room, between showers of champagne and beer, and connected the dots of the Indians past, present and future.
He remembered the trades for Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Jake Westbrook, Travis Hafner, Jason Michaels, Kelly Shoppach, Kenny Lofton, Chris Gomez, Josh Barfield, Andy Marte and Asdrubal Cabrera. The free-agent signings of Rafael Betancourt, Paul Byrd, Joe Borowski, Casey Blake, Aaron Fultz, Trot Nixon and David Dellucci bounced between his ears.
Shapiro saw Indians MVP Victor Martinez celebrating like it was New Year's Eve and was instantly linked to the Indians' strong Latin American program. Martinez, the two-time All-Star catcher, was signed as a 17-year-old shortstop in Venezuela. The other arm of that program found, signed and developed shortstop Jhonny Peralta, 19-game winner Fausto Carmona and lefty Rafael Perez in the Dominican Republic.

Continued.......

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

Nixon well-versed on everything Yankees

Outfielder sees ALDS as a chance for Tribe's young stars to shine
Wednesday, October 03, 2007 Paul Hoynes
Plain Dealer Reporter
Nobody on the Indians knows more about playing the Yankees than Trot Nixon. For eight years of his career he played against them 19 times a season as a member of the Red Sox.
Play is probably too quaint a word. The Red Sox and Yankees don't play each other, they collide.
All the Indians are going to do is play the Yankees in a best-of-five American League Division Series starting Thursday at Jacobs Field when C.C. Sabathia faces Chien-Ming Wang. It's the Yankees' 13th straight postseason appearance and the Indians' first since 2001.

Continued.....

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

Cleveland Indians' Rafael Betancourt, Rafael Perez make up formidable late-inning duo.

Raffy Right' and Raffy Left' merger creates a formidable late-inning duo
Wednesday, October 03, 2007 Dennis Manoloff
Plain Dealer Reporter
thers receive more publicity for the Indi ans' outstanding sea son. But the contributions of reliever Rafael Betancourt and Rafael Perez never have been lost on their bosses, or their teammates.
Indians manager Eric Wedge would not want to think about how this year might have gone without his two-armed Raffy monster.
"They've both been very valuable to us," Wedge has said.

Continued.....