Indians Tidbits (2008 season)

[osugrad21]

Canton

Tribe's Lee picks up 20th win
Pitcher hits milestone with five-hit shutout
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
By JOSH WEIR
[email protected]

CLEVELAND For 34 long years, the door to the Indians' 20-win club remained shut.

A Cy Young winner (CC Sabathia) came and went. ERA champions (Kevin Millwood and Rick Sutcliffe) too.

Other candidates, such as Len Barker, Bert Blyleven, Greg Swindell, Charles Nagy and Bartolo Colon, knocked but couldn't get in.

On Monday night at Progressive Field, Cliff Lee finally took a crow bar to that rusty lock.

Lee put on his usual display of precision and focus, gaining his 20th win of the season with a 5-0 shutout of the White Sox. He's the first 20-game winner for Cleveland since Gaylord Perry went 21-13 in 1974.

"I like the sound of that," Lee said after improving to 20-2 with a major-league best 2.32 ERA. "It's nice to get that over with and behind me."

Lee's discomfort with talking about his season never has leaked over into his performance.

Perry gained his 20th win in '74 with a five-hit, complete-game shutout of the Orioles. Lee matched it with his own five-hit, complete-game shutout of the Sox. He didn't walk a batter and struck out four as he won his ninth straight decision.
Cont...

 

[LitlBuck]

Possibly 2 Cy Young award winners pitching for the same team in one season I wonder if that has ever happened.

 

[JCOSU86]

The Tribe will most likely relocate their AAA farm club to Columbus to play in the new Huntington Field

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[LitlBuck]

Excellent news. Maybe now I will go watch a minor league game.

 

[NFBuck]

Victor hits his first dinger of the year...2-0 Tribe.

 

[NFBuck]

WTF has happened to Carmona's control this year? He's like a ticking timebomb out there every start. :(

 

[tsteele316]

WTF has happened to Carmona's control this year? He's like a ticking timebomb out there every start. :(

his mechanics have been out of whack all year long. the injury only made it worse.

if you watched his last start against texas, he lost control really badly. carl willis was shown in the dugout between innings coaching him on his hand placement and arm angle, and carmona went back out there and mowed down everyone.

 

[NFBuck]

his mechanics have been out of whack all year long. the injury only made it worse.

if you watched his last start against texas, he lost control really badly. carl willis was shown in the dugout between innings coaching him on his hand placement and arm angle, and carmona went back out there and mowed down everyone.

I've figured the injury has something to do with it. At least it sounds fixable and Willis is one of the best in the buisness.

 

[osugrad21]

ABJ

Martinez homers, Tribe wins First longball of season gets Indians moving; bullpen works 31/3 scoreless innings
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sports writer

Published on Wednesday, Sep 03, 2008
CLEVELAND: No matter what else transpired, it was a singular night for the Indians.
It's not every day that Victor Martinez hits a home run. Until Tuesday, it hadn't been any night or day.
Martinez, who was out for 10 weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow, hit his first homer of the season to get the Tribe on the scoreboard in what turned into a 9-3 win over the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field.
''It's always good to fill a column, especially when a guy has injuries and has missed so much time,'' manager Eric Wedge said. ''Victor's swing looks free and easy; he looks pretty normal up there, but his timing is still a little off.''
You couldn't help but notice the contrast between Martinez's longball that scored the first two runs of the game and Shin-Soo Choo's bases-loaded walk that drove in what might have been the most important run of the game.
Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

ABJ

Cliff Lee hears about feat Twentieth victory doesn't change pitcher's life much, but he receives about 30 congratulatory messages
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sports writer

Published on Wednesday, Sep 03, 2008
CLEVELAND: By first pitch Tuesday night, Cliff Lee had been a 20-game winner for the better part of an entire day, and his life had remained basically unchanged.
He had the same job with the Indians, the same wife and kids, the same house and car. He was richer by 20-to-30 congratulatory text messages (one from C.C. Sabathia); by one game ball, given him by Ryan Garko, who clutched it after making the last putout of Monday night's game, and by two lineup cards from the historic victory.
''I have trouble getting over those 34 years between 20-game winners,'' manager Eric Wedge said. ''So this is great for Tribe fans. The 20-2 record, that's [meaningful to] all of baseball. It's pretty special stuff.''
Gaylord Perry was the last Cleveland pitcher to win 20, back in 1974.
Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

CPD

Poking holes in Sox: Relaxed Tribe batters Chicago again as Martinez ends home-run drought

by Paul Hoynes Tuesday September 02, 2008, 11:15 PM


Chuck Crow/The Plain DealerAsdrubal Cabrera slides safely across home plate to score the Indians' fourth run of the game Tuesday night against the White Sox at Progressive Field. Franklin Gutierrez doubled in Cabrera as catcher A.J. Pierzynski (far right) leaps for in vain for a high throw and home plate umpire Larry Vanover keeps a close eye on the fourth-inning play.
It's not the same situation. There's still too much time left in the season and pressure isn't close to cresting. Still, the first two games of this series feel a bit like the last weekend of the 2005 season when White Sox came to Progressive Field with the AL Central already won to face an Indians team whose playoff hopes were down to a vapor trail. Chicago swept that series, tainting a 93-win season by the Tribe, on the way to a World Series title.
Tuesday night the Indians beat the White Sox, 9-3, for the second straight game in this three-game series. It didn't hurt Chicago that much. They stayed in a first-place tie with the Twins, who lost to Toronto, but manager Ozzie Guillen wasn't happy with the way his team looks.
They've lost five of their last six games and are 3-5 on this 10-game trip.
This time around Chicago looked like the team that's played itself into a corner, while the no-worry Indians, out of contention since July, played free and easy. Tuesday's victory was their 18th in the last 24 games and cut their deficit in the AL Central to 9 1/2 games. It's the first time it's been less than double digits since June 29.
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[osugrad21]

CPD

Lee's season among Tribe's and MLB's best

by Mike Peticca Tuesday September 02, 2008, 10:04 PM


Chuck Crow/The Plain DealerIt's no exaggeration to state that Cliff Lee has styled one of the best seasons in modern big-league pitching history.
Lee's season in review
Gaylord Perry pleased
Paul Hoynes' 4 thoughts

Unless viewed from an historical perspective, it is difficult to appreciate how special Cliff Lee's season has been. Lee, 20-2 with a 2.32 earned run average, leads the major leagues in wins, and his ERA is first among all starters.
He also leads baseball in win-loss percentage (.909). Since baseball began compiling official records in 1871, no pitcher with at least 20 decisions has finished a season with that high a winning percentage. Greg Maddux went 19-2 (.905) for the Braves in 1995. Through Monday, the Indians were 46-68 (.404), not counting Lee's 20-2.
Following is a look at, arguably, the 15 greatest seasons for Indians starters in the past 50 years. We go back to when the Big Four era of Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Early Wynn and Mike Garcia had just concluded, and when Herb Score was making a bold, but futile, effort to regain his brilliance after eye and arm injuries.

Then, we look at some of the best seasons for any starting pitcher in the last 50 years. Keep in mind that statistics vary from era to era based on the size of ballparks and the strike zone, and other circumstances.

Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

CPD

Indians Insider: Laffey sidelined with sore elbow

by Paul Hoynes Tuesday September 02, 2008, 10:39 PM


Chuck Crow/The Plain DealerAaron Laffey has developed a sore left elbow and won't pitch again this season.
There will be no six-man rotation in September. Aaron Laffey, the prospective sixth starter, has been shut down because of an inflamed left elbow. Laffey had an MRI in Cleveland on Monday, but will not need surgery. Laffey tried to pitch with the sore elbow for the last two or three starts at Class AAA Buffalo with poor results.
Jake Westbrook, who already had Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in June, will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right hip Thursday in Nashville, Tenn. Dr. Thomas Byrd will perform the surgery. Lonnie Soloff, the Indians' head athletic trainer, said the hip surgery will not slow Westbrook's return from right elbow reconstruction.
In other medical news, Travis Hafner (right shoulder), who joined the Indians on Tuesday from Buffalo, will try to play consecutive games Friday and Saturday in the minors.

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[osugrad21]

CPD

20-20 vision: Gaylord Perry glad to have Lee join Tribe's 20-win club

by Jodie Valade Tuesday September 02, 2008, 7:53 PM


Robert E. Dorksen/Plain Dealer fileDuring his 24-win season in 1972, Gaylord Perry enjoys umpire Bill Kunkel's reaction after another search at the mound looking for the source of Perry's swerving pitches.
Truth is, Gaylord Perry is quite relieved. The Hall of Fame pitcher doesn't mind one bit that Indians left-hander Cliff Lee has won 20 games and stolen the glory that the 69-year-old once held in Cleveland lore. "I've been answering questions about 20 wins for 34 years," Perry drawled in his Southern twang last week, "so I'm glad it's somebody else's turn."
Perry was the last pitcher to win 20 games for the Indians, a feat he accomplished in 1974 when he was 21-13 with a 2.51 ERA.
Until last season, when CC Sabathia powered to the Cy Young Award, Perry also was the last Tribe player to win MLB's highest pitching honor.
But the right-hander, who still deflects spitball accusations, is content to lose the distinction of being "the last Indians pitcher" to perform both feats. It has been too long for him to hold those honors, he said.
"When I go over all the pitchers that have been there since I've been there, and they didn't win 20, I was kind of shocked," Perry said. "They get to 19 and quit. It's good for the game. It's good for the Indians."
Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

CPD

Lee's season among Tribe's and MLB's best

by Mike Peticca Tuesday September 02, 2008, 10:04 PM


Chuck Crow/The Plain DealerIt's no exaggeration to state that Cliff Lee has styled one of the best seasons in modern big-league pitching history.
Lee's season in review
Gaylord Perry pleased
Paul Hoynes' 4 thoughts

Unless viewed from an historical perspective, it is difficult to appreciate how special Cliff Lee's season has been. Lee, 20-2 with a 2.32 earned run average, leads the major leagues in wins, and his ERA is first among all starters.
He also leads baseball in win-loss percentage (.909). Since baseball began compiling official records in 1871, no pitcher with at least 20 decisions has finished a season with that high a winning percentage. Greg Maddux went 19-2 (.905) for the Braves in 1995. Through Monday, the Indians were 46-68 (.404), not counting Lee's 20-2.
Following is a look at, arguably, the 15 greatest seasons for Indians starters in the past 50 years. We go back to when the Big Four era of Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Early Wynn and Mike Garcia had just concluded, and when Herb Score was making a bold, but futile, effort to regain his brilliance after eye and arm injuries.

Then, we look at some of the best seasons for any starting pitcher in the last 50 years. Keep in mind that statistics vary from era to era based on the size of ballparks and the strike zone, and other circumstances.
1. Gaylord Perry, 1972, 24-16, 1.92 ERA:
Cont....