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Indians Tidbits (2008 season)

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ABJ
Wedge is being careful with Reyes If elbow stays sore after more work, he might be shelved
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sports writer

Published on Friday, Sep 12, 2008

BALTIMORE: Indians starter Anthony Reyes is wearing a wrap on his right elbow, but that is not necessarily a sign that the rest of his season in jeopardy.
''I talked to him today,'' manager Eric Wedge said. ''We're going to skip another start. He feels better, but I don't believe it makes much sense to start him on the 15th, so we'll shoot for the 20th.''
Reyes' next bullpen session is scheduled for early next week. After he throws, Wedge and the training staff will make another evaluation.
''We'll see after that bullpen,'' Wedge said.
There is no indication that anything seriously is wrong with Reyes' sore elbow, but earlier in the season he was sidelined by the Cardinals for a couple of weeks with the same malady.
With the Tribe long out of the postseason race, there is no urgent reason to push Reyes. In addition to having scouted him before he was acquired on July 26, Reyes has made six starts in a Cleveland uniform, compiling a 2-1 record and 1.83 earned-run average.
That is enough to give Reyes a head start on winning a spot in the rotation next spring training.
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ABJ

Lewis' phone ringsafter his great start<... Published on Friday, Sep 12, 2008

Lewis' phone rings
after his great start
BALTIMORE: After Scott Lewis' dynamic big-league debut Wednesday night, he celebrated the occasion along with his parents, girlfriend and agent at the Cheesecake Factory, across the street from the team's headquarters hotel.
''I must have gotten 24 text messages and about six voice mails right after the game,'' Lewis said. ''My phone kept going off in my pocket all through dinner.''
ASTUTE OBSERVATION ? The baseballs used in the minor leagues differ from big-league balls in that the seams are a little higher at the lower level, altering a pitcher's movement and control.
Noting that fact, Kelly Shoppach said of Lewis, ''That was a different ball than he's used his whole life. You don't usually see a guy in his first big-league game command his breaking pitches like Scott did.''
LONG TIME COMING ? Until Thursday night, the last time Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner were in the lineup together was May 25.
The first time they came to the plate, in the second inning, Hafner singled off the pitcher and Martinez singled on a ball that bounced through the mound.
STILL THE PLAN ? GM Mark Shapiro has talked about the possibility of checking out free agent starting pitchers or possibly making a trade to solidify the rotation.
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CPD

Sluggish Tribe falls to Orioles, 6-3, but Barfield revels in return to diamond

by Paul Hoynes Thursday September 11, 2008, 11:22 PM


Gail Burton/Associated PressA sliding Nick Markakis knocks the ball free from Indians catcher Victor Martinez to score the Orioles' third run in the third inning Thursday night at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Markakis scored on Melvin Mora's double to left field.
BALTIMORE -- It was exactly what it looked like, a September game played between two teams headed nowhere but home at the end of the month. The Indians, in the final game of a seven-game trip, lost to Baltimore, 6-3, Thursday night at Camden Yards. They split the four-game series against the Orioles to go 4-3 on the trip.
"I don't think we played particularly well -- offensively, defensively and we didn't pitch at the top of our game either," said manager Eric Wedge.
The Indians have 17 games left in a season that began with the sound of trumpets and is ending to the whirl of chainsaws signaling the winter's worth of repair work that lies ahead.

There are two kind of games played in the big leagues at this time of year. The listless flat-liners that the Indians and Orioles turned in Thursday and the taut games that can carry a team into the postseason or ruin a season worth of good work.

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CPD

By any measure, Lee's sensational season is a marvel to be cherished as season winds down

by Terry Pluto Thursday September 11, 2008, 6:48 PM


Twenty-one and two.
Or, 21-2.
That's Cliff Lee's record this season, and it seems impossible, no matter how you write it.
Heading into his start Friday night against Kansas City at Progressive Field, the Indians left-hander is 21-2 for a team that had won only 71 games. He is 21-2 for a team where no other pitcher has won more than eight games. He is 21-2 and there's absolutely, positively nothing lucky about it, as his earned run average is a league-leading 2.28.
He's 21-2 because he wins everywhere, be it 9-0 with a 2.15 ERA at home, or 12-2 with a 2.38 ERA on the road.

He's 21-2 because he seems to pitch the same anytime. Consider the ERAs: 2.30 in the day, 2.37 at night, 2.36 outside and 1.80 in domes. In the first half, it's 2.31 and after the All-Star game it's 2.22.
Ed Zurga/Associated PressWhere Cliff Lee ranks among all among all major league pitchers this season:
1st with a 2.28 ERA
1st with 21 wins
1st with a ratio of 1.25 walks per nine innings
2nd with a .590 OPS from opposing hitters
3rd with 5.50 strikeout/walk ratio
4th with 4 complete games
4th with 22 quality starts
5th with 201 2/3 innings pitched
10th with 5.89 runs per game support
23rd with 2,968 pitches thrown
24th with 154 strikeouts

He's 21-2 because he has walked only 28 batters all year, or 1.25 per nine innings -- the best in baseball. He's 21-2 because about 64 percent of his first pitches are strikes, which Tribe pitching coaching Carl Willis believes is in the top 10 percent of baseball.
He's 21-2, and Ron Guidry in 1978 was the last pitcher to start the season that way.

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CPD

Indians Insider: Shapiro eager for '09 season, says Wedge's job is secure as well

by Paul Hoynes Thursday September 11, 2008, 10:15 PM


David J. Phillip/Associated PressThere haven't been as many smiles this season as Indians GM Mark Shapiro (left) and manager Eric Wedge envisioned in spring training, but both will be back for another run at the playoffs in 2009.
BALTIMORE -- The Indians' succession plan calls for Chris Antonetti to succeed Mark Shapiro as general manager one day, but that day isn't close at hand. When asked if he would be back next season as general manager, Shapiro said, "Absolutely. General manager is the only job I'm thinking about."
Shapiro, 40, is finishing his seventh season as GM and 17th with the Indians overall. After coming within one victory of reaching the World Series last year, Shapiro's creation has struggled this season. Injuries knocked them out of contention early, forcing the trades of free-agents-to-be CC Sabathia, Paul Byrd and Casey Blake at midseason.
Two days after the July 7 trade of Sabathia, the Indians were 37-53 and 16 games out in the AL Central. They enter Friday's series opener against Kansas City at 71-74 and 9 1/2 games behind. In going 36-22 since trading Sabathia to Milwaukee, the Indians have climbed from last place to third.

Shapiro credits manager Eric Wedge and his players. Wedge, by the way, will be back next year as well.
"Eric's strength and consistency are most apparent when we have adversity," said Shapiro. "Those values don't always show themselves when we're going through that adversity, but those values are always apparent when we emerge from them."

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wow....that is all you can say about Lee this year......

Dispatch

Indians 12, Royals 5
Lee adds win No. 22 to sparkling season

Saturday, September 13, 2008 3:11 AM
By Tom Withers


Associated Press

CLEVELAND -- Another victory under his belt, Cliff Lee emerged from his postgame shower, walked to his locker and began getting dressed.
He slipped on a T-shirt that said: Ace of Spades.
Right now, he's the ace of baseball.
Lee won his 11th straight decision and moved 20 games over .500 with his 22nd win, leading the Cleveland Indians past the Kansas City Royals 12-5 last night.
Unbeaten in 12 starts since July 11, Lee (22-2) allowed four earned runs in 8 1/3 innings to win his eighth straight start. He's 5-0 in five outings against Kansas City, which was also Lee's opponent for wins No. 4, 8, 18 and 21.

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ABJ

Sowers runs into trouble with lack of command Starter departs quickly after using 67 pitches in two early innings
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sports writer

Published on Monday, Sep 15, 2008
CLEVELAND: Jeremy Sowers wasn't hurt. He hadn't reached his pitch limit. He hadn't been shelled off the mound. He also hadn't performed to his ability.
So manager Eric Wedge took him out of the game after the third inning, by which time he had allowed three runs, which wasn't much, considering the Indians went on to lose 13-3 to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday at Progressive Field.
Sowers breezed through the first inning, then used 67 pitches to get through the second and third.
''When he had to work that hard in the course of two innings and had a total of 80 pitches,'' Wedge said, ''I didn't see it getting any better. As hard as he had to work to get through the second and third, it was farfetched to think he would go out and find it.''
Sowers' problem was control. He only walked one, but several times he ran the count to 3-and-2, sometimes with disastrous results. Alberto Callaspo doubled with the count full in the third inning, and Ryan Shealy homered on a 3-and-2 pitch in the second.
''I was throwing strikes but they were up in the zone,'' Sowers said. ''When you throw 67 pitches in the second and third, it kind of deflates what you did in the first. It's not very good when the starter has to leave the game after three innings because he threw too many pitches.''
The start was more disappointing in that Sowers made one of his strongest appearances of the season in his previous outing, last Tuesday against the Orioles in Baltimore. In that game, he gave up one run, four hits and one walk in eight innings.
Unfortunately for Sowers, the contrast was striking.
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ABJ
Royals hit Tribe with a loss Kansas City's offense comes alive to spoil weekend for Indians
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sports writer

Published on Monday, Sep 15, 2008
CLEVELAND: The script lettering on their jerseys said Royals, more than enough evidence to prove that these were the guys who occupy the basement in the Central Division.
But the last couple of days, this lowly collection of players has swung the bats more fiercely and to better effect than the high and mighty teams far above them in the standings.
Or maybe the outbreak of hits and runs was more a consequence of the Indians' lousy pitching. One thing for sure: The Tribe lost the final three of the four-game series by a total score of 29-10, including Sunday's game 13-3 at Progressive Field.
Even in the opener, against peerless Cliff Lee, the Royals, in a losing effort, amassed five runs, pushing their total for the series to 34.
Indians manager Eric Wedge seemed more downcast than angry.
''This was one of the tough ones,'' he said. ''That's two bad days in a row. We didn't pitch particularly well. And we missed pitches we should have hit.
''It made for a long day, one of the longest in years. We just have to turn the page and get back on track tomorrow night. You're going to have bad games like this, but you don't like to see them back to back.''
Technically speaking, Saturday was even worse than Sunday, inasmuch as the Tribe lost two games by a combined score of 16-7.
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CPD

Singing the Kansas City blues: Indians pitching collapses again as Tribe drops 3rd straight

by Joe Maxse Sunday September 14, 2008, 5:36 PM


Chuck Crow/The Plain DealerIndians manager Eric Wedge, catcher Sal Fasano and third baseman Jamey Carroll wait on the Progressive Field mound for the next pitcher as Edward Mujica (49) got 2 outs and no more in Kansas City's four-run fourth inning Sunday afternoon.
The Indians wanted a salvage operation. Instead, it turned out to be a demolition project. Picking up where they left off after winning both games of Saturday's day-night doubleheader, the Kansas City Royals pounded out 17 hits against eight Cleveland pitchers to knock over the Indians, 13-3, on Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field.
The Indians were hoping for a split in the four-game series against the Royals, last in the American League Central Division. However, in losing the last three games they were outscored, 29-10, and outhit, 48-24.
With two weeks and 13 games remaining, the goal of at least finishing at the .500 mark got all the more difficult for the Tribe (72-77).
"It was one of those days and it was two bad days in a row," said manager Eric Wedge, not wearing his happy face after this one. "We didn't pitch particularly well and we should have done a better job offensively."

The day got off to the good start for the home club as starter Jeremy Sowers breezed through the first inning on eight pitches. The Indians wasted little time staking him to a 3-0 lead in their half of the inning against Kansas City's Brian Bannister.

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Well, the Tribe is winding down the season like they played the majority of it. Ever since they activated Hafner and Martinez, it seems like they have gone downhill. Maybe they are a cancer in the clubhouse:).

I know you have to see for next season but we have seen a lot of these guys before and hopefully they will not be around next season.
 
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