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Indians Tidbits (2008 season)

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CPD

Cleveland Indians, C.C. Sabathia get pummeled by the Tigers

Tigers circle bases on woeful Sabathia
Thursday, April 17, 2008Paul Hoynes
Plain Dealer Reporter
In 2006, flush with promise, the Indians deliv ered a fourth- place finish. They won 93 games in 2005 and went down to the last day of the regular season with a chance to make the playoffs.
Big heads and a bad bullpen undid the Indians in 2006, but manager Eric Wedge says the same thing can't happen to this year's team. They learned too from much last year in winning the AL Central and reaching the seventh game of the ALCS. They're too mature, tough and confident.
After C.C. Sabathia and the Indians were manhandled by the Tigers on Wednesday night, 13-2, 2008 is starting to look a lot like 2006 whether Wedge likes it or not.
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The Indians were celebrated last year. Sabathia won the AL Cy Young Award. Wedge was AL Manager of the Year. They tied the world champion Red Sox for the most victories in the regular season with 96.
The reality of April has brought that celebration to a halt.
Sabathia (0-3, 13.50) is winless in four starts. He's lost his last three, allowing 22 earned runs on 26 hits in 12 2/3 innings. Batters are hitting .390 (32-for-82) against him for the season.




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CPD

Cleveland Indians Insider: help for right field, platoon on hold


Thursday, April 17, 2008Paul Hoynes
Plain Dealer Reporter
The Indians have yet to send an SOS to Ben Francisco at Class AAA Buffalo. Jason Michaels, half of the left-field platoon, is hitting .097 (3-for-31) and right fielder Franklin Gutierrez entered Wednesday night's game against Detroit hitting .171 (7-for-41).
"We're not there yet," said manager Eric Wedge. "We're a couple of weeks in. I respect the length of the season. I also respect the urgency of each and every game. It's a fine line you have to walk.
"You have to walk it with the right heartbeat. That's something people tend to forget. You've got 162 games. You've got to play with a sense of urgency, but you've got to play with a sense of calm."
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Francisco, who hit .362 (17-for-47) in spring training, is hitting .222 (10-for-45) with two RBI at Buffalo.
Like Francisco, Michaels had a great spring. It has not carried into the regular season.
"He's pressing," said Wedge "He's far enough along in his career, and mature enough, where he knows better than that. Guys get in a hurry to try and make up. You can't do that. You've got to take care of today."
Gutierrez, like Francisco and Michaels, had a strong spring. He had three hits in the season opener and hasn't done much sense.




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CPD
Cleveland Indians pitcher C.C. Sabathia looks lost, says The Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto


Thursday, April 17, 2008
Cabathia leaned on the dugout railing, staring at the diamond. It was the look of utter shock, of a heavy heart, of a mind so full of questions that when he tries to answer, he comes up empty.
The ace of the Indians pitching staff feels lost after being shelled, this time for nine runs in four innings as Detroit slammed the Tribe, 13-2, Wednesday night.
This was the second game in a row in which the 2007 Cy Young Award winner has been battered for nine runs. His record this year is 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA in four starts.
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Dating back to the start of the 2007 postseason, it's the seventh start he's failed to pitch more than six innings, his ERA being 11.34 in the span.
No wonder why Sabathia just stared at the field, wondering how it all went wrong.
The stat freaks point to his career-high 256 1/3 innings last season, including the postseason, 45 more than he's ever pitched. He also was sixth in all of baseball in pitches thrown during the regular season.
Wear and tear on the arm would be their diagnosis.
After the game, manager Eric Wedge and Sabathia both spoke in hushed tones, and both insisted the lefty was fine physically. The radar gun readings on his fastball were 93-96 mph, his normal range.




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Canton

It's another bad night for Sabathia
[FONT=Verdana,Times New Roman,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Gives up nine runs in 13-2 loss to Tigers[/FONT]
Thursday, April 17, 2008
BY Andy Call
REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

CLEVELAND It's not an injury. It's not the next contract. It's not improper mechanics.

The question of just what has happened to C.C. Sabathia has become as confounding for the defending Cy Young Award winner as for those who watch him pitch. Sabathia took the mound Wednesday night and got kicked around for the fourth time in as many starts, giving up nine runs in four innings of the Indians' 13-2 loss to Detroit at Progressive Field.

"I've pitched four games, and I haven't given my team a chance to win yet," Sabathia said. "That's unacceptable."

Cleveland's seventh loss in nine games was a team effort. Three of the four relief pitchers who followed Sabathia (0-3) gave up runs. The batting order managed one hit in 6 2/3 innings off Tigers right-hander Armando Galarraga (1-0), making his second big-league start.

TAKING BAD APPROACH

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Canton

Indians notebook: AL Central favorites are struggling at the outset
Thursday, April 17, 2008
BY Andy Call
REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

CLEVELAND This is not where the Indians and Tigers expected to be on April 16.

True, both teams expected to be at Progressive Field. The 2008 schedule was drawn up months ago. Neither, however, expected this week's abbreviated two-game series would determine at least temporary ownership of last place in the Central Division.

"There's obviously a lot of great expectations on us this season, and that's understandable," Detroit Manager Jim Leyland said. "There should be expectations on a team with this much talent. Everyone waited all winter for spring to get here and see this team, and they were rightfully disappointed with the way we started."

The Tigers were 4-10 through Tuesday ? somewhat understandable, perhaps, considering the six players on their disabled list include star outfielder Curtis Granderson and bullpen mainstays Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya.

"Granderson is one of the most important parts of their lineup," Indians first baseman Ryan Garko said. "It's really too early, though, to start jumping to conclusions about either team."


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Dispatch
Early season struggles continue for Sabathia in Indians' loss

Thursday, April 17, 2008 12:01 AM
By Rob Oller


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
CLEVELAND?Fans should turn their cascading boos into a chorus of "booze" to send a message that even a drunken doorman could open and close better than the Cleveland Indians' pitchers.
The mound misery continued for the Tribe last night, but this time it was the starting pitching ? C.C. Sabathia to be exact ? and not the back of the bullpen that fell on its face in a 13-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers; the sixth loss in the past seven games.​
So it is that the bookends of blown saves ? on Sunday and Monday nights against Boston ? and botched starts have put the Indians in the basement of the American League Central, tied with the Tigers at 5-10. And if last night's performance is any indication, they belong there, and they deserve the hand wringing and angst that goes with it.


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these announcers are idiots...Fausto didn't try and hit the leadoff batter, and he didn't try and hit Sheffield.

I don't know how a former MLB player can't see that?

He didn't throw a curve ball into the ground to try and hit the batter......he certainly didn't concede 1st and second, no outs to plant one on Sheffield.

Plus Victor came out to calm him down. Yet these clowns keep talking about his intent. It's frustrating.
 
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ABJ

Indians' offense unloads on Tigers Carmona is recipient of season-high totals in hits, runs in victory
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sportswriter

Published on Friday, Apr 18, 2008
CLEVELAND: How does a baseball team find it's offense? Sounds like a topic for a doctoral dissertation or a subject that two guys in a bar might bicker about.
The Indians? They don't really care, as long as their attack is here to stay. At least for a while. Offense, defense, pitching ? all of the game's elements ? can be ephemeral things that come and go at the slightest provocation.
Nobody can say with any certainty why the Tribe suddenly emerged from its lethargy to slam the Detroit Tigers 11-1 Thursday night at Progressive Field.
The Indians had lost six of their past seven, and their hitters had been acting as though they were allergic to wood. So whatever kicked in was heartily welcomed by manager Eric
Wedge, who subjected his high-paid serfs to a lecture in the afternoon.



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ABJ

Shapiro not ready for change GM is bothered but believes it is too early to make roster moves
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sportswriter

Published on Friday, Apr 18, 2008
CLEVELAND: It's probably too early to know for sure whether the Indians' slow start is the result of fundamental weaknesses within the roster or a consequence of the inevitable highs and lows of a long season.
That was the message delivered by General Manager Mark Shapiro Thursday. ''We hope it's just a glitch,'' he said. ''Not enough time has gone by to address anything yet. You have to balance your concern over the breadth of our poor play. Things haven't just gone wrong in one isolated area.''
Shapiro invoked the 40-game rule in explaining why it is too soon to make any roster moves. Most general managers wait until the season is about 40 games old before altering the composition of the team to avoid making irrevocable mistakes.
On the other hand, Shapiro is not a happy camper. He believes that C.C. Sabathia will recover his old form and that the bullpen must be given time to adjust without injured closer Joe Borowski, but that the offense has been disturbing and bears watching.



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ABJ

Wedge all business in meeting with team Published on Friday, Apr 18, 2008
Wedge all business in meeting with team


CLEVELAND: Manager Eric Wedge presided over a team meeting Thursday but refused to divulge what was discussed.
''I talked to them,'' he said. ''It was our business, family business.'' It isn't difficult to imagine the topics Wedge broached, including poor at-bats, mental mistakes and possibly inattention to the demands of the job.
In speaking of the club's sorry offense, the manager said, ''You have to be tough, tough in the box, a tough out. This is a thinking man's game. You have to have discipline, have a plan and stick to it. But this is not about one area or the fault of any one individual.''



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CPD

Cleveland Indians' bats show some life in 11-1 victory over Detroit Tigers

Tribe hopes pretty victory isn't just fad A reprieve or a rebirth?
Friday, April 18, 2008Joe Maxse
Plain Dealer Reporter
Only the season will tell for sure if a mid-April game mattered that much. But the Indians finally got to feel good about themselves for a change, and that brought some welcome relief.
Now they will have to see how long it lasts.
Returning the favor of Wednesday night's 13-2 loss to Detroit, the Indians got their measure of revenge as they bested the Tigers, 11-1, on Thursday night at Progressive Field. The Indians took out a week's worth of frustration as they pounded out 13 hits, seven of them for extra bases.
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It didn't erase all of the sting of a 2-5 homestand, but it sure beat the alternative.
Credit Fausto Carmona (2-1, 1.96 ERA) for ending the Tribe's three-game losing streak as he allowed one run in 6 2/3 innings of work, giving up seven hits. Three relievers could relax the rest of the way, including new closer Rafael Betancourt in the ninth.
"Fausto set the tone and threw a big game," said manager Eric Wedge, whose club put the Tigers back into the Central Division basement.




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CPD

Cleveland Indians' Garko taking hits for the team

First baseman takes hit on elbow in victory
Friday, April 18, 2008Dennis Manoloff
Plain Dealer Reporter
As a magnet for the opposition's pitches, Indians first baseman Ryan Garko lives dangerously in the batter's box.
The risk of injury accompanies each plunking.
It almost happened Tuesday against Boston, when Manny Delcarmen drilled him in the back of the left hand. Garko threw down his bat and squatted along the first-base line in pain and disgust.
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The hand swelled, but Garko was fortunate to have no broken bones.
As a precaution, he put on a Velcro pad over his batting glove for Wednesday's game against the Tigers. Travis Hafner attached a similar pad to his right glove at the beginning of last season.
Garko, who said he might discard the hand pad soon, also wears an elbow guard, which dates to his days at Stanford.
The Delcarmen HBP was the first of the season for Garko, who was hit a club-record 20 times last season in 138 games. Garko was hit for the second time on Thursday in the Indians' 11-1 victory over the Tigers. Justin Verlander got him on the elbow.




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