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Indians Tidbits (2008 season)

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CPD

Cleveland Indians pitcher Cliff Lee throws seven scoreless innings in 3-0 win over New York Yankees


Thursday, May 08, 2008Paul Hoynes
Plain Dealer Reporter
New York -- The Indians end their final regu lar-season series ever today at Yankee Stadium. The House that Ruth Built will close for business at the end of the season. A new Yankee Stadium is nearing completion right across the street.
Cliff Lee, however, could make one more trip to the Bronx before the regular season ends. The All-Star Game is at Yankee Stadium on July 15, and Lee is on a collision course with it.
Lee threw seven scoreless innings Wednesday night to lead the Indians to a 3-0 victory over previously undefeated Chien-Ming Wang and the Yankees. Rafael Perez and Rafael Betancourt completed the seven-hitter with a scoreless inning each.

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CPD

INDIANS INSIDER Cleveland Indians catcher Victor Martinez contends with stiff neck against New York Yankees


Thursday, May 08, 2008
New York- Victor Martinez doesn't know how it happened.
"I woke up Sunday morning like this," said the stiff-necked Indians catcher.
Martinez, who led the American League in hitting with a .347 average before going 0-for-3 and falling to .337 on Wednesday, was scratched Tuesday night against the New York Yankees because of the stiff neck. He played catch and took batting practice Wednesday afternoon, but manager Eric Wedge was still reluctant to let him catch or play first base.
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buckeyemania11;1158469; said:
ugh hafner, wtf was that?
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NFBuck;1158478; said:
Better question is why is Wedge's retarded ass even looking at Hafner to pinch hit for anybody. Just concede the at bat and move on. He gets stupider and stupider with each passing day.
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Actually I didn't mind the move. It was just a horrible result.

You put Hafner in a position where he will get pitched to be aggressive and has an opportunity to throw a knock out punch. If he comes through this could be a huge confidence boost to him and he needs that in the worst way.

If he does what he does... oh well, we have a 3 run lead and if we can't hold on to that we don't deserve to win anyway.
 
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Hafner's problems are just as much mechanical as anything else.

He's got more of a loop/uppercut to his swing than he did before. The result has been slower hands through the hitting zone.

AsCab has the same problem right now. Both of them hit weak ground balls.

with respect to Hafner, I think he FUBAR'd himself in an attempt to beat the shift. He's tried to hit more balls the other way to beat the shift and it's made his swing long. He also seems to be diving over the play more on his stride, which leaves him vulnerable to inside pitches.

That, and I think he needs to be more aggressive early in the count.

I don't think he was juicing because 1. his body has not changed at all in the last few years and 2. his dropoff has been so severe that there is more than just a lack of power.
 
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buckeyemania11;1158420; said:
:lol: sending Peralta home on a hit like that is a bad idea, lucky it was a bad throw
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NFBuck;1158462; said:
Can the pen hold down a lead two nights in a row? :tic:
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I sure hope that he doesn't try to slide :blush:again. A Little League player has a better slide.

Regarding the other comments about Hafner pinchhitting for Marte, I had mixed emotions. I thought it probably was the right thing to do at the time going with the lefty/righty theory (which I am not a big fan of) but on the flipside I think if Wedgie:shake: (this is the correct spelling for the Indians manager) would have let Marte bat it would have given Marte a great boost of confidence is specially if you would have gotten a hit but just to let him hit in that situation would have helped his confidence. He sure as hell good at hit the ball further than Hafner unless he would have struck out which would have been better anyhow.

I hope they leave Raffy as the closer even when Joe Blow comes back but I know that is wishful thinking. At least Raffy did strike a hitter out which cannot be said of Joe.

I cannot believe Cliff Lee. Never would have thought he would win 6 games in a row. I just wonder what is in store for the rest of the season. I just can't believe he can keep pitching this way.
 
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tsteele316;1158716; said:
Hafner's problems are just as much mechanical as anything else.

He's got more of a loop/uppercut to his swing than he did before. The result has been slower hands through the hitting zone.

AsCab has the same problem right now. Both of them hit weak ground balls.

with respect to Hafner, I think he FUBAR'd himself in an attempt to beat the shift. He's tried to hit more balls the other way to beat the shift and it's made his swing long. He also seems to be diving over the play more on his stride, which leaves him vulnerable to inside pitches.

That, and I think he needs to be more aggressive early in the count.

I don't think he was juicing because 1. his body has not changed at all in the last few years and 2. his dropoff has been so severe that there is more than just a lack of power.
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I totally agree with your last statement about Hafner "not juicing". His body does not ripple like the other guys who have been known to juice.

On the other hand, I have no idea what the hell is wrong with his swing. I thought that was Shelton's job. He probably need some help so you should give him a call. I can never remember Hafner going after the first pitch and they are usually right down the middle. I might be wrong about that but this season he seems to be taking the first pitch that awful lot.
 
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LitlBuck;1158773; said:
I totally agree with your last statement about Hafner "not juicing". His body does not ripple like the other guys who have been known to juice.

On the other hand, I have no idea what the hell is wrong with his swing. I thought that was Shelton's job. He probably need some help so you should give him a call. I can never remember Hafner going after the first pitch and they are usually right down the middle. I might be wrong about that but this season he seems to be taking the first pitch that awful lot.
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i'll put my resume in. it could very well be something that hafner doesn't do in the BP but does in real games. personally, i don't have much faith in Shelton overall. I also find it odd that so many hitters have the exact same problem of slow looping swings. AsCab does it. Hafner does it. Peralta does it all the time. outside of deluccit and victor, nobody on that team has a short compact stroke that consistently yields line drives.
 
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Maybe they need to get Manning out of the TV booth and down into the dugout because he seemed to be right on last night regarding Cabrera's swing.

I don't know what to do about Birdie. He certainly is not the same pitcher that he was last year. It almost seems like he thinks he is pitching in a slow pitch league. He can go only for about 5 innings and then he seems to run out of gas. They might want to bring up Sowers to replace him but I guess you can't replace everyone. Maybe I am overreacting but I don't think so. We shall see.
 
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ABJ

Yankee bats snare Byrd with big hits Bronx Bombers pummel Indians with homers to avoid series sweep
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sportswriter

Published on Friday, May 09, 2008
NEW YORK: Throughout most of baseball history there have been far fewer Yankee killers than Yankee victims.
Paul Byrd can count himself among the latter group, inasmuch as he has a career record of 1-5 with and 4.75 ERA against the Bronx Bombers, including Thursday's 6-3 loss that denied the Indians their first sweep of the New Yorkers in 19 years.
Percentage-wise, no team has treated Byrd with more disrespect than the Yankees, one of only five American League teams with a winning record against Byrd.
But the Bombers made it difficult for him twice this season, using the same hammer, the home-run ball. By the time Byrd left Thursday's game, with one out in the seventh, three Yankees had gone deep, including, of course, Jason Giambi.
Giambi tormented Byrd each time the competitors faced one another. On Thursday, Giambi put the finishing touches on a three-run rally in the fourth inning by whacking a
two-run homer into the seats in right.
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ABJ

Blake finds successhitting in the clutch... Published on Friday, May 09, 2008
Blake finds success
hitting in the clutch;
Borowski recovering


NEW YORK: Casey Blake will have to temper his criticism of the statistic that measures a batter's ability to hit in the clutch: batting average with runners in scoring position.
He was roundly abused by the media and the fans for batting .190 in that category last year. In his defense, Blake would say that if a hitter doubled home a runner from first, he got no credit.
This year, Blake is batting only .210 overall but .424 with runners in scoring position.
''At least, I've got that stat going for me,'' he said. ''I'm driving in a few runs to help the team. I guess all my hits are coming with runners in scoring position. But you can't really win. If I was batting .300, I might not be hitting with runners in scoring position.''
FIRST TIME ? Closer Joe Borowski's throwing program advanced to the point where he threw his first 25-pitch bullpen session Thursday.
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