Carmona In Control; Julio Looks For Role; Marte Ready

The big parts came up big for the Tribe in their first Exhibition game at Turner field on Friday.

Fausto Dazzles: Fausto Carmona in his final tuneup before the 2008 season threw 6 solid innings of 4 hit-1 run baseball.. He struckout a pair before giving way to the three headed bullpen monster, Raffy Dos and Borowski, which combined for 3 innings, only 2 hits and 4 strikeouts.

“The powerful 24-year-old righty pitched through the sixth inning for the second straight start. He threw 99 pitches, including 59 for strikes, as he raised his spring record to 3-1. Most important, he finished the six innings at the pitch limit Wedge had set for him.

Carmona, who limited opponents to three runs or fewer in 27 of his 32 starts last season, didn’t allow more than three runs in any of his five spring starts and enters the regular season with a four-start unbeaten streak. He considers the spring a success, having accomplished the goals he’d set for himself.” (Indians.com)

Offense Clicking: Going into the season here the offense has been on some sort of a role.

Friday it was the big guns coming through for the Tribe.

Travis Hafner went 2-4 with a couple of RBIs, while Ryan Garko also went 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored.

Kelly Shoppach came in for Victor Martinez to knock in a run, and Casey Blake and Grady Sizemore both hit triples. Blake’s scored 2 runs and Grady went 2-2 before being replaced by Constanza.

Marte Ready: Andy Marte got an At-Bat last night and could probably play more in the final warm up before the season starts on Monday.

“Now before questioning the wisdom of promoting Marte based solely on the .208 batting average he carried into the final two games of Spring Training, consider that his 11 hits have accounted for 28 total bases (tied with Asdrubal Cabrera for second on the club), he has a team-high-tying five home runs and drove in 13 runs (second on the team).

That productivity has hitting coach Derek Shelton convinced that Marte, although still a work in progress, definitely has been making progress.” (Indians.com)

Jorge Julio Searching for a Role: Jorge Julio has made the final roster, but he is now searching for a role.

“I have no idea what my role is right now,” he said. “It’s the decision for the manager and pitching coach. I’m looking for any opportunity the manager gives me.”

Julio, 29, doesn’t know exactly where he fits because Wedge doesn’t. “I think we can use him for whatever is needed — whether it’s middle or later,” Wedge said. “It will depend where everyone else is and how they’re doing. I don’t see a specific role right now.” (Plain Dealer)

It will be interesting to see how they use him. It’s almost like a luxury to have such an experienced guy in the pen. Jorge will probably be mostly a situational guy or someone who comes in if a starter is getting pounded. But it’s nice to have someone like him.

If someone like Betancourt needs a break, then someone as experienced as Julio could step right in for a game. This is the type of luxury the Indians didn’t have last year and it might have been a reason in that ALCS that Raffy Dos looked a little shaky. They did work a lot of innings that year.