I spose the Tribe don’t deserve to win that one

Yeah I mean when you make four errors in a game (for the second time this year) you probably don’t deserve to win the game, but they very well should have.

They are the best fielding team in the league according to the stats, but that is two times now that this team has just had some complete meltdowns defensively. I don’t know what it is especially after they did so good with Cliff Lee on the mound. They might have been a little unsettled waiting behind Carmona, a complete opposite of Cliff Lee who threw strikes and went fast. The infielders should be used to Carmona by now though. They know what he’s about throwing the sinker and getting the ground ball. Only two were un-earned but it could have very well been four.

Carmona looked okay for the most part, finally starting to look like he’s feeling good and comfortable out there. The errors really hurt himi and made it worse than it should have been. I’ll take the 7 strong from him though.

Another good outing for Rafael Betancourt going two innings without a hit or walk. I’m starting to think he might be a candidate to bounce back next year, I won’t hold my breath on that one though.

Okay offensively let’s talk.

Kelly Kelly Kelly.. 0-4 with 6 men left on base and three strikeouts. Man… Oh MAN.. Just.. Including a bases loaded noooooooobody out strikeout. He put together a good at-bat after getting down 0-2 but erased everything he did by swinging.. nay.. half swinging at a garbage fastball above the zone.

Whatever…

Just..

Then Garko looks to have not only tied it but put the Indians ahead, and Aybar makes a spectacular catch.

It just flows with the season… It just flows with the season.. Same way the ball he hit agaisnt K-Rod in the ninth went just foul. By the by, love the way K-Rod gets all the close calls, no wonder he has 47 saves.

Garko had the two run shot and Dellucci had a solo.. Just wasted opportunities. 25 runners stranded total.. Just awful.

They deserve to lose the way they didn’t hit and played defense, but they damn well should of. Can’t let a team like the Angels off the hook like this.

Tomorrow, Jeremy Sowers and Joe Saunders. Don’t hold your breath for a series win unless the Salvatore Man can guide Young Sowers to a win. BTW how about Sal doing the lineups.. The guy cracks me up.

[BOXSCORE]

Wakeup Wahoo: Cliff Leeeee; Pinning down the Picks

I’m not sure where to start.. Maybe all the Cliff Lee stuff? Cause we need Cliff Lee and we love Cliff Lee and without Cliff Lee, we would be… Bad.

“They have a pretty good offense, especially with the addition of [Mark] Teixeira,” Lee said. “That might be the best lineup I’ve ever faced, to be honest with you.” (Indians.com)

And he held them to two runs!

I forgot to mention the awesome defense last night.. It is sort of becoming redundant like it is about Lee, to talk about Cab’s defense. I mean seriously is he kidding with some of this stuff? Bare handed grab up the middle to throw out Torii Hunter? Omar never played 2nd base but I’m not even sure he could do that. Okay, he probably could.

Cliff also made a great play on the bunt by Figgins.

“Definitely, I’ll take triple plays, too,” said Lee, who was quick to point out his defensive help. “I’d obviously not like to put men on base. But I’ll take two outs on one pitch.” (Plain Dealer)

Take ‘em how you get ‘em Cliff.

Fausto Carmona will look to follow that performance with one of his own. Take into consideration how good Carmona is during the day with a 2.81 ERA and a 12-4 record. Fausto just has to keep building off the previous start, good or bad, to get his form back.

“There are some signs there of what he does and does well,” Willis said. “He needs to get more consistent with that.” (Indians.com)

One guy who isn’t in form is Eddie Squirrels.

“I’ve had a couple bad outings,” Mujica said. “I feel like my focus is a little bit down right now. But I’ll just try to keep it up and help my team.” (Indians.com)

Wedge is going to keep throwin him out there though. He feels Mujics still can be a good pitcher and if he was confident like he was a few weeks ago, he can be there. I don’t see it but more power to him if he does.

Let’s tie up these draft picks real quick.. 30 of them are signed and sealed and soon to be delievered. You can check that out on the Player Index..

Now let’s straighten out the names because it seems like we have a lot of odd nicknames.

Curtis Haley is actually TREY Haley.. Why? I don’t know

Glenn House is actually TJ House.. Why? Well I don’t know where he gets the TJ but I can see why he doesn’t like the name Glenn. Not a ball-players name!

Robert Phelps is actually CORD Phelps.. Why? Who cares, Cord is a cool name.

Stephen Putnam is actually ZACH Putnam.. Why? I have absolutely no clue how you get Zach from Stephen.

Now that that is out of the way.. The Indians gave Trey Haley $1.2 million to sign! Damn sir that’s more than just about our entire team gets per year with the exclusion of guys like Grady, Peralta, Hafner, Vic and Cliff.

You may be asking why Trey Haley gets 1.2 million and TJ House gets $800,000 (1 mill total, 200,000 of that goes to a college education), yet Putnam a 5th rounder gets only 500,000.

Simple.. Haley and House are pitchers in High School. They are much more valuable.. They both fell because of that.

There is no doubt the Indians went signficantly over the budget. But if they got a possible first rounder in Haley, a super talented guy in House who dropped because of signability issues (who knows what round draft pick he’d be after three years in collge), then it is worth it.

Don’t ever EVER EVERRRR say this team doesn’t dole out the cash. They wanted their prospects signed and they got them..

Masa Kobayashi says the reason for his struggles is not fatigue or the switch.

“The pace is faster than in Japan,” said Kobayashi, speaking through interpreter Ryo Shinkawa, a Baldwin-Wallace College senior and member of the Tribe’s media relations staff. “That would be a lie if I said it wasn’t so. But it’s the same for every ballplayer this time of year. That’s not what’s affecting my pitching.” (Plain Dealer)

So Josh Barfield went 0-2 in his Akron rehab apperance on Thursday… How’d Victor Martinez do?

0-2 with a walk.. But hey, he played. That is all that counts.

Bafield and Martinez are both going to make one more start with Akron today and tomorrow and then go from there. Akron goes on the road so they need to go somewhere else to play. Lake County doesn’t get back till Wednesday and Mahoning Valley has break before heading off on the road on the 21st.. Might just have to get in some good old backyard baseball or a simulated game. Travis Hafner is expected to go on rehab sometime next week so he’ll probably go to the Lake. He has another batting practice session today.

Speaking of Pronk.. Pronk won a race… Not Travis Pronk, but a Horse named Pronk.

“They must have seen the way I run the bases and named a horse after me.” (Plain Dealer)

God, I hope not..

So it’s Hall of Fame weekend, that means GROVER is back!

Here is a great piece on him by Bill Livingston.

But what I REALLY want to talk about is this.

He wants to manage again!?

Color me unsuprised. You just had a feeling that wasn’t it when he was managing some independent team or whatever it was he was doing. He loves to manage, he just got burned out by the Mariners. He want’s to win and he want’s to be on a club that is going to win.

I hope someone gives him a shot for one last hurrah. Trust in him and let him do his magic. Take a look at the Mariners this year without him. Disaster! He can make a bad team good and a good team great.

BTW he still isn’t over it.

“I get asked all the time when was it I got over that loss,” Hargrove said. “I always give the same answer: As soon as it happens, I’ll let you know.” (ESPN.com)

Same here guy.

Minor Issues: Buffalo, Kinston Have Big Nights

Buffalo laid an absolute beat-down on Rochester last night. It started by knocking around former Indian and Buffalo Danny Graves. Oh my god.

Offensively there is just too much to go over. Michael Aubrey went 4-5 with two runs knocked in. Crowe, Linden, Velandia, and Cannizaro all knocked in two. Brad Snyder went 2-5 with three batted in.

Lost in all of it was Aaron Laffey who gave up just two un-earned runs in his six innings. He gave up just three hits but he did manage to walk four.

Akron got three hit and beat-up. Frank Herrmann gave up three runs in six innings, but took the loss.

Um Yikes.. What was with all the offense for the Indians farm teams last night? Kinston puts up 14 runs on the board and allows just two hits. Carlos Santana and Carlos Rivero with three-run home runs by each. Beau Mills added his 19th in addition to his 3-5 night. Lucas Montero knocks in three. Shawn Nottingham was shining for 7 innings, allowing just two hits, and striking out nine hitters. Josh Judy added on with 2 perfect innings and 4 strikeouts. Yikes! That’s 8 in a row for the Kinston club to pull within 2.5 games of Myrtle Beach.

When in Rome, the Captains lost to the Braves. Matt Brown and Mark Thompson with a pair of hits each, but it isn’t enough to support Ryan Morris’ five innings of one run ball.

The Scrappers had a comfortable 7-2 lead after 7 innings.. Then Jamestown hung a 9 spot on Mahoning Valley. The Scrappers added three in the 8th in response but couldn’t muster up anything else and they lost by one. Tough luck. David Roberts and Mark Rodrigues with the tag-team implosion.

Lonnie Chisenhall went 4-6 with a pair of doubles and three runs batted in. Cord Phelps went 4-5 with three runs scored while Michael Valdez went 3-5.

Tracking the Olympics

Matt LaPorta turned in a much better game than he did the previous night against Cuba. He got hit by a pitch and garnered a four pitch walk from Akron teammate TJ Burton, but he still is pulling everything. His defense also cost the United States at multiple times.

Jeff Stevens was foregone in the 9th of a 1 run game because Brian Duensing was pitching that well. Burton pitched the one inning for Canada and he loaded up the bases, only to get out of it.

Nicky Weglarz got a hit in the game and yes he is very tall.

LaPorta 0-2 with a BB
Weglarz 1-4 with a R