Three Up, Three Down: April 14th – 27th

I have decided to make it a bi-weekly feature because it makes much more sense.

The past two weeks have seen some really down play but some really encouraging play as of late from the Indians.

First up: Casey Blake

Blake was probably down the last time around and he was on his way to being down again. But he went from batting near .150 to being the team leader in runs batted in.

In the past two weeks he has raised his average to .229, hit two home runs and knocked in 12 runs.

Since the 14th of April he is hitting .314 and really has become that guy we are used to at the bottom of the order picking everyone up.

That is one thing the offense was missing the first few weeks, was Casey Blake being productive in the nine hole. He did it the first game of the year to win it, but since then his offense was non-existent.

Second Up: Victor Martinez

It looks as if Victor Martinez has finally found his footing after finally shaking off the early injury struggles.

Since April 14th Victor is hitting .432 with seven runs batted in, and it’s no coincidence that since he started hitting well, the Indians have been winning games.

He is the team leader and a big important piece of their offense. Martinez always comes up in the clutch for the Indians, but perhaps Saturday evening was the first time he had an actual walk off hit to win the game.

Martinez singled home Grady Sizemore with the bases loaded to give the Indians a 5-4 victory over the New York Yankees.

If the Indians offense wants to continue to have that efficient scoring offense they want, Martinez needs to be hitting like this.

Third Up: Masa Kobayashi

If there is one guy who has stepped up in the absence of Joe Borowski, it has been Masa Kobayashi.

Kobayashi was slowly elevated to the eighth inning set-up role with Rafael Betancourt closing games.

Rafael Perez who has struggled at times has been pitching the sixth and seventh innings, was thought to be the eighth inning guy after Borowski went down.

But, Kobayashi took the role and hasn’t looked back. On Saturday he got his first major league win, and since moving into that role he has been nearly flawless.

Since the 17th he has pitched six innings with no runs, a win and only three base runners.

First Down: Joe Borowski, Jake Westbrook

They are not down for the reasons you think either.

Jake Westbrook has been solid but now he is headed to the disabled list for at least a month.

While Borowski is a little closer to returning, it was found out he will be out at least a month since the time he was first placed on the disabled list. Jake Westbrook will also have to spend at least four weeks there.

Both pitchers take a hit to the strong depth of the Indians staff. Borowski’s injury has caused a bullpen shuffle, elevating guys like Jorge Julio into more crucial roles, and so far he hasn’t handled it well.

That has caused Rafael Perez to be used as early as the sixth inning.

Jake Westbrook’s injury, combined with a rain out of the second game against Kansas City, caused the Indians to adjust their rotation and call upon not one, but two Buffalo starters.

Jeremy Sowers pitched well in his debut against the Yankees, but Aaron Laffey will also have to be called up to make the start on Monday.

Hopefully this pair can get back on the field soon, they only make the Tribe pitching staff deeper.

Second Down: Travis Hafner

You hate to see Travis down, especially since it really isn’t because of his hitting.

While he is only hitting .206 over the past two weeks, and leading the team in strikeouts, Hafner is being bothered by a sore shoulder.

It caused him to miss a game in Minnesota, and ever since he started the next day you can tell something is just preventing him to swing the bat like we know he can.

He has hit a home run and knocked in six runs since the 14th of April, but his shoulder is causing him to tighten up at the plate and only try and swing at balls inside. He can’t go the other way and it is very noticeable.

Third Down: Grady Sizemore

Two of the Indians most important offensive players are down?

While Sizemore has struggled at the plate the past few weeks, there is more to this selection.

Sizemore’s 382 consecutive games played streak came to an end on Sunday when he failed to play against the Yankees.

Eric Wedge has sat him in the past, but usually found a way to get him in the game and keep the streak alive.

This time though, Wedge couldn’t do that and Sizemore’s streak was put to a halt.

Sizemore got hurt in what was described as a “strained” or “sore” right ankle.

While Grady was hitting .217 over the past two weeks, he did start to turn it on before the injury, knocking in four runs in his past five games, including a home run against the Royals.

Hopefully the injury is one that doesn’t lag on Sizemore, and he can start up a new streak as soon as possible.

Three Up, Three Down – Week Two

A very very bland week for the Tribe. It wasn’t pretty to watch as Torii Hunter crushed us late in Monday’s game. It set the tone for the whole week. While Travis Hafner came back the next night and delivered a win, they Indians had dropped three straight before a finale against Oakland.

There are some bright spots though, and all is not lost as Cliff Lee saved the Indians from another Oakland sweep.

First Up: Jhonny Peralta

Jhonny Peralta pretty much had to bat in the three hole last week with Victor Martinez out.

Now he is back in his comfort zone with no big time pressure on him to get the job done.

Just how he likes it, and better yet, just how I like it.

Jhonny went off this week, homering in three straight games.

After a sluggish first week without any runs batted in, Jhonny knocked in five this week.

Peralta is a silent key for the Indians if they want to be successful offensively. He was a big reason for their post-season success last year. He had a lot of clutch hits and important home runs.

Second Up: Travis Hafner

Travis Hafner isn’t having that high average, but he is making his hits count and he is making good contact. Something he didn’t do last year for awhile.

The man they call Pronk has knocked in four runs this week, two in Sunday’s game against Oakland in the third inning.

The other two on Tuesday night off Justin Speier.

After being rocked in the bottom of the ninth the previous night, the Tribe battled back and Hafner was the hero. Hitting a two run jack in the top of the ninth to save Jake Westbrook’s bacon.

There really isn’t that much of a difference between this week and last for Hafner, except for the strikeouts.

Both weeks now he’s had six hits, but compared to last week his strikeout total has significantly lowered.

Last week he struck out nine times, for five games in a row.

This week, only three.

Another big key for the Indians. As long as Travis isn’t striking out a lot, the offense should be doing fine.

Third Up: Cliff Lee

Talk about dominant, Cliff Lee was that on Sunday against Oakland.

In his second start of the year, and for the second straight Sunday facing the Athletics, Cliff Lee threw a gem of a ball game.

Both his games have stopped three game slides, and have prevented sweeps from happening.

That is a stopper.

While he is the Indians’ five starter, he hasn’t been pitching like it, he’s been pitching above it.

Last week he shut them out for 6.2 innings, while this time around he held them to one run off only two hits in eight strong innings.

He struck out eight Athletics’ hitters and retired 14 straight before being removed after a long half inning for the Indians’ offense.

If Cliff Lee can keep this team afloat until their big Ace gets back on track, he will be an important piece to this team’s success.

After an injury riddled year, filled with emotion from getting sent down, Lee has bounced back in a big way.

First Down: Franklin Gutierrez

After starting off the year 3-3, Gutierrez has gone three for his last 28.

Not to mention he missed a few games with a small bug.

The last two games have been better, as he is finding his swing again and getting hits, but since having a stellar opening day, Gutierrez has struggled.

He has also struck out ten times opposed to only two walks.

Second Down: C.C. Sabathia

For a second straight week, C.C. Sabathia is down.

Sabathia got rocked in his Friday start against the A’s, surrendering nine runs off 12 hits and two walks.

The reigning Cy Young of the American League has gotten off to a rocky start, walking nine batters after only walking 37 the entire year in 2007.

Sabathia must turn it around and start keeping his teams in games. Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, Sabathia manages to minimize the damage, but early this year he simply does not have his control.

Third Down: Paul Byrd

If there is anyone worse than C.C. Sabathia on this young season, it has to be Paul Byrd.

Byrd was rocked in this weeks start against the Angels.

Byrd went three innings, giving up six runs off three homers, including a Mike Napoli grand slam.

He only threw 43 pitches before he had to make an early exit; his control has been just as bad as Sabathia.

Byrd will get a chance Tuesday to redeem himself, but if his control issues continue, he might not be useful.

A guy who doesn’t throw hard needs to control his pitches, and right now he just isn’t hitting his spots.

Three Up, Three Down – Week One

Here is a weekly series here at the Tribe Time Report. It’s Three Up and Three Down. Where I give you the three hot people with the Tribe and the Three Cold people.

Without further ado…

First Up: Ryan Garko

Ryan Garko was outstanding this first week of the regular season. He’s been the most consistent hitter from the start.

Garko is hitting .333 with four walks, four runs batted in, and a home run.

Garko has played half of the games so far on the West Coast, his home area where he is notoriously good.

He’s also had the luck of facing the A’s, a team he is really hot against. Another team he does well against, the Angels, are up on deck. Expect his hot start to continue.

Second Up: Grady Sizemore

I’m always mum when talking about Grady. I think he is an awesome player, but I also think other people give him way too much credit.

I spread the love around.

But Grady deserves it. He’s leading the team in batting average, homers, runs knocked in and total bases.

He started the year off great with a big home run, and has just continued to get on base and hit the baseball.

I mean the reason he is up this week is because of his statistics, but watching him swing the bat you can tell he’s improved.

He’s making great contact, hitting the ball hard to the gaps. It’s real impressive to watch him mature as a hitter.

Third Up: Craig Breslow

How about that for a late season addition?

Breslow came over after being cut by the Red Sox.

The Indians were not impressed with Aaron Fultz and decided to make a change to a kid they’ve had their eye on.

Breslow has come right in and has been impressive.

In two appearances he’s pitched in two innings and given up only one hit with a strikeout. He is earning more than just left handed specialist appearances.

First Down: Jason Michaels

Jason Michaels started the year off in a bad way.

He started opening day due to the left handed Mark Buehrle pitching.

Michaels was not swinging the bat well. Sunday was the first game where he collected a hit.

His worst performance was his debut in the third spot, where he struck out in his two at bats.

Michaels when he plays against the left handed pitchers, is the normal second hole hitter.

So he has to be able to create for the guys behind him. Yet so far he has collected only two walks and struck out four times. If this team is going to get some runs against the lefties, Jason has to have the year he did in 2007.

Second Down: C.C. Sabathia

In his 10.2 innings so far this season, C.C. Sabathia has given up nine runs and walked seven batters.

C.C has struggled against both the White Sox and the Athletics in his first two starts. His control has not been great and he’s having trouble locating his pitches.

It’s nothing to get worried about at this point in time, but it certainly deserves being pointed out.

Sabathia only walked 37 batters in 34 games last year, so the walks are something to be concerned about.

But don’t expect this trend to continue. C.C. has notoriously been bad at Oakland and the cold weather might have effected his control in the opener.

Third Down: Eric Wedge

I’ve learned to live with Eric Wedge and some of the decisions he’s made, I rarely want to second guess and blame him for things.

But this first week he has earned it.

With Victor Martinez out, Wedge has had some lineup shuffling to do.

He choose to revert to a lineup that worked for awhile, but eventually fizzled because of the pressure Jhonny Peralta couldn’t take.

For the first few games Peralta batted third and was absolutely awful. The pressure was too much for him and he at times would kill rallies.

Wedge’s latest decision on Saturday was to bat Jason Michaels in the third spot.

What would possess a man to do this? With Ryan Garko swinging the bat like he is, why not give him a shot?

Low and behold in Sunday’s game, Wedge had Hafner back in the three spot and Garko hitting cleanup. It’s no coincidence that Jhonny Peralta had two hits.

Victor Martinez should be back on Monday, so we can forgive Wedge for now.