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

Paul Byrd Is Traded!

Woooo..

I love Paul Byrd.. He’s a great guy.. But this is the move that needed to be made.. Much like Dellucci, but we won’t cry about that right now.

According to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, the Indians have dealt Paul Byrd to Boston in exchange for a Player to Be Named Later or Cash.

Not sure who is paying the salary. If the Red Sox want to give up a better prospect in exchange for the Indians paying the rest of his salary, then I’m not sure Mark Shapiro or the Dolan’s will care. If not I wouldn’t expect the player to be anything special. Either way, they needed to clear a spot up and let the young guys go at. Aaron Laffey is ready.

Will Dellucci go next? I hope so, we’ll see in a few weeks when Vic, Hafner and Barfield are all due back.

Minor Issues: Aaron Laffey Dominant in 2nd Buffalo Start

You think Aaron Laffey wants to mess around in the Minor Leagues any longer?

Last night he made a bid to prove that he was ready to go back up to Cleveland after he hurled 8 scoreless innings against the Iron Pigs. 4 hits, no runs, 1 walk, 9 punch-outs. The question now becomes, who do you send down?

The idea.. Trade Paul Byrd…. I hope.

Wes Hodges and Brandon Pinckney powered the Aeros with 2-4 and 3-4 nights and 1 and 2 RBI respectively.. Scott Lewis pitched 7.1 strong with just one run off four hits and 5 strikeouts. Chuck Lofgren finished the game up striking out a pair.

Kinston won and Beau Mills upped his RBI total to 80 with a two run double. Jared Goedert had a solo home run and a 2-5, 2 RBI night. Johnnie Drennen also hit a solo shot to tie the game late, Mike Finocchi didnt allow a hit, but walked three in his 1.1, yet he picked up the win.

Lake County was suspended due to rain, and Mahoning Valley fell. Ryan Blair hit a two run home run and Cord Phelps collected two more hits.

Here is a piece on Dallas Cawiezell of the Captains. Dallas made the SAL All-Star roster this year and according to the story on Minor League Magazine, he’s just a “country bumpkin”.

MLU: Scott Lewis Has Career Night in Akron

Buffalo Buffalo get a little Buffalo… The HERD win again behind three solid innings from the bullpen. Aaron Laffey made his first start since getting sent down and he struggled. Laffey went 6 innings giving up four runs off seven hits and three walks. Brendan Donnelly, Preston Larrison and Bubbie Buzachero cleaned it up for three scoreless innings as the Bisons’ offense battled back. Jordan Brown had a pinch hit, bases clearing double that supported the offense.

Scott Lewis‘ career night only lasted 5 and 2/3rds innings. Yet he earned the win, completely shut down Altoona and 10 of the 17 outs he recorded were via the strikeout. Lewis walked two and gave up a hit but he completely baffled the Curve hittes. The bullpen gave up just two more hits to three-hit the Curve completely. There was plenty of offensive support from the Aeoros. Matt Whitney went 3-5 with a run batted in and Ryan Goleski knocked in two runs himself. Wyatt Toregas knocked in a run and is now hitting .336 since he arrived at Akron.

Attack of the Pellicans! Oh Man, Myrtle Beach compltely manhandled the K-Tribe last night. Every pitcher gave up at least two runs.. I mean every pitcher.. The only one who didnt was Jerad Head. Yes Kinston was forced to use yet another position player as a pitcher. This time though, Jerad Head surrendered just one hit and a walk in his inning allowing 7 less than Cristo Arnal did. Oh Tom Glavine pitched for Myrtle Beach on a rehab assignment.

Lake County lost, despite their 2-4 hitters reaching base seven times in the game. Ryan Morris un-hittable… Morris went five innings without a hit, two walks and 7 strikeouts. Morris has now 11 straight innings of no-hit baseball.

Another big win over that team with the deer Mascot. Get the chain, because Cord Phelps is OFF IT! 4-5 with two runs scored and two runs batted in. He’s now hitting .333 since his Scrappers debut. Robbie Alcombrack went 2-5 with two runs knocked in. PJ Zocchi pitched five solid to pick up his third win of the year.

GCL wins and Abner Abreu is at it again. Number 8 Home Run on the year for Abreu as he knocked in two. Adam Abraham had two and a his 4th home run of the year.

Tracking Matt LaPorta

LaPizzle Does it again!

Matt LaPorta hit another solo shot in Team USA’s rout of Team Canada last night. He went 2-5 with another RBI and finished the four game exhibition series with three home runs, five runs batted in and .313 average. Team USA leaves today and will be in Beijing tomorrow. The news will die down for awhile until competition starts on the 13th.

Nick Weglarz was back in action, going 1-2 with a walk. TJ Burton and Jeff Stevens did not pitch.

Indians Acquire Cardinals SP Anthony Reyes; Make Lots of Roster Moves

Mark Shapiro has made another move. This time he’s acquire Cardinals Starter Anthony Reyes in exchange for Akron Closer Luis Perdomo.

Perdomo was recently promoted to Akron and took over the closing duties after Randy Newsome was promoted to Buffalo. Perdomo started the year in Kinston and made the Carolina League All-Star Game but did not play due to promotion.

Anthony Reyes is a 27 year old right hander who won Game 1 of the 2006 World Series. He’s spent time in the Big Leagues since 2005 and started the year on the Big League Roster. But he’s battled injuries and was sent to Triple A Memphis. He’ll be optioned to Triple A Buffalo.

Reyes has stuff but his mechanics are the issue with him. He lost 14 games last year and carries a 5.38 career ERA. Let’s see if the change of scenary will be good for Reyes.

Perdomo on the other hand isn’t a huge loss. With guys like Jeff Stevens, Randy Newsome, and not the addition of Jon Meloan(if they move him to the pen), Perdomo might have been cosnidered expendable.

In other news, Aaron Laffey was also sent down to Buffalo. The Indians are opting to hold onto Matt Ginter for now. But certainly once Laffey is ready, with Reyes in the fold, releasing Ginter makes it a lot easier since they have another option to go to.

Andy Gonzalez has been called up to take Casey Blake’s spot on the roster. He is added to the 40 man roster.

Travis Hafner was moved to the 60 Day Disabled List for now. I’m not sure if that is retroactive or anything. But I’m going to guess he can be removed at any time rather soon. This does NOT mean his season is over, they just need the 40 man spot with Reyes and Meloan being put on the 40 man.

Morning Update: Choo’s Military Problem Could Halt Career

Hey quick news to pass along. Scott Elarton’s season is effectively over. He got moved to the 60-day disabled list. Sounds like something is really going on with Elarton or his family. I hope everything is okay with Scott and nothing too serious is going on. He’s a stand-up guy and he worked hard to get back to where he was with the Tribe. Best of luck to Scott and the Elarton family.

It’s looking more and more likely that Shin-Soo Choo will be factored out of the Tribe’s equation by a greater beeing. As we’ve chronicaled on here before. Choo can avoid this military obligation that he has to start serving by 2010 if he wins a gold-medal at the olympics or the Asian Games in 2010. He can’t partake in the Olympics beccause South Korea won’t take players on the 25 man roster away from the MLB. Choo can’t go to the minors because he’s out of options.

So.. Problemmmmm.

This has Choo really upset from what I can read.

“The Indians couldn’t send me to the minors [to be on the Korean team] because I’m out of options,” said Choo, who added “There’s too much stress to worry about it now.” (Plain Dealer)

I really feel for the guy.. He can become an American citizen and avoid it, but I’m not sure how long he’s been here and been living in the states and if he’ll have enough time under his belt before 2010 rolls around.

We’ll see how this goes. This is like the Caleb Campbell thing with the Detroit Lions. These guys have a dream.. The only thing different here is Caleb Campbell choose to go to a school where he’d have to serve. Choo didn’t, this is a requirement of every South Korean. If Choo doesn’t do it, his country will probably have some hostile feelings towards him and he probably won’t be able to ever go back. Not to mention whatever family he has there will probably get frowned upon.

Chinese basketball player Wang Zhi-Zhi went through that same type of thing.

Aaron Laffey’s struggles have prompted the sudden question that maybe they should send him to the minors come Saturday. that’s relief for Matt Ginter. It is a serious possibility at this point, Laffey has really struggled to find himself in these past few games. They want to work some things out in Buffalo and get him back up later. You never know.

Starting Pitching News All Around. Jake Westbrook’s check up went well.

“It’s stable,” Westbrook said of his elbow. “I’m pleased with it. It’s still a little achy and a little sore. Now it’s a matter of letting it heal and doing some rehab.” (Indians.com)

We talked about Casey Blake yesterday… Heres the thing though..

Hoynes suggested that Blake could garner a first or second round draft pick.

The problem is this.. If you offer Casey Blake arbitration money.. He might just take it.. Casey Blake isn’t looking to go nuts. He will foil your plan ala Greg Maddux if you hold onto him and offer him arbitration. I tried to do some research on what Blake would yield us, but there simply isn’t anything out there, YET. Coincidentially MLBTR brought it up today.

Let me say this though.

Trade Casey Blake. HIS VALUE WILL NEVER BE HIGHER THAN IT IS RIGHT NOW!

Thank you..

Tim Brown has a nice little thing on Paul Byrd and his continued struggle with his tumor. I really feel for the guy. He isn’t a cheater and I believe him in this whole thing.

I’ll be back shortly with a little bit of Closer Talk..

Boom goes the dynamite… Tribe Lose Barnburner

This was a good ole’ fashioned Jim Ross Slobber-knocker.. By Gawd.

You never got the feeling it was over, even when Mathis hit the grand slam. Especially since the Indians ended up scoring 11 runs. But man that was not the overall pitching performance this team needed.

Rincon had another perfect outing, but every other pitcher gave up a run. Laffey’s ERA went from the 2’s to the 4’s in the past few starts. He was just awful… Just Awful man.

Four innings plus, 12 hits, 8 runs, 2 walks on 77 pitches.

Just.. Wow.

Mastny gave up four(not including the ones he gave up that were charged to Laffey) and Jensen gave up 2.

Offensively.. Man Man Man

Grady Sizemore had the BEWSH 25th of the year. He tied Quentin until Carlos went deep for the second time today. So he trails Quentin by one.

Peralta went 3-5 with an RBI. He continues to mash man.. Putting together some great at-bats as well. Just battled against Lackey.

Choo 2-4 with two RBI.. Marte 1-3 with an RBI and a walk. Garko had the big day finally starting… You gotta think Wedge is gotta start him more.. I mean come on, when is Casey Blake gonna get traded?

Anyway.. Ryan Garko went 3-5 with four RBI including a two-run blast to left.

Hell Even Dellucci (in the two hole now? What the hell) had an RBI.

It still wasn’t enough though.. Everyone in the starting lineup got a hit, except for Cabrera who really got into one with men on base but Juan Rivera made a great play to run it down. Blake’s 7 game hit-streak came to an end when he failed to get a hit in his pinch hit apperance.

Take this though.. Bruce Drennan just made a good point. This is the best record-wise team in the entire major leagues. So taking one from them, and losing by one and three runs isn’t bad. If only.. IF ONLY they played like this offensively yesterday and pitched like they did yesterday today.

Gotta put it together sirs.

Off Day Tomorrow-Which means a quick return to our new favorite feature.. Photoshop Off-Day! I know you’re excited. Then Friday we return home to face the Twins. Cliffffffffffad and Livan Hernandez. Let’s get 14 for the good man. Expecting a Hafner update tomorrow..

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Photoshop Off-Day: The Dark Tribe

So, in honor of the new batman flick, The Dark Knight, being released this past weekend. I didn’t intend to make this. Yeah great way to honor it.

BUT, I had the idea of putting Aaron Laffey on a joker playing card. I then remembered this movie was out and decided to check out what kind of movie posters were out there.

One thing lead to another, like it always does. I’m proud of this, it isn’t my best work, but I think it’s one of my better ideas. Yes, I’m full of myself. But all my good ideas usually come when I’m not trying to think of them.

What does Fausto and Cliff have to do with Batman and Harvey Dent?

Absolutely nothing. But who cares?

If you didn’t see the movie yet, you really should. I did and the batman flicks are even the cup of tea. Very good stuff.

You may now kill me.

Morning Update/Game Recap: Laffey Struggles After ASB

So…

Pretty depressing to watch that last night.

One of those games.. You got an ace on the mound for the other team, and your pitcher struggles.

The results are what you saw last night.

Granted, Aaron Laffey only got charged with three earned runs. But he was clearly not on his game. Errors be damned, Laffey couldn’t put hitters away after he got 2 outs. That entire 2nd inning mess all started with two outs. He also gave up the three run-jack in the 4th.

Encouraging outings from Jensen Lewis and Juan Rincon to hold the opposition where they were.

Casey Blake did all the offensive damage with 1-4 including a solo shot.

Asdrubal Cabrera went 1-3 with a walk and a run in his return. I’m still reading Wedge quotes on the kid.

“He’s 22. He’s a baby. He has to learn what he needs to do throughout his daily routine to be the best player he can physically.” (Plain Dealer)

Can we stop asking Wedge these questions? Really.

Speaking of Wedge.. He spoke out about the All-Star Game.. I’m absolutely certain he wasn’t a happy camper that Grady Sizemore played virtually all of that game.

“Whether it’s nine, 10 or 11 innings,” said Wedge, “the game is called after that. That way you can plan for everyone to get in the game. You know you don’t have to pitch or play people who are tired or borderline hurt. If it’s a tie game, you flip a coin and whoever wins it gets home field advantage. If you want that game to decide it, there’s nothing else you can do.” (Plain Dealer)

From that link… You know before last night the Indians are the best defensive team in the league? Yeah I tip my hat for that at least.

Here is the reason Shin-Soo Choo wears the double ear flapped helmet.

“I just feel comfortable. Who knows, maybe next year I’ll go with one flap.” (Plain Dealer)

Oh come on.. That wasn’t any good.. I hope he keeps it, I love the double flaps.

Obviously.. Seattle is Grady’s stomping grounds. So, obviously he grew up watching Ken Griffey Jr.

“He was exciting to watch. He was the center fielder when I was growing up, he was that guy,” Sizemore said. “He was kind of emerging as a star, and it was fun to watch the way he played. It was exciting. So to sit there and play against him now is pretty special.”(Indians.com)

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Hey a few site updates…

I’m not sure if you like the current layout… I don’t.. It’s only temporary, because I needed something larger on the right side.. I’ll be unrolling a new layout by next week, it’s done, but I’m working out the kinks.. It will allow me to do a lot more and It will all look a lot cleaner, no matter what resolution you are working with on your monitor. Less cluttered, easier navigation. I’m also gonna start a few new features. The best part is there is no more white text on blue background.

At this rate, the boards get updated anytime a major move is made, but if not I update them every two days. Stuff has been kinda slow though so no need for many updates. The only thing over there not being updated is the Prospect Notebook. A new version is one of those new features I’ll be rolling out.

Tribe Bamboozle the Rays

I think I deserve some credit for fitting the word Bamboozle in there.

Eric Wedge had a closed door meeting with the Tribe returning back home today before the game. He wanted to get guys like Hafner in on it since they were around.

I’m just quite shocked at how well they put together those hits.

Let’s run down the box score… Pitching wise though, OUTSTANDING..

Aaron had the one two run home run hiccup, but other than that was in control. Six innings, four hits, two runs, and four punch outs. Rafael Perez was HUGE. In what was a close game, he came in and threw two perfect innings and did it in just 12 pitches.. Talk about dominating.

Juan Rincon made his Indian Debut and it was a little rocky. His fastball was hitting 93 though and his arm is still there.. But his control was a little out of walk.. Cut him some slack since it was his first game. I’m really hoping we can get this guy on track.

Anyway..

Grady 2-4 with a walk and a run.. Really wasn’t in the middle of all the scoring. Carroll didn’t get a hit yet he managed to score two runs and knock in a run.

The big nights belonged to Ben Francisco. He was 3-5 with the big two run home run and the two run single in the 8th. Peralta continued to rake with the two hits and RBI.. Casey was 2-5 with a home run and three rib-eyes.. Choo had a line drive shot into the visitor bullpen.

I was getting ready to say..

Why is David Dellucci still in this lineup? Then he goes deep and has three runs batted in.

Whateverrrr

Andy Marte man.. 1-3 with a walk and a run scored.. Come on damnit! Keep playing him.. DH Garko and play Blake at first if you have to.

Big Big Big Big Win…. Just Big… Great to see it.. Let’s go out and get another one with our Acey making his final plea to start the All-Star Game.

Cliff Lee, James Shields.. Should be a great one to watch if you have nothing to do on Saturday.. Go to the Game!

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