The Two Week Recap

I’m tweaking with my format to give something good for both the website and bleacher report. I think the two week period is a good one, but the three up and three down isn’t suiting me for this small of a pool.

With that I give you the two week recap.

Who’s Hot?

Grady Sizemore of course. I know the ladies will think I’m talking about a different hot, but Sizemore is swinging the bat well.

He’s batting .324 since April 28th, and including Saturday night’s bashing, he has four home runs, and eight runs batted in.

He had the two home run, five runs batted in performance on his fleece blanket give away night Saturday. A perfect way to get all those young ladies justification for coming out to see him. I myself have never seen so many girls in a Sizemore T-Shirt.

With that you have to hand it to the marketing team for the Indians. I get tired of all the Grady promotions, but they are straight up geniuses thinking of all them. The more Sizemore give aways, the more tickets they sale, because a Grady Lady will never pass up free Sizemore stuff.

Who’s Not?

He did have the walk off hit against the Mariners, and two runs batted in on Saturday.

But that has been all he has done. Since the 28th of April, Asdrubal Cabrera has hit .120 with three runs batted in. He’s also struck out six times.

He only has three hits as well, and two of them came in that blow out of the Blue Jays.

Cabrera needs to pick up his hitting, or else he could be a prime candidate to get replaced in the lineup by the guy he unseated last year, Josh Barfield.

Best Pitcher

Cliff Lee has become such a cliche response, so I will highlight Aaron Laffey, who has filled in admirably for Jake Westbrook.

In his three starts he only won a single game, but he is shutting down the opposition and really keeping his team in the game.

He gave up four runs against the Yankees, but that was after he no hit them for five innings. You have to admire the effort and four runs against the Yankees is far from bad.

The next two starts were shut down. 14 combined innings, and no earned runs. The past two weeks hes struck out eight hitters and he sports a 1.83 earned run average.

Jake Westbrook could be back in a few weeks, but the Indians won’t mind some more starts like the last two Aaron Laffey has had.

Francisco In, Michaels Out

The big move that the Indians made was long awaited by a lot of fans.

Ben Francisco was given his shot to compete in the big leagues. To give him that shot, the team released Jason Michaels, and later traded him away to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Francisco responded to the call up by hitting .333 with four runs batted in. His biggest at bat was against Toronto on Friday, when Francisco was called upon to pinch hit for Dellucci with the bases loaded.

The pitch was high and in the middle of the plate, but Francisco smoked it off the wall for a 2-run double to give the Tribe a 4-1 lead.

The move to bring in Francisco might have just sparked the team enough to get the offense going. Something similar to what Asdrubal Cabrera did last year. Manager Eric Wedge hasn’t been afraid to use “The Frisco Kid” in big situations, and even bat him as high as fifth.

Down at Buffalo

Michael Aubrey was called up to Triple A Buffalo to take the place of Jordan Brown who was placed on the disabled list.

Aubrey has responded by hitting .364 with five runs batted in and six runs scored.

Jason Stanford has made a successful return to the Herds’ rotation. In 21.2 innings he’s let up only four earned runs and struck out 11.

What’s on tap?

The Indians will finish their four game series with Toronto on Monday. Because of the postponement on Sunday, a true doubleheader will be played.

After that, the Tribe welcomes in Oakland for their final meeting of the year in a three game set. Then it is a six game road trip that opens up inter-league play against the cross-state rival Cincinnati Reds.

They finish the road trip in Chicago against the White Sox, before returning home to face the Texas Rangers for three games.

Joe Borowski is due back pretty soon as he is set to take some more bullpen sessions before he goes on some rehab assignments.

Jason Stanford Returns

The Indians have broughten back Jason Stanford to their organization.

Last year Stanford pitched in a few big league games, making is long awaited return to the Indians after going through a long rehab for surgery. He came up and got a big win against the Marlins, and pitched so well he earned himself a bullpen spot when he was forced out of the rotation.

However, Jason didn’t last and was eventually moved.. Now he will return to Buffalo to start.

The move of Sean Smith to Colorado, Sowers pitching on Saturday and Laffey having to pitch on Monday, the Indians were tight for some pitching, so this makes sense. Stanford will pitch tonight so Laffey can be on schedule to pitch in Monday’s game against the Yankees.

Sean Smith Traded to Rockies to Complete Carroll Deal

The Jamey Carroll deal was still incomplete until today.

To finish the deal, the Indians sent Buffalo starter Sean Smith to Colorado.

Smith is one of many starters behind some of the more MLB ready pitchers in Sowers, Laffey and Miller.

In reality he probably had no future as a starter with Cleveland, so this makes sense for the Tribe, and he should get a shot in Colorado within the next year.

Smith was 0-1 this year, with a 4.00 ERA and was scheduled to pitch on Friday. The Buffalo rotation is in all sorts of whack with this deal though, Jeremy Sowers will be called up on Saturday to pitch against the Yankees, and it is expected that Aaron Laffey will get skipped tonight so he can be called up and pitch on Monday.