Wickman's Back

What do you guys think of us resigning IWckman for a one yr deal? Me? I persoanlly felt he was the choice all along..i havent seen the money, but I knew the Indians wouldnt have signed him for more than on yr, and if hes healthy there is noone that much better out that that was available. Besides, Id rather see them use their money on a starter (preferably clement if they feel they can fix his mechanics.

Props for Todd

Check out this, I got my questioned answered at an awesome baseball website: (look for Todd from Cleveland

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/chat/chat.php?chatId=77

Almost a First Rate Weekend

What a weekend it was at Jacobs Field. We almost caught the Twins, there was a sellout, and most importantly, the Tribe is head deep in a playoff race. The race should get even more exciting with the Twins coming up this following weekend. Broussard's hitting had been phenominal, and he certainly isnt scared of having Josh Phelps around just in case. I read a great article today about the Indians and the playoff race: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/disorder-in-the-house/

Winning when it counts

Wow, what a way to pull off the victory tonight! Lawton came through, Lee wasn't horrific, and the bullpen held the opponents scoreless! As most of you know this win puts the Tribe in second place in the Central Division, and hears hoping the White Sox never catch up.
Look for Josh Phelps to play either Sunday or Monday as he makes his Indians debut, I think Shapiro made a good trade because the Indians have so many guys like Crozier already in the system, why not take a flier on a Major League quality bat with some desperately needed Right handed pop. Not to mention it could become very vital to have him, if Martinez has to go on the DL. Laker playing everyday wont cut it, and Phelps has some experience behind the plate. So keep your eyes open for some roster moves the next couple of days.

White Sox here we come

With the White Sox losing yet another game to the Tigers tonight the Tribe has moved within 1.5 games back of the White Sox. If this keeps up, that Freddy Garcia trade is gonna look worse and worse, because it was a dumb move in the first place, and it will become even dumber if they continue to slide (although I know they have key injuries right now).
With Westbrook pitching later tonight, especially against the lowely Royals, things could really start getting interesting for Tribe fans.

Also, with the way Sizemore is playing, and Crisp has heated up...does anyone even remember Milton "Boardgame" Bradley?

What A weekend!

Not only was it exciting to see Grady Sizemore get called up period, he made a big contribution the this past weekends whomping of the Royals. I'll say another thing, Hafner and Martinez seem to have become everything the Indians' front office excpected them to be. It has been great to see this team contend for more than half a season.

Unfortunately, we are losing 13-2 right now to the Tigers (who we cant quite seem to beat this yr), and Cliff Lee has his second consecutive horrendous outing. Thank goodness we had great pitching over the weekend, especially Chad Durbin...Elarton better be out of the rotation or im gonna scream!

Second Half Start Anew

With the Indians second half beginning today In Seattle I could not be happier. Well first of all, they r playing Seattle (enough said). Secondly the bullpen finally seems to have all the pieces together, and if they can pitch they are capable of then we might surprise more more people. Secondly, the biggest things to watch in the second half besides the bullpen are as follows:
1.) How Tadano fairs in the rotation.
-its been no secret that Tadano's last few outings have been stellar, and if he can make our number 5 starter slot more than bearable, that would signifigantly help the pitching staff.
2.) Kepp an eye out for Gerut.
-After Jody Gerut's rookie year, many Indians fans would have been pretty excited about him, but this year he simply just been a decent right fielder with the bat..his defense is always good I might note though. If Jody can pick it up this half, it would certainly help the offense, and he better cause Ryan Ludwick is going to be taking some at-bats away this half..let alone even more will be needed when Sizemore gets called up.

Anyways, the second half is about to begin, its sad because we only have half the baseball season left, but whats great about it is the Indians games are still playing meaningful games this time of year.

Early Holiday BBQ

Wow, now that was as good a win tonight as any. An absolute great performance all around for the Indians. Tadano looked extremely impressive, and his strikeouts are a good sign of future success. It was good to see, because he can replace Elarton if he flops (which certianly would be a surprise to few), and if Sabathia is back and as good as he has been, our rotation should be even better than before, and if Elarton pitches decently, maybe we can make Tadano into the next Ramiro Mendoza type, which would really boost our bullpen. Another sweep of the Reds would certainty make this a great holiday weekend, and really put us in position to make a run after the ASB.

Going in Circles Part II

Well now our bullpen is back where it started, blowing leades or chances at wins again and again, and Riske is back as our closer.
The idea of a "closer" is just ridiculous, I would like to see Wedge put our best reliever (and I guess Riske is that right now) in high leverage situations for example:
1.) If the oppsoing team's heart of the order is up in the eight, put Riske in then, dont waste him on 7-8-9, in the ninth innning because with our bullpen, if we let someone else face an opposing teams heart of the order Riske wont ever get in the game...thats not an effective way to use your best reliever.
2.) Also, if our bullpen gets in a jam in a close game, in the sixth inning and Wedge is looking for someone to put in the game..put in your BEST reliever to get out of the jam, keep the game close, and pitch him in the next inning to hopefully give us a chance to tie or take the lead.

Going in Circles

Sorry its been such a long time since ive written, I have gotten tied up in a lot of different things lately.
Anyways, we gave up 3 HRS to Larry Walker? Wow, can we learn to pitch to that guy inside the next two games this series? Did we even send an advanced scout over to COL? I know WALKER JUST GOT BACK FROM INJURY, but they do make things such as video tapes!!! It was nice to see Davis miss more bats last night, but this is the free swinging Rockies we r talking about here, so lets see if he can carry it over to his next start.
Also, there are many reports that have said that the Tribe has signed Aaron Boone to a 2 yr deal. This kinda bugs me for a couple reasons
1.) With Casey Blake playing so well, whats the point in spending more money on Boone, when we desprettly need bullpen help?
2.) Where are we gonna put Blake? You shouldnt be sitting the guy on our team with the most HRs, and hes better than average defenisvely over there. I heard something where Blake said he would move to first, but Broussard's D is good over there, and hes finally starting to rake.
Also, where is there going to be room for him next year too? If we assume Omar is going to be let go, and we bring in Phillips and/or Peralta to replace him...we still got Broussard, Belliard, Boone, and Blake...thats too many infielders. Im assuming they are gonna trade either Blake or Broussard this year or next year and fill in both gaps in 06 with the likes of Michael Aubrey, and whatever 3B becomes consistent in the minors.

A chance to inch closer

After taking 2 out of 3 from the Atlanta Braves, the Indians have positioned themselves to possibly take over 2nd place in the AL's Central Division. This series starting today against the White Sox might be the most important series since 3 years ago. Its gonna be a heck of a lot of fun watching these next four games. I would imagine if we win atleast 3 of these Shaprio might have to go make a move.
Also, am I the only who things Cliff Lee getting suspended is a load of ....? How could they ever know Lee's intent? Its always speculation and I cant stand it.
Well anyways lets sit tight and watch the most important baseball weve watched in Cleveland in a while.

Hotter than the Weather.

Holy smokes, 4 wins in a row with 3 huge come from behind ones against the what seem to be the now non-overachieving Reds, and a blowout against the O's! The important thing about yesterday was that Victor Martinez came back and still hit like he had, and Westbrook gave the Indians' bullpen an entire day off!
Lets not forget how Covelli Crisp is hotter than his favorite treat right out of the oven, and johnny Mac had 4 hits..wow!

Looking good

Wow, look at that three wins from the Angels!!! The team was looking good this past weekend. The bullpen seems to be performing alot more like we expected, and the offense continues to be consistent. Heck, we might be in this thing!
Even after splitting the next 2 from the Marlins, things are still looking good after another White Sox loss to the Phillies.
Westbrook pitched like he did earlier in the year, which is even more important seeing we have lost another 5th starter option to injury.
I hope Stanford gets back soon. The biggest shocker of it all was that the Tribe simply just lost one game in a row...maybe they can keep that winning streak thing going though.
Lets hope Davis continues to pitch well tomorrow, and if that happens we might be doing really well because the Reds are playing horrific baseball against the A's (as i watch them trail 9-0 right now).

Ronnie's first HR

Ronnie Belliard last night could not have chosen a bigger time to hit his first HR of the season. Watching the Angels kind of makes me miss the mid 90's when the Ol' Tribe had huge offenses, and it was nice to see the new Tribe pull it out against a team they used to be. Since I can remember the Tribe hasnt stopped at winning just one game in a row in quite sometime, so I will be expecting another win tonight. I sure hope Joe Dawley has really really good command tonight!
Gotta go to work, I'll write more later.

Another stinking losing streak.

Two more losses to the Rangers, and our errors and baserunning certainly didn't help. Its kinda scary to see Sabathia struggle for a second consecutive time, and it seems Belliard is diving right back to the mean. With the Angels coming up next I sure hope we can play close to perfect baseball and pull out 2 of these, I dont want another 6 game streak, and im sure noone else does. Its also upsetting to see Betancourt give up a homer to none other than the light hitting Gary Matthews Jr., its one thing if it was Blalock, but GM Jr.?

Another Streak Indeed

How about that? A sweep of the Oakland A's!!! And what a different team we are seeing here, great games by the Tribe's bullpen, and our offense winning three games in a row in their final at bat...thats what I like to see. Gerut, Martinez, and Hafner seem to be really excelling and fortifying their position on this team, and Davis pitched a good start for the second consecutive night! With the Rangers' offense struggling of late, im looking for 2 more wins being added to our streak!

Another streak?

After tonights win you would think that the Tribe would be on their way to another winning streak right? But they will have to face a tough opponent in the Oakland A's this week and obviously face some good pitching beginning with Lefty (err....) Barry Zito. However, the bullpen looked promising tonight as Betancourt continues to show an amazing 27K/1BB ratio. I am also happy to see that Wedge is using Betancourt in more critial situations in games instead of a "save" in the 9th inning with noone on and a 4 run lead.

Riske Situation

Last night Jason Davis finally showed the potential we've all knew he had, and then Wedge decides to put in Riske in a high-leverage situation? I dont care how effective he had been recently..why not put Betancourt in with men on? If hes our best reliever..let him pitch at the most critical part of the game up to the 8th inning. I heard on the TV tonight that Wedge was thinking of doing that the next time, so maybe thats good news...I hope it actually happens.

Offensive Woes Continue

Three in a row to the Devil Rays? Shapiro might want to rescind his statement about how we still could contend this year. Performances like that are really disheartening. As I suspected the Tribe's offense was regressing back to the mean, although Escobar finally hit a homerun.
Riske continues to struggle, and if he doesnt shape up I am not even sure who we got who can help right away. Bobby Howry? (I know i dont want it to get to that point.)

Streaks

What is with it with the Tribe? Win five in a row, then start another losing streak ( including 2 losses against the lowely Devil Rays?)
What worries me about the Tribe's woes is that their offense right now is overachieiving, and its hard to believe it will continue to lead the AL in OBP. Although Martinez and Hafner are having excellent second seasonsalong with the real Matt Lawton coming back from the dead, the Tribe's bullpen better shape up soon, because the offense is not going to stay at its current level.

Also, I like the move of Gerut to center, but Escobar's error in tonight's game was very costly ( Note to Ryan Ludwick- get back soon buddy).

Pappas

Even though I am only a couple months into blog's, and reading other's blogs on a daily basis, Doug Pappas' was one of the first weblogs i came to check on a regular basis. His intelligence and insight for the game of baseball was second to none, and his death is certainly a very unfortunate surprise.
God Bless his family and friends, he will be missed.

Everyone out there let this remind you that life isnt about wishing, its about doing.

A Tribe thumping

Jason Davis again struggled with his command tonight, but i guess the good thing is he is quite young (just turned 24) so we got a lot of time to find out if he can consistently do what most feel he is capable of. I would talk about the Indians' bullpen struggles, but that is nothing new and talking about it more would only depress me more.
Atleast Victor Martinez continues to impress going 1-2 with an HR and a BB.

First Entry

After failing to find any Cleveland Indians baseball blogs, I decided to make my own. I have lived in the Cleveland area my entire life so it was inevitable that I would become an Indians fan. Sure the Indians had some awesome teams in the mid 90's, but since I was a young teenager when they had their success, I couldnt appreicate it as much as those that had seen them play the years previously when they were horrendous. So right now I am relishing watching the Indians current young team come together into something (I hope).

Anyways, Id like to talk about anything on this blog, but I will mostly focus on the Indians, Sabermetrics, and anything else baseball related.