Indians Confidential

Tuesday was not exactly a banner day for the Indians, as things that appeared to be heading on the right track after a 6-2 homestand went right back to despair. First there was the updated injury report, which included Josh Barfield having finger surgery, Fausto Carmona being sore after a 50-pitch session, and Travis Hafner heading to see “Dr.Doom” James Andrews for a second opinion on his shoulder.

Then last night in Colorado, the team took any and all momentum from winning five of their last seven and flushed it down the toilet with an uninspiring 10-2 thrashing at the hands of the Rockies. The loss had all the usual elements of a 2008 Indians setback - little offense, wasted chances, Paul Byrd allowing homers (in and park and out this time), and the bullpen giving up runs when trying to keep the team in the game.

Overall, not a good way to start a west coast trip to say the least. Let’s start with Byrd. As stated here on this site before, Paul Byrd is one of the classiest players you’ll ever come across. He’s also a guy that will stand up and admit his mistakes, and Tuesday night, he was on that side of doing that once again. Falling to 3-7 with a 5.21 ERA, you get the sense that Byrd at 37 might just be nearing the end of being a solid MLB pitcher. Last season he won 15 games, but with the way he’s going this year, it’s hard to believe he’ll get to 10 wins all season.

It’s too early to say, but one has to think that the next three and a half months will be the last for Byrd in an Indians uni. The team can dump him at the end of the year, and with some prospects pitching well, and the team likely to revamp some of the staff on the open market in 2009, I think Byrd will not be here next season, unless that is as some sort of long relief arm, which I think is unlikely.

Against the Rockies, Byrd allowed two more homers, one in the park and one out, putting that total to 19 this season. He allowed 27 last year in 192.1 innings, and this year has allowed 8 less in only 77.2 innings. Byrd started the year slow at 0-2, but things seemed to be on track after his 4-0 shutout win over the A’s on May 13th. Since then, the wheels have come off again, as he’s gone 1-4, and in his last two starts has gone just a total of 7 innings, allowing 10 earned runs on 15 hits.

His linescore on Tuesday read 4 innings, five runs on nine hits, two homers allowed, walking one and striking out four. The offense did little to pick him up, as they left 8 men on base, managed 9 hits, and plated two runs, the second with the team well out of the game at 10-1. Greg Reynolds pitched well against the Tribe, going 6 innings, allowing one run on five hits, not walking a batter and striking out four.

Jhonny Peralta was about the only bright spot at the plate, going 3-for-4 and raising his average to .235. Other than that, the offense never seemed to get off the plane arriving in Colorado for the interleague matchup. Now at 33-38, the team falls into a third place tie with the Tigers, who won over the Giants Tuesday night. They also lose a game on the White Sox who won, to fall to 6.5 games back in the AL Central.

Wednesday night the team will look to get back on track as Aaron Laffey, who’s 4-and-3 with a 2.83 ERA, will start for the Indians. The Rockies will send out Jeff Francis, who’s 2-and-6 with a 5.49 ERA. First pitch at Coors Field is set for 9:05 p.m.

From: The Indians

Today, the Indians announced the INF JOSH BARFIELD underwent left middle finger extensor hood reconstruction to stabilize the extensor tendon. The surgery was performed by Dr. Tom Graham in Baltimore, MD. Barfield is expected to return to play in 6 to 8 weeks.

Other injury news:

RHP FAUSTO CARMONA threw at 3.0 inning simulated game in Mahoning Valley yesterday. He felt general soreness after being evaluated in Cleveland today and will be re-evaluated tomorrow prior to determining when he will make his first rehab start.

DH TRAVIS HAFNER took dry swings as well as swings off the tee on Sunday in Progressive Field. According to Indians Head Athletic Trainer Lonnie Soloff, Hafner is not progressing as quickly as hoped and will be evaluated by Dr. Andrews tomorrow in Alabama to ensure he and the Indians are on the right track with his rehab plan in order to expedite his return.

As if playing shorthanded is not bad enough, the news went from bad to worse for the Indians this afternoon, as not only has catcher Victor Martinez been placed on the DL, the team also announced today that he will be arthroscopic surgery tomorrow to remove loose bodies from his right elbow joint.

Word is that Victor will be out 6 to 8 weeks, and that now the duties of the catcher role will be for Kelly Shoppach (.225 3 homers 7 RBI) and Yamid Haad, who was called up from Buffalo. Martinez has had a tough 2008, first he hurt his hamstring on opening day vs the White Sox and missed a few games, and now the elbow injury. So for now, here is the list of those hurt for the Indians:

C Victor Martinez
2B Josh Barfield
DH Travis Hafner
P Fausto Carmona
P Jake Westbrook (done for the year)

Hate to say it, but the winds of despair are blowing more than ever at Progressive Field, and morale has got to be on life support at this point after the news today.

From: The Indians

The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has placed CA VICTOR MARTINEZ (right elbow inflammation) & INF JOSH BARFIELD (left long finger sprain) on the 15-day disabled list.

To assume their place on the Major League roster the Indians purchased the contract of CA YAMID HAAD & INF JORGE VELANDIA from AAA Buffalo. The Indians will announce two moves relative to the 40-man roster this afternoon.

Haad has spent the entire season at AAA Buffalo after attending Major League camp as a non-roster invitee this spring. He has hit .159 (10-63) with 3 doubles and 3 RBI in 25 games for the Bisons this year. He joined the Indians organization last May and hit .301 (34-113) in 35 games for the Bisons in 2007. Over his 14-year professional career, he has appeared in 18 Major League games for San Francisco (2005) and Pittsburgh (1999), the last appearance coming on October 1, 2005. He will wear #59.

Velandia, 33, was signed by the Indians as a minor league free agent on May 26 and has appeared in 16 games for the Bisons (.235, 16-68, 2B, 2RBI). He spent the first part of 2008 at AAA Syracuse (Toronto) where he hit .287 (27-94) with 3HR and 12RBI in 28 games and later appeared in 2 games with the Jays in May (0 for 7, both games vs. Cleveland on 5/10, 5/12). In his Major League career, Velandia has hit .182 (43-236) with 2HR and 23RBI in 166 Major League games with San Diego, Oakland, New York-NL, Tampa Bay and Toronto. He will wear #11.

While the pitching staff has had its share of injuries as of late, now the injury bug has spread to more position players - including catcher Victor Martinez. The Tribe’s catcher is set to have an MRI today for inflammation in his right elbow. Victor is already suffering from a tweaked hamstring that he suffered way back on opening day vs the White Sox at Progressive Field. There was plenty of discussion with GM Mark Shapiro and Wedge Wednesday about the thought of putting Martinez on the DL, and while both said it wouldn’t happen, now the elbow may force the issue.

Wedge told the media postgame on Wednesday that the elbow pain is something that Martinez has been playing through for sometime. It has become more obvious that it’s also a reason why he is having an off season at the plate, hitting .278 with no homers and 21 RBI. If there is one thing about Martinez, it’s that he’s a hitter, and now more than ever the team should explore putting him on the DL and giving him a rest to see if he can come back and be his old self again.

Another position player that may find himself on the DL is second basemen Josh Barfield, who has a sprained finger. It took place on a check-swing Tuesday night that forced him to leave the game. Wedge said that its not all that uncommon of an injury, as when you check-swing your fingers continue to move forward, causing the sprain. Barfield will get looked at again today, and he may be headed for a trip to the DL.

Asked if that means Asdrubal Cabrera will find himself back on the MLB roster if Barfield is put on the DL, Wedge said that does not appear to be the case, but declined to reveal who would be brought up in his place. It would likely open the door to see more of Jamey Carroll at second base until Barfield is ready to play.

It took all of two games for the latest Buffalo call-up to get hurt for the Indians. Second basemen Josh Barfield, who was called up early Monday for Asdrubal Cabrera, was injured in Tuesday night’s Indians 1-0 win over the Twins, as he left the game with a left middle finger sprain. He hurt the finger while checking his swing vs the Twins Scott Baker in the fourth inning. He left the game after going 0-for-2, and is 0-for-6 since the call-up.

Listed as day-to-day, the Indians, as they did Tuesday, will turn to Jamey Carroll, who took Barfield’s place. Barfield was called up to give the Indians some sort of spark to the offense, as he was hitting .255 with five homers and 21 RBI for AAA Buffalo. Cabrera was hitting just .184 when he was sent down, going 29-for-158 with one homer and 14 RBI. Last season he hit .283 after coming to the team mid-season, going 45 for 159, 3 homers and 22 RBI.

It’s amazing to think that Cliff Lee is the Indians MVP at this point of the season, but that fact came back to the forefront last night in Detroit as he pitched well enough to earn his 10th win of the season as the Indians topped the Tigers 8-2. The win wraps up the teams longest road trip of the season, an 11-game outing in which they went 5-6, hitting KC, Texas and Detroit.

Lee is the first AL pitcher to win 10 games, he went 5 innings, allowing two runs on six hits. The reason for the short outing was the fact the game was hit by a 57-minute rain delay. The bullpen finally did a nice job after blowing a game Saturday, as Rafael Perez, Rafael Betancourt and Masa Kobayashi went a combined four innings, allowing one hit total and walking three, striking out two.

The offense got off to a fast start, as Ryan Garko hit a three-run blast to deep left off of Tigers starter Dontrelle Willis in the first inning to give the Tribe a quick 3-0 lead. The team chased Willis in the second, as Kelly Shoppach hit a two-run homer to make it 5-0, then Garko got hit by a pitch to bring in a run, Jhonny Peralta singled to score a run, and Shin Soo-Choo hit a sac fly to make it 8-0.

Willis lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing 8 runs on three hits. He has been a big bust so far for the Tigers, has he’s been hurt, and is carrying an 0-1 mark now with an ERA of 10.32. He has started just four games, and has pitched only 11.1 innings, allowing 13 earned runs on seven hits. The Indians only had six hits, but were on cruise control most of the night due to the early lead that they carried as well as their bullpen.

New second basemen Josh Barfield batted ninth, and did little at the plate, going 0-for-4 with a fly out to center, foul out to right, fly out to deep left, and ground out to third. Grady Sizemore got a rare night off, as Franklin Gutierrez started in center and hit lead off.

Tonight the Indians come back home for the first time since late May, as they start the first of six at Progressive Field vs the Twins and then a weekend interleague series vs the Padres. C.C. Sabathia, who’s 3-and-8 with a 4.81 ERA, will start for the Indians. The Twins will send out Scott Baker, who’s 2-and-0 with a 4.03 ERA. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.