Indians Confidential

From: The Indians

JOE BOROWSKI (released)

RICK BAUER (elected free agency)

Both were designated for assignment on July 4.

The Indians today signed their 3rd round selection from the 2008 First-Year Player Draft, inking INF CORD PHELPS (107th overall pick) to his first professional contract. The junior second baseman hit .351 (91-259) this season for Stanford University with 16 2B, 3 3B, 13HR and 58RBI in 63 games for the Cardinal (76RS, 41BB, 38K). The Santa Barbara, CA native led the team in walks and on-base % (.445) and was an All-Pac 10 selection at second base. He hit .389 (7-18) in 4 College World Series games w/6RS, 2 2B, 2 3B & 5RBI. He is a switch-hitter and is 6-2, 200lb. He will report to the Gulf Coast League in Winter Haven to rehab a sprained ankle he suffered prior to the CWS before moving on to Mahoning Valley. The Indians have signed 20 picks overall and 15 of their top 21 selections.

Also today, the Indians claimed RHP BRYAN BULLINGTON off waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates and optioned him to AAA Buffalo. Bullington, 27, has pitched at AAA Indianapolis the entire season, going 4-6 w/a 5.52 ERA in 15 starts (75.0IP, 90H, 46ER, 25BB, 60K, 8HR). He was with the Pirates, but did not pitch, from May 29-June 12 and was named International League Pitcher-of-the-Week after going 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA (2GS, 13.0IP, 12H, 2ER, 15K) in two starts during week of May 19-26. He was designated for assignment on July 3.

Bullington was a 1st round pick (1st overall) by the Pirates in the 2002 First –Year Player Draft out of Ball State (IN) University. He appeared in 6 Major League games with the Pirates in 2005 and 2007 (0-3, 6G/3GS, 18.1IP, 25H, 12ER, 8K) and owns a minor league career record of 49-32 w/a 3.76 ERA in 110 games/109 starts (622.2IP, 626H, 260ER). He missed half of 2005 and all of 2006 due to right shoulder surgery. The 40-man roster is at 40.

While winning the “Ohio Cup” is about as much of a joke as anything when it comes to baseball bragging rights, what will also go down as a joke in the 2008 season is how bad the Indians played against not only their National League rivals, but against the NL as a whole. Following the teams 9-5 loss Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field, the Indians wrap up their season vs the NL with a mark of 6-12, and a pretty sad 1-5 mark against the Reds.

Sunday’s loss drops the team to 37-45, right back to 8 games under .500, and 22-22 at Progressive Field. The offense as usual made a rather bad pitcher, in this case the Reds Bronson Arroyo, look like someone heading for the Cy Young. Entering action vs the Indians, Arroyo was 4-7 with an ERA of 6.52. Instead of pounding him like Indians teams in the past would have done, they went quietly inning by innings, and by the time Arroyo left, he had allowed one earned run on two hits over six innings.

Aaron Laffey got the start for the Indians, and did a nice job till the 5th, when the Reds offense went off against him for five runs on five hits, putting 8 men to the plate. David Ross scored the first run on a wild pitch, then Jeff Keppinger doubled in a run, Brandon Phillips singled in another, and Edwin Encarnacion hit his 13th homer of the year to make it 5-0.

Grady Sizemore got the Indians back into the game with a solo homer in the 6th to make it 5-1, and a Shin-Soo Choo double that was botched in center allowed another run to come across to make it 5-2. Kelly Shoppach had a chance for the inning to continue but struck out, getting Arroyo off the hook. Rick Bauer took the spot of Laffey in the 6th, and ran into trouble in the 7th, then allowing Adam Dunn, who’s been an Indians killer all season, to take him deep for a three-run shot that made it 8-2.

The Indians loaded the bases in the 7th, but a Ben Francisco ground out ended the inning. Shoppach doubled in another run in the 8th when Jhonny Peralta scored to make it 8-3. Francisco made it look somewhat interesting in the 9th with a two-out, two-run homer that made it 9-5, his 6th of the year.

The Indians could for sure have their season for all intensive purposes ended this week as they travel to Chicago to take on the White Sox for three starting on Monday night. Jeremy Sowers (0-3, 5.97) will go for the Indians vs Gavin Floyd (8-4, 3.39) for Chicago at 8:11pm.

All season long Indians players and the coaching staff had promised that the offense would start to come around. Even after the team slumped through May, players seemed sure that they would break out and have a big June at the plate. While it’s only been four games, maybe, just maybe, the team was right. Positive signs were everywhere Wednesday night in Arlington, as the Indians trounced the Rangers 15-9 behind a tied season high 17 hits.

High winds and temps in the 90’s made it for a hitters night, as the Indians scored in bunches, putting up innings of 4, 2, 5 and 4 runs. They slammed Texas relief pitcher Elizardo Ramirez to the tune of 9 runs in 2.2 innings. They broke the game open tied 6-6 in the 6th when they put up a 5-spot, then came back in the 7th and added four more to put the game away.

The big night on offense belonged specifically to two players - Ben Francisco, who was 5-for-6 with three runs scored and a RBI, and Ryan Garko, hitting in the four-hole and going 4-for-5 with two runs scored and a career-high 6 RBI. David Dellucci added a three-run homer and Casey Blake was 2-for-5 with a run scored and a RBI.

On the mound Cliff Lee was good enough helped out by the offense to notch his 9th win against just one loss. Lee saw his ERA plump to 2.45 after allowing six runs on nine hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out 8. Rafael Betancourt, Masa Kobayashi and just called up Rick Bauer also pitched in relief of Lee, and the three combined to allow three runs on four hits, all three runs were allowed by Bauer.

The win puts the Indians at 27-32 on the season, still 5.5 back of the Sox in the Central. They have a great shot to head to Detroit on a high note tonight, as C.C. Sabathia (3-7, 4.32) goes for the Tribe against old friend Kevin Millwood, who is 3-3 with a 4.50 ERA. First pitch at 8:05pm.

The Indians made a pair of expected roster moves today to get some fresh arms in the bullpen. Below is the press release from the team sent out about 5:20 this afternoon.

CLEVELAND, OH — The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has recalled RHP BRIAN SLOCUM and purchased the contract of RHP RICK BAUER from the AAA Buffalo Bisons. To allow room for Slocum and Bauer on the Major League roster the Indians optioned RHP JENSEN LEWIS and RHP TOM MASTNY to AAA Buffalo.

The Indians 40-man roster now stands at 40.