Indians Confidential

Today the Indians signed their 13^th round selection from the 2009 First Year Player Draft…Today the Indians signed RHP JEREMY JOHNSON out of Washington State University… They have now signed 18 of their 50 selections and 13 of their top 16 choices.

INF ASDRUBAL CABRERA will begin a 20-day rehab assignment at AA Akron tomorrow night when they take on AA Trenton…LHP AARON LAFFEY (4.0IP/65P) will make his 2^nd rehab start as well tomorrow night for Akron.

FOLLOW THE TWITTER: Get your official Cleveland Indians updates, breaking news and behind the scenes information on twitter… The official behind the scenes voice of the Cleveland Indians can be found at http://twitter.com/tribeinsider

MYSTERY BALL 2009: The 5th Annual Mystery Ball charity function will take place on Saturday June 27th vs. Cincinnati Reds… The Indians Wives Association will be selling 1,200 signed baseballs at $50 apiece of players, coaches and managers from the Indians roster & around Major League Baseball…Tickets will be sold at Gates A and C once gates open…A silent auction will take place during the game with items like a KERRY WOOD game used glove, VICTOR MARTINEZ catching mask & other great items …Proceeds will benefit the Providence House, Ohio’s first crisis nursery

PRONK PROGRESS: Since returning from the DL TRAVIS HAFNER is hitting .355 (11-31) w/2 2B 3HR & 9RBI in 11G (.710SLG/1.169ops) …He has hit in 7 straight games (9-20, 2HR, 8RBI) after yesterday’s pinch hit single in Chicago…His season total OPS of .996 would rank 5^h in the league if he had the required PA’s…

The Indians first trip in 2009 to the Queen City on Friday night saw their short lived two-game winning streak snapped, as they fell to the Reds 3-1. The team got a rather crazy outing from starting pitcher Anthony Reyes, who went just three innings, walking a career-high six batters and hitting another and then leaving with an inflamed pitching elbow.

Jensen Lewis did a nice job in long relief, going three innings and allowing just one hit, walking one and striking out two. Aaron Laffey took the loss, as in 1.1 innings he gave up two runs on two hits. Adam Rosales doubled home the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth to put the Reds ahead for good.

The Indians on offense were shut down by Bronson Arroyo, who went 8 innings, allowing one run on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts. The only Tribe run was a solo homer in the first from Grady Sizemore (8th), as he hit in the number two hole.

Cleveland now sits at 16-27, and they have the worst winning percentage in the American League. Saturday they will throw David Huff against the Reds at 7:10pm.

The Indians had a golden shot to move to 15-22 on Friday night, but blew it with their usual crappy bullpen. Saturday they played flat in Tampa Bay, as they were shut down by Rays starter Matt Garza and eventually fell 4-2. Garza went 6 innings, going allowing two runs on five hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

There was little offense for the Indians, they went down 1-2-3 in the first two innings, then had two baserunners on walks in the third and Asdrubal Cabrera flied out to end that inning. In the 4th they had two hits and two on with two outs, and Kelly Shoppach grounded out to end that threat.

They fell behind 3-0 after five innings, and while they did rally to make it 3-2 in the 6th, the Rays rallied for a big run off Aaron Laffey to ice the game at 4-2. Carl Pavano went 5 innings, allowing three runs on six hits. He falls to 3-4 on the season, his ERA now sits at 6.33.

Laffey pitched three innings, allowing the Rays 4th run, he gave up two hits, walked two and struck out three. Three Rays relievers shut down the Indians on just one hit and five strikeouts. The team still whiffs way too much and way too often in big spots.

One positive is Victor Martinez, who has to be an All-Star in July. He is hitting .409 after a 3-for-4 day at the plate. Now at 14-24, the team is back to 6.5 out of first in the AL Central. They will battle the Rays again on Sunday.

For at least one night, the moves the Indians trying to fix the pitching woes actually worked. Carl Pavano pitched six pretty good innings, and Aaron Laffey coming out of the pen threw three solid innings without allowing the Red Sox back in the game at the Indians beat the Red Sox in Fenway 9-2.

The Tribe made a couple of moves on Wednesday trying to do whatever they can to help a bullpen that seems to give up leads as easy as any team in baseball history. They dumped Rafael Perez to Columbus (finally), and moved Laffey to the pen and called up Jeremy Sowers to start tomorrow night in the road trip finale.

It was so important for the club to rebound after the nightmare in Toronto on Tuesday, and they did an excellent job of doing just that. The offense again played well, getting some big hits, putting up 9 runs and 13 hits. Mark DeRosa and Victor Martinez each homered, and four players each had three hits.

The offense on this road trip finally seems to be coming around. Asdrubal Cabrera, who had three hits, is now hitting .333. David Dellucci is hitting .412, and Victor is still hitting well, going 3-for-5 with four RBI and is hitting .398.

Pavano allowed two runs on six hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out four, and seems to finally be settling in as the pitcher that the Indians thought they were getting after a pretty solid spring. Laffey allowed two hits and didn’t walk a batter. He struck out one, and got a double play ball to end the game and earn his first Major League save.

The team can actually go 4-3 on this 7-game road trip with a win Thursday night. They are now 11-17 on the season, and maybe if they can just stop the bleeding from a bullpen that has been beat up all season, they can finally start playing more consistant.

Thursday Sowers will go for the Tribe against Tim Wakefield, who shut down the Indians last week at Progressive Field.

The moves continue for the Tribe, who have the worst bullpen in the Majors, but are looking to do what it takes to get it straight.

They already made maybe the best move possible today, as they sent Rafael Perez packing down to AAA Columbus. They called up Matt Herges. At this point, it didn’t matter to me who they called up, anyone is better than Perez.

Now the bigger and maybe more surprising move. Paul Hoynes at the PD wrote about 6pm that the team is moving Aaron Laffey, who has been a pretty good starter so far this season after he was called up for the injured Scott Lewis, to the bullpen.

With that, they are bringing in Jeremy Sowers, and he’ll start Thursday vs the Red Sox. Hoynes wrote “GM Mark Shapiro told reporters about the move before Wednesday’s game against the Red Sox. He said the Indians are exploring other moves as well to help a bullpen that leads the AL in blown saves and homers allowed.”

Laffey (2-0, 4.09) was pitching well, but he has come out of the pen before, In the 2007 ALCS, he threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings of relief against Boston in Game 6. He’ll pitch tonight out of the pen if need be, even more so after another meltdown on Tuesday in Toronto.

Sowers was 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in four starts at Columbus. He had 22 strikeouts, while allowing five walks, six runs and 23 hits in 24 innings. The opposition is hitting .240 against him.

Another day, another bullpen disaster. Yes, welcome again to the Indians 2009 season, as today, it was Rafael Betancourt’s turn to implode in the Tribe bullpen, as he turned an 8th inning Indians 7-6 lead into a Tigers 9-7 victory. Thanks to Betancourt allowing a Curtis Granderson two-run homer, followed by a sack fly by Carlos Guillen to tack on an extra run in the latest Indians loss.

The setback was most frustrating as the Indians came back from a 4th inning 5-0 deficit, tied the game at 5, lost the lead a 6-5 in the 6th, got it back with two runs in the 7th, then Betancourt gave it right back as the team fell to 9-15 on the season, allowing the Tigers to escape to improve to 12-11.

This tune is getting old. The bullpen that has been the worst I have seen in awhile is never going to allow this team to get back to .500, much less be a true contender in the American League. Eric Wedge said it all in the post game when he said that they simply have to find a way to get past the 7th and 8th innings in order to get to Kerry Wood with a lead in the 9th.

Here’s an idea - put Wood in the game in the 8th. Why not at this point? What’s the worse that can happen? If Wood allows the lead to be given up, at least your best is the one that gave it up. I’m sick and tired of seeing the following bullpen throwers blow the lead - Betancourt, Rafael Perez, Jensen Lewis and Joe Smith (at least we won’t see him anytime soon as he’s on the DL).

About the only two arms that seem to be able to get anyone out are Vinnie Chulk and Tony Sipp. Problem is - that’s only two relievers, and you need a lot more than that in order to get the job done. On the offensive side, six players each had two hits, as the team put up 13 hits, 7 runs, and still found a way to lose.

Aaron Laffey, who had been the best starter on the team as of this point, wasn’t very good. He couldn’t get his slider down, and paid for it as he couldn’t get the ball over the plate. He lasted just 3.1 innings, gave up 5 runs on six hits with five walks and one strikeout. The big blow was a grand slam he allowed to Adam Everett that made it 5-0 in the 4th.

Cliff Lee will look to win the series on Sunday for the Tribe at 1pm.

With the month of April gone, the Indians looked to start May on a high note. Well, it wasn’t exactly the way they wanted it, but they got the job done on Friday night in Detroit, topping the Tigers 6-5. The game seemed similar to the one they lost Wednesday vs the Red Sox, as they had a 5-0 lead before Boston came storming back and eventually got the win.

This night, the Indians got that big 6th run in the 7th, and even though they led 6-0, they would need them all by the time the “bullpen from Hell” almost gave it all back. Detroit put up a five-spot in the 8th, as (who else) Rafael Perez and Jensen Lewis gave them almost enough runs to tie the game.

Thanks though to Rafael Betancourt and then Kerry Wood to close it out. Betancourt got the last out in the 8th, and then Wood recorded his 5th save of the year with three outs in the 9th to get the Tribe the win. They move to 9-14 on the season, and drop the Tigers to 11-11.

There were some offensive highlights that deserve mention:

Jhonny Peralta had a RBI single in the second, then hit his first homer in the 3rd to make it 5-0.
Mark DeRosa was 2-for-5 with two runs scored
David Dellucci (a sight for sore eyes), played his first game coming off the DL and was 4-for-5 with a run scored.

Overall the team put up 12 hits, and put up plenty of chances to score, but in the end were able to push across 6 runs to get the win. Another positive was the pitching of Carl Pavano, who got his first win as an Indian. He went 7.1 innings, allowing two runs on 5 hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out three.

While he’s had his moments, there’s no denying how bad this bullpen is. Why Eric Wedge keeps running Perez out there is beyond me, and he’s going to lose games the more he puts him out there. Let’s look at Perez - he wasn’t able to get an out, allowed two hits, two runs. He’s got an ERA of 13.50, and in 11 games has given up 15 earned runs. If this guys doesn’t get sent down to AAA soon, it’s a joke.

Okay, let’s stay positive here, the team got win one of the road trip out of the way, and game two tomorrow will see Aaron Laffey, the teams best starter so far this season, against Zach Miner at 3:40pm.